Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for the next five minutes. Sit or lie down comfortably, close your eyes, and allow yourself to simply follow along.
When you’re ready, press play.
What did you notice?
When the practice is complete, take a moment before moving on. What did you see? What became clearer?
Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for the next five minutes. Sit or lie down comfortably, close your eyes, and allow yourself to simply follow along.
When you’re ready, press play.
Self-Compassion Guided Visualization
What did you notice?
When the practice is complete, take a moment before moving on. What did you see? What became clearer?
Watching myself walking, tiding up the house, in pain, where it should be a fun time of life after retirement. It makes me sad and would like to help this person.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience of the visualization, Renee. I’m sorry to hear you’re in pain. That can be challenging enough, but the added expectation that you should be having a different life experience than you are now likely makes it even worse. Fortunately, you were able to access some compassion for the person you were viewing in the exercise. What are some ways you could help this person? Are you willing to journal about this to see if you could come up with 10 ideas? It would be a lovely first step to show her you’re in her corner.
I truly saw myself as others must see me for the first time. I was able to clearly see how trapped they were. It made me feel sad for the person but I also felt a strong desire to help.
I saw myself about to start the usual hard heavy work with horses in winter, then suddenly I was alone on a beautiful beach I love looking at the sea. Not sure what she needed , so did the meditation again. This time I was on a horse riding in beautiful mountain scenery, but the path became high and dangerously narrow. I thought ”How do I get out of this one”, then an eagle arrived to carry me off. lol Although I still wasn’t sure what she needed, I feel very peaceful. Thankyou Alex
You are most welcome, Helena. Please feel free to revisit the imagery whenever you need to touch into a view of yourself through the eyes of compassion. You never know what circumstances will arise when it will be most helpful.
I saw her walking into work wearing the purple & black scrubs she puts on every day….not exactly joyous, but neither is she fully suffering. I see the inner struggles.
I am not feeling great about myself today and this visualization is a timely experience. I am wondering…when someone is beginning meditation or breathwork, is it common for old patterns/negativity to surface?
Thank you
Thank you for sharing your experience with me, Jaclyn. I’m happy to hear my visualization was timely for you.
Were you able to get an understanding of what would be helpful for who you saw in purple and black scrubs? The one who was not exactly joyous but not fully suffering?
What does she need? How can you provide that?
Also, to answer your question—here’s my experience with meditation: The fact that you’re starting to bring awareness to your life and SEE how you are BEING is a real threat to the voices of ego and karmic conditioning. It’s hard to control you, cause you to suffer, or be an influence in your life if you’re conscious. So, yes, anything that pulls you back into unconsciousness, suffering, and negativity is definitely possible. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s “par for the course.”
If you’d like to talk about this, just contact me, and I’d gladly set up a time to have a conversation with you.
You are most welcome, Liza. Sometimes what helps us access self-compassion is seeing ourselves from the outside—like others who love and care for us do. I’m happy to hear you had the intended experience!
I saw myself in my kitchen talking to my children, distracted driving to work and rushing through the day- kind to others but limited in the amount I engage, listen and offer of myself.
I saw the underlying anxiety and fear in my being. Two tears of compassion for this woman slid down my cheeks.
I am ready for this thought detaching, heart opening work. Thank you, Alex for offering it.🙏
Thank you for sharing this, it brought so many feelings back from the Heart to Heart retreat and reminded me to keep being compassionate with myself and not let the voices take over again. Also reminds me how a little time and (consistent) effort can bring about awesome results!
Yes! This visualization is VERY short, takes little-to-no time to do, YET…(to your point)…it can bring about awesome results. No reason not to bring yourself back to your heart every day!
BTW – It’s so good to hear from you, Zoe. I’ve been wondering how you’ve been doing since you completed all of my retreats and online programs.
You are most welcome, Tracie. I’m happy to hear the visualization was helpful to you. Please feel free to revisit it whenever you need some more beauty and love in your day!
You’re very welcome, Daniel! I’m happy to hear you had an insight into the judgments you hear about yourself. If you’re ready to do something about it, let me know because there is an action plan you can take to help free you up!
Thank you Alex! ye I’m working on them, they are based on images of perfection. I am working on seeing the holes in the logic of these images. They are all about how I “should” be.
Hi Alex,
I don’t know what to write (or voices in my mind say that) I’ll try to share something though 🙂 I saw me being alright until interacting with people I was kind of confused and scared I think. I also saw that I seem to not being connected with similar minded woman where I could exchange experiences and support each other. I know I can myself too but that would be a lovely next step 🙂
Perhaps spend some time looking to see how you could help yourself connect with similar-minded women (so that you can exchange experiences and support each other).
The advantage of seeing yourself from this perspective—witnessing yourself confused and scared while interacting with people—is that you can now take steps to guide her to make some positive changes.
She needs help. What would help? How can you help? See how you can help.
Luckily, you’re in my online retreat and you’re going to learn all about this! More coming soon…
this was nice I enjoyed very much! I felt so much love and saw that this person take on just too much. The person who came and helped took me out to horse riding galloping in an open field. And I felt myself smiling😊🙏
I imagine that the person who showed up just wanted to give you a pleasant experience of presence away from the pressure of taking on so much. The open field of non-doing.
Excellent, Terri. Please feel free to do this guided visualization as many times as you’d like. My recommendation would be to journal how you would help yourself afterward to gain even more actionable insights. 🙏
Alex, I found this transported me to a place of non self-judgement, self-compassion and self-love, so beautiful. A message that I need to be kinder and gentler on myself. Thank you. Namaste.
It’s funny, I had a very similar experience the night before when I found myself suddenly in an inner story about how my son will see me once he grows up to become a young man. I now looked at myself and in this exercise, first went through emotions of… sadness. pity. shame. frustration. anger. And then came compassion. She is so insecure! She is so yearning for simply to be loved. This was a very powerful exercise and visualization, thank you.
It sounds like you had some incredible insights, Hanna. It’s true, she is SO yearning to simply be loved. And she’s lucky she has you—someone who’s willing to do the work to help yourself.
The online retreat you’re signing up for is going to have an incredible impact on your relationship with yourself. I’m excited for you!
Hi Alex! A great experience! It was a very different approach. Observing myself in this way was difficult. When the narrator said ‘how could you help yourself/this person?’ My immediate response was ‘I dont know’ . Why did I think that? I think I need to repeat the exercise for the process to take effect. I wonder if my inner voice was telling me I wasn’t worthy even though I sm very aware of my strengths. Maybe it was the process of trying to observe ‘me’ visually and my expressions and body movements are not obvious to me because I dont observe myself in that way. It made it seem like I was a ‘stranger’ but being ‘kind’ to the stranger wasn’t difficult as I am like that to others. My conclusion is I think I need to work on my self compassion much more. Thankyou ❤
Hi, Gillian! I would encourage you to do the visualization again. It’s very short. Sometimes it can be tough to do something like this on the spot. Sometimes it’s not obvious what would help the person in the imagery for the reasons you gave. And sometimes, the voices do creep in and make the whole process challenging. In fact, one woman who did the visualization sent me an email to tell me that she felt a lot of anxiety listening, a lot of judgment, negative talk, couldn’t really get out of her head at all. So all experiences are possible!
Thank you Alex. You present that so well 🙏. My problem is I thought it was so good my mind flipped to wanting to share it with my friend who is a new member of your group before it had ended😏😀. Susan
Good to see, Susan! In awareness practice, it’s always helpful to observe how and where your attention gets directed and redirected. Please feel free to listen to this guided visualization again anytime you’d like. One retreatant who did my online retreat, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, listened to it every day before the retreat began! She claimed it was powerful for her to do this. Perhaps it would be for you too.
For the first time I visited myself & spoke to me ‘the person ‘ of a plan to improve my life & not live the life of a dead person.
So I’m going to keep trying with your visualisation guidance till I can believe in me and put into positive, constructive life action.
Thank you for your help and look forward to hearing from you again.
Mary.
I’m happy you have started to speak of a plan to improve your life with the person you saw in the imagery. She needs your assistance because the horrible voices in her head would have her live the life of a dead person. And she’s not. She needs you to help her stay in constructive life action! She’s counting on you!
Yes, please continue to listen to this imagery and discover new ways to be a light for her. Again, she’s counting on you.
Thank you for your reply Alex.
I keep thinking the only way to improve myself is to lose weight & go to the gym.
What stops me?
“I don’t want to work that hard”
“ I don’t want to deprive myself of all the comfort food”
How can I motivate myself when I am sad & lonely & think that no one cares?
It’s not good is it?
You’re the first person I’ve been able to say this too.
Thank you for listening & offerings of help & advice; all are most gratefully accepted.
Thank you for your kindness.
Mary. 🙏
You are most welcome, Mary. The shifts you’re looking for are from “self-improvement” to “self-acceptance.”
When you can look at yourself and see yourself as someone who deserves your care and attention, then you simply become motivated to help. If losing weight and feeling good is what will take good care of her, you will look to see what you can do to provide that for her. Maybe it doesn’t have to be hard work. Perhaps it can be fun (?) Maybe you can research how to make healthy “comfort food.” Perhaps instead of “deprivation of the good stuff” and an “enforcement of the hard stuff,” it could be some good stuff and some hard stuff balanced out (?)
To your question about “how can I motivate myself when I am sad & lonely & think that no one cares?” my recommendation would be to consider doing my 30-day online retreat, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring. That’s what will turn everything around.
Thank you for trusting me enough to share what you’re sharing. May you be kinder to yourself than you think you should be…
It made me cry to see this person struggling with all kinds of things realizing how actually unhappy she is because she has not yet succeeded in living herself and is therefore seeking love from orhers
Thank you for sharing your experience here, Anita. Were you able to feel compassion for her while you were crying? Did you get a sense of what would help her and how you could assist her? She feels unhappy and thinks that she hasn’t succeeded in living herself and is, therefore, looking for love from others. What does she need to know from you?
Thank you very much dear Alex for replying!
I felt that she needs to learn to love herself and that she still has to learn a lot to achieve this.
You are most welcome, Anita.
Please consider how you plan to help her. Perhaps you can love her and that would make all the difference in the world for her.
Feel free to revisit this visualization again to connect with her.
Hi Alex,
This was really useful even though I’m doing the course at the moment, between the course and your posts on FB there’s a lovely serendipity with the way things are playing out. I did the self visualisation and said what this person needs is love and encouragement. Thanks again.
Your level of engagement is incredibly admirable, Karene. You’ve jumped from reading my book to doing my online meditation workshop to doing my 30-day online retreat and now you’re showing up here to do these visualizations, etc. There’s no stopping a person who moves from simply reading and gathering information to actively participating, practicing and engaging in transformation. It makes all the difference in the world.
I can’t wait to see what happens for you as a result of your dedication. Keep practicing and keep showing up!
Thank you Alex, what a beautiful way to start my weekend. As I observed myself going about my day I noticed that I loved being helpful and showing kindness to others. I also realised that I have learned to show those things to myself, by self care, by doing things just for my own benefit so that I am refreshed and renewed daily. You have blessed me mightily with your Heart to Heart Compassionate Self-Mentoring course. The benefits just continue to show up, and I am a better person since doing the online course… have a blessed weekend. Maureen
You are most welcome, Maureen. What a lovely surprise to see your comment here this morning. I’m so happy that the retreat is still giving back to you after all these years. Thank you for sharing that with me. It gives me great motivation to continue working as hard as I do to make it available.
Thank you for the meditation I felt so sad for the woman I saw myself always alone at home all day crying or in bed & so absent when really I’ve always loved being surrounded by people I saw the fear the woman had & all I wanted to do was hand out my hand to her & tell her Come with me You don’t have to be afraid I’m here for you. I felt sad for the woman I don’t know if that’s compassion but I really felt for her & wanted to help her out of where she is
Thank you Alex
It sounds like compassion to me, Yalta. Especially the part about you wanting to help her out from where she is. That’s what a good mentor would try to do. Love her exactly as she is and help her to become anyway she wants to be.
I loved the method. Bit hurried if I may add. It was interesting to try to see myself on the big screen. It was difficult to visualise myself. So I did it again. I saw a happy and an active me. Then I saw myself looking out at a placid lake bit sad and lonely. Then a man came and sat beside me and put his arm around me. I felt comfortable and warm. He was not my husband.
Thank you for your feedback, Mamta. Whatever experience you had was perfect — there’s no right or wrong way to do this. That said, I’m glad you decided to do the exercise again. I actually encourage people to do it repeatedly, to see what’s present for them and what they may need for support. I appreciate you taking the time to do this and comment here.
A lovley mediation, very different from ones I normally do. I really liked that you in essence seperate from yourself. I found that distance helpful, and it gave me some good insights. Thank you for the opportunity to participate
You are most welcome, Theresa. I’m glad you found it helpful to have that distance. I also hope you found some ways to support yourself going forward. Please feel free to revisit this meditation whenever you need this perspective again.
I saw myself repeating the same patterns of behaviour as always, and saw that the me on the screen needs an injection of courage in order to get through the difficult moments.
Wow! I completely experienced things about myself I’m currently working on. 1 thing I didn’t know showed up. I’m definitely going to begin working on that. Thanks so much!!
I actually felt quite powerless through this when I was observing as I see what needs helping with but there is so very much that starting with one thing leads on to so many others in different aspects of life, that it is going to be a long process for me to heal.
Can you start with just one thing? It’s much easier to focus on one thing at a time than all the different aspects of your life.
My encouragement would be to pick just one and see how you’d like to help yourself take the tiniest action possible toward helping yourself. Revisit this visualization again. See how you can move forward. Keep doing that until you’re on the road to being loved and cared for the way you want to be.
And stay in action. There’s no rush. It can be a long time. Who cares? What else can be more important?
I hate to say it, and really, it’s just me….but I didn’t feel anything. I don’t visualize well and my focus is even worse. I’m sure this visualization would work really well for someone more advanced. And I want to thank you for the time it took to make this audio and for sharing the visualization. It just didn’t impact me in any way but like I said, I think that’s just me.
