Mindful Compassion series
Spring to Summer
Put simply the aim of these ateliers is to be more aware, more often with kindness towards what we find. Through this awareness we can transform our experiences. We begin to practice stepping out of the habitual doing mode by paying attention, intentionally, mindfully, compassionately, to sensations of the body and to aspects of everyday experiences. Weaving home practice and the teachings into your daily lives offers an opportunity to deepen your experience and support you on this mindful path to self-compassion. Moving towards knowing ourselves and accepting what we find with kindness, opening up to the potential healing that this can bring us.
If this is your first session previous experience is not necessary and beginners’ minds are always encouraged for those who have been regularly attending.
Each week we will build on the practices and committing to a weekly session allows you to maximise the benefits of the techniques, and allows for consistency of social contact and support in our different corners of the world.
The atelier follows the following format:
Meditation
Poem (you’ll find this included in session notes)
Tea meditation
Sharing space (opportunity to pause, reflect or journal about your direct experience of the practice)
A closing Meditation and invitation for home pratice
What do I need to prepare?
Each practice will be either a sitting, movement or lying down, for meditation hints and tips have a look at this handout HERE. Ideally in advance of the session you’ll need:
Use a chair, cushions or a stool
Enough space for an exercise mat on the floor
Enough space to move your arms around your body from standing
Any props for comfort and warmth (see the handout mentioned)
A glass of water or warm drink for the tea meditation.
Atelier One
Settle down and fall awake, honour the time and space you have carved out of your busy life to take this an active step in taking care of your health and wellbeing.
You can do the practice from a sitting position, or lying down if you wish, listening to your needs is the most important part of the practice.
The poem this week was called Now You See It by Ron Padgett and the home practice is an invitation to do a this ten minute body scan over the next six days.
Atelier Two
In this atelier we practice a mindfulness of breath. You can do the practice from a sitting position, or lying down if you wish, listening to your needs is the most important part of the practice. Settle down and fall awake, honour the time and space you have carved out of your busy life to take this an active step in taking care of your health and wellbeing.
The poem this week was called Mysteries, Yes by Mary Oliver and the
Home practice is an invitation to do the parasympathetic breathing technique over the next six days.
Breathing In for 4 counts . Hold for 2. Breathing out for 5 to 8 counts. Hold for 2. Repeat for 3 minutes. You can use the final part of the recording for guidance if you find this helpful.
Atelier Three
In this atelier we practice a mindfulness of breath and sounds. You can do the practice from a sitting position, or lying down if you wish, listening to your needs is the most important part of the practice.
The poem this week was called What to Remember When Waking by David Whyte and the home practice is the affectionate breathing meditation, a nine minute practice to support developing those neural pathways you’ve trained in the session today. Once a day is ideal.
Atelier Four
In this atelier we practice a compassionate body scan. In this meditation we bring warmhearted attention to each part of the body in a variety of ways, moving from one part to another, practices how to be with each part of our body in a kind and compassionate way. If any area of your body is too difficult to stay with, feel free to move your attention to another part of the body for a while. Stay in touch with what you need, moment to moment. Allow your experience to be just as it is, just as you are, with great tenderness and kindness.
The poem was Sweet Darkness by David Whyte.
Your home practice for the week is an 12 minute mindful compassion practice.
Atelier Five
In this atelier we practice a mindful compassion based gratitude practice. Gratitude is a key to happiness. When we’re feeling grateful, our body calms, and we feel at peace in all realms of our lives. There is a basic principle in psychology called "Reciprocal Inhibition"; we can't feel two contradicting states at once. Apparently it’s impossible to feel grateful and stressed at the same time.
The poem this week was called I Could Name Some Names by Lucia Perillo and the home practice I invite you to have a go at sitting in quiet without guidance bringing your attention to your breath and body before moving into exploring one object, then one moment and then one person or living being you are grateful for. If this is too much there is also a short gratitude meditation, it’s just under ten minutes.
In moments of stress the gratitude technique of object, moment and can act as a pause button, recalling an object, moment and living being to be grateful for activate the prefrontal cortex and can move us away from feeling panic.
