As I move into the fall season and prepare to teach another Mindful Self-Compassion program, I see the registrations coming in and am so excited for each person who chooses this adventure. I feel privileged to accompany them, to support, teach, facilitate, witness the journey. I know also that I will learn just as much as they will. Each class I teach feels like a meditation to me, taking me deeper and deeper into my self-compassion practice. Resting in the comfort of the curriculum, trusting the format that holds us safely and gently together, I prepare by reflecting on my own journey with self-compassion. How will I bring my own self forward? What have I learned on this journey since the last course I taught?
I am reminded of the tension I have felt holding the excitement of first finding Mindful Self-Compassion with the part of me that just didn’t quite get it. Of my frustration at times at being such a slow learner. Why was it taking me so long? Meanwhile life carried on and I practiced my new tools and practiced and practiced.
Recently as I went through a struggle, I noticed that something had shifted. I had a different felt sense of myself as I felt the pain and practiced self-compassion. There was something more solid within me. I felt my own presence, my own back, my own heart. The pain was real. And so was I. In that realization I was more able to choose to proceed according to my values of how I want to live and love.
It’s been four years of practice. Four years of teaching. I am still a slow learner, but I now I have a little deeper understanding, a calmer patience and a solid practice of cultivating loving, connected presence. I hope to remember this as I introduce these amazing and still quite radical tools to a new group of participants this fall.
There is still room if you are interested in joining us.
Warmly,
Victoria Pawlowski, M.Ed., R.C.C.
Trained Teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion
Trained Teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion
