Good evening everybody and welcome to our Sunday meditation session. So thank you very much for joining. It's been a beautiful Sunday here.

I will apologise in advance because unfortunately I've got held up and I'm actually sat outside for this one, so there may be some external noises, but that's all part of being mindful, so hopefully we can perhaps incorporate those into our meditations this evening. So I hope, as I say, I hope you've had a lovely glorious Sunday and weekend, and now it's time to enjoy your Sunday meditation and completely relax and just sit back and get comfortable and enjoy the two meditation sessions that we will do with you this evening. So I'll pass you straight over to Mike, he's got a lovely meditation store.

I'm really looking forward to it to myself and thank you very much. Thanks very much, Meg, and welcome to everybody. Do you know this might not be that relaxing, this first one, and then I think Meg's gonna bring us home with, some work with a breath that I think will be lovely and relaxing.

I decided, having been in, . Talking to quite a number of you, you, you guys. And Trying to sort of catch up with one or two that I've lost contact with recently and then sort of getting the sense that, you know, My belief belief is that we can use meditation to improve our resilience, as the slide says here.

And I wanted to start, because we're doing two, I'm doing two, sort of, pieces of work with you guys tonight. The first one is, I want to explain this mother cat stuff. And for those of you that have done that work with me before, I hope you'll be able to see it as a sort of reminder, because I think this is core.

Important stuff. So, and then afterwards, once we've explained why there's such a need to be warm and compassionate towards ourselves. Then afterwards, I was going to actually do a, a, a, a meditation that I call the self-compassion break, which is just a stop in the day and a time to just give ourselves some self well needed self-compassion.

So, you see the sliders of the mother cat with the errant kitten. And this work comes from, the work of Kevin Polk again. And he uses this to explain.

The fact that as, as mammals, all mammals, apparently, as, as vets, you'll know this much better than me, are hardwired for compassion as opposed to reptiles, because, we nurture and look after our offspring at, you know, at varying degrees of, of intensity and the time we spend to do it. And as human parents, I know it feels like we're still nurturing and looking after them at 23 and 21, it feels, actually. But, you know, that, that's, that, that, that's because it's hardwired into our DNA that as to make ourselves such a successful species, I guess, is, is, is we have that compassion and it's that compassion that, that makes us so special, I would argue.

But if we just imagine for a moment a basket full of kittens. And we have a basket full of kittens and one of those kittens, perhaps this one is you, is a bit of an errant's kitten, and that kitten. Goes off exploring, full of hope.

Full of inquisitiveness, and then get stuck behind, a door and, and, and can't work its way to, escape. And when it gets scared, it mews and it cries. And the mother cat probably leisurely gets up and pads over and finds the kitten, and then picks it up very gently and lovingly, brings it back to the basket.

And then the mother cat just pours love and kindness and licks and caresses and purrs until that kitten feels safe. And the mother cat does that for a very good reason, because she knows that if this kitten is going to be able to fend for itself to get out there into that big scary world and, thrive, it can't live its life feeling terrified and scared and lonely and isolated. So with that sort of innate.

Hardwired wisdom that the mother cat has, she knows that for the kitten to succeed in life, it has to be met with love and kindness when it strays. And then we think about. The human response when.

We get things wrong. And we mess up or we don't perform in. The way that we should or must, or we.

Perhaps let ourselves or others down in our minds usually. And we think about our own children and our own experiences perhaps of being lost in Marks and Spencer's when we were tiny. And when our, our mother, the human mother finds us.

Of course she loves us, but the first thing she does is tells us off and is cross with us, and then warns us about what a terrible scary place the world is. And it's at that moment perhaps that we get some of this parenting wrong. And it's at that moment that the message is passed on that when we mess up in life, or when we don't meet our own hugely onerous and high expectations.

And when we are cross and angry with ourselves, we find ourselves just like that kitten. Back in the basket. Feeling scared and lonely and isolated.

And From an anthropological perspective, this is where Compassion And self compassion meditation really has its place because. I speak to many vets, and, and I work with a lot of you guys. And so often what I find is, you're cross with yourselves when you're not as well as you should be.

And you're cross with yourselves when something happens at work that is no fault of your own, that, but perhaps you don't deal with it as meticulously well as you wish you had, and. Rather than meet yourselves like that lovely warm. Mother cat, you meet yourself with a snarl and .

Self-criticism And then we wonder why we feel. Like the kitten alone and isolated and scared and back in the basket. And the antidote.

To that Overuse of the self-critical voice perhaps is the meditation we're going to do this evening. So If we can get ourselves into a comfortable position, but. As I always say, not too comfortable, so that we're sitting in a position or lying in a position where, our body is supported and.

But we're not gonna drop off. And let's start. So in those moments when you are like the kitten.

