“Self-care, I think, is a way of going against business as usual. It’s a radical route. Learning to love ourselves is hard to do. It’s a fierce kind of self-love we need to work through.”  Lama Rod Owens

Skip Below for details of this event or keep reading and I'll get to it :)

Firstly, I want to invite you to think about a time when you felt truly connected with yourself on a deep level, where you had this sense of like 'hey, maybe I'm an okay person...or even maybe I'm a freakin awesome person...and it's okay to be exactly as I am and trust what my heart wants'.

Just for a moment close your eyes and let yourself dive into a memory of you feeling that way about yourself and what it was like for you to BE totally connected with you. And if you can't think of a memory...let's just imagine what that might be like.. how that might feel inside to simply be happy in your skin as your truest most authentic self... loving who you are.

You may have those experiences regularly and that's FABULOUS.... AND some of us haven't been able to experience that kind of connection and care for ourselves as often or as easily as we may long for. It might feel like we touch into that for a brief second only for it to quickly slip away. We might be more often caught up in that auto-pilot way of thinking/feeling of 'I AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH' and/or insert your own here _______________________________. My other personal favourite flavour is 'THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME.' (There are most likely many unhelpful core beliefs swirling around in the background of our experience AKA our subconscious mind.)

Those old faithful core beliefs are tough to shake. But what if we didn't have to force them away like they're another 'thing that's wrong with us?' What if we could see them for what they are through cultivating mindful awareness and qualities of the heart-- loving-kindness, compassion, forgiveness, JOY. We can welcome all parts of our experience to be here without allowing them to control our lives. These core beliefs have served some sort of purpose in our lives so the more we shed a kind light on them we begin to understand ourselves better and the purpose they've served whilst creating more space for alternate states of being to arise --- new core beliefs that say 'you're great just as you are'. And I promise...you indeed are great just as you are.  

There's no one-and-done solution here. Healing and self-love-- it's a life-long commitment and it's always available to us. When in doubt begin again. A little analogy for ya: Let's say I am typically really good at drinking water so that I'm always feeling hydrated (I am not BTW lol) but then I start forgetting to drink my daily recommended amount of water so I start feeling thirsty a lot of the time with a dry mouth and the other effects of some mild dehydration-- sluggishness, sick stomach, lower mood, etc. The cool thing is all I need to do is re-introduce myself to drinking water... it's always available to me. I only need to start with one sip of water, then one glass to begin again and I'll eventually feel its benefits.

And so it is with our awareness and our ability to offer ourselves love. We can always BEGIN AGAIN. This is what I want to support you with-- to learn how to tap (water pun intended lol) into your own innate ability to love and love deeply. To be kind to thyself. To have more moments of knowing 'I AM ENOUGH' so that becomes a core belief running not only in the foreground of your experience when you choose it but also in the background in your subconscious mind. What we'll be connecting with is a sense of safety in loving ourselves and a recognition that we can welcome all parts of us to the table-- even the parts that tell us we're no good. We can love those too. (It sounds strange but it's true-- I love the little darlin' who tells me there's something wrong with me..... most of the time :P).

So please join me for a 4-week Mindfulness meditation program— Cultivating the Heart Qualities (aka Letting the love in... and out). It will be held online over Zoom. There is no cost to attend. The program consists of an hour-long class weekly on Thursdays beginning June 7th at 7:30 pm AST with the last class on June 28th. This class is open to any and all levels of meditation practitioners.

Here we will be healing as a collective group-- working on deepening our connection with ourselves in community. We'll be tending to and growing our abilities to be loving with ourselves through working with loving-kindness practices, compassion, forgiveness, and joy. We'll weave them together moving forward so that you walk away with a little more awareness and a lot more kindness for yourself. 

As always there is no requirement for cameras to be on or personal sharing but it is always welcomed and encouraged. This will be an hour-long space for individuals to learn and practice and grow together as a collective— through teachings, practices, and sharing rooted in guiding principles of respecting and honouring diversity, inclusion, accessibility, equity, safety, and kindness for all beings no matter our backgrounds or life circumstances. 

Session # 1 — June 6th— Metta -- practicing loving-kindness

Session # 2 — June 13th—Compassion -- softening the heart

Session # 3 — June 20th—Forgiveness -- opening the heart

Session # 4 — June 27th—Letting Joy in

A general breakdown of how each class will look:

• Group check-in 

• A talk on the day’s theme

• guided meditation 

• Question period/sharing/closing remarks/suggestions for take-home practice

Please share this with anyone whom you feel would be interested in attending. If you have any questions at all please feel free to reach out at heidi@heididavis.ca