The document outlines a mindfulness coaching session focused on self-compassion and compassion for others. It emphasizes the importance of acknowledging personal suffering, rejecting self-criticism, and fostering gentleness towards oneself and others through practices like loving-kindness meditation. Research highlights the benefits of compassion in enhancing social connections and overall well-being.

1. Mindfulness Coaching
Session 6

2. Welcome to the
Mindful Wellbeing
Workshop:
Session 4 -
Acceptance

3. Outline –
Session 6
Compassion
Self-criticism
Self-compassion
Why Self-compassion
Why compassion for others
Mindfulness and compassion
Exercise: Loving Kindness
meditation 1 & 2
Three minute breathing space
Homework

4. Homework
Debrief
Did you practice meditating?
If so, what was your experience?
Did you practice daily gratitude?
What did you notice?
Did you pay attention to how you dealt with goals?
If so, what did you notice?
Do you have any other questions or concerns?

5. Seated Meditation

6. Exercise: The inner critic

7. Compassion
Kristin Neff is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts
on self-compassion, being the first one to operationally define and
measure the construct over a decade ago. In this movie she explains
what self-compassion is.

8. Self-criticism
Life can be hard at times.
Things go wrong in everyone’s life.
How do we usually react to such things?
The reactions we have towards ourselves are often
merciless.
Gentleness and compassion - they have the power to
transform all that negativity.
Compassion can be increased if we practice it.

9. Unlocking Compassion, gratitude and
reverence
Jon Kabat-Zinn tells us why being mindful can help us unlock our
compassionate side.

10. Self-compassion
First understand what compassion means.
It doesn’t mean that we too should be suffering alongside
that person or even pity him.
Compassion means that we recognize when someone is
suffering and that we acknowledge his suffering as well.
Suffering may create resistance; there is the need to
relieve the suffering at any cost.
When we experience compassion, we must give up the
struggle and resistance against suffering and learn to
accept suffering as a part of life.
There is no judgment in compassion, only the realization
that bad things happen, we all make mistakes and
everyone feels down sometimes.

11. Difference between self-compassion and
self-esteem
Prof. Leary explains the important difference
between self-compassion and self-esteem and
suggests to boost self-compassion rather than self-
esteem.

12. Self-compassion
Self-compassion simply means showing the same
compassion towards ourselves that we show others.
When we are self-compassionate, we treat ourselves with
kindness and gentleness.
Self-compassion is a form of acceptance.
Compassion is something that comes natural to us and it
even seems rather obvious.
Instead of being accepting and gentle, we struggle with our
emotions and treat them like they are our enemies.
Self- compassion means that we stop fighting with our own
emotional pain and instead let it in and respond with
loving kindness and understanding toward oneself.

13. Why self-compassion
Failure - internal critical voice.
The critical voice has little gentleness. It is lacking in
compassion.
Demotivates us, make us feel guilty or cause anxiety.
Causes internal conflict.
Can result in negative emotions such as guilt or fear and
frustration.
We can easily lose ourselves in a destructive cycle of
emotions (guilt) and thoughts (critical voice) which goes on
endlessly.
Without compassion or gentleness the chance of conflict is
fairly large.

14. Why self-compassion
Be more loving and kind to ourselves..
Helps to perceive the things that happen from a more
positive perspective.
You are human, just like everyone else.
Opens the doors to looking at an experience from the
bright side.
Difficult to empathize with the feelings of other people if
we do not tolerate the same feelings within ourselves.
If we learn to deal with our own distresses in a healthy
manner, there is plenty of room left to devote our
attention and energy to other people. It is only then, that
we can expand our loving kindness to those around us.

15. Why compassion for others
Enables connectedness (social connection).
Feeling connected with others, enhances psychological
and physical well-being and it reduces the chances of
getting depressed and having physical ailments.
Increases empathic ability, cooperation and trust
In their study, Hutcherson, Seppala and Gross (2008)
found that by enhancing compassion, feelings of social
connectedness and positive emotions towards others
were enhanced as well.
Practice = experienced stronger feelings of social
connectedness and positive emotions towards strangers

16. Exercise: Loving Kindness Meditation 1 (self)

17. Exercise: Loving kindness meditation 2 (others)

18. Mindfulness, self-compassion, suffering and
healing
In this clip, Dr. Ruth Buczynski interviews Dr.
Christopher Germer about the
relationship between mindfulness, self-compassion,
suffering and healing. |

19. Exercise: Visualising a compassionate self
Think of the most meaningful qualities of a compassionate
individual

20. Homework
Do the exercise “three-minute breathing space” about three
times a day.
Become aware of the critical voice in your head this week.
Whenever you notice this critical voice, take a moment to
notice the tone of this voice. Ask yourself these questions:
How do I feel now? What would a dear friend say to me now?
See if you can be gentler towards yourself.
Do the loving-kindness meditation as much as you can this
week. You may combine it with the seated meditation or body
scan. Or you can also opt for a shorter version, in which you
keep a few people in mind and wish for all of them 3 specific
things without doing the elaborate meditation.

21. Log Book
Exercise Times performed
Observations or perceptions during
the exercise
Seated meditation / Loving-Kindness
Meditation
Three-minute Breathing Space
Observing the Critical Voice