If you want to feel good about yourself, I’ve got a wonderful self love meditation script that can help you to cultivate the quality of self compassion.
I have taught this script to many people in my online meditation lessons. My students say that it makes them feel more self-compassionate.
In the meditation, we will work on cultivating love and kindness for ourselves. And this will make us feel beautiful inside.
So, let me show you how to do it.
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Guided Meditation
Script
1: [1 minute] Place your hands in Lotus Mudra.
For our meditation, we will be using the Lotus Mudra. This is the best mudra for self-compassion because it opens the heart chakra [Anahata].
To do this, bring the base of your palms together, touching at both the pinky fingers and thumbs. Now spread out your remaining fingers, so they look like a lotus flower. Your fingers should be facing upwards.
By doing this, we activate acupuncture points in the hands. In turn, this activates certain regions of the brain.
By using the Lotus Mudra, you are activating regions of the brain that relate to self-compassion. You’re also opening your heart chakra.
2: [3 minutes] Breathe mindfully for 28 breaths.
Focus your mind on your breath. Specifically, focus on the feeling of your breath moving through the space between your upper lip and nose.
You might struggle to focus at first, which is fine. Stick with it. The more we focus, the quieter our minds will become, and the easier it will be to meditate.
While you are doing this, your mind is calming. You’re also reducing any negative thoughts, like self-loathing or just general displeasure with yourself.
By breathing slowly, we activate our parasympathetic nervous system [2], which will make you feel calm and tranquil.
3: [3 minutes] Bring to mind one time when you were incredibly self-loving. What did you do? How did you feel? Repeat with four similar times
Think of five times when you were very loving towards yourself. What did you do for yourself that was kind and compassionate?
Bring these events to mind. Visualize them happening in front of you. You will feel self-compassionate.
When you feel the energy of self-love, meditate on it.
Now repeat the same process with four other occasions.
By remembering times of self-compassion, we recreate them in the mind, and we are recreating self-love. Plus, we are showing ourselves a better way to treat ourselves.
This part of our script is based on Loving Kindness Meditation. You might have heard about it from luminaries like Sharon Salzberg.
4: [3 minutes] Bring to mind five struggles in your life. For each struggle, imagine compassionately helping yourself through that problem
You have already created self-love and visualized being kind to yourself. But there is another aspect of self-compassion. Being compassionate to yourself in your struggles.
We need to support ourselves through difficult times.
To create that sense of self-support, bring to mind one of the struggles you face in life. See yourself facing that challenge. Now imagine being incredibly self-supportive as you go through that challenge.
As you do this, you are creating a powerful sense of emotional support for yourself.
This exercise is based on the Buddhist meditation Karuna (“Compassion”). Karuna is one of the “sublime states” in Buddhism (“brahmavihārās”), which are four ideal states of mind that should be cultivated through meditation.
5: [3 minutes] Bring to mind 5 times when other people were incredibly kind and supportive of you. Meditate on the way you felt at those time
Think of five times when people close to you were immensely supportive. It could be your mom, your spouse, your bestie, or even your cat or dog.
Bring to mind those times when people (or animals) were there for you. Remember how it felt to be so loved. Meditate on that feeling.
By meditating on times when other people were loving to you, you are creating an internal sense of social proof. In turn, this will increase your self-worth.
6: [2 minutes] Breathe and relax
Congratulations. You’ve completed our self-love meditation script. And you have cultivated self-compassion.
Through this meditation session, you have remembered what it is to be self-loving. And you have recreated that state in yourself. You have remembered what it is to support yourself through hard times, and you’ve recreated that too. And you have remembered all the people who support you.
Overall, you should be feeling great! And you might like to continue with another meditation script.
Finished! Here are my final thoughts
It’s always important to have self-compassion. Meditation can help.
Like the Dalai Lama said, “No one in the world deserves your love and kindness more than you yourself do.”
But sometimes it is hard to have self-compassion. Sometimes we feel self-loathing. We get angry at ourselves, and in extreme cases, we even hate ourselves. It’s at those times when we most need self-love.
Compassion is essential for our health. If you have read my guide to the importance of compassion, you’ll know that self-love can:
- Improve self-esteem
- Lead to healthier choices
- Help with weight loss
- Boost happiness
- Increase self-forgiveness
- Lessen anxiety and depression
As well as the meditation above, I highly recommend that you do the single most powerful meditation technique for self-love: Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta).
I hope you have enjoyed this meditation.
Paul Harrison BSc is a qualified meditation teacher who believes in genuine, authentic meditation. He has more than 15 years experience in teaching meditation and mindfulness both to individuals and to corporations and is the author of four books on meditation. He has been featured in Psychology Today, Breathe Magazine, Healthline, Psych Central and Lion’s Roar.
Paul studied meditation in beautiful Oxford, UK, and Hamilton Ontario Canada, and earned his degree at Staffordshire University.
Paul’s biggest inspirations include Thich Nhat Hanh, Jon Kabat Zinn, and Jack Kornfield.
“My goal is to provide the most authentic meditation sessions so you can harness the power of your own mind for personal transformation” – Paul Harrison