Stephanie Fowler

Atlanta, GA, USA

Cultivate self-compassion and extend kindness to others through guided breathing and heart-centered reflection.

Secular

Compassion Meditation

Relationships

Secular Mindfulness

Compassion

Visualization

English

Ease stress and release what feels heavy with this guided compassion meditation.  You'll begin by settling in and showing yourself compassion and then expanding that compassion beyond to others.  Practicing compassion can bring us back to a sense of knowing what we value most and that if we want to spread kindness and compassion to others, we must start with ourselves.

Guided Compassion Meditation For Yourself & Others

 Hello, welcome to today's meditation. Today we'll be doing a meditation on compassion. Compassion for ourself and compassion for others. To begin, take a moment to find a comfortable position and allow yourself to settle in. You may close your eyes or keep them slightly open, softly gazing towards the floor or in front of you. Allow your spine to relax and your shoulders to soften. Now let's begin by taking a nice full breath in and a long breath out. Once more, deep breath in and a long breath out. Now allow your breath to fall back to its natural rhythm. And we'll begin by inviting compassion for ourselves. As humans we all have moments of difficulty and challenge, suffering. Let's take a moment to acknowledge the difficulties you've experienced or are experiencing now in your life. It may help to think of a specific difficulty or you can keep it general. Now imagine someone you know who cares about you. This could be someone present in your life now or from your past. It can be a dear friend or family member or maybe a teacher or colleague. And if you can't think of a specific person, it could even just be the general idea and feeling of a caring person. Now imagine this being responding to your difficulties with warmth and understanding. Allow yourself to receive their warmth and understanding and their wishes for your well-being and happiness. Allow their care and concern to fill your whole body and mind. As you breathe in, breathe in compassion for yourself. You may also want to say some words to yourself such as, may I be well, may I be healthy, may I find the resources that I need to pass through this difficulty. As you breathe in, you can think of yourself as breathing in this compassion for yourself, taking it in and really letting it sink into your body and mind. Now bring to mind someone you know who is having a difficult time. This could be someone in your personal life, someone you care about, maybe someone at work. Bring this person to mind along with the awareness that they're struggling right now. Now let yourself feel what you would wish for them. You may wish them health, happiness, contentment, or it may not be specific words but more of a general feeling, a general wish for their well-being. Find them receiving this compassion. Now if you're able, you may wish to expand your wishes of compassion more widely to anyone experiencing difficulty or pain. You may say to yourself, may their suffering be relieved. May they be well. As you breathe out, breathing out compassion for others. And even if you're not able to connect directly with feelings of compassion, just bringing in kind awareness to whatever it is you may be experiencing right now. Breathing in compassion for myself, breathing out compassion for others. And now letting the words go and returning to an awareness of your body, settling on the breath. Notice how you feel right now. Do you feel any sensations in your body? Anything around the face? The head? Your heart? Chest? Or the belly? As you continue noticing what happens in your body, you may now slowly open your eyes. Taking some nice gentle stretches as needed. Perhaps raising the arms overhead, rolling the shoulders back, stretching out your neck. Whatever your body is calling to you. And now return your awareness to where you are and be present in this moment. And may you take this awareness and this sense of compassion for yourself and for others with you as you continue through your day. Thank you so much for joining me and be well.