Loving ourselves (25 min)
Our capacity to love ourselves is often awakened in us through having received love from others. Most of us will have loved and received love from someone along the way, maybe from a parent, a caring teacher, a friend, a neighbour or a pet. Learning to recognize and accept that love from outside can awaken our capacity to give it to ourselves. Loving ourselves starts with learning to be a good friend to ourselves, treating ourselves with kindness and respect as we would a dear one.
We will practice this during this loving kindness meditation.
Fully supported here and now (5 min)
During this mindful pause, allow yourself to take in the feeling of being fully supported by the energy of the Earth.
Meditation Resting in Presence (25 min)
This meditation gently guides you towards presence so you can practice resting in open awareness.
Mindful pause to start the day (6 min)
Take a few moments at the start of your day to pause and connect with yourself and with your deepest intention to care and connect with others.
Letting everything be (20 min)
Cultivating an attitude of letting go or non-attachment is fundamental to the practice of mindfulness.
Thai forest Buddhist teacher Ajahn Chah reflected: “If you let go a little, you ‘ll have a little peace, if you let go a lot, you’ll find a lot of peace, if you let go completely, you’ll find absolute peace and tranquility”
Fresh Pause (5 min)
Mindfulness is about meeting our experience fresh, in the moment. Being completely open in our meditation. Today I invite you to practice bringing this quality of freshness and not knowing to each moment.
Gratitude practice (20 min)
“Gratitude, gladness, and related feelings like appreciation are easy to dismiss, but studies in fact show that cultivating them has lasting and important benefits, including lifting your mood, increasing satisfaction with life, and building resilience.” – Rick Hanson, Ph.D. In this practice, you will learn to cultivate appreciation for the life that is right here and now.
Mindful Body Scan (25 min)
The basic meditation instructions to practice the body scan are to be mindful of the changing stream of sensations without trying to hold on to any of them, change them or resist them. It does not mean standing apart or observing from a distance but rather directly experiencing what is happening in the body. The two questions “what is happening inside me?” and “can I be with this?” help to bring a profound presence with the body.
Mindful Pause to Relax the Body (8 min)
Whenever you feel tense, give yourself permission to pause and practice a short body scan to help release the tensions in the body and the mind.
RAIN practice to connect with self-care (20 min)
This practice uses the four steps of RAIN – Recognising, Allowing, Investigating, and Nurturing – as a guide to explore our present moment experience and to connect with self-care.