There was absolutely no requirement for you to feel anything (by the way, I don’t believe you. You felt something. Just not what you expected to). Maybe you felt frustration. Maybe your attention was on all the voices in your head and what they were saying. How you don’t visualize well and your focus is even worse. It would make sense that you’d have a hard time seeing yourself if you couldn’t get through the noise.
If you’re up for it, my encouragement would be to listen again. And again. I’d also encourage you to learn how to practice Zen meditation. So it can help you with your focus of attention. I teach it online and on-demand here.
This experience was a first for me. I stayed concentrated on the visualization probably at least 80%. I will repeat tomorrow. At some point it brought tears to my eyes when you asked about the struggles. But still smiled and felt good inside when finished. Thank you Alex.
I’m glad you stuck with the experience and did it, Toula. I hope your tears came with an understanding of what the woman you were watching was struggling with. I hope there was some compassion for her.
I have a feeling that the smile came when you considered how you could help her. That’s why I know it would be a good idea for you to repeat the exercise tomorrow. Feel free to let me know how that goes when you do, okay?
Hey Alex… Thanks for sharing.
It helped me actually see what I seek from myself right now which love, light and compassion.
Sending you lots of love, light..
Alex,
I saw this person as light and energetic and free. She make everything seem easy. These are things I find hard. I look at her and see that she is stepping out and letting go. Not letting fear guide her
This made me realize I do not focus on myself at all during the day, I see myself running around doing for others all day.
I think I will do this visualization daily and try to be more compassionate to me!
Thank you Alex..
I hope you were able to have your insight that you don’t focus on yourself at all during your day with understanding and compassion. Most of us don’t focus on ourselves. We just get up and do-do-do…non stop…until we hopefully get some sleep upon crashing.
Yes, please do this visualization daily. Practice seeing yourself through the eyes of compassion and ask yourself the questions I asked you in the imagery. Support yourself to slow down and focus a bit more on you. It will only improve everything!
Thank you for doing the visualization and leaving a comment here, Kimberly. Your participation models to others that it’s safe to share here and can potentially help them. We’re all doing this work together!
oh boy, immediate sadness and tears. My mind jumped from being judgey to being beyond sad. The tears lasted the whole time – I tried visualizing myself in the “now” – pure sadness of all the bad choices that put me here. Then I tried to visualize myself in the near future and all I could do is judge and feel jealous as to how did “she” get out of these bad choices and be put in such a nice “place” – more tears. After I was done with the meditation I tried very hard to understand and give myself compassion towards how I felt. I was surprised at how strongly I felt the sadness – the depth of it. I have known for awhile that I do not like my situation and I am in the process of making changes but I cannot get away from judging myself on all my past choices that brought me here – at 57 I am regretting tons and I don’t know how to forgive myself.
I tried the meditation again and the same reaction – though this time my tears stopped before the meditation ended.
I have been using different meditations I find on youtube, trying to find forgiveness and peace of mind. Yoga, acupuncture, sound baths, etc…….. even though it seems like a negative response to this meditation I am very grateful for the opportunity to be taken down this path! I needed to see how deep my self destructive thoughts are and begin to heal my deep scars. Thank you for helping me begin this journey anew!
Sadness and tears are okay. It’s difficult sometimes to be a human being. I hope you were able to see that by doing the visualization. And if not, please consider doing it as many times as necessary until you see yourself as the good person you are — just trying to do her best.
Please keep in mind that the voices in your head are the ones who talk you into “bad choices” — so you can later get beaten up for listening to them in the first place. It’s what I call “the setup/knockdown” process. It’s cruel, unkind and hateful.
So as challenging as it may be to understand this, the voices are the ones judging you and creating the regret. They look at your life and point out everything “wrong” with it. Because that’s how you can continue to suffer.
I would love for you to be able to begin this journey anew. If you haven’t gone to take a look at Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, my 30-day online retreat that accomplishes the transformation you’re looking for, please feel free to read more here: http://www.compassionretreat.com
Please let me know if you have any questions at all. I’m here to help.
Wow Alex this is incredible!!!this took me great places. It made me see myself from a different perspective. I will be practicing this daily and I’m sure it will takes to wonderful places. Thank you for this great experience 🙂
This was amazing to look at your yourself through your own eyes, it made me realize that I’m actually amazing. I’m going to practice it as much as I can because everyday presents itself differently ????
To me, this visualization is the first step into disidentifying from the Paula who is just going about her day to the compassionate witness who can see Paula as another human being (and it sounds like she’s pretty darn amazing!).
Yes, please feel free to bookmark this page and come back to it whenever you need to access this perspective.
You are most welcome, Diane. I’m so happy you got to look at yourself and see what you might need. It’s a small shift, but almost no one has ever been taught how to do this for themselves. We have either been conditioned to put our needs last and focus on others (seeing our own needs as selfish) or been conditioned to put our needs first at the exclusion of others (seeing ourselves as most important and everyone else as threatening). Both sides of the duality keep a human suffering because they don’t work.
The eyes I’m sharing here are the eyes of: Here’s a good human being who just deserves some positive self-regard. How can we assist her?
Thank you for doing the imagery and commenting here! Please feel free to revisit when you need a reminder to see yourself this way.
Wow! At first, I was not happy with my vision of my self on screen and what I saw. Not in a great place right now so definitely hit more buttons that I would like.
However, I loved the turn around.
And I wish there was a few more minutes on the self love part.
We all are different with different needs, so not critzing at all.
Just a few more minutes on self love and acceptance would have really hit the mark for me!
Slone, thank you so much for your thoughtful and honest reply. I am going to take your feedback to heart and see if I can expand the imagery just a touch. Your suggestion to stay on self-love and acceptance is excellent.
That said, it sounds like the visualization did its job. You started by seeing yourself through the eyes of the voices in your head (that focus on the world and you as something wrong/not enough) and shifted to the eyes of compassion (who focus on mentoring, supporting and being kind to you).
Thank you for participating! My encouragement would be to bookmark this page and revisit whenever you need some help.
Thank you for this guided visualisation, it was simple and brief yet powerful enough to let me see my day is spent rushing around a lot.
A little planning and preparation the night before might make my day feel less fraught… especially in the morning! Thank you!!
You are most welcome, Jessica. Yes, the way I like to talk about it is, “it’s a sobering look at how we show up in the world,” which gives us an opportunity to 1) experience compassion for the person we see rushing around a lot and 2) be creative with ways we can help this person — like you did!
Please feel free to revisit this imagery again whenever you need some insights about how to assist yourself.
Very calming voice could see myself, needing to be nurtured and loved. I have been suffering from a cold and it has re energised me. To carry on my day, thank you very much xxx
This was really, really helpful. The breathing guidance at the beginning instantly brought me to a place where I was ready to visualize as you asked. More stunning to me, I (who consider myself to be a compassionate person in general), felt tears come to my eyes as I realized that I could relate to the woman I was watching and I had such compassion for her and wanted to help her, tell her kind things. I’ve been told often by others that I’m too hard on myself and I never took it to heart until this (and I’ve been meditating for just over a year now).
