So begin by finding a comfortable posture,
Sitting,
Standing,
Lying down,
Slowly walking,
Whatever puts you in the place of relaxed attention.
And after establishing a comfortable posture,
Allow your eyes to close or to lower and let your attention settle into the present time experience of the body.
Relax any physical tension that's being held in the body by softening the belly.
Relax the eyes and jaw and allow your shoulders to naturally fall away from your head.
As our awareness is here in the present moment,
Begin to reflect on your deepest desire for happiness and for freedom from suffering.
Allow your heart's truest longing for truth and for wellbeing to come into your consciousness.
And with each breath,
Breathe into the heart center,
The acknowledgement of your wish to be free from harm,
To be safe and protected,
And to experience compassion for all beings.
Slowly begin to silently offer yourself compassionate phrases with the intention to uncover the heart's sometimes hidden,
Caring,
And friendly response.
Your phrases can be as simple as the following,
May I learn to care about suffering and confusion.
May I respond with mercy and empathy to pain.
May I be filled with compassion.
If those phrases don't mean anything to you,
Create your own words to meditate on.
Find a few simple phrases that have compassionate and merciful intention and slowly begin to offer these well wishes to yourself.
May I be safe.
May I be well.
May I find joy and ease in my heart,
Have peace and healing.
May I have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May I dwell in equanimity,
Free from attachment and aversion.
Notice when the mind wanders and notice where it goes.
Resist judgment and have compassion.
Bring your mind gently back the phrase.
May I learn to be compassionate.
Feel the breath and the body's response to each phrase.
May I have peace and healing in my heart.
Notice where the mind goes with each phrase.
May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Allow the mind and body to relax into the reverberations of each phrase.
Simply repeat these phrases over and over to yourself like a kind of mantra or statement of positive affirmation.
Now we'll let go of sending compassion to ourselves and bring the attention back to the breath and the body.
Again just relaxing into the posture that we're in.
Then we will bring to mind someone who has been beneficial for us,
Someone who we love,
Someone who our heart is full of warmth and care for.
And recognizing that just as we wish to be cared for and understood and loved,
This person we love too shares that universal desire to be met with compassion.
So begin offering them the caring phrases.
And I'll slowly repeat each phrase with that person in mind as the object of your well-wishing now.
Just as I wish to be safe,
May you be safe.
Just as I wish to be well,
May you be well.
Just as I wish to have joy and ease,
May you have joy and ease.
Just as I wish to experience peace and healing,
May you experience peace and healing.
Just as I wish for the causes of happiness and for happiness,
May you have the causes of happiness and happiness.
Just as I wish to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering,
May you also be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
And just as I wish to dwell in equanimity,
Free from attachment and aversion,
May you also dwell in equanimity,
Free from attachment and aversion.
With these phrases in mind or ones of your own,
Begin offering them to people you love,
To people close to you.
Although this is meditation,
Let it be almost a,
A form of prayer and energetic well wishing to these beings who mean most to us.
Just as in the practice of Tonglen,
We breathe in the pain and suffering of the world and breathe out compassion and light towards it.
We can do this as we offer these phrases to those we love.
We can breathe in their suffering,
Breathe in their pain and breathe out compassion towards them.
Breathe out these phrases towards them and their experience.
For the next few minutes,
Or as long as you feel comfortable,
Begin sending these phrases,
Begin sending the breath,
Begin sending compassion towards those you love.
We end this meditation and we end this practice and go into our day,
Hoping to cover the whole world with these positive thoughts.
So now as we,
As we end,
As we go,
We send compassion to the north and south,
To the east and west.
We aim to radiate an open and fearless heart and mind to all beings in existence,
To those above and below,
To those seen and unseen,
To those being born and to those who are dying with a boundless and friendly intention.
We repeat these phrases to all beings as we go throughout our day.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be well.
May all beings have joy and ease.
May all beings experience peace and healing.
May all beings be happy and have the causes of happiness.
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
And may all beings dwell in equanimity,
Free from attachment and aversion.
May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature.
We carry these intentions as we go about our day,
Extending compassion and love to all beings.
