The focus of this meditation will be loving kindness towards ourselves and I will be offering up the phrases,
May I be at ease,
May I be at peace,
May I be kind and gentle with myself,
And may I be filled with loving kindness.
And so let's begin this meditation by finding a way to sit that is appropriate for loving kindness.
Finding a way that we can sit with an upright spine without being too rigid or stiff and just allowing the body to soften around this upright spine.
And we will begin and end this meditation with the sound of the bell.
And so let's embody an attitude of ease by guiding our awareness into the body and softening any points of tension held.
Starting with the face,
Bringing ease into the entire face by softening the brow,
Softening the eyes,
Unclenching the jaw,
And scanning downward,
Allowing the shoulders to rest,
Softening the belly,
And feeling the body resting in your seat as you scan throughout the legs and all the way down into the feet,
Just pouring ease from the top of the head down to the bottoms of the feet.
And it may even feel right to put your hands on your heart to welcome in a sense of touch,
Holding your heart and at the same time allowing your heart to be held.
And we can lift up this attitude of metta,
Of loving kindness,
By silently saying to ourselves,
May I be at ease?
Breathing in and out,
Silently saying,
May I be at ease?
May I be at ease?
May I be at ease?
And as the mind wanders,
Continually coming back to the phrase,
May I be at ease?
And then breathing in and out,
Softening the body,
Transitioning to the phrase,
May I be at peace?
May I be at peace?
May I be at peace?
Over and over,
Inclining the mind towards peace by repeating the phrase to yourself,
May I be at peace?
Breathing in and out,
Softening the body,
Softening the heart as we bring upon the phrase,
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
Just over and over,
Coming back to repeating this phrase to yourself,
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
Regardless of how you are right now,
Being kind and gentle with yourself as you are with the phrase,
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
Breathing in and out,
Gently coming back to this phrase,
May I be filled with loving kindness?
May I be filled with loving kindness?
May I be filled with loving kindness?
Filling up the body,
The heart,
The mind with loving kindness with the phrase,
May I be filled with loving kindness?
And so these are the phrases we will practice with,
May I be at ease?
May I be at peace?
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
May I be filled with loving kindness?
Over and over again,
Silently resting in these phrases.
May I be at ease?
May I be at peace?
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
May I be filled with loving kindness?
May I be at ease?
May I be at peace?
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
May I be filled with loving kindness?
Just remembering to come back to the phrases,
May I be at ease?
May I be at peace?
May I be kind and gentle with myself?
May I be filled with loving kindness?
We will practice in silence until you hear the sound of the bell.