Additionally, I really like your voice – very steady and soothing.
Awesome, Kristen. It can be very touching to see yourself as this woman who needs your compassion, kindness, and help. She wants to hear your kind words and experience your care very much.
Only the voices that are hard on us would hold standards over us about how far we need to be along in our spiritual journey. You ARE a compassionate person and I’m happy you have been meditating — a year is a great accomplishment! AND I want to be sure these aren’t standards the voices are using to make you feel bad about. If they are, my encouragement would be to fold more compassion in. Perhaps a reminder to yourself that you’re doing just fine and that none of this is a contest. Spiritual practice is a process, not an outcome.
Thanks for participating, Kristen. Please feel free to revisit this imagery whenever you’d like (to check-in on how this woman is doing ❤️).
This was very helpful to see myself as someone else may see me. I saw a hard working, focused person who may be “in their head” a bit much. I felt the need to slow this person down and try to get them to smell the roses more. And, to reach out to connect to this person.
“This was very helpful to see myself as someone else may see me.”
Yes, because the visualization disidentified you from seeing the world through “Jane’s Eyes” and asked you to see yourself as another human being: A hard-working, focused woman who may be “in her head” a bit much. We all have the ability to see others with compassion, but it can be challenging to experience ourselves the same way. We get too caught up in our own drama.
So now you know that helping yourself slow down, smell the roses and connect with yourself is in order. Sounds great to me.
Awesome meditation! I saw myself not the way my ego sees me, but the way my spirit sees me. Happy, confident, outgoing and social. I loved seeing how strong my spiritual connection has become.
Thank you, Valerie. The guided visualization asks you step into the heart and eyes of compassion. To see yourself as you are, however that might be. Happy, confident, outgoing, or social as well as sad, self-conscious, alone or in solitude — whatever. Because everything doesn’t always go as planned and it’s helpful to have the perspective of compassion to help guide you along.
Alex, this really hit me on how I should be more compassionate and loving to myself. I was able to really feel and look at myself with fresh eyes not judgmental ones.
Your voice is direct and soothing.
I can’t believe something that was 5 minutes could make me feel so different. Excellent! Thanks so much for sharing!
Mary, isn’t it amazing how a simple shift of perspective can reveal yourself to you in such a profound way? How can you not look at this wonderful human being who is really attempting to do her best and not feel compassion for her? Only the voices in our heads carry this judgment and keep the love and the good stuff from us. “All” (it’s a BIG all!) we need to do is access this new way to see and it can transform our lives for good.
I hope too that you were able to walk away from the visualization with ideas about how you can be more supportive of Mary.
Please consider revisiting this page whenever you need to. I just told Carlie that a grad from my online retreat would listen to this visualization daily before the retreat began to help herself. Feel free to do the same, since it truly is less than 5 minutes long!
Thank you Alex, I saw myself from a different perspective and have an overwhelming feeling of wanting to help myself more. Thank you for showing me “me”. Namaste ????
That’s incredible, Carlie! I’m happy you were able to have this different perspective of yourself. And I love the fact that the feeling to help yourself more was overwhelming!
I hope you walked away with tangible ideas to assist and mentor yourself better. A woman I know comes back to this visualization daily to experience herself from these eyes.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful guided meditation. You are generous and kind. With minimal words you managed to transport me to a place where I found compassion towards myself.
You are most welcome, Paige. I’m so happy you availed yourself of the guided meditation. It truly is very simple, yet incredibly profound. Feel free to revisit the imagery again.
Transform your life and business through mindfulness, meditation, and conscious, compassionate awareness
Hang tight.
I'm taking you to your resources.
error:
A Short Introductory Conversation
This is a relaxed 20-minute conversation.
A chance for us to explore what’s happening in your life, see what feels aligned, and determine whether working together would genuinely support you.
No pressure.
No performance.
No need to prepare anything.
Simply come as you are.
A Short Introductory Conversation
Alex Mill
Short Introductory Conversation
◷20 minutes
◉Zoom details provided upon confirmation
This is simply a chance for us to meet, talk about what’s happening in your life, and see whether working together feels like a good fit.
We may explore what feels aligned, what doesn’t, and any patterns or inner obstacles that seem to be getting in the way.
No pressure. Simply come as you are.
Select date:
Select time:
Duration: 20 min
How to Prepare.
SIMPLE STEPS FOR A MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE
A little preparation helps you create the space you need to be present and get the most from our time together.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Turn off your cell phone. Give this time fully to yourself.
Remove as many distractions as possible. Close browser windows and tabs.
Check your WiFi and volume. A good connection and sound help you stay immersed.
Keep your device plugged in. So you can relax without interruptions.
Let others know you’ll be busy. The workshop is about 90 minutes.
Use the restroom before beginning. Take care of your physical needs first.
Give this workshop your full attention.
Be in an environment where you can be seated and listen to me as though you were in a real, live workshop.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
A journal For notes or reflections that arise.
Something to write with Pen or pencil.
A blank wall to meditate in front of This helps minimize visual distractions.
Something to sit on Meditation cushion, bench, chair, or stool. Use what feels supportive and stable.
When you’re ready, you can view the agreements below.They are here to support clarity, trust, and meaningful transformation in our work together.
Thank you.
Your agreements have been received.
There’s nothing else you need to do right now.
I look forward to beginning our work together.
In lovingkindness,
Working Together
Private coaching is for people who are ready to actively participate in meaningful change over time.
This work is not about quick fixes, motivation, or performance tactics.
It is about learning to meet life with greater awareness, compassion, responsibility, integrity, and freedom.
My clients work with me through ongoing coaching conversations and between-session check-ins.
Coaching ranges from $1,000 to $2,000 per month, depending on the level of engagement.
If you feel called to explore whether this work would support you, you’re welcome to book a conversation.
In my book, Meditation and Reinventing Yourself
It’s a playful and compassionate exploration of meditation, awareness, habits, thoughts, emotions, and the many “voices” that shape our experience of life.
Filled with full-color illustrations, reflections, and practical guidance, this book approaches meditation not as perfection or escape, but as a conscious relationship with ourselves and our lives.
The book is included as part of The Zen Workshop: Taming Your Inner Noise, and is also available separately for those wanting to explore the work more deeply.
A Shift to Love: Zen Stories and Lessons
When I re-entered the world after 14 years of Zen monastic training, people were naturally curious.
Why did I go?
What happened while I was there?
What did you learn?
Why did you leave?
So I shared stories.
Stories from my training.
Stories about suffering, awareness, resistance, compassion, fear, identity, and love.
My “ignoring the piece of trash” story.
My “rescuing worms” story.
My “relationships are like the roof of a house” story.
Each one pointed toward the same thing:
What becomes possible when attention shifts away from the stories in our heads
and back to the heart.
Back to presence.
Back to love.
The Zen Workshop Taming Your Inner Noise
Meditation is not about becoming a different person.