That has just been on the receiving end of a telling off. A kitten that's just experienced. Criticism from South.

Or And kindness because we haven't managed our own incredibly high standards. And as a result, we notice that we're feeling stress or emotional discomfort. And if we can think back to a time in the week, perhaps.

When you have been over hard on yourself. And just for a moment now. Just connect with that memory.

And see if you can find. That discomfort where it's lodged. In your body.

And be curious with yourselves to find where you feel that difficult memory most. And as you scan down your body. And as I recall an incident this week when I was way over hard on myself.

And immediately I find it in my tummy. And bring a curiosity to where you find that discomfort. And just make contact.

With the sensations as they arise. In your body And now just quietly. Just say to yourself slowly.

That this is just a moment of suffering. Just a moment. Of difficulty.

You may want to As you recall the incident where you've been. Over hard or over critical with yourself just ooh. Oh, that hurts.

Oh, that was stressful. And just find it. And acknowledge that this is A moment of suffering.

In a life full of many other moments. And now let's just acknowledge. Perhaps with that half smile of Mindful half smile that suffering is a part of life.

There's the acceptance. The suffering is just a part of life. It's not life.

But it is a part of life. Noticing that You're not alone. And the other people are just like you.

Acknowledging that we all struggle. Every human struggles at some point in our life. And as we connect with the physicality.

Of that incident in the week. Just reflecting that. Do you know what, this is how it feels.

When a person struggles. In this way. And now I'd just like to ask you to take your hands.

And just place them over your heart. Or your tummy. Wherever it feels soothing.

And allow yourself to connect with the warmth. And the gentle touch of your hands. And now we Start working with the self compassion mantra.

Let's just quietly. Just say to ourselves. In the way that perhaps the mother cat.

Pur to the kitten. May I be kind? To myself.

May I be kind To myself And just feel the beginnings of some safety there. As we snuggle into our basket. And begin to feel safe again.

May I give myself? What I need in life. May I accept myself as I am?

May I learn to accept myself? As I am. May I forgive myself?

For straying away. May I be strong. May I be patient?

May I live in love. Let's just run through those again and as we're doing so perhaps find an intention to take one or two. Of these affirming statements to take with us.

For the rest of the week. May I be kind to myself? And give myself what I need.

May I accept myself as I am. May I learn To accept myself as I am. May I forgive myself when I stray?

May I be strong. May I be patient? May I live in love.

And perhaps even may I be my own mother cat to myself. And if we find ever that we're struggling to apply that warmth and love to ourselves, imagine that a really good, dear friend. As having the same issues in life as you.

And what would you say to that person? And if your friend Could leave with just one. Or a few words in mind.

What words would you like them to walk away with? What message would you like to deliver to them? Heart to heart.

And just wait until you find that. A friend in the same situation as you were in this week. What would you say to them?

And when you've found it, bring curiosity. And just be curious about whether. You're able to offer the same message.

To yourself. And so I guess as we come to the end of this. Self compassion break.

We need to Go into this next week. Making a commitment to be more like. A mother cat to ourselves.

To meet ourselves with love and affection and patience and warmth. And to make sure that we feel brave enough to leave that basket. And safe enough and loved enough.

And maybe we're the ones. In charge of that process. And when you're ready, Very gently just come back and Maybe have a look at that picture of.

The cat and the kitten and Get a sense of Just how important it is, neurologically. In every way, really humanly. That we learn From this animal In the way it nurtures and makes its offspring feel safe.

Perhaps we need to do that for ourselves more. And I'll hand back to Meg. That was beautiful, Mike, thank you very much.

Thanks Ma, it's a, it's it's important stuff, isn't it, that, that, that self compassion, yeah. Very powerful as well, you know, it's really, really beautiful and that comparison I I haven't heard of the mother cat. Yeah, I just thought it really fitted with with vets really.

It, yeah, it does, it does as well, but I think instantly, you can just relate to it instantly. I found from my experience, or anybody else, if you want to share that with us, you know, please feel free to, . Yeah, that was very, very, very powerful and beautiful.

Thank you very much, Mike and We'll . Just before Billy starts chatting, we'll move on to, I've chosen the breath meditation and I think after, After Mike's meditation, the breath obviously is something we always come back to. It's kind of, it could be described as our home, coming back to the breath, stopping and just coming back to focusing on, and in this case, it would be compassion.

So if you do find that you're getting caught up in that self-criticism, maybe take a few moments to come back to your breath and explore in Mike's, points that he's discussed through his meditation. So I just get you all to come back to a nice comfortable. Meditative position.

So just doing any adjustments that you need to make sure you're nice and comfortable. And then we'll scan just through the body, so allowing the sick bones to relax into the ground. The legs to feel nice and relaxed and grounded and then lengthening up through the spine, right the way to the crown of the head rolling the shoulders down the back just helps to open up the chest and relax in the hands in the lap or onto the knees or wherever you are.