Atelier Six
In this atelier we practice a mindful compassion, a loving kindness meditation. We will be working on two particular, areas of the brain; the insula – a region near the front part of the brain linked to bodily representations of emotion, and the temporal parietal juncture – linked to the perception of others’ mind states and emotions Both areas are linked to one’s capacity for sharing emotions and empathising with others. The beauty of this meditation is that it shows you that you can practice being loving and kind just as much as you can practice a particular recipe, and you can become far better at it, studies have shown by undertaking this practice we can become more generous. If you’d like to explore anything that comes up for you within the practice please do reach out, this can be a particularly juicy one so take care and follow the instructions only if it feels right for you.
The poem was No Title Required by Wislawa Szymborska
Your home practice for the week is a mindful walking exercise. You can find a guidance here, the invitation is to do this in a small space, walking up and down or around in a circle for around 10 minutes or more.
Details of the Wellbeing Invitation I discussed can be found here
Atelier Seven
In this atelier we practice a mindful breath and movement practice. Having a moisturiser of some sort for a hand and face massage will be helpful but not essential.
The poem this week was called What Are Years by Marianne Moore, its message, at least as I interpret it, is about finding happiness through the acceptance of one's circumstances and inevitable earthly end.
Our home practice is a compassion practice of either 10 minutes or 30 Minutes You are invited to fill in a Self-compassion scale and put it to one side, it’s something you can look at again in a few weeks, it something for your reference only. I’ll prompt you to explore your own findings in a months time, if you have any queries or concerns do please reach out.
Atelier Eight
In this atelier we practice a mindful compassion practice and close with a breathing space. Set yourself up in either a sitting or lying position, as you like.
The poem this week was called The Sun by Mary Oliver
In this weeks home practice you are invited to alternate between a compassion practice and a mindfulness practice. They are 10 minutes each, which ever you chose one day use the other practice for the next day. This integrates the work we have been doing together throughout the meditation atelier, those neural pathways get a fabulous workout.
Atelier Nine
This week we explore resting in longer periods of quiet in mindfulness of breath. Observing our experience of ourselves as we drop into the sensations we experience. An invitation to be patient with yourself and the process, open to the now, recognising that things can emerge in their own time. Set yourself up in either a sitting or lying position, as you like.
The poem this week is called 'The House of Belonging' by David Whyte. He's a wonderful poet, his observations of humanity and existence are beautiful, reading it aloud moved me to tears by the poem.
In this weeks home practice you are invited again to alternate between a compassion practice - affectionate breathing and a mindfulness practice - movement. They are 10 minutes each, which ever you chose one day use the other practice for the next day. This continues the integration of the skills you are learning.
Atelier Ten
This week we begin with a longer mindful compassion practice followed by a mindfulness of breath to close the space. You may notice you are beginning to become more familiar with the practices at this stage, be intentional with bringing a beginners mind, willing yourself to see everything with fresh curiosity, open to wonder and being with the not knowing.
The poem this week is from The Dance by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
In this weeks home practice you are invited again to alternate between a compassion practice - labelling emotions and a mindfulness practice - mindfulness of thoughts. They are 10 minutes each, which ever you chose one day use the other practice for the next day. This continues the integration of the skills you are learning.
Atelier Eleven
We begin with a mindful sitting practice and close with a shorter compassion practice. Allow the present to be the way it is without trying to fix it. Being versus Doing; be with what is versus goals. Moving out of the perpetual human tendency to want to hold on to the pleasant and get rid of the unpleasant, linking into the natural flow of reality, the coming and going.
The poem this week is a fun offering called The Cookie Thief by Valerie Cox. I think we can all relate to the experience one way or another.
In this weeks home practice you are invited again to alternate between a compassion practice - soften and allow, which we practiced quickly in the session and a mindfulness practice. They’re both around 10 minutes and you are hopefully forming a habit of taking this time for yourself daily.
Atelier Twelve
We finish the meditation in the series, a body scan. An invitation to honour the time you have taken out of your busy life to settle into the space of you body, learning to pay attention, listen to it's messages and learn its language. Take with you that your body and breath are always there to anchor yourself in the present moment, giving us an opportunity to pause. It has been an honour to be a part of your journey, thank you for joining me.
The ateliers and the practices will remain on this page until the new series beginning in September. Have a wonderful summer.
May you be well. May you be at ease. May you be kind to yourself and others. Warmly, Josephine.