This Loving Kindness Meditation will help you to break down any barriers that you hold towards giving or receiving love towards yourself or towards others.
And with regular practice of this meditation,
It will help to cultivate compassion,
Empathy,
Love,
Acceptance and forgiveness.
Loving kindness towards yourself,
Towards others,
Because we never truly know what other people are going through,
And other people never truly know what we are going through.
So let's begin.
Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed,
Turn off or silence any distractions,
And find a comfortable seated or lying down position.
If you're sitting cross-legged,
Ensure your hips are higher than your knees.
If you're sitting on a chair,
Place both feet flat on the floor.
Your hands can rest on your knees or your lap,
Palms facing up or down.
And softly close down the eyes.
Quickly scan your body to make sure you are comfortable in this seated or lying down position.
If you need to move at any time during this meditation practice,
Then please feel free to do so,
But make sure to move mindfully.
We will take three relaxing cleansing breaths to relax the body and to relax the mind.
On your next inhale,
Take a deep inhale,
Feeling the body expand.
And a full exhale,
Fully exhaling all of the air out of the body.
Take another deep inhale,
Feeling the body expand.
And a full exhale as the body relaxes,
Releasing any stress and tension that you are holding.
Take one more deep inhale,
Feel the body expand.
And a full exhale,
Completely relaxing the body,
Allowing any remaining stress and tension to drift away and return back to your natural breath.
There's no need to regulate the breath here,
Or control the breath.
Allow your breath to be at its natural rhythm.
Take your attention to the top of your head,
As the crown of your head relaxes,
Continuing that relaxation down into your face as the face softens,
Unclenching the jaw,
Allowing your tongue to rest away from the roof of your mouth,
Softening into your neck and your throat,
Allowing your shoulders to become heavy,
Rest away from the ears,
Allowing your arms to become heavy,
Relaxing the arms from the upper arms all the way down to the elbows,
The wrists,
The hands and the fingers.
Relaxing into your chest and your upper back,
Relaxing into your middle back and lower back,
Softening into the stomach,
Allow the stomach to become heavy,
Allow the legs to become heavy as you rest from the upper legs down to your knees,
Down to your ankles,
Your feet and your toes.
Take your attention back to your breath now,
Just breathe naturally.
On your next inhale,
Follow the breath in through the nose and down into your heart space at the centre of your chest,
And as you exhale,
The breath leaves the heart space and exits the nose.
Inhaling through the nose,
Down into your heart space,
Exhaling back out of the heart space and back out of your nose,
And continue to focus breathing here.
Breathe naturally,
No need to force,
No need to control.
Focusing on your heart space enlivens the heart and its qualities of love,
Kindness,
Peace,
Empathy,
Understanding,
Acceptance,
Tolerance.
Breathe into this space,
Allow these qualities to cultivate,
Allow these qualities to emanate around your body,
Create this energy in the space that you are in.
Now I want you to visualise a safe space,
A place where you feel secure,
Where you feel safe,
Where you can't be harmed.
This can be a place you have visited many times,
It can be a place in your imagination,
It doesn't matter.
Just get a feel for this place,
Visualise what it looks like,
What it feels like to be there.
It can be in nature,
In the forest,
It can be out in the countryside,
A private beach,
Your own home in your bed,
In your garden.
It's your safe space,
Visualise yourself being there now.
What does it feel like to be there?
Feeling safe and secure,
Nothing or no one can harm you,
You are protected.
At any time during this meditation,
If at any point during this meditation it becomes too challenging for you,
Then take your attention back to your breath or back to your safe space.
Once you feel more grounded and feel as you are able to continue,
Then return your attention back to the meditation.
But I encourage you to continue this meditation as it is so beneficial for yourself and others.
So now you are in your safe space,
You are protected,
You are comfortable.
In the distance you can see someone walking towards you,
But you don't know who this person is.
You can't make out who this person is because they are still too far away,
But they are walking closer towards you and they stop in the distance and sit down on the floor.
You are still unable to see who this person is.
Now in the distance you can see another person walking towards you.
Again you cannot make out who this person is.
And this person sits down next to the first person,
Both sitting together in the distance.
And now a third person is walking towards you.
Again you cannot make this person out,
You don't know who it is.
And they stop and sit down next to the other two people.
Now a fourth person is walking towards you.
You do not know who this person is.
You cannot make them out.
And they take a seat next to the other three people now in the distance.
