Meditation has become popular and is often recommended for managing anxiety, stress, and more. It is so easy to become lost in negative thoughts and unintentionally think yourself down into a bad mindset. To avoid this from happening, you can work on focusing more on self-love and self-care as part of your daily routine; it is vital to keeping our mental health in check!

While there are plenty of ways to practice self-love, meditation is one of the best. There are tons of self-love meditation practices out there; they are just a YouTube search away! But, you can also do it on your own, spending time with yourself and your thoughts to really put your energy into true and genuine self-care.

Let’s walk through it step by step with a guided self-love meditation by Yoga International.

Step 1: Lay down on the floor. Make sure it’s comfortable by placing a mat, a rug, or even a blanket underneath you. Lie flat on your back and focus on your breath. Close your eyes if it makes you comfortable.

Step 2: Breathe in and out, slowly and deeply. With each inhale and each exhale, add a positive affirmation into the mix. It could be as simple as inhaling and thinking, “I am enough,” then exhaling and thinking, “I am worthy.”

Here are some of my favorite positive affirmations to use during my meditation practice:

For anxious thoughts:

• I am free from stress and worry

• I am safe

• All is well in my world

For motivation:

• I have the power to change my story

• I have all I need to make today a great day

• I am an unstoppable force of nature

For confidence:

• I am in full control of my life

• I am getting better every day and in every way

• I am walking in line with my purpose

Step 3: While continuing to inhale and exhale, place your hands over your heart. Feel your heartbeat, the place of your body in which you give and receive love. How does it feel to experience your own heartbeat? To be alive? To feel the one, true thing that is keeping you going?

Step 4: As you continue to inhale and exhale and feel your heartbeat, use it as an opportunity to release any negative thoughts. Push them out by letting positive thoughts and affirmations in.

Step 5: Visualize yourself standing in front of a mirror. Regardless of what you see, and whether you like it or not, tell yourself, “I am beautiful. I am worthy of happiness. I love you.” Really, truly tell yourself, “I love you,” and mean it.

Step 6: When you’re ready, take a few more deep breaths, slowly sit up, and open your eyes. Sit for a few seconds and really analyze your meditation, how you felt beforehand, how it made you feel, and how you feel afterward.

Step 7: Before you continue with the rest of the day, list 3 things you are grateful for in that moment.

This is a fantastic way to tap into your emotional and physical needs. We all need to take a step back sometimes and reassess what we need in order to thrive.

“Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.”

“Learn to be calm and you will always be happy. ”

“When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace.”

“The best meditation is effortless. The best meditation is a gentle awareness.”

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

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