Welcome to First This, a short mindfulness practice and message for any time.

I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Please find a seat or lay down or sling your legs up the wall.

Any posture that allows you to bring your attention into your body and not be too distracted by discomfort is a good choice.

Now take a deep breath in.

Let it out as a sigh.

Another, breathe in.

All the way out.

Good.

Lips together.

Let your natural breath move just through your nose.

And right away, notice how that feels the breath moving through your nostrils

see if you can feel which nostril you're breathing from predominantly. That's barely ever exactly even. Thank you. Notice how far down into your chest the breath goes.

Don't try to fix anything about it.

Your job is just a notice.

Stay here, aware of these details.

If you notice you're doing something else, just start over over no big deal Thank you. Thank you. Breath through your nostrils. Breath in your chest.

I'm thinking today about the practice of self-compassion, and how sometimes people sort of cringe at it,

maybe because they feel like it's indulgent, or maybe they were raised to never feel comfortable,

doing anything besides criticizing themselves.

When I fall into that last groove, I ask myself,

is there a soul on this planet that is helped by me denying my self-compassion.

...