Sorry, I think you lost me for a minute there, so keep just beginning to close the eyes, coming back to that comfortable seat position, we're going to begin to explore the breath, so. First, just taking nice gentle in inhalers and exhales out through the nose. Then we're gonna be explore the 3 part breast.

We'll start off with the diaphragmatic breath. Start breathing in and out of the belly. And maybe you want to just place the hands either side of the rib cage and just beginning to explore that expansion of the rib cage as you breathe in and the air enters in through the nostrils, travels down into the pit of the tummy.

Rib cage expands and then as you breathe out you feel the rib cage soften and relax, drawing inwards as the air is expelled out of the body. So just exploring the diaphragmatic breath first say you can place your hands there if they get tired, just relaxing them down onto the knees, feeling that the space in between the rib cage as it opens up on the inhale. And how they soften and relax as you exhale.

And if you can just beginning to adopt that deeper, longer breath in and out of the body. Just focusing on this part of the breath, the movement of the body with the inhale and the exhale. Then we'll begin to move up to the thoracic breath.

So placing the hands, if it feels comfortable, just in the centre of the chest now. Feeling the rise of the chest as you take an air and breath, filling up the lungs with air. And feeling the chest soften and full as they exhale.

And the air is expelled out of the body. Keeping the focus on the thoracic breath, that breath in and out of the chest area. Taking a few more breaths here before.

Placing the hands or just feeling the sensation, allowing the awareness to travel right up to the clavicles, the clavicular breath, so the top of the lungs where we often begin to shallow breathe if we're nervous or feel anxious about anything, we often just use this top part, so we're trying to fully breathe right into the lungs, but just feeling the sensation at the top. So with the clavicle is the. Half of the breast.

So just feeling if you want to, you can place your hands now both hands at the very top. Of the chest and again just exploring that rise on the inhale. And full on the exhale.

And then for the last few breaths, just relax in the hands down onto the lap and begin to explore the three parts of that breath as you breathe in. Just exploring the breath as it travels all the way down into the nose, all the way down into the top part of the chest, the middle, all the way down to the pit of the tummy. Just exploring and tracing your awareness as the breath travels into the body.

And as it travels out as it expelled from the pit of the tummy travelling all the way up and out, just getting rid of any stagnant air in the body. Just for the last few moments of this breath meditation, just exploring. The breath as it travels in and out of the body, passing through the three parts that we focused on the clavicular, the thoracic.

And the diaphragmatic part. Of the breath. And when you're ready, just beginning to Come back to the body, so maybe moving the fingertips.

Beginning to move the body. Fall gently. Opening the eyes.

So well done, everybody. I do apologise for the noise in the background. Hopefully, you were able to just focus on your breathing.

Now just be your own mother cat now. I wanted to say earlier, I think the, the cat was perfect timing for me. So I hope that was OK, with the noises.

So thank you very much, everybody, you know, we, we, we just have to accept that, that, you know, you, I know you were panicking cause you got very, very stuck, and then the train let you down. And I, I just tell people, poor Meg had to get off the train, and, and, and when we were setting up this evening, there was complete silence, but then it. The's gone mad, so well done.

I know. I know it was absolutely silent until I started the meditation. So thank you everyone for your patience and thanks, thanks Mike as well, and I do apologise about that.

We can, I can re-record it if the recording's bad for anybody. So thank you, I hope, everyone was able to focus on their breath, and it is always good, as Mike always says, I have learned from the best, when we do have these interruptions, it just helps cos that's everyday life, . Yeah, absolutely.

And it just helps us to use our mindfulness even more, so, so I definitely have myself than this Sunday meditating, but it's lovely and sunny anyway, so that always helps. So thank you very much, everybody, if you do have any questions or anything, please feel free to pop those in as always. I'll email us, any questions that might arise afterwards, especially after the first meditation that we did with Mike.

I know that was very powerful, . So please feel free to always email or ask any questions. That was Oh, thank you, Sue.

Sue's just come in to say thank you, and we, we hit a major problem for me and that's, that's that looking after after ourselves, better Sue. And, and, and, and, you know, the mother cat stuff is just so, so core to that, that, you know, that sense that if we're not kind to ourselves and we shout and we're angry at us, we are just like that kitten again, stuck back in the basket, scared to leave again. And we put ourselves there, and we keep ourselves there.

And the best person to ease ourselves out is, is love and kindness from self. Really is. So cool.

So thank you, Sue. That was, that was really nice of you to respond. Oh, thank you for that.

Absolutely. And very true, Mike. I think that's perfect for, a perfect for our Sunday meditation and I think we'll be going into the week, filled with a lot more love towards ourselves and, more compassionate, definitely, yeah, I will.

Thank you