It is the practice of becoming more conscious of your thoughts, emotions, habits, and patterns—and learning how to relate to yourself and your life with greater clarity, compassion, and presence.
In this on-demand video workshop, I share a grounded, approachable introduction to meditation, drawn from nearly 14 years of Zen monastic training and my work as a Zen Life Coach.
Inside the workshop, you’ll learn:
Why meditation matters
How to begin a sustainable practice
What to do when the mind wanders
How awareness changes our relationship to suffering
Included:
A seven-part, 71-minute workshop designed to help you build a sustainable meditation practice
Lessons you can practice at your own pace and return to anytime
Downloadable meditation instructions and guided practice resources
A complimentary ebook to deepen your understanding of meditation
Meditation bells and practice tools to support your daily sitting
A month of encouraging follow-up emails to help you stay consistent
Direct access to me whenever questions arise
A simple practice for slipping out of the story and returning to Life
Watching myself walking, tiding up the house, in pain, where it should be a fun time of life after retirement. It makes me sad and would like to help this person.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience of the visualization, Renee. I’m sorry to hear you’re in pain. That can be challenging enough, but the added expectation that you should be having a different life experience than you are now likely makes it even worse. Fortunately, you were able to access some compassion for the person you were viewing in the exercise. What are some ways you could help this person? Are you willing to journal about this to see if you could come up with 10 ideas? It would be a lovely first step to show her you’re in her corner.
I truly saw myself as others must see me for the first time. I was able to clearly see how trapped they were. It made me feel sad for the person but I also felt a strong desire to help.
That must have been a significant experience—to see yourself as others must see you. How did you feel about yourself, the person others see?
I saw myself about to start the usual hard heavy work with horses in winter, then suddenly I was alone on a beautiful beach I love looking at the sea. Not sure what she needed , so did the meditation again. This time I was on a horse riding in beautiful mountain scenery, but the path became high and dangerously narrow. I thought ”How do I get out of this one”, then an eagle arrived to carry me off. lol Although I still wasn’t sure what she needed, I feel very peaceful. Thankyou Alex
You are most welcome, Helena. Please feel free to revisit the imagery whenever you need to touch into a view of yourself through the eyes of compassion. You never know what circumstances will arise when it will be most helpful.
Thankyou x
I saw her walking into work wearing the purple & black scrubs she puts on every day….not exactly joyous, but neither is she fully suffering. I see the inner struggles.
I am not feeling great about myself today and this visualization is a timely experience. I am wondering…when someone is beginning meditation or breathwork, is it common for old patterns/negativity to surface?
Thank you
Thank you for sharing your experience with me, Jaclyn. I’m happy to hear my visualization was timely for you.
Were you able to get an understanding of what would be helpful for who you saw in purple and black scrubs? The one who was not exactly joyous but not fully suffering?
What does she need? How can you provide that?
Also, to answer your question—here’s my experience with meditation: The fact that you’re starting to bring awareness to your life and SEE how you are BEING is a real threat to the voices of ego and karmic conditioning. It’s hard to control you, cause you to suffer, or be an influence in your life if you’re conscious. So, yes, anything that pulls you back into unconsciousness, suffering, and negativity is definitely possible. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s “par for the course.”
If you’d like to talk about this, just contact me, and I’d gladly set up a time to have a conversation with you.
I found that pretty moving. To see myself from the outside looking in. I got a big rush of self compassion. Thank you
You are most welcome, Liza. Sometimes what helps us access self-compassion is seeing ourselves from the outside—like others who love and care for us do. I’m happy to hear you had the intended experience!
This was very poignant, to see myself in this way. I am not sure what will help this person, myself, but i am interested in exploring this. FB
Wonderful, Farah! Thanks for doing the visualization.
I saw myself in my kitchen talking to my children, distracted driving to work and rushing through the day- kind to others but limited in the amount I engage, listen and offer of myself.
I saw the underlying anxiety and fear in my being. Two tears of compassion for this woman slid down my cheeks.
I am ready for this thought detaching, heart opening work. Thank you, Alex for offering it.🙏
Excellent insights, Beth. I’m happy to hear you’re ready to get to know this woman better and help her create the life she deserves.
Excited times ahead! 🙏
This was a good reminder that my confidence is shattered. I need to focus on me inorder to love others.
Were you able to see what you needed when you switched places and saw yourself? How can you help Gillian with her confidence and love her?
Thank you for sharing this, it brought so many feelings back from the Heart to Heart retreat and reminded me to keep being compassionate with myself and not let the voices take over again. Also reminds me how a little time and (consistent) effort can bring about awesome results!
Yes! This visualization is VERY short, takes little-to-no time to do, YET…(to your point)…it can bring about awesome results. No reason not to bring yourself back to your heart every day!
BTW – It’s so good to hear from you, Zoe. I’ve been wondering how you’ve been doing since you completed all of my retreats and online programs.
thank you starting my day with this beautiful and loving self visualization. Thank you for sharing your gifts.
Sending love and gratitude to you!
You are most welcome, Tracie. I’m happy to hear the visualization was helpful to you. Please feel free to revisit it whenever you need some more beauty and love in your day!
Thank you so much Alex! I noticed how much I buy into judgements about myself through this
You’re very welcome, Daniel! I’m happy to hear you had an insight into the judgments you hear about yourself. If you’re ready to do something about it, let me know because there is an action plan you can take to help free you up!
Thank you Alex! ye I’m working on them, they are based on images of perfection. I am working on seeing the holes in the logic of these images. They are all about how I “should” be.
Hi Alex,
I don’t know what to write (or voices in my mind say that) I’ll try to share something though 🙂 I saw me being alright until interacting with people I was kind of confused and scared I think. I also saw that I seem to not being connected with similar minded woman where I could exchange experiences and support each other. I know I can myself too but that would be a lovely next step 🙂
Perhaps spend some time looking to see how you could help yourself connect with similar-minded women (so that you can exchange experiences and support each other).
The advantage of seeing yourself from this perspective—witnessing yourself confused and scared while interacting with people—is that you can now take steps to guide her to make some positive changes.
She needs help. What would help? How can you help? See how you can help.
Luckily, you’re in my online retreat and you’re going to learn all about this! More coming soon…
this was nice I enjoyed very much! I felt so much love and saw that this person take on just too much. The person who came and helped took me out to horse riding galloping in an open field. And I felt myself smiling😊🙏
Lovely, Karin.
I imagine that the person who showed up just wanted to give you a pleasant experience of presence away from the pressure of taking on so much. The open field of non-doing.
Keep on smiling 😊🙏
That was wonderful. It has left me with lots to think about. I want to do it again.
Thanks 🙏
Excellent, Terri. Please feel free to do this guided visualization as many times as you’d like. My recommendation would be to journal how you would help yourself afterward to gain even more actionable insights. 🙏
Alex, I found this transported me to a place of non self-judgement, self-compassion and self-love, so beautiful. A message that I need to be kinder and gentler on myself. Thank you. Namaste.
