The Compassionate Friend Meditation is an imagery based practice where you open to welcoming a "compassionate friend" whose presence is unconditionally loving and compassionate. This "compassionate friend" can be based on someone you know who cares deeply about you, it can be a combination of the qualities that you admire in multiple other people, or it could be an imagined "compassionate friend," who offers the unconditional love you need.

Compassionate Friend - MSC

Soften, Soothe, Allow is an informal practice from Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) Program for working with difficult emotions. 

It includes labelling emotions, finding the emotions in the body and caring for and comforting ourselves — physically (softening), emotionally (soothing) and mentally (allowing.) 

It is ideally suited for those taking the MSC Program or reading the workbook. 

There is no bell at the end.

Soften Sooth Allow

From Center for Mindful Self-Compassion Public Circles of Practice.

Stop, Be Still, Put It All Down, And Rest (with Kindness) - Short Form.

You do not have to carry all of It, all the time. Profound peace comes from letting it all go, putting it all down, however you want to say it. It doesn't mean pushing it away, though. It means releasing it, releasing the grip it has on you. And since this is MSC, we do this with a profound sense of kindness, compassion, and tenderness. Because the act of putting it down can be painful. And because there is pain, our move is to be kind. This takes lots of practice...practice putting it down and practice being kind while doing so.

Stop, Be still, Put it all down, Rest (with kindness) - short version

In this meditation, Kristen guides you through one of the three core Mindful Self-Compassion program's meditation: Loving Kindness for Ourselves. The meditator uses phrases they've developed on their own to offer themselves loving kindness. If you do not have your own phrases you may repeat the phrases: May I be Happy; May I be Healthy; May I be Peaceful; May I Live with Ease.

Loving Kindness for Ourselves

Jennifer is the founder of Ottawa Meditation & Wellness and a skilled teacher who has experience working with adults with a range of challenges, including anxiety, depression, trauma, and chronic pain, as well with those who are simply looking for new tools to build resilience and meet the stressors inherent in daily life. She trained at the University of Massachusetts and UC San Diego medical schools and is certified by both Brown University and the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. Her teaching is grounded in her personal mindfulness practice combined with experience and extensive training. Her desire to teach comes from personally experiencing the transformative benefits of the practice and fuels her passion to teach and serve others.

Ottawa Meditation & Wellness offers mindfulness meditation, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and Mindful Self-Compassion workshops and classes, day-long retreats, and talks to individuals, groups and in organizations. For more information please visit: omwellness.ca

Karen is passionate about helping people to find greater happiness, ease & presence in life. An internationally qualified mindfulness, meditation & yoga teacher, she spends her days immersed in sharing the benefits & practices of mindfulness and compassion through teaching mindfulness based programs in the community & facilitating workshops in the corporate, education, elite sport, health & justice areas. Observing how mindful living changes individuals & teams, Karen believes mindfulness can change the world.

New tracks tagged #mindful self-compassion