Welcome to the Empty Cradle

We are delighted to have you have join us!
We have every faith in your ability to walk through the fire and rise. 
Here’s our gift to say welcome and thank you for trusting us.
I hope this will be the first step of many in our journey together.
With much love,
 
Sarah

Coming home - Guided mediation

This meditation is designed to strengthen your ability to be self compassionate.
Repeating it can be helpful.

A bit more about this guided meditation...

We suggest trying the meditation first and then read this afterwards.

​Is this just feel good stuff or is there something a bit more?
While we hope it feels good, this meditation is also something a bit more. 
Remember the old adage “you must love yourself before you can love others”. 
Whilst there are layers of wisdom in this, it turns out to be more complex from a biological perspective. 

Neuroscience tells us that the systems of the brain used for compassion operate differently toward others who are suffering than ourselves. (1) 

When we are suffering, we are more likely to experience shame, self criticism, self blame, construct alternative realities, and worry about our future.  Our capacity to explore emotions and problem solving is diminished as we are more likely to turn toward what will bring us relief from the suffering (for example numbing). (1)

In this meditation, we meet the future self who holds the space for your present suffering self.  This helps us create a ‘self to self’ relationship which gives a sense of boundaries and witnessing, so we are less enmeshed or fully identified with our suffering.  What we’re nurturing is a ‘you’ that is more than the part of you that is suffering. 

But the future self doesn’t exist, so isn’t this wishful thinking?
We’re doing this to work with the parts of the brain that hold the space for us to witness and experience our suffering through self compassion which may help us to take self caring actions.

Doesn’t creating “multiple selves” seem a bit crazy?
We already live with multiple competing selves.  There is no one fixed self, no ‘one true you’.  There are in fact many aspects of you, many dimensions to the self which are always in flux.  The self arises and is constructed in the present moment.  Our true self, our attention and awareness, has room for all these experiences. (1)

This meditation just didn’t work for me?
That’s ok. Maybe this particular meditation isn’t right for you. There are endless doorways into healing and this is just one. Healing can be a bit like throwing spaghetti at a wall or perhaps more gently, throwing leaves onto the surface of a pond. It’s about trying different things until something works for you.

That’s why our strategies, whilst grounded in current theory and practice, are developed using many different approaches.  The critical factor is for you to maintain curiosity about finding your healing path, what works for you.

We wish you every good blessing as you journey toward wholeness.
 
With much love,
Sarah

Reference
The published work and courses by psychologist Kelly McGonigal www.kellymcgonigal.com

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