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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Duration
This meditation explores how to generate self-compassion in times of distress, anxiety or despair. Discover the gentleness, safety and support of your own friendship.
Let's begin by finding a comfortable
posture for this meditation.
This practice can be done either in a
seated posture or lying down, or even
standing, whatever happens to be the
most supportive for you in this moment.
We will be exploring how to
develop a means of generating
self-compassion in times of particular
distress, anxiety, or despair.
So take a moment to settle into
the posture that you've chosen.
Feeling the points of contact between
the body and the ground beneath you,
whether through the seat of a chair,
a cushion on a bed or on the floor.
Just allowing the body for the next
few moments to gently rest in the
sensations of being held by the earth.
So picking up perhaps on the
in-breath, or the out-breath, wherever
you happen to find yourself now.
And gently allowing a few deeper than
and usual breaths for you to support you,
and just resting in the sense of being
lovingly held in this present moment.
And as you breathe in now, the
invitation is to do a gentle
scan of the body in this moment.
And notice any place in which you're
holding any tightness, any pain, any
emotional discomfort, any sensations
that indicate any of this in the body.
So breathing in and out, noticing
where you might be feeling
tightness, sadness, grief, rage.
Or any more subtle feelings of discomfort.
And the invitation then in this moment
is to invite the intentions you bring
for alleviating your own suffering,
for supporting yourself and just gently
holding your own experience with love.
Bringing that intention to
the fore in this moment.
As you breathe in and breathe out,
imagine just in a certain way in which
you're most cradling or holding yourself,
and inviting full rest in this moment.
Lovingly attending to your own body and
being, as you notice any way in which
you're feeling, even the subtle form of
any sort of discomfort, pain, challenging
emotion, difficulty at this time.
And so then the invitation now
is to deepen the support for
yourself by, if you're willing,
placing one hand over the heart.
And the other hand may gently be placed
right over the first on the heart region.
Or you might experiment with placing
that second hand in the region of the
belly button, maybe just beneath it.
And then taking a few deep breaths and
just sensing into what it feels like
to allow the extra support of your own
hands on these regions of the body,
where our energetic nerve systems are so
profoundly engaged with feeling sensation
around the sense of being nurtured.
So just breathing in and breathing
out and inviting these points of
contact, placing your hands, right on
these particular points of contact.
Offer this additional support, much in the
same way that you might place a hand on
the back of a friend in need of support.
Or in the hand of another.
We're bringing that same kind of
loving, gentle touch-based support to
our own body and being in this moment.
And as we pause and allow ourselves
to support ourselves in this embodied
way, we might deepen this support by
calling to mind a particular place
where you felt really safe before.
This might be just a momentary
awareness of feeling safe in a park
or at a beach, or, or maybe it's
inside a home or a location where
you felt safe, nurtured, cared for.
This could be someplace you have access
to now or someplace from your memory.
And if it's easier than locating a place,
perhaps allowing that inquiry to dissolve
and inviting the image of a person is
whom you felt really safe, cared for.
You might now just be noticing their face.
And see you're smiling at me, looking at
you in this moment in your mind's eye.
Or you might be imagining feeling
their hand in yours, offering you
just a bit of additional support.
And again, if this is difficult,
allowing that inquiry to dissolve.
And perhaps it's just the image of
a person in history, a figure or
spiritual or other figure whose image
brings your peace and ease and allows
you to feel cared for in this moment.
So with this gentle visualization
practice, whether you're visualizing a
place or person, really see if you can
make the image just a bit more vivid.
Really noticing light falling in
the space or the scent of food in
the oven or on the stove associated
with that place where you felt safe.
Or the warmth of the feeling of the
person's hand and yours, or again,
the particular coloration of their
face as they're looking at you.
This visualization aspect of the
practice is important in that the
body really has this image within it.
And as you call it to mind in this
way, it really has the neurobiological
effect of really putting you back
in that place, back in the presence
of that loving being or person.
So as best you can,
bring that image to mind.
Just take a few moments.
Allow yourself to breathe
in and breathe out.
Feeling the support of that
place, that person as you do so.
And as you breathe in and out, now
allowing the imagery to dissolve.
Resting in a sense of being held
in remembrance of the support that
exists for you in this universe,
in your own experience that
you have felt in your own life.
And now, perhaps noticing the
quality of the heart in this moment.
Breathing in and breathing out
and sensing into the heart region.
Or maybe noticing some other region of the
body where you can, maybe, if you inquire
into it, feel in a way in which you are
being impacted by this meditation already.
Maybe you're noticing a gentle
softening of the heart, opening
up of a sense of ease, rest.
Maybe even a bit of joy.
And as we prepare to bring this meditation
to a close, just notice the way in
which you have been able to practice
cultivating a sense of the support that
exists for you in the universe, and
a sense of your inherent belonging.
And know that this practice is available
for you anytime you might need to
experience cultivating the ability to
bring self-compassion, love, and the will
to alleviate your own suffering a little
bit more to the fore in your experience.
Keep practicing like this.
I thank you for your practice.
And until we meet again, may you be
well, safe, and connected on the journey.
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