Loving Kindness Meditation
by Amy Beckler
Experience unconditional love and wisdom in this guided meditation. We begin with loving ourselves and then extend it to others. The visualization and meditation blend into the experience of the feeling of loving kindness. Get comfortable and soften into pure love in your mind and heart.
Transcript
Loving kindness meditation.
Loving kindness or metta is unconditional love,
Inclusive love,
A love with wisdom.
It has no conditions.
It does not depend on whether one deserves it or not.
It is not restricted to friends and family.
It extends out from personal categories to include all living beings.
There are no expectations of anything in return.
This is the ideal pure love which everyone has in potential.
We begin with loving ourselves,
For unless we have a measure of this unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves,
It is difficult to extend it to others.
We'll include others who are special to us and ultimately all living things.
The visualization and meditation that I'll guide you through blend into the actual experience of the feeling of loving kindness.
This is a meditation of care and concern and tenderness.
Loving kindness,
Friendship,
A feeling of warmth for oneself and others.
We'll soften into the mind and the heart and open to deeper and deeper levels of the feeling of kindness,
Of pure love.
Loving kindness is without any desire to possess another.
It is not a sentimental feeling of goodwill.
It is not an obligation.
Rather,
It comes from a selfless place.
It doesn't depend on relationships,
On how the other person feels about us.
We'll begin by softening in,
Breaking down barriers that we feel inwardly toward ourselves and then those that we feel toward others.
And so you'll begin by taking a very comfortable position.
One of the goals in this meditation is to feel good,
So allow your posture to be relaxed and comfortable.
You'll start to close your eyes and you'll begin to focus on your solar plexus,
The center between the heart and the navel.
You'll focus on your solar plexus and your chest or your heart center and you'll start to breathe in and out from this space as if you are breathing from the center of the heart and as if all experience is happening from there.
Anchor your awareness only on this space,
Breathing in and out and begin by generating the feeling of kindness toward yourself,
Feeling into any areas of mental blockage or numbness,
Self-judgment or self-hatred.
Take a breath in and drop beneath that to the space where we care for ourselves,
Where we want strength and health and safety for ourselves.
Continue breathing in and out,
In and out from that space of your heart and your solar and allow my words to become your words silently,
Not just repeating these words but feeling them down deep into your heart and your core.
May I be free from inner and outer harm and danger.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free of mental suffering or distress.
May I be happy.
May I be free of physical pain and suffering.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be able to live in this world happily,
Peacefully,
Joyfully,
With ease.
And now you'll move to a person who most invites the feeling of pure,
Unconditional,
Loving kindness.
The love that does not depend on getting anything back.
The first person is usually someone we consider a mentor,
A benefactor,
An elder.
It might be a parent,
A grandparent,
A teacher,
Or someone toward whom it takes no effort to feel respect and reverence.
Someone who immediately elicits the feeling of care.
Bring them into your awareness as if they're sitting right in front of you.
Continuing to breathe in and out and share these words with them.
May you be free from inner and outer harm and danger.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free of mental suffering or distress.
May you be happy.
May you be free of physical pain and suffering.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be able to live in this world happily,
Peacefully,
Joyfully,
With ease.
After feeling strong,
Unconditional love for this person,
You'll move to a person that you regard as a dear friend,
The first person that comes to mind.
And you'll repeat these phrases again,
Breathing in and out from your heart and solar.
May you be free from inner and outer harm and danger.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free of mental suffering or distress.
May you be happy.
May you be free of physical pain and suffering.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be able to live in this world happily,
Peacefully,
Joyfully,
With ease.
And now move to a neutral person,
Someone for whom you feel neither strong like nor dislike.
And as you repeat the phrases,
Allow yourself to feel tenderness,
Loving care for this person's well-being.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
May you be free from inner and outer harm and danger.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free of mental suffering or distress.
May you be happy.
May you be free of physical pain and suffering.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be able to live in this world happily,
Peacefully,
Joyfully,
With ease.
And now move to someone you have difficulty with.
Perhaps hostile feelings,
Resentments,
Heartache or pain.
And you'll repeat the phrases for this person.
If you have difficulty doing this,
You can say before each phrase,
To the best of my ability,
I wish that.
If you begin to feel ill will toward this person,
Return to the person that invoked the most love for you.
And let the loving kindness arise again.
And then go back to the person with whom you have difficulty with.
Let each phrase spread through your whole body,
Mind and heart.
And imagine this challenging person in your space now.
To the best of my ability,
I wish that you be free from inner and outer harm and danger.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free of mental suffering or distress.
May you be happy.
May you be free of physical pain and suffering.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be able to live in this world happily,
Peacefully,
Joyfully,
With ease.
Growing your breath in and out.
And let's begin to radiate loving kindness out to all beings.
Staying in touch with the ember of warm,
Tender,
Loving kindness at the center of your being.
And begin to visualize a felt sense of all beings.
May all beings be safe,
Happy,
Healthy,
And live joyously.
May all living beings be safe,
Happy,
Healthy,
And live joyously.
May all breathing beings be safe,
Happy,
And live joyously.
May all beings in existence be safe,
Happy,
Healthy,
And live joyously.
May all beings in existence be safe,
Happy,
Healthy,
And live joyously.
Allow these phrases to simply be a conduit for the force of loving kindness.
Empower your imagination through each loving,
Kind word to touch the hearts of all forms of life in the universe,
Unconditionally and inclusively.
Resting here for a moment with all beings until you feel a personal sense of the profound interconnectedness of all creatures,
Of all life.
Visualize the earth spinning within the vast,
Mysterious universe.
And expand this sense of your loving kindness to fill the endless,
Infinite universe.
May all living beings everywhere on all planes of existence,
Known and unknown,
Be happy,
Be peaceful,
Be free from suffering.
Growing your breath in and out of your body.
Coming back to the room,
Coming back to your body,
And just taking some gentle,
Mindful movements.
Opening your eyes when you're ready.
And setting an intention to carry this deeply felt sense of loving kindness into the rest of your day today.
