The Feminine Faces of Compassion by Kaveri Patel is a beautiful guided meditation CD centered in compassion and mindfulness. Kaveri is a family medicine physician, a wife and mother, a student and teacher of mindfulness and meditation, and a beautiful poet. She brings a soothing voice and healing presence to all five of the meditations included in this CD.

The meditations range in length from 6 to 10 minutes, and each is centered around a theme. They are all very gentle, incorporating breathing exercises, mindfulness, inquiry, and visualizations. Kaveri uses very inviting and open language, providing multiple options for connecting with each theme. She urges us to tune into our bodies and emotions in the moment, and to listen to what feels right for us today.

The first meditation, "Returning Home to the Divine Mother in Times of Difficulty" focuses on connecting with a nurturing, feminine, divine presence that emanates caring and nurturing. In the second meditation "Cultivating Self-Compassion", Kaveri invites us to think about a challenging situation in our life, and then moves us more deeply into inquiry through contemplation of the questions:

"What are your thoughts about this situation? Are you blaming yourself? Are you blaming someone else? What's the worst part of this for you?...What can really go wrong? What are your emotions underlying the thoughts?"

She then guides us through an awareness of where we feel these emotions in our body, self-compassion, and asking to receive the help we need.

Because I am familiar with Kaveri's soulful poetry, I especially appreciated her third meditation, "The Poetry of Presence", which revolves around the phrase:

"The space between thoughts
The stillness between waves
That's where you'll find
What you’ve been looking for."

The fourth meditation, "It's Not Your Fault", helps us surface and let go of those internal self-critical voices – the doubts, judgements and harsh voices of 'you're just not good enough.' The final meditation is called "Essence of Earth" and is focused on elemental healing.

Overall this is a wonderful guided meditation CD for both beginning and experienced meditators. It is especially good for anyone who is moving through a healing or therapeutic process, and would like to complement this work with meditation. The gentle, calm, and healing energy of these meditations and Kaveri's voice provide a nurturing, compassionate space in which to self-explore and self-accept.

This CD is available at Kaveri's website Wisdom in Waves and at Amazon here:

The Feminine Faces of Compassion, Guided Meditations