You are most welcome, Aarti. The best part is you have access to this non-judgmental, self-compassionate place whenever you want it.
It’s funny, I had a very similar experience the night before when I found myself suddenly in an inner story about how my son will see me once he grows up to become a young man. I now looked at myself and in this exercise, first went through emotions of… sadness. pity. shame. frustration. anger. And then came compassion. She is so insecure! She is so yearning for simply to be loved. This was a very powerful exercise and visualization, thank you.
It sounds like you had some incredible insights, Hanna. It’s true, she is SO yearning to simply be loved. And she’s lucky she has you—someone who’s willing to do the work to help yourself.
The online retreat you’re signing up for is going to have an incredible impact on your relationship with yourself. I’m excited for you!
More good things coming…
Hi Alex! A great experience! It was a very different approach. Observing myself in this way was difficult. When the narrator said ‘how could you help yourself/this person?’ My immediate response was ‘I dont know’ . Why did I think that? I think I need to repeat the exercise for the process to take effect. I wonder if my inner voice was telling me I wasn’t worthy even though I sm very aware of my strengths. Maybe it was the process of trying to observe ‘me’ visually and my expressions and body movements are not obvious to me because I dont observe myself in that way. It made it seem like I was a ‘stranger’ but being ‘kind’ to the stranger wasn’t difficult as I am like that to others. My conclusion is I think I need to work on my self compassion much more. Thankyou ❤
Hi, Gillian! I would encourage you to do the visualization again. It’s very short. Sometimes it can be tough to do something like this on the spot. Sometimes it’s not obvious what would help the person in the imagery for the reasons you gave. And sometimes, the voices do creep in and make the whole process challenging. In fact, one woman who did the visualization sent me an email to tell me that she felt a lot of anxiety listening, a lot of judgment, negative talk, couldn’t really get out of her head at all. So all experiences are possible!
Thank you for sharing yours! ❤
Thank you Alex. You present that so well 🙏. My problem is I thought it was so good my mind flipped to wanting to share it with my friend who is a new member of your group before it had ended😏😀. Susan
Good to see, Susan! In awareness practice, it’s always helpful to observe how and where your attention gets directed and redirected. Please feel free to listen to this guided visualization again anytime you’d like. One retreatant who did my online retreat, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, listened to it every day before the retreat began! She claimed it was powerful for her to do this. Perhaps it would be for you too.
For the first time I visited myself & spoke to me ‘the person ‘ of a plan to improve my life & not live the life of a dead person.
So I’m going to keep trying with your visualisation guidance till I can believe in me and put into positive, constructive life action.
Thank you for your help and look forward to hearing from you again.
Mary.
I’m happy you have started to speak of a plan to improve your life with the person you saw in the imagery. She needs your assistance because the horrible voices in her head would have her live the life of a dead person. And she’s not. She needs you to help her stay in constructive life action! She’s counting on you!
Yes, please continue to listen to this imagery and discover new ways to be a light for her. Again, she’s counting on you.
In lovingkindness,
Alex
Thank you for your reply Alex.
I keep thinking the only way to improve myself is to lose weight & go to the gym.
What stops me?
“I don’t want to work that hard”
“ I don’t want to deprive myself of all the comfort food”
How can I motivate myself when I am sad & lonely & think that no one cares?
It’s not good is it?
You’re the first person I’ve been able to say this too.
Thank you for listening & offerings of help & advice; all are most gratefully accepted.
Thank you for your kindness.
Mary. 🙏
You are most welcome, Mary. The shifts you’re looking for are from “self-improvement” to “self-acceptance.”
When you can look at yourself and see yourself as someone who deserves your care and attention, then you simply become motivated to help. If losing weight and feeling good is what will take good care of her, you will look to see what you can do to provide that for her. Maybe it doesn’t have to be hard work. Perhaps it can be fun (?) Maybe you can research how to make healthy “comfort food.” Perhaps instead of “deprivation of the good stuff” and an “enforcement of the hard stuff,” it could be some good stuff and some hard stuff balanced out (?)
To your question about “how can I motivate myself when I am sad & lonely & think that no one cares?” my recommendation would be to consider doing my 30-day online retreat, Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring. That’s what will turn everything around.
Thank you for trusting me enough to share what you’re sharing. May you be kinder to yourself than you think you should be…
It made me cry to see this person struggling with all kinds of things realizing how actually unhappy she is because she has not yet succeeded in living herself and is therefore seeking love from orhers
Thank you for sharing your experience here, Anita. Were you able to feel compassion for her while you were crying? Did you get a sense of what would help her and how you could assist her? She feels unhappy and thinks that she hasn’t succeeded in living herself and is, therefore, looking for love from others. What does she need to know from you?
Thank you very much dear Alex for replying!
I felt that she needs to learn to love herself and that she still has to learn a lot to achieve this.
You are most welcome, Anita.
Please consider how you plan to help her. Perhaps you can love her and that would make all the difference in the world for her.
Feel free to revisit this visualization again to connect with her.
Hi Alex,
This was really useful even though I’m doing the course at the moment, between the course and your posts on FB there’s a lovely serendipity with the way things are playing out. I did the self visualisation and said what this person needs is love and encouragement. Thanks again.
Your level of engagement is incredibly admirable, Karene. You’ve jumped from reading my book to doing my online meditation workshop to doing my 30-day online retreat and now you’re showing up here to do these visualizations, etc. There’s no stopping a person who moves from simply reading and gathering information to actively participating, practicing and engaging in transformation. It makes all the difference in the world.
I can’t wait to see what happens for you as a result of your dedication. Keep practicing and keep showing up!
More serendipity will continue to play out…
Thank you Alex, what a beautiful way to start my weekend. As I observed myself going about my day I noticed that I loved being helpful and showing kindness to others. I also realised that I have learned to show those things to myself, by self care, by doing things just for my own benefit so that I am refreshed and renewed daily. You have blessed me mightily with your Heart to Heart Compassionate Self-Mentoring course. The benefits just continue to show up, and I am a better person since doing the online course… have a blessed weekend. Maureen
You are most welcome, Maureen. What a lovely surprise to see your comment here this morning. I’m so happy that the retreat is still giving back to you after all these years. Thank you for sharing that with me. It gives me great motivation to continue working as hard as I do to make it available.
Thank you for the meditation I felt so sad for the woman I saw myself always alone at home all day crying or in bed & so absent when really I’ve always loved being surrounded by people I saw the fear the woman had & all I wanted to do was hand out my hand to her & tell her Come with me You don’t have to be afraid I’m here for you. I felt sad for the woman I don’t know if that’s compassion but I really felt for her & wanted to help her out of where she is
Thank you Alex
It sounds like compassion to me, Yalta. Especially the part about you wanting to help her out from where she is. That’s what a good mentor would try to do. Love her exactly as she is and help her to become anyway she wants to be.
She needs you.
I loved the method. Bit hurried if I may add. It was interesting to try to see myself on the big screen. It was difficult to visualise myself. So I did it again. I saw a happy and an active me. Then I saw myself looking out at a placid lake bit sad and lonely. Then a man came and sat beside me and put his arm around me. I felt comfortable and warm. He was not my husband.
