When your body does not behave, look, or feel the way you want it to, you may feel that wish to pull away, blame, and shame it. It is exactly in these challenging moments that self-compassion is there to remind you that your precious body never meant to cause you any harm or distress. Rather, it is, and always has been, just trying to guide you along this journey of life.
A new brain imaging study shows that self-compassion training alters neural responses to chronic pain.
According to recent research that synthesized findings from 94 studies and 29,588 individuals, our physical wellness can be supported by an inner resource that is already available within us and can be accessed at a moment’s notice: self-compassion.
Excessive focus on one’s own negative aspects can have harmful effects, such as depression. It is especially so for adolescents, because they are more vulnerable to peers’ negative appraisals. We…
Like so many other women, my fierce self-compassion is still very much a work in progress. But I’m getting better at the self-awareness part. And so, for today, I practice self compassion by congratulating myself on how far I have come – and I refuse to beat myself up over how far I have yet to go.
How do you integrate self-compassion with your psychotherapy clients? Join other MSC teachers for a global discussion on this important new frontier in mental health care.
The ubiquitous story that the road to excellence and high performance should be paved with external or internal criticism and shame is a psychological barrier that needs to be broken down in the world of medicine. Retired thoracic surgeon Michael Maddaus explains why.
There are few things that can bring out our common humanity more than the maddening struggle with sleeplessness. Trained mindfulness expert and MSC teacher, Catherine Polan Orzech, teams up with behavioral sleep specialist, William H. Moorcroft, to offer evidence-based meditations and an four-week protocol to address the root of sleep issues.