Take your attention now back to your breath.
Breathe in and out of your heart space,
Breathing naturally.
Now I want you to silently repeat a compassionate phrase towards yourself.
Just silently repeat this in your mind like a mantra.
May I be happy and free from suffering.
May I be happy and free from suffering.
May I be happy and free from suffering.
Continue to silently repeat this phrase towards yourself with the intention that you truly want to be happy.
With the intention that you truly want to be free from suffering.
Notice what it feels like to receive this compassionate blessing,
This compassionate phrase from yourself.
Giving yourself love and kindness and compassion.
And receive,
Be open,
Allow yourself to receive this blessing.
Just keep focusing on your heart space,
Repeating the mantra silently.
May I be happy and free from suffering.
If your attention drifts off to a thought at any time during this meditation,
That is okay.
It is perfectly normal.
Just be kind to yourself and when you notice that your attention has drifted off to a thought,
Then return it back to my voice or back to the meditation.
You can stop repeating the mantra now and just focus on your heart space as you breathe in and out of this area with the natural rhythm of your breathing.
Take your attention off your heart space now and you notice in the distance that the first person that sat down has now stood up and they are walking towards you.
This person is getting closer and closer to you and you're starting to notice who it is.
It is someone that you love,
Someone that is close to you.
This can be anybody,
Someone that truly and deeply loves you or someone that you truly and deeply love.
And this person is walking closer and closer to you now and they come and sit down in front of you in your safe space.
Really get a feel for this person's presence.
You're welcome to silently repeat their name a few times if you wish.
And now you will direct the compassionate phrase towards them.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
Send this compassionate phrase,
This compassionate blessing with the same intention that you sent yourself,
Wishing this person to be happy and to be free from suffering.
Continue to silently repeat this phrase.
Whatever emotions arise,
Just allow them to be.
You don't need to go into a story about the emotion or judge whether you like the emotion or not.
Just simply be a witness to it and just allow the emotion to have its life because that emotion is inside you.
Don't try to create any emotions that aren't there or push any away.
Just simply allow whatever emotions are there to arise.
Experience them without being attached,
Without going into any stories and then allow the emotion to go.
Imagine this person that you are sending the compassionate phrase towards is receiving your blessing.
They are smiling.
They are happy.
They have received your love,
Your kindness and your compassion.
You can start repeating the compassionate phrase towards them now and take your attention back to your heart space.
This person now stands up and comes and sits beside you.
Just continue to breathe into your heart space.
Now in the distance,
You notice the second person stand up and they begin to walk towards you and as this person comes closer,
You start to notice who it is.
It's a neutral person.
It is someone that you don't have any strong feelings towards or against.
This person is walking closer to you now.
It can be a friend of a friend,
Someone you pass on a daily commute to work,
Someone that works at the local supermarket where you go,
Anyone that you don't have any strong relations with and this person comes and sits in front of you now.
Really get a feel for this person.
Picture what they look like.
If you know their name,
You're welcome to silently repeat it a few times.
And now you can direct the compassionate phrase towards them.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
Continue to silently repeat this phrase to this neutral person.
Whatever emotions arise,
Allow them to arise without becoming attached,
Without trying to avoid and without going into any stories.
Without trying to avoid and without going into any stories,
Just simply be a witness and continue to repeat the compassionate phrase towards this neutral person.
Visualize this neutral person receiving your blessing,
Receiving your love,
Your kindness and your compassion,
Putting a smile on their face.
This person has no strong feelings towards or against you,
But they have now received your love,
Your kindness and your compassion.
Stop repeating the phrase now.
Take your attention back to your heart space as this neutral person stands up and sits beside you as well.
Just continue to breathe in and out of your heart space.
Now the third person stands up and begins to walk towards you.
As this person gets closer and closer,
You start to notice who it is.
And it is someone that you have difficulties with,
Someone that you have a challenging relationship with.
Someone that you have a challenging relationship with.
This person is now walking closer towards you and takes a seat in front of you.
Really get a feel for this person's presence.
You're welcome to repeat their name silently a few times.
Really get a feel for this person's presence in front of you.
And start to direct the compassionate phrase towards them.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
Continue to repeat this compassionate phrase.
Whatever emotions arise,
Don't try to avoid them.
Don't try to create emotions that aren't there.
Don't go into a story about the emotions or about the person.
Just simply be a witness to what arises.
These emotions are trapped in you.
These emotions have been stuck inside you.
