A Meditation for Self-Love
Using supportive touch!
Greetings everyone and welcome back! 🙂 I took a much needed break from writing to publish last week, and I’m back today with a meditation for self-love.
Self-love is something many of us weren’t taught about when we were young, but are seeing the importance of practicing it now. To me, it’s the number one biggest determinant of how your life goes.
When you love yourself, positive things happen. When you run into trouble, I feel like it’s the universe’s way of letting you know where you haven’t been loving yourself. We are all guilty of this, including me.
I feel like our bigger purpose here on Earth is to love more deeply, and that starts with loving ourselves now.
So I am sharing this meditation that I like to turn to when I’m craving a little love 🙂 This is a spin-off of Supportive Touch and Self-Compassionate Breathing, taken from A Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Mindfulness.
I hope you’ll meditate along with me!
Meditation
Part 1 - Settling In (2 mins)
I invite you to find a nice, comfortable position. You can sit with your back straight and feet on the floor, or lay back on a couch, pillow, or floor.
When you feel comfortable, gently close your eyes, or lower/soften your gaze.
Start by taking three big, deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the nose.
Now, return your breath back to its natural pattern, and rest your focus here (2 mins).
Notice what the breath is doing. Notice the patterning, the temperature, the pacing. Notice where the breath reaches into your body (lungs or belly?).
Continue to breathe through your nose. No need to change or alter the breath, just letting the breath breathe through you.
Position #1 - Hug Yourself (2 mins)
Now, cross your arms and place your hands on your shoulders, like you are giving yourself a big hug. Hold your position here for 2 mins.
Breathe in and out, like you have been. Notice the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that arise from holding yourself.
What happens to the body when you do this? What happens to the breath? What happens to the mind? What feelings are arising?
And of course, noticing if your mind has wandered, gently bringing the attention back to the breath and body 🙂
Position #2 - Hold Your Face (2 mins)
Now, move your hands to cup your face. Hold your position here for 2 minutes.
Breathing in and out, like you have been. Notice the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that arise from holding your face.
What happens to the body when you hug yourself? What happens to the breath? What happens to the mind? What feelings are arising? Simply notice, without changing our altering anything.
Position #3 - Hands over Heart (2 mins)
Now, cross your hands and interlace your thumbs. Place your hands on your heart. Your hands should look like a bird. Stay here for 2 minutes.
Breathe in and out, and feel the sensations. What do you notice when you hold this positioning? What is the breath doing? What is the body doing? What is the mind doing?
And again, noticing if the mind has wandered, just gently bringing your attention back to the breath, hands, and body 🙂
Position #4 - Last One! (2 mins)
Now place your hands wherever is comfortable.
Bring your attention to a part of the body that ails you. Could be an ache, recurring ache, injury, place of illness, organ, etc. Just pick one.
Bring your attention to that body part and stay there for a little bit. Notice what sensation you are feeling from there, what quality do you feel? (burning, sharp, dull, aching, painful?) and what severity? (mild, medium, severe?). Color? Shape? Get a sense of what is going on right now.
Now, send some love to that body part. Thank it for teaching you something about yourself. Thank it for being a reminder and a message about the interesting experience of being a human. Send love and gratitude to remind that body part that it’s okay to feel better, too.
Closing! (1 min)
Return your attention to the body. Get a sense overall of how your body feels. Notice the breath. Notice the positioning of your body, your feet touching the ground or what part(s) of you are touching the ground?
Take 3 nice big, deep breaths. And when you are ready, open your eyes.
My Experience with this Meditation
The first time I did this meditation (the touching my face part) made me realize how much I was giving to others and how much more I needed to give to myself.
Of late, I’ve been returning to this meditation often, as it calms me and makes my body relax quite a bit. A good reminder that love is always available to us :)
What was this experience like for you? I will love to hear back - you can write in the comments or hit reply on your email!
In the meantime, have a wonderful week! Talk soon!
Love,
Angeli
“Sometimes you have to hug yourself and squeeze your own shoulder and be thankful it is humanly possible.” ~ Richelle E. Goodrich, Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
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