Assertive Kindness Meditation 01

Transcript

Welcome to your practicing assertive kindness meditation series. Over the course of 10, meditation practices will explore the power of meditative work, to cultivate and nurture your capacity to be kind and patient.

One of the obstacles many people face when it comes to kindness is the idea that kind people, or very patient people, allow others to take advantage of them or treat them badly. But this doesn’t have to be the case at all.

In fact, kindness can be expressed in an assertive way that protects you from harm. And, indeed, kindness starts with you. So we’ll start building that capacity for kindness by focusing first on you as the starting point.

How can you be kind to yourself in this moment, giving yourself this time to meditate in this space is itself an act of kindness towards yourself. So simply by doing what you’re doing right now, you are already beginning to create more kindness which you’ll be able to offer to yourself and to others.

We often think of kind people, as those who are constantly giving to others, constantly helping. But it is much easier to be kind. If you’re also taking care of yourself. Settle into a comfortable posture for your practice now.

There’s no one correct way to meditate. So I won’t prescribe a specific question to you during this series. Instead, I encourage you to find a position that feels good to you. And feel free to change it. If it stops feeling good.

You could sit on a chair or on the floor perhaps with a cushion or a yoga block beneath you. So the hips are higher than the knees. This helps the hips to relax and makes it easier to sit without rounding and compressing the spine.

Wherever you are, however you’re sitting. Tuck the chin very slightly in towards the test to lengthen and relax the neck. Relax the jaw. So there’s just a little bit of space between the top teeth and the button to notice the forehead and allow the forehead to become smooth.

Find stillness and take a deep breath in and out. unkindness comes in many forms. But it is usually rooted in a feeling of being unwell or unsteady or out of balance in some way. So it follows that kindness comes most easily from a place of wellness, steadiness and balance.

Become aware now, of the center of your body, the core of the body. Notice the way that your muscles are holding you, as you sit here.

Notice the steadiness that your spine brings to your body, the intelligence of the spine, as it makes subtle adjustments, from moment to moment to maintain your steadiness in this space, you are exactly where you need to be.

And you feel a sense of wholeness, of calm and of wellness, you are undisturbed by the events or the people or the situations that exist outside of this space.

You are connected with a steadiness that always exists within me.

Because beneath the pressures and stresses, and busyness of daily life, you are peaceful.

You know how to respond kindly to others. Because you know that somewhere deep within them, they too can connect with this sense of peace.

If all of the external life stuff was stripped away, we would all be this, we would all be calm. We would all be peace.

We all share a level of consciousness that can’t be explained. But that can be felt. So when you are kind to yourself, you are being kind to others. And when you act with kindness towards others, you are also acting with kindness towards yourself. Return to awareness of the body now of the core of the body. No notice the breath as it moves in a gentle, natural rhythm.

Your practice is complete.

All posts in this category