Awakened Anesthetist

Embracing Resilience: Self-Compassion Meditation for CAAs

• Season 4 • Episode 64

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Join me for a 10-minute meditation, designed to fit into your busy day whether you're on a work break or commuting, learn how to embrace your natural source of resilience.

Meditation begins around 4:33

This isn't just about managing stress; it's about nurturing an inner resilience that's often overlooked. By allowing positive qualities to infiltrate our thoughts and emotions, we reinforce the strength within us, reminding ourselves that resilience is cultivated, not inherited. Take this time to pause and reset, and let this practice be your much-needed break.

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Interested in practicing mindfulness with this CAA community?

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast, the first podcast to highlight the CAA experience. I'm your host, mary Jean, and I've been a certified anesthesiologist assistant for close to two decades. Throughout my journey and struggles, I've searched for guidance that includes my unique perspective as a CAA. At one of my lowest points, I decided to turn my passion for storytelling and my belief that the CAA profession is uniquely able to create a life by design into a podcast. If you are a practicing CAA, current AA student or someone who hopes to be one, I encourage you to stick around and experience the power of being in a community filled with voices who sound like yours, sharing experiences you never believed possible. I know you will find yourself here at the Awakened Anesthetist Podcast. Welcome in. Hello Awakened Anesthetist community. This is your host, mary Jean. I have switched up my normal podcast recording schedule. I was supposed to put out a process episode today, but I decided that it felt more right to offer this mindfulness meditation to you all. It's going to be about 10 minutes. I'm envisioning you all being able to do it on a break at work or on your commute to work or from school or wherever you are in your day where you can just pause for 10 minutes and enjoy this meditation. That's really from one CAA to another. When I was starting my own journey with mindfulness and with meditation in general, I really found it hard to find voices that felt familiar to me. I couldn't quite dive all the way into the deep end and I needed to sort of be edged in slowly with some science and some research and just a voice that felt pretty practical, and so that's my take as a teacher. I recently became a certified mindfulness meditation teacher here in 2024. And I love offering this type of mindfulness meditation to this Awaken Anestis community. This is a little bit what we do in the mindful connections that are being offered right now through season four, and I want to personally invite you to those mindful connection sessions. If you're at all interested in mindfulness or really allowing yourself a pause and reset during your month, then these would be really great sessions for you. You can find more information in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

Today's mindfulness session is really going to be about self-compassion, which can be a little touchy-feely. It can be a little hard to approach, but I just figured, with everything going on in the world right now, you know, in big macro level, like the US election and, one way or the other, everyone's thoughts and feelings and emotions after that as well. As I know that there are prospective AA students out there right now who are getting acceptance and rejection letters from the schools of their choice and trying to make some big life decisions on what to do next and practicing CAAs here in November are moving through the fourth quarter in medicine, which is just an especially chaotic time, the fourth quarter in medicine, which is just an especially chaotic time, and with the holidays coming around, it's a real strain on your own personal time and energy giving yourself both to the busiest part of our work year and also to family commitments or personal commitments. So there's just so much going on right now. I'm really hoping this self-compassion mindfulness meditation can give you a sense of ease, can maybe feel like a reset or a much-needed pause in your day. So, wherever you are, we're going to start getting settled in. I'm going to lead us through the beginning part where we'll focus on our breath just to really ground into the here and now, and then I'll move us more into the self-compassion practices. Remember, you can take what you want and leave the rest If you just want to focus on breathing and tuning into yourself. That's perfect and exactly what you should do. If you want to follow along with all of the phrases and the meditation, whether you're saying it to yourself or allowing me to speak it to you, that's also great.

Speaker 1:

This is really a time for you to choose what's right. So I invite you right now to get settled, feel your body in the seat or your feet standing on the ground and start to tune in to just your natural breathing. We're not trying to manipulate the breath in any way. We're not trying to take real big inhales or deep exhales, and as you start to feel the breath, you can decide whether you want your eyes opened or closed. For this practice, I usually just tune in to whatever I need that specific day. Usually one feels more right than the other, and if your eyes are remaining open, you can just softly focus them in front of you, maybe cast it downwards. You don't want to be looking around that oftentimes takes in too much information, too much sensory information. So make the decision right now for yourself and keep tuning into that natural rhythm of breathing Wherever you feel the sensation of breathing the most, whether it's in your chest or your belly, your upper lip, whether you feel it in the back of your throat. Just focus your attention right there on your natural breathing.

