In this meditation we are going to practice love and kindness.
Let's start as usual.
Listen to the bell from the start to the sound disappearing.
So start by taking a comfortable position.
One where you're alert yet relaxed.
You want to put your body to be relaxed enough so that your heart can soften.
Bring your attention inward.
Observe how your body feels.
Places of tension.
Places that are relaxed.
Places that feel lively and others that feel numb.
Observe your breathing.
Is it deep or shallow?
Fast or slow?
Make a note on your mind.
Is it busy or peaceful?
And then finally your emotion landscape.
How are you today?
Note everything that is pleasant and unpleasant about your present experience.
It is best to begin by directing love and kindness to those you love.
Because often one can find it difficult to direct love to themselves.
So bringing your attention to your heart center.
Picture,
Imagine or think of someone you love a lot.
Where love comes easily,
Naturally.
It is uncomplicated.
It can be a child or it can be your pet or even a garden bird.
Once you have this image and thought of that being crystallized in your head,
We are going to gently recite inwardly the following traditional phrases directed toward their well-being.
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
As you repeat these phrases,
Hold this loved one in love and kindness.
Imagine them receiving all of those good wishes.
Adjust the words,
The images to best open your heart.
And let's repeat these phrases again,
Letting the feeling permeates your body and mind.
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
Let's do this a third time.
I'm not going to repeat the phrase.
I'll let you make change as you wish.
After a few minutes,
Bring to mind a second person easy to love and let's extend the same wishes of love and kindness to them.
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
Now I'm going to be quiet to let you repeat those sentences again twice.
While you're repeating those sentences,
You're imagining this being receiving each of your good wish.
If you mind wander,
Just bring it back gently to the phrases.
Now you're ready to turn to love and kindness to yourself.
So we're going to do it gently and you're going to start by imagining those two loved one gazing back at you with the same well-wishing for you.
Picture them looking at you with a warm gaze and saying this to you kindly.
May you too be filled with love and kindness.
May you too be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind and may you be at ease and happy.
If you're finding some resistance,
If you're finding some sadness emerging,
Just let it be with a kind non-judgmental approach and repeat again those sentences from those loved one to you.
May you too be filled with love and kindness.
May you too be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you too be well in body and mind.
May you too be at ease and happy.
Now that you have established a sense of love and kindness for yourself,
You are going to take those good wishes into yourself.
You might want to place a hand on your heart or even two hands on your heart if it helps and recite may I be filled with love and kindness.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May I be well in body and mind.
May I be at peace,
At ease and happy.
May I be filled with love and kindness.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May I be well in body and mind.
May I be at ease and happy.
Repeat it a third time for yourself.
Now that you have nourished yourself with love and kindness,
You can expand your meditation to include others.
You started with people that you loved and were easy to love.
You can now choose a benefactor,
Someone that you care about.
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
You would usually repeat those sentences three times again for each.
I'm going to move you a bit faster and the way of progressing you're going to include a neutral person.
So the neutral person can be someone that you don't know very well,
You just crossed the path of.
Might it be other parents in the school playground at drop-off or pickup time,
Or people when you're waiting in the doctor's office,
Or it might be where you're doing your shopping,
The people that are helping you at checkout.
May you too be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
And now you're going to choose a difficult person,
Someone that you're either having a challenging relationship with,
Or just a temporary situation.
It might be your child's teacher who told you that they are not smart,
Or it might be one of your family members that you find difficult,
Or it might even be your partner that you had a grudge with today.
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
And similar to with yourself,
If you find some resistance to saying those sentences,
Just let them be and observe them with a kind,
Not judgmental attention.
And then we're going to finish this meditation,
Opening it to all being on the planet.
May all being be filled with love and kindness.
May all being be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May all being be well in body and mind.
And may all being be at ease and happy.
There is this quote from Walt Whitman.
I am larger than I thought.
I did not know I held so much goodness.
