Cultivating Self-Compassion Through Changes

The mind is busy with its stories of worry, stress and limitation, but the heart knows that you have so much more to feel, to share, to experience; that you are so much more than the stories your mind likes to tell you. In this meditation, we quiet the body, nervous system, and mind by starting with a body scan, and then connect to the heart space, utilizing the lotus mudra to feel an even greater capacity to love, to be calm and open and gentle, with ourselves and with others.

This 30 minute reclined body scan meditation is a gentle way to relax and integrate all parts of yourself: body, mind and spirit. Lie down and listen, following the prompts to gently float your awareness from point to point. This method of deep relaxation, adapted from the Bihar school of yoga nidra, is so beneficial for your overall well being and peace of mind. 

Change can be hard. We all experience being hard on ourselves and wishing we could adapt more quickly, because change can be uncomfortable or even painful, and we just want to get it over with. Developing self-compassion as we navigate changes can be helpful in enabling us to flow through our life experiences with more ease and less stress.

This episode is about 32 minutes long and is best done lying down. Yoga Nidra is a method of total relaxation, allowing you to hover in that beautiful space between waking and sleep for an extended period of time. It is one of my favorite kinds of yoga! It is like a long guided shavasana (the relaxation time at the end of a yoga class). 

This is a meditation for feeling more grounded, steady and stable. Sometimes when there is a lot happening around us, we can start to feel disconnected and even floaty, like our feet are not even touching the ground and we are being pushed around by forces outside of us. If you ever feel like this, this simple, short meditation can help ease you into a space of grounding and calm.

Do you need to get off the hamster wheel of over-thinking?  This meditation is to help you calm the busy problem-solving mind and drop into the peaceful space of your inner being, where everything is known. 

This meditation focuses on supporting your natural digestion process, in terms of both food and life experiences.

Our minds are busy, usually flitting back and forth between the past and the future, while our bodies are trying to experience life right here and now. This mind-body disconnect can result in patterns of stress and anxiety in our daily lives. In this simple meditation, we bring ourselves into the present moment and align our body, mind and soul in the now to reclaim a sense of peace, presence, and power.

This meditation is inspired by the poem, “The Guesthouse” by the ancient Sufi poet Rumi. Imagine yourself as a guesthouse, allowing everything to come and go. Experiences and emotions do not define us; they teach us something as they pass on through. Whatever comes or goes, you are still here, and you are safe, and you are loved.

This meditation is best done lying down on your back. Simply relax and listen as you are guided through a full body scan. This is a simple and powerful technique to create more space, calm and ease in body, mind and spirit.