Speaker 1:

This self-compassion practice today is going to be about being with the discomfort of uncertainty and, rather than pushing away, we're going to be turning towards it and finding our own strength and resilience as we face maybe what we're scared of our biggest emotions, our fear, discomfort, uncertainty and as we do that, we're just going to keep reminding ourselves that we are safe, going to keep reminding ourselves that we are safe, that we are capable, and bringing that kind strong energy back to our own selves as you're noticing your body breathing. If it feels right to just continue that practice throughout, something I like to do is note when my mind wanders and I label that mind wandering, thinking whenever I notice it and then return my attention back to that sensation of breath. That mindfulness can really bring your body and mind into the same place and there's so many benefits just to be had there, especially when you're feeling uncertain or a lot of discomfort. So if you'd like to just continue with that breathing practice of noting mind wandering with the word thinking and returning back to the breath, please continue. And if you want to move on with me to more of a self-compassion practice.

Speaker 1:

I invite you to place your hand over your heart, maybe a hand on your cheek, like you would a small child, maybe your arms wrapped around yourself like you're giving yourself a hug.

Speaker 1:

If that feels comfortable and safe and warm for you, I invite you to do that. Or you can just keep your hands palm side down in your awareness, away from your breath, and begin scanning your body to see where the discomfort is actually lodged in your body. If it's an emotional discomfort or physical discomfort. Where are you feeling that in your body? Are you noticing the stress, the anxiety, the real physical pain in your shoulders, in your brow line? Do you have a headache, muscle tension in your back or your legs? Does your heart feel heavy, your stomach churn? Where in your body are you noticing the most discomfort? When we're faced with uncertainty, discomfort, fear, we often seek ways to change how we feel or try to outthink it, create to-do lists to try to solve for it, or simply try our best to ignore it. This is different. We're turning towards that discomfort now, looking for its location in our body. If this ever gets too intense or too much, you can return to the natural sensation of breath and just watch your breath go in and out your body.

Speaker 1:

And if you're still with me and you've found the discomfort, the worry, the fear, the sensations of that in your body, I want you to direct your attention there, while you listen to me recite these phrases. Please know that these phrases are for you and if you'd like to repeat them to yourself, directing them towards the part of your body where you feel the most intensity, you can or you can just allow my words to go directly to wherever you're feeling the strongest emotions, with your attention focused on the spot in your body. I want you to hear the phrase. This is a moment where I feel desperately uncertain, I'm fearful, I'm really worried and I don't know what to do. I know I can't avoid all sitting here feeling these hard emotions.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for watching, because I continue to stay here with the discomfort of uncertainty or fear. I know I am capable of handling more than I give myself credit for. These difficult emotions may sometimes get the better of me, but they always pass and I always make it through. At this moment, right now, I know I am alright. At this moment, right now, I know.

Speaker 2:

I am all right.

Speaker 1:

As you let those words infiltrate your body and your mind. Let's take just another few breaths, knowing that kindness and compassion is something we can always offer ourselves, and in turn, it gives us a greater sense of our own resilience. By seeing clearly that we are capable of handling difficulty, you'll train your mind to know that you are okay. Just take just another couple more moments to really let the words and emotions settle, you can gently begin turning away from that sensation of discomfort, fear or worry. Maybe it's lessened, maybe it's grown in the spotlight.

Speaker 1:

Either way, begin turning your attention back to the natural sensation of your breathing. If you've not yet, find the location in your body where you feel the biggest sense of breath going in and out your body. See if you can follow two inhales and two exhales and, when you feel ready, you can open your eyes, if they were closed. Begin looking around. I encourage you to sit in whatever you're feeling right now, reminding yourself that you just did something so few people do to really help themselves, build resilience, to know that they're capable to find strength to continue on. It's all within you. When you're ready, no-transcript.

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Mary Jeanne Roberts, CAA

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