If you're listening to this meditation, you're likely experiencing feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness, and shame. I'm here to support you in finding your center and strength again, and helping you ground in a gentle, steady, and soothing awareness. So just beginning by finding a posture for this meditation that's as comfortable as possible. If you care to, closing your eyes or you can also choose to keep them open and just have a soft gaze a few feet in front of you. And as you settle in here, bringing the focus of your awareness into the physical body.

Just resting your attention now on the breath in the body, wherever you feel the breath the most strongly, the most vividly. And if it's possible to just inhabit the breath with your awareness and letting go of what's happening in the mind for now. Just giving yourself a place to rest in the body, rest in the sensations, and take rest in the present moment. Resting attention here in the breath, like a raft might rest in a gently moving sea. And can you begin to infuse the breath with a kindly, warm, and open awareness.

Generating feelings of kindness towards yourself, almost as if you could breathe kindness into and out from the sensations of breathing. Bathing the breath in an attitude of kindness, soothing, and tenderness. And if at any time you notice that the mind has wandered off, there's no need to be hard on yourself, no need to judge or criticize yourself. Just congratulate yourself for waking up. And then with gentleness and with patience, just guiding the mind back into the practice and back into the sensations of the breath.

And now we're going to introduce a practice traditionally known as Metta, or Loving Kindness. And here we work with some phrases that you say to yourself mentally, and this is as a way of training in self-compassion and kindness towards yourself. This is a natural antidote to feeling inadequate and it also brings us a sense of soothing and ease when we're stuck in shame and inadequacy. So as we do this practice, make sure to let your inner voice have as warm and a friendly tone as possible. So mentally repeating these phrases after me, and I'll leave a space after each phrase for you to do so.

May I have peace in my heart. May I remember that I'm already enough. May I be free from suffering. May I be kind to myself. May I be free from fear.

May I be filled with love. May I be happy. So now you can continue this practice on your own, repeating either some of the phrases you just heard, or you can repeat any phrases that resonate with you personally, whatever words of loving, or compassion, or kindness that you're drawn to. So just going ahead and taking some time to do that now. And if the mind wanders, just bringing it back into the practice of repeating these words of kindness, training a kinder inner voice and a more compassionate attitude towards ourselves.

And now gently landing awareness back on the breath. And taking a long, slow, deep breath in. And as you breathe out, beginning to wriggle the fingers and the toes. And take a moment to notice how you feel after practicing being kinder to yourself. And when you're ready, blinking open the eyes and perhaps making an intention to take this more kindly and accepting awareness with you into the rest of your day.

Wishing you a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow.