Blog Topic: Self-Compassion
MSC Practice: Soles of the Feet
This is an effective way to anchor your awareness in the present moment, in body sensation, especially when you’re upset and can’t calm yourself down. • Stand up and feel the soles of your feet on the floor. Rock forward and back a little, and side to side. Make...
MSC Practice: Supportive Touch
One easy way to care for and comfort yourself when you’re feeling badly is to give yourself supportive touch. Touch activates the care system and the parasympathetic nervous system to help us calm down and feel safe. It may feel awkward or embarrassing at first, but...
Just Like Me
This practice can be found in the book, Walking Each Other Home (2018), by Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush. It has been modified by Dr. Chris Germer to help us work with the difficult emotion of shame. Start by bringing to mind a difficult or challenging person in your...
Self-Compassion Break for Shame
Self-Compassion Break is a fundamental practice taught in the Mindful Self-Compassion Training. It can be used in any difficult situation or to deal with challenging emotions such as shame. Please settle into a comfortable position and close your eyes. Think of an...
Compassionate U-Turn
This meditation was developed by Dr. Chris Germer: Instructions “Please find a comfortable position and take a few deep, delicious breaths. Allow yourself to settle into your body and your chair.” Soft Gaze “Please bring to mind a face, especially the eyes, of a...
Connecting with the Wish to Be Loved
This resourcing practice meditation was offered by Dr. Chris Germer during his recent workshop on 'The Antidote to Shame'. It is designed to help us experience the innocence of our shame - that it comes from a universal wish to be seen and loved. Instructions...
Compassionate Friend Meditation
This meditation helps us discover and connect with a wise and compassionate presence within ourselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_4YxrMjagk
My Balm by Jane O’Shea
I close my eyes and sigh, and here I am lying in the hammock in my heart. Moving gently, with the soft air of my breath. When I fall from my head past my words, I’m caught lovingly by the hammock of my heart and rocked to its rhythmic beat. It is my peace, my rest, my...
Kindness
Kindness Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be...
Our Story
Start with the ground you know, the pale ground beneath your feet, your own way to begin the conversation. from Start Close In by David Whyte That’s what we did. We started close in with long time friends and colleagues. With our own hearts and minds. ...