102. Compassion Meditation (Depression and Anxiety Coping Skills Podcourse)

December 23, 2023

This is a simple, yet powerful compassion meditation that you can do at any time. This practice can help create greater self-compassion and enhance your ability to be present with others in times of need.

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This episode is part of our Podcourse! To get the most of the course, you may want to follow along in order, beginning with episode #78 and you can visit the Podcourse Page to find all the episodes. However, these episodes can be listened to in any order and you can take action with any strategy that you feel connected to.
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Episode Transcript

Welcome to Joy Lab!: Welcome to the Joy Lab podcast, where we help you uncover and foster your most joyful self. Your hosts, Dr. Henry Emmons and Dr. Aimee Prasek, bring you the ideal mix of soulful and scientifically sound tools to spark your joy, even when it feels dark. When you're ready to experiment with more joy, combine this podcast with the full Joy Lab program over at JoyLab.coach

Henry: This is the compassion meditation, and this is a practice that you can do as often as you'd like. This is something that can be really helpful towards creating greater self compassion, but also if you're working with someone, let's say you're in health care or you have a friend or a relative who's sick or not doing well. Struggling in some way. It's a great way to increase your own capacity to be present with them in a really meaningful way. To create a greater ability to sit with yourself or another with compassion.

So getting into that nice, comfortable, relaxed meditation stance. Whether you're sitting or laying down or on a cushion. Holding yourself upright but not rigid. Comfortable and relaxed, but also awake and alert.

Allow yourself just a moment to really sink into the cushion or chair. To sink into this moment in time.

And then invite your breathing to help deepen and help your mind to still.

Bring your awareness now gently to your heart center. And that is right in the central area of your chest, not your literal physical heart, but right in the middle, right above and below and around the breastbone. If it's helpful, you can place your hand or both hands over your heart just to help bring your attention there.

But if you'd prefer, you can just mentally bring your awareness to the heart.

We're going to start by holding ourselves with compassion. It's always good to start with yourself.

So picture yourself in your mind's eye at some time in your life, maybe now, maybe in the near past, maybe a long time ago. Sometime when you were really struggling, when you really weren't feeling good about yourself or were feeling really stressed or burdened or, or maybe grieving or sad. Some time when you were suffering, as we all do.

Try to see yourself as you were at that time in your life.

And see if you can view yourself as being as innocent as you in fact were. That no matter what this is, at that time, you were doing the best that you could.

Hold yourself blameless.

And invite that image of yourself Into your heart center right now, in this moment.

As if you could hug yourself or hold yourself.

Filling your being as much as you can with compassion for this earlier version of yourself.

If it's helpful, you can silently repeat a phrase to this suffering part of yourself:

" May you be free from suffering."

"May you be at peace."

"May you forgive yourself."

As best you can, give this other part of yourself the kind of attention and care and loving kindness that you did not receive at that earlier time.

But you can receive it now.

When you're ready, you can allow this image , this memory to go.

And invite up some other person. Invite their image and memory into your mind. Someone who you might know right now is struggling in some way.

Or someone from some time in the past.

As best you can, just see this person for who they are. Acknowledge the suffering that they're experiencing. And hold them in your heart right now with tenderness and compassion.

Again, you might find it helpful to repeat a phrase: " May you be free from suffering."

" May you be at peace."

" May you be healed."

And now, when you're ready, just allow any images to go. Just release them, wish them well. And place your attention for a moment on your heart center right now in this moment. Just feeling whatever is there.

Grateful for any degree of tenderness, warmth, compassion.

And even if you don't feel any of those things. See if you can invite yourself to be grateful just for these moments of quiet. And this intention that you have to become more compassionate.

And whenever you're ready, bring yourself back to your breath.

Back to your body. To this seat or cushion. To this space.

102. Compassion Meditation (Depression and Anxiety Coping Skills Podcourse)

This is a simple, yet powerful compassion meditation that you can do at any time. This practice can help create greater self-compassion and enhance your ability to be present with others in times of need.

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