Hi, and welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session we're going to

talk about healing and integration.

In any modern book on healing,

especially trauma, such as the Body

Keeps the Score, Waking the Tiger,

Healing Developmental Trauma or Complex

PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving.

These are some of the top trauma books.

You'll repeatedly see a theme

that emphasizes the importance of

compassionate presence for processing

and integrating unresolved psychological

and emotional pain, whether it's

a deep trauma or a smaller one.

This compassionate presence can come

from another person holding space for

you like a therapist, especially in

the initial stages of your healing.

But this external person should support

you to eventually cultivate this

compassionate presence within yourself.

Similar to what we're trying to do here

at Mindfulness.com, so that you, you

can carry that with you during difficult

moments and show up almost as your own

therapist, which isn't to diminish or

dismiss the role of an external therapist,

which can be a great life along companion.

And even if you're thinking, you

know, I, I haven't experienced

trauma or anything that difficult.

Well, we've all experienced some trauma

to varying degrees, especially if we

define trauma as any experience that

causes us to feel less whole, less

safe to be ourselves and less able

to experience the fullness of life.

And so this compassionate presence is a

powerful way to hold space for yourself,

so that difficult experiences don't get

stuck in your mind and body, and don't get

internalized or suppressed, just creating

more tension and stress moving forward.

It's really important for these

emotions to be felt as they're

happening so they can be processed,

integrated and released rather than

just stored in our backpack of life,

which often gets heavier and heavier.

So if you're going through something

difficult, revisiting old patterns

and wounds, or experiencing intense

emotions that seem to arise out of

nowhere, practice meeting yourself

with a compassionate presence.

Well, we will practice doing this and

our meditation today, but if you're

doing this throughout the day and

need some help feeling into how to

get there, imagine holding space for a

young child who just lost their puppy.

You're, you're just there to be a

steady, gentle presence for them.

Helping them feel and process their pain.

Not trying to make it

better because you can't.

And this is the kind of presence

you want to bring to yourself

during difficult experiences.

And if we were to put this all into a

very simple equation, it might go like

this, emotional pain plus compassionate

presence equals healing and integration.

Thank you for your practice and let's

settle in for today's meditation.