They need to have their life.
Just allow the emotions to be without getting attached,
Without avoiding,
And without going into a story.
Just simply be a witness to the emotion.
Allow it to have its life.
Allow it to pass.
Continuing to repeat the compassionate phrase now to this person.
It doesn't matter what this person has done to you,
Or has done to others,
Or what you have done to this person.
You never truly know what anyone is going through at any one time.
You never truly know what anyone is going through at any one time.
Everyone has their pain.
Everyone has their past.
Everyone has their conditioning.
And people are only acting out to what they know,
And to what they've been conditioned to.
Having this understanding helps to cultivate acceptance and forgiveness.
Forgiveness towards yourself.
Forgiveness towards others.
Keep repeating silently this compassionate phrase to this person.
And imagine them receiving your compassionate phrase.
Imagine them receiving your love,
Your kindness,
And your compassion.
And now they have a smile on their face.
And now they have a smile on their face.
They have a smile on their face because of your love,
Your kindness,
And your compassion.
You can stop repeating the phrase now,
And return your attention back to your heart space.
As this person stands up and also comes to sit beside you.
Just keep breathing naturally in and out of your heart space.
In your safe space where you are protected,
You are safe,
You are secure.
Now in the distance,
You can see the fourth person stand up and begin to walk towards you.
And as they come closer,
You can see them walking towards you.
You start to see who this person is.
And it is someone that you know is suffering.
Someone that you know is in pain and that needs help.
This can be someone you know personally.
It can be someone you've heard about,
You've seen on the news,
The media.
And this person sits down in front of you now.
Get a feel for their presence.
If you know their name,
Silently repeat it a few times.
And direct the compassionate phrase towards them.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
May you be happy and free from suffering.
And may you be happy and free from suffering.
Continue to repeat this phrase silently,
Directing it at this person that you know is suffering and that you know needs help.
You can visualise now this person receiving your love,
Your kindness and your compassion.
No matter what pain or suffering they are in.
They have a smile on their face from receiving your compassion and your kindness,
From receiving your love.
You can stop repeating the phrase now and take your attention back to your heart space as this person stands up and comes to sit beside you.
Just continue to breathe into your heart space now,
Breathing naturally.
Now I want you to repeat the compassionate phrase,
May all beings be happy and free from suffering.
May all beings be happy and free from suffering.
May all beings be happy and free from suffering.
Keep repeating this phrase silently,
Directing your attention now to the people in your local environment.
Expand your awareness out now to all the people in your local village or town or city.
May all beings be happy and free from suffering.
Keep expanding your awareness out even further to all the people in your country.
Repeating the compassionate phrase silently,
Directing the love and the kindness to everyone in your country.
Expand your awareness out now to all of the people on planet earth.
Silently repeating the compassionate phrase,
May all beings be happy and free from suffering.
With the intention of love and kindness and compassion to all beings on this planet.
Keep expanding your awareness out now to our whole solar system,
All of the planets and the sun that make up our solar system.
Directing the compassionate phrase.
Expand your awareness even further to everything in the universe.
Directing the compassionate phrase,
May all beings be happy and free from suffering to everything in existence.
You can stop repeating the phrase now and take your attention back to your heart space.
Just breathing naturally in and out of your heart space.
Just notice and watch any emotions that have risen during this meditation practice.
All of these emotions are perfectly normal to experience.
Some of these emotions have been trapped and stuck in your body.
And this meditation you are just releasing them.
You can take your attention off your heart space now.
Just breathing naturally in and out through the nose in your safe space with the people that you have been sending compassionate phrases towards.
Generating that love,
That kindness and that compassion.
And just letting go of all the negative emotions that have been trapped in your heart space.
Helping you to break down any barriers that you hold towards giving or receiving love to yourself or to others.
Creating more inner peace,
More love and emanating that out from yourself to others.
Creating more love and peace in the world.
Take your attention off your breath now and just sit in the stillness.
Sit in the energy that you have surrounded yourself with.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Start to listen to the sounds that are around you.
Start to get a sense of your surroundings.
Notice where your body is in contact with the floor or the chair or the bed beneath you.
Notice where body parts are in contact with other body parts.
Keeping the eyes closed,
Slowly start to move your fingers and your hands,
Your toes and your feet.
Moving your arms and your legs,
Stretching out into the space around you.
And slowly opening your eyes,
Starting off gazing down at the floor.
Thank you for meditating with me.