Thank you Alex
Thank you for your feedback, Mamta. Whatever experience you had was perfect — there’s no right or wrong way to do this. That said, I’m glad you decided to do the exercise again. I actually encourage people to do it repeatedly, to see what’s present for them and what they may need for support. I appreciate you taking the time to do this and comment here.
Thank you so much i was able tosee myself in a different way .
You are most welcome, Joseph. Thank you for taking the time to have a different perspective of yourself.
A lovley mediation, very different from ones I normally do. I really liked that you in essence seperate from yourself. I found that distance helpful, and it gave me some good insights. Thank you for the opportunity to participate
You are most welcome, Theresa. I’m glad you found it helpful to have that distance. I also hope you found some ways to support yourself going forward. Please feel free to revisit this meditation whenever you need this perspective again.
I saw myself repeating the same patterns of behaviour as always, and saw that the me on the screen needs an injection of courage in order to get through the difficult moments.
Wonderful! And were you able to see how to give her the encouragement she needs to have courage? How can you help her with this?
Wow! I completely experienced things about myself I’m currently working on. 1 thing I didn’t know showed up. I’m definitely going to begin working on that. Thanks so much!!
That’s fantastic, Jeannette! I’m happy that the guided visualization provided you some insights.
I’d be excited to hear about how your new project you’ll be working on goes.
Thank you for listening and sharing here.
I actually felt quite powerless through this when I was observing as I see what needs helping with but there is so very much that starting with one thing leads on to so many others in different aspects of life, that it is going to be a long process for me to heal.
Can you start with just one thing? It’s much easier to focus on one thing at a time than all the different aspects of your life.
My encouragement would be to pick just one and see how you’d like to help yourself take the tiniest action possible toward helping yourself. Revisit this visualization again. See how you can move forward. Keep doing that until you’re on the road to being loved and cared for the way you want to be.
And stay in action. There’s no rush. It can be a long time. Who cares? What else can be more important?
Hi Alex:
I hate to say it, and really, it’s just me….but I didn’t feel anything. I don’t visualize well and my focus is even worse. I’m sure this visualization would work really well for someone more advanced. And I want to thank you for the time it took to make this audio and for sharing the visualization. It just didn’t impact me in any way but like I said, I think that’s just me.
There was absolutely no requirement for you to feel anything (by the way, I don’t believe you. You felt something. Just not what you expected to). Maybe you felt frustration. Maybe your attention was on all the voices in your head and what they were saying. How you don’t visualize well and your focus is even worse. It would make sense that you’d have a hard time seeing yourself if you couldn’t get through the noise.
If you’re up for it, my encouragement would be to listen again. And again. I’d also encourage you to learn how to practice Zen meditation. So it can help you with your focus of attention. I teach it online and on-demand here.
This experience was a first for me. I stayed concentrated on the visualization probably at least 80%. I will repeat tomorrow. At some point it brought tears to my eyes when you asked about the struggles. But still smiled and felt good inside when finished. Thank you Alex.
I’m glad you stuck with the experience and did it, Toula. I hope your tears came with an understanding of what the woman you were watching was struggling with. I hope there was some compassion for her.
I have a feeling that the smile came when you considered how you could help her. That’s why I know it would be a good idea for you to repeat the exercise tomorrow. Feel free to let me know how that goes when you do, okay?
Hey Alex… Thanks for sharing.
It helped me actually see what I seek from myself right now which love, light and compassion.
Sending you lots of love, light..
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing, Shruti.
Alex,
I saw this person as light and energetic and free. She make everything seem easy. These are things I find hard. I look at her and see that she is stepping out and letting go. Not letting fear guide her
A woman you can be proud of. Thanks for sharing your experience, Linda.
This made me realize I do not focus on myself at all during the day, I see myself running around doing for others all day.
I think I will do this visualization daily and try to be more compassionate to me!
Thank you Alex..
I hope you were able to have your insight that you don’t focus on yourself at all during your day with understanding and compassion. Most of us don’t focus on ourselves. We just get up and do-do-do…non stop…until we hopefully get some sleep upon crashing.
Yes, please do this visualization daily. Practice seeing yourself through the eyes of compassion and ask yourself the questions I asked you in the imagery. Support yourself to slow down and focus a bit more on you. It will only improve everything!
Thank you for doing the visualization and leaving a comment here, Kimberly. Your participation models to others that it’s safe to share here and can potentially help them. We’re all doing this work together!
oh boy, immediate sadness and tears. My mind jumped from being judgey to being beyond sad. The tears lasted the whole time – I tried visualizing myself in the “now” – pure sadness of all the bad choices that put me here. Then I tried to visualize myself in the near future and all I could do is judge and feel jealous as to how did “she” get out of these bad choices and be put in such a nice “place” – more tears. After I was done with the meditation I tried very hard to understand and give myself compassion towards how I felt. I was surprised at how strongly I felt the sadness – the depth of it. I have known for awhile that I do not like my situation and I am in the process of making changes but I cannot get away from judging myself on all my past choices that brought me here – at 57 I am regretting tons and I don’t know how to forgive myself.
I tried the meditation again and the same reaction – though this time my tears stopped before the meditation ended.
I have been using different meditations I find on youtube, trying to find forgiveness and peace of mind. Yoga, acupuncture, sound baths, etc…….. even though it seems like a negative response to this meditation I am very grateful for the opportunity to be taken down this path! I needed to see how deep my self destructive thoughts are and begin to heal my deep scars. Thank you for helping me begin this journey anew!
Sadness and tears are okay. It’s difficult sometimes to be a human being. I hope you were able to see that by doing the visualization. And if not, please consider doing it as many times as necessary until you see yourself as the good person you are — just trying to do her best.
Please keep in mind that the voices in your head are the ones who talk you into “bad choices” — so you can later get beaten up for listening to them in the first place. It’s what I call “the setup/knockdown” process. It’s cruel, unkind and hateful.
So as challenging as it may be to understand this, the voices are the ones judging you and creating the regret. They look at your life and point out everything “wrong” with it. Because that’s how you can continue to suffer.
I would love for you to be able to begin this journey anew. If you haven’t gone to take a look at Heart-to-Heart: Compassionate Self-Mentoring, my 30-day online retreat that accomplishes the transformation you’re looking for, please feel free to read more here: http://www.compassionretreat.com
Please let me know if you have any questions at all. I’m here to help.
Wow Alex this is incredible!!!this took me great places. It made me see myself from a different perspective. I will be practicing this daily and I’m sure it will takes to wonderful places. Thank you for this great experience 🙂
You are most welcome, Monique. I’m glad your experience was incredible.
Yes, I highly encourage you to practice daily. Bookmark this page and come back again.
Here’s to wonderful places!
This was amazing to look at your yourself through your own eyes, it made me realize that I’m actually amazing. I’m going to practice it as much as I can because everyday presents itself differently ????
Very well said, Paula.
To me, this visualization is the first step into disidentifying from the Paula who is just going about her day to the compassionate witness who can see Paula as another human being (and it sounds like she’s pretty darn amazing!).
