💛 A Self-Compassion Break 💛
Noticing contraction & releasing with care
Dear humans,
As we move into Thanksgiving week, I want to offer something simple for the moments when gratitude feels far away — when the heart tightens, the shoulders rise, and life feels a bit too much.
Even on the most beautiful days, contraction happens.
It’s the nervous system’s way of saying, “I’m protecting you.”
And yet, what we need most in those moments isn’t fixing — it’s kindness.
So here’s a small practice to carry with you this week — a self-compassion break.
It takes less than a minute, and it can shift everything.
🌿 Step 1 — Noticing Contraction
Pause. Feel into the body.
Where is there tightness, pressure, or holding on?
Maybe the throat, chest, or stomach.
Just noticing begins to soften the loop of reactivity.
💛 Step 2 — Naming the Truth
Silently acknowledge:
“This is a moment of suffering.”
No judgment, no analysis.
Just recognition — this hurts.
In that honesty, something already begins to open.
🫶 Step 3 — Offering Care
Place a hand on your heart or wherever you feel the contraction.
Say quietly:
“I care for this suffering.”
“May I be kind to myself right now.”
Let the words be felt, not performed.
Sometimes the body believes before the mind does.
🌬 Step 4 — Releasing
Take a slow breath out.
Let the exhale be an offering —
as if handing your pain to the vast sky,
trusting it can hold what you cannot.
[pause for a breath]
This is what self-compassion looks like in practice:
a gentle noticing,
a caring word,
a breath that releases.
If you can, try this once or twice this week —
before family gatherings, in travel lines,
or in quiet evenings after the noise fades.
It’s a way of saying thank you to the body and heart that carry you through it all.
Warmly,
Yelena
✨ Reflection Prompt:
What does your body do when it hears the words “I care for this suffering”?
Let the answer come not from the mind,
but from the felt sense of your own compassion.