Hey there.

It's Rhonda Magee.

And I've been asked to

answer the question: how does

self-compassion lead to healing?

This is a great question because it's

not obvious to many of us just how

self-compassion can actually lead

to, you know, that sense of greater

wellbeing, ease, a way of reframing

something that's been difficult.

If we're talking about

psychological healing in a way

that we can hold it and thrive.

So that relationship between self

compassion and healing is not obvious.

And.

I want to share just a few

reflections that I've come, you

know, that, that indicate what I've

come to see as I've looked at this

kind of question over the years.

First, it helps to see that

self-compassion is really, first of

all, a natural aspect of meditation.

We take up these practices, whether

we've already been experimenting

with mindfulness practice generally,

or if we're just experimenting for

the first time with an intentional

practice of self-compassion.

Something has drawn us to the

will to explore these practices.

And that something is at least

in part probably a motivation

to alleviate some suffering.

And that right there is the common,

that the way I define compassion,

it's a common definition used

by researchers and compassion.

It's not really simply feeling, you

know, pity or sorrow for someone,

but it's that will to actually take

an action to alleviate the suffering

that we can sense in another person

or in ourselves, self-compassion.

So now that we understand a little

bit more how I'm going to be using the

word self-compassion, just to think now

about how healing works and what that

relationship is between healing and in

this sort of inherently self-compassionate

practice that we call mindfulness.

And these particular practices of

self-compassion that that mindfulness

can offer us as a deeper support.

So it's interesting to note that

the word meditation and the word

medicine have the same root med.

Right?

And to think then about how this, this

goal of healthiness is embedded in

meditation, medicine, all of which are

aiming to kind of restore what in really

the early sort of early languaging around

this field of engagement was called like

restoring, like inward right measure.

Like it's like right relationship

or a right way of being in our

own bodies and spirit and mind.

So meditation might be seen as a

practice for helping us discern

what, you know, what's called for.

What that med, what medicine

is called for, for us.

In other words, what we might need to do.

Right?

What's our own original

medicine for our own healing?

The original medicine we might bring

to support the healing and others

in our community and our family.

So it's all about then this sort

of will to, to healthfulness,

to well-being, to restoration.

Meditation and mindfulness through

and through are about those things.

So this inherent quality of

self-compassion, self-kindness, this

will to help us restore our own wellbeing

is something that all of meditation

and mindfulness is seeking to support

us and experiencing from ourselves.

So self-compassion really can help

us stay connected with the will.

Right?

Self-compassion practices, let's say,

can help us stay connected to that

will within us to do what we need to

do to advance our own healing, which

by the way, can sometimes be difficult.

So as we look deeply into, what's called

for, we're going to have from time to

time, see that this loving self embrace,

this willingness, both to acknowledge

that we suffer, but also to know that

we deserve to be free from suffering.

This is what can help us restore

that kind of inward right measure

that I was talking about before that,

that inner right relationship with

our own being body and the wellness

within us, that's wanting to be born.

So from this place of really seeing more

clearly, what's called for, for us to

heal, from this place, we can actually

be more of a source of our own healing.

And that's true for ourselves and

it's true for the folks we work with,

the family members we work with,

love and live with, the communities,

the workplaces where we engage

as professionals and, and beyond.

So yeah, we can, in other words,

be a source of healing and right

relationship to what ails us.

And self-compassion, the will that

exists within us to alleviate our own

suffering is an important aspect of

our ability to be and do just that.

So if you're willing, let's take a moment

to practice healing self compassion.

And we're just going to have a

kind of a micropractice over here.

So the invitation will be to, to

just pause, stop right where you are.

Haa.

And invite a conscious sense of your own

body and breathing right here, right now.

So allowing your attention to

rest in these few minutes on the

sensations of your feet on the floor.

If you're seated, the buttocks in a chair.

If you're standing, just allowing

yourself to just pause, feel the dignity

of your body in whatever position

you happen to be in in this moment.

And as you breathe in and out,

allowing thoughts to fall away.

And just feeling that sense

of connectedness to the

earth right here, right now.

Hmm.

And see if as you do so you can

allow the attention to expand into

a sense of the body as a whole.

Feeling of spaciousness of

your body and your being.

And actually noticing what is well

within you right here, right now.

So even as you experiment with perhaps

wanting to feel more wellness, feel more

of your own healing, and inquiring as to

how self-compassion can help, we begin by

just offering kindness to the body as it

is, in whatever way we might be feeling

wounded, feeling the need for healing.

And as we just acknowledged that that is

here too, we also, at the same time, with

this openness, spacious holding of our

whole body and being, we can acknowledge

that even as there are aspects of us

that might call for our own healing,

so too, are there aspects, parts of

ourselves right here, right now that

are well, or else we wouldn't be here.

Again, one of my teachers and

friends in this work offers

this bit of timeless wisdom.

As we're breathing, as we sit here alive,

in this moment, by definition, there is

more right with us than is wrong with us.

And so yes, there may be aspects of

ourselves that, that need to heal and

we might be really open to exploring how

self-compassion can help us with that.

It's also really beautiful to

right here, right now with the will

to alleviate our own suffering,

feel what is well within us.

And as you do so, to sense that from

this place of deepening Commitment

to engaging in self-compassion.

You have all that you need to be more of a

source for your own loving, compassionate

healing in your own lifetime.

Thank you for this moment of practice.

Keep practicing like this.

And know that you're not alone

on this journey toward healing.

And I look forward to being

with you along the way.

But in the meantime, be gentle, be kind,

be good yourself on the journey from here.