Yes, please feel free to bookmark this page and come back to it whenever you need to access this perspective.
Thank you for sharing your experience here!
Thank You, that is truly amazing. I am so use to trying to see what everyone else needs. Never thought to look at myself to see what I might need.
You are most welcome, Diane. I’m so happy you got to look at yourself and see what you might need. It’s a small shift, but almost no one has ever been taught how to do this for themselves. We have either been conditioned to put our needs last and focus on others (seeing our own needs as selfish) or been conditioned to put our needs first at the exclusion of others (seeing ourselves as most important and everyone else as threatening). Both sides of the duality keep a human suffering because they don’t work.
The eyes I’m sharing here are the eyes of: Here’s a good human being who just deserves some positive self-regard. How can we assist her?
Thank you for doing the imagery and commenting here! Please feel free to revisit when you need a reminder to see yourself this way.
Wow! At first, I was not happy with my vision of my self on screen and what I saw. Not in a great place right now so definitely hit more buttons that I would like.
However, I loved the turn around.
And I wish there was a few more minutes on the self love part.
We all are different with different needs, so not critzing at all.
Just a few more minutes on self love and acceptance would have really hit the mark for me!
Thank you for sharing!!
I’m kind of sneaky with those turnarounds! Haha.
Slone, thank you so much for your thoughtful and honest reply. I am going to take your feedback to heart and see if I can expand the imagery just a touch. Your suggestion to stay on self-love and acceptance is excellent.
That said, it sounds like the visualization did its job. You started by seeing yourself through the eyes of the voices in your head (that focus on the world and you as something wrong/not enough) and shifted to the eyes of compassion (who focus on mentoring, supporting and being kind to you).
Thank you for participating! My encouragement would be to bookmark this page and revisit whenever you need some help.
I loved the new perspective this visualisation gave me……thank you.
Excellent, D. Thank you for sharing your experience here with us. New perspectives can lead to new beginnings!
Thank you for this guided visualisation, it was simple and brief yet powerful enough to let me see my day is spent rushing around a lot.
A little planning and preparation the night before might make my day feel less fraught… especially in the morning! Thank you!!
You are most welcome, Jessica. Yes, the way I like to talk about it is, “it’s a sobering look at how we show up in the world,” which gives us an opportunity to 1) experience compassion for the person we see rushing around a lot and 2) be creative with ways we can help this person — like you did!
Please feel free to revisit this imagery again whenever you need some insights about how to assist yourself.
Thanks for the meditation. I seen myself approchable, kind and creative.
Wonderful, Cyndia. Thank you for doing the guided visualization and sharing your experience here!
Very calming voice could see myself, needing to be nurtured and loved. I have been suffering from a cold and it has re energised me. To carry on my day, thank you very much xxx
Excellent! So glad to hear, Andree.
Please feel free to revisit this imagery again when you’re over your cold.
This was really, really helpful. The breathing guidance at the beginning instantly brought me to a place where I was ready to visualize as you asked. More stunning to me, I (who consider myself to be a compassionate person in general), felt tears come to my eyes as I realized that I could relate to the woman I was watching and I had such compassion for her and wanted to help her, tell her kind things. I’ve been told often by others that I’m too hard on myself and I never took it to heart until this (and I’ve been meditating for just over a year now).
Additionally, I really like your voice – very steady and soothing.
Thank you so very much for sharing this!!
Awesome, Kristen. It can be very touching to see yourself as this woman who needs your compassion, kindness, and help. She wants to hear your kind words and experience your care very much.
Only the voices that are hard on us would hold standards over us about how far we need to be along in our spiritual journey. You ARE a compassionate person and I’m happy you have been meditating — a year is a great accomplishment! AND I want to be sure these aren’t standards the voices are using to make you feel bad about. If they are, my encouragement would be to fold more compassion in. Perhaps a reminder to yourself that you’re doing just fine and that none of this is a contest. Spiritual practice is a process, not an outcome.
Thanks for participating, Kristen. Please feel free to revisit this imagery whenever you’d like (to check-in on how this woman is doing ❤️).
Very kind awareness, thank you!
You are most welcome, Franceska. Thank YOU for taking the time to listen and experience your kind awareness.
I appreciate your comment!
This was very helpful to see myself as someone else may see me. I saw a hard working, focused person who may be “in their head” a bit much. I felt the need to slow this person down and try to get them to smell the roses more. And, to reach out to connect to this person.
I think some self love is in order!
Thank you!
Yes, because the visualization disidentified you from seeing the world through “Jane’s Eyes” and asked you to see yourself as another human being: A hard-working, focused woman who may be “in her head” a bit much. We all have the ability to see others with compassion, but it can be challenging to experience ourselves the same way. We get too caught up in our own drama.
So now you know that helping yourself slow down, smell the roses and connect with yourself is in order. Sounds great to me.
Excellent insights!
Thank YOU for listening and commenting, Jane!
Awesome meditation! I saw myself not the way my ego sees me, but the way my spirit sees me. Happy, confident, outgoing and social. I loved seeing how strong my spiritual connection has become.
Thank you, Valerie. The guided visualization asks you step into the heart and eyes of compassion. To see yourself as you are, however that might be. Happy, confident, outgoing, or social as well as sad, self-conscious, alone or in solitude — whatever. Because everything doesn’t always go as planned and it’s helpful to have the perspective of compassion to help guide you along.
Alex, this really hit me on how I should be more compassionate and loving to myself. I was able to really feel and look at myself with fresh eyes not judgmental ones.
Your voice is direct and soothing.
I can’t believe something that was 5 minutes could make me feel so different. Excellent! Thanks so much for sharing!
Mary, isn’t it amazing how a simple shift of perspective can reveal yourself to you in such a profound way? How can you not look at this wonderful human being who is really attempting to do her best and not feel compassion for her? Only the voices in our heads carry this judgment and keep the love and the good stuff from us. “All” (it’s a BIG all!) we need to do is access this new way to see and it can transform our lives for good.
I hope too that you were able to walk away from the visualization with ideas about how you can be more supportive of Mary.
Please consider revisiting this page whenever you need to. I just told Carlie that a grad from my online retreat would listen to this visualization daily before the retreat began to help herself. Feel free to do the same, since it truly is less than 5 minutes long!
Thank you Alex, I saw myself from a different perspective and have an overwhelming feeling of wanting to help myself more. Thank you for showing me “me”. Namaste ????
That’s incredible, Carlie! I’m happy you were able to have this different perspective of yourself. And I love the fact that the feeling to help yourself more was overwhelming!
I hope you walked away with tangible ideas to assist and mentor yourself better. A woman I know comes back to this visualization daily to experience herself from these eyes.
Now that’s a commitment to self-compassion!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful guided meditation. You are generous and kind. With minimal words you managed to transport me to a place where I found compassion towards myself.
You are most welcome, Paige. I’m so happy you availed yourself of the guided meditation. It truly is very simple, yet incredibly profound. Feel free to revisit the imagery again.