Name: CFT - Soothing Rhythm Breathing by The Compassion Initiative
Duration: 9 min 14 s
Description: These tracks feature Dr James Kirby delivering Compassion-Focused Therapy exercises in order to help build individual's own compassionate self.

This exercise on our compassionate image is to help us imagine a compassionate other and open to the flow of receiving compassion. Although you are receiving compassion from this image, it has been generated from within you, so you are in effect both giving and receiving compassion. It is a way of developing an inner guide that you can consult when you are struggling. 

This exercise is taken from The Compassionate Mind Approach to Postnatal Depression by Michelle Cree (Robinson 2015), with permission from the author and Little, Brown Book Group.

Compassionate Image

An exercise to help you notice when you are in your senses as opposed to in your mind and when you are acting to move towards what's important to you as opposed to acting to escape from difficult internal experiences. 

ACT matrix warm up

This is a brief variation on the Compassionate Self Imagery practice recorded during a training by Dr.  Dennis Tirch. Any mild background noise is just a part of the nature of this "field recording." With metta, DT

Compassionate Self - 12 Minute Variation

These tracks feature Dr James Kirby delivering Compassion-Focused Therapy exercises in order to help build individual's own compassionate self.

CFT - Soothing Rhythm Breathing

This is an imagery practice that uses our brain's ability to imagine things (and it's inability to know the difference between reality and what is imagined) to move toward soothing.

Compassionate colour

Paul Gilbert
Founder of Compassion Focused Therapy

Paul Gilbert is a pioneer of compassion-focused therapy. He’s a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Derby. In his work, he has drawn on insights from Buddhist tradition as well as evolutionary psychology. His compassion training teaches people to quieten critical or hostile inner voices in order to treat themselves more kindly. That can mean working on breath, posture and tone of voice. Learning to feel compassion towards ourselves is a skill that can be taught.

Cultivating the Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert

The compassionate ideal image

A practice to step you through ways of activating your body's calming system; feeling grounded, sensing the rhythm of your breath, aware of an upright and receptive posture, physical touch and connection to a warm and friendly tone to your inner voice. Practicing this formally will assist you to come more readily to these skills informally in your everyday life when you need them.

Tina Gibson's Album

Activating your calming-caring system

This imagery exercise is a central practice in Compassion Focused Therapy.  It involves deliberating creating an image of your compassionate mind as a personified being.  The details surrounding the practice can be found in the CFT series from New Harbinger publications.  It is advisable to work with a therapist or teacher when engaging these exercises. It is also a good idea to learn more about this practice in its context through any of the CFT series of books. To find out more, visit mindfulcompassion.com.

Compassionate Self Imagery

Soothing Colour Meditation is a 9:24min guided meditation and may assist you to experience soothing and calm.  This meditation has been adapted from the Soothing Colour Imagery meditation from The Compassionate Mind Workbook by Irons & Beaumont

Soothing Colour Meditation

Compassionate Other Imagery

Welcome to The Compassion Initiative Podcast Series. This Podcast series features Dr Stan Steindl and Dr James Kirby, both Clinical Psychologists. Stan and James are the co-founders of The Compassion Initiative. The podcast series is a relaxed informal ongoing conversation between Stan and James about issues related to compassion. You can access and subscribe to the Podcast on our website: www.thecompassioninitiative.com.au

CFT - Soothing Rhythm Breathing

The Compassion Initiative

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