Today’s meditation is all about loving yourself. Most of us know what it means to love another — our partner, our children, our parents, friends, even our pets. How often do we offer love to ourselves?
Today, we’ll focus on using the breath to expand our heart and deepen our relationship with this miraculous inner organ that beats continuously throughout our lives. We will take time to appreciate our heart. Then, we’ll use our imagination to breathe in and out of our heart center which is all about love and joy.
In our fast paced world, settling into our heart energy and extending love to ourselves is an important piece of self-care that we rarely consider.
I hope you enjoy this meditation and return to it more than once — you deserve your own self love! Consider sharing this meditation with someone you know so they, too, can experience their heart opening to self-love.
Do you treat yourself as you treat others? Are you kind, caring, and encouraging toward yourself?
We tend to be our own worst critics. We easily see ourselves as “not good enough”; “not worthy enough”; “lazy”; etc. What are the judgements you lay on yourself? What is the standard you hold for yourself? Is it lower or higher than the standard you hold for others?
Compassion is an inner strength and a resource for building resilience. Compassion is caring, respect, and encouragement within the awareness of feeling and wanting to help make things right. For many of us, it is easy to offer compassion to others while, too often, it is awkward to be compassionate toward ourselves.
Self-compassion builds our ability to cope with stress and to ride the waves of adversity or challenge. Todays meditation is a practice in self-compassion. Let’s give ourselves permission to be human during our sitting. As your mind wanders, gently remind yourself to return to your breath and your relaxed body. Let go of judgement toward yourself for wandering away from the breath or the silence of sitting.
Honor this time for offering yourself caring, kindness, and respect. When we practice self-compassion we are caring toward our feelings, we treat ourselves with respect, and we are encouraging. Through self-compassion we bring out our best and can better advocate for ourselves and our needs.
Be on your own side. Be kind and sympathetic when you feel fear. Be warm when you are getting sick or sad. Be encouraging when you are embarking on a new venture or goal. All these are simple ways of practicing self-compassion.
We can also ask, “How would I be with another if they are feeling afraid, insecure, or sick?” Place the same standard on yourself as you would another.
Make this a week of practicing self-compassion and become your best. Give yourself permission to be magnificent!
**At the end of this meditation you will hear my dog barking. I left it in as it was my fourth attempt to record without external noises. A barking dog, a child, cars passing by, outdoor noises, or a cat is part of our everyday life. My own practice of self-compassion is being kind with my own desire to be perfect.**
Welcome to Meditation Monday. Thank you for joining me in this weeks meditation. We will focus on breathing light within and beyond our body in a protective cocoon of breath and light.
Through todays meditation we will consider what positive energy we can build and share through creating our personal bubble of light. Our energy field extends beyond our bodies — we know this through research, especially, done through the Heartmath Institute. Many of you may have also seen photo’s of aura photography taken to show the extent and the various colors of energy fields. Through meditation and/or focus on breath we can change our aura into brightness.
We live in a time when more light is essential for our well-being. Focusing on our fields of light leave us with feeling protected from the chaos surrounding us in daily life. Who couldn’t use a bit more light and protection (no matter your beliefs).
My wish is that you enjoy this meditation and that you feel protected and safe in your own light.
Welcome to Meditation Monday. This weeks meditation, Loving Kindness, is a meditation on mindfulness and offering peace, healing, happiness, and safety to yourself, people you know, and people everywhere.
Often referred to as Metta meditation, Loving Kindness, is a Buddhist practice that has been extensively studied for its many benefits such as increased health, inner peace, lower blood pressure, decreased stress, and mindfulness. I use this meditation almost daily and especially when my heart is deeply affected by the plight of others.
This week I have been deeply saddened and outraged by what is happening to people crossing our borders seeking asylum. I can only imagine the fear, helplessness, and despair as over 2000 children have been separated from their mothers and fathers as part of some ridiculous zero tolerance immigration law. And then they are being housed in tent cities in southern Texas where the temperatures are in the hundreds with no way to find one another. Why? is a question I am asking daily. I, too, feel my own helplessness in not knowing what to do or how to help.
Meditation is one thing I can do and invite others to join me. I have renewed my commitment to Loving Kindness meditation practice morning and night. This Metta practice opens my heart while offering myself and others positive healing, safety, and peace.
If you wish to learn more of Loving Kindness meditation, both Jon Kabat Zinn and Sharon Salzburg have written about this practice that they have practiced and taught to hundreds for many years.
My hope is that you will find this practice as meaningful as I do and that maybe, just maybe, we can create a more humane and peaceful world through extending loving kindness rather than fear. Please feel free to pass this meditation onto others so that our reach ripples toward those in need.
This weeks meditation is a bit different from what we have been doing. I love to go on journeys and this meditation is a few minutes journeying to our personal and inner place of peace. Often we hear of people going to their happy place — this meditation is a simple journey to our inner place of peace, quiet, and rejuvenation which, for me, is similar to my happy place.
Every day we experience stresses, change, busy-ness, and activity. For many of us our days are quite full. I find that taking the time to sit and go to my quiet place of peace is healing and rejuvenating as well as stress reducing. Todays meditation is focused on going to our inner place of peace and quiet.
Many people think of Memorial Day as a celebratory three day weekend of picnics (and, sometimes, fireworks), parades, and the unofficial start to the summer season.
Did you know?
~ Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, began after the Civil War (1864) by women who placed flowers on the graves of loved ones who died in the war.
~ Over 600,000 died during the Civil War which means that nearly everyone knew someone who had died fighting.
~ Originally, Memorial Day was on May 30th.
~ In 1971, it was moved to the last Monday in May and now includes those who have fallen in all wars.
~ In 2000, President Bill Clinton established a moment of silence at 3 pm. to remember and reflect on the sacrifices of our military personal in order to provide freedom for all.
Now, no matter what your beliefs and points of view, Memorial Day is a day of remembering, honoring, and reflecting on young women and men who have chosen to be in our military and have lost their lives while in service.
Today’s meditation is in honor of all soldiers who have fallen in war.
Research shows that those in supportive healthy relationships that are nurtured (especially in the rough times) tend to be happier. The same is true for our most personal relationship, the relationship with ourselves.
Many people I know are uncomfortable being alone for any length of time. Many also go quickly from one relationship to another so that they are not alone. They ignore their primary relationship — the one with themselves.
There will be those times when we find ourselves alone whether by choice or in between relationships. Our relationships will be healthier when we offer ourselves self-compassion. And, our choice to be alone will be richer when we commit to be in a healthy and supportive relationship with ourselves.
Meditation is the perfect place to begin to nurture the self — in meditation we practice self-care, self-compassion, and self-love. This weeks meditation is focused on being in a healthy relationship with yourself. I hope you find some settling within yourself and embracing your self in the quiet of meditation. I also wish you joy in a deeper connection with yourself.
Take a mindful moment and appreciate these two baby chipmunks!
Mindfulness is a quietly active process of noticing, of heightened awareness.
Through mindfulness we learn how connected we are to the world around us. Through mindfulness we become more present in the moment. Through mindfulness we learn to let go of stress and tension in our body and mind.
This weeks meditation is continuing with the theme of mindfulness. Taking a few minutes to follow our attention in and around our body. We follow the breath. We explore the sensations both inside and around our body. Through actively noticing we expand our subtle awareness and become more present in the process.
I work with people every day who want to regain balance and healing. I often encourage clients to do regular meditation for assisting their journey back to balance. There is a growing body of research on the benefits of meditation for balance and for healing.
At work, I let my clients know what I am detecting in their pulses, their tongue diagnosis, and what I am focusing on as I design their acupuncture treatment. Even if they aren’t familiar with some of the terminology in Oriental Medicine, I try to make my explanations simple. What I know is that the person on the table then has an image to focus on for their health. My informing them of my treatment focus engages them to participate in their return to balance and health.
Today’s meditation is focused on balance and healing both body and mind. There seems to always be an area in need of healing energy that will bring us into balance. We will use the breath to direct our energy towards healing. Focusing your attention does assist your desired outcome. There is an adage I love, “Where your attention goes, your energy goes.” By focusing our attention on areas of our body and/or mind that are calling for healing we, indeed, assist in the healing process.
Though some diseases won’t be erased with focused attention (for any variety of reasons), our body will find balance and healing where it can to assist in our journey. I’ve been privileged to work with many people who found healing even though their disease eventually took over.
I hope you enjoy this meditation as much as I’ve enjoyed recording and experiencing it.
Have a great week and I hope you will return next Monday!
Welcome to meditation Monday. I am so glad you are here — the more who join in meditation together, the stronger the ripples of relaxed calm and peace, even for these few minutes.
Today’s meditation is on appreciation. When was the last time you paused to appreciate? Your home. Your surroundings. Your friends and family. Yourself?
Whatever we appreciate, appreciates or grows in value. In this meditation we will move through the body to appreciate each and every part. Like gratitude, a close cousin, appreciation is an uplifting and empowering practice that leads to greater happiness.
I hope you will gain more appreciation of your body and all that it does for you.
Happy, Healthy, & The Prepared Mind 