And why not begin by just simply letting your eyelids drape heavily over the eyeballs,
Letting them seal,
Feel that moment of connection of the upper lid meeting the lower lid and commit,
Commit to going within,
Commit to an inward gaze.
At this stage of the day you might have already committed to so much externally,
It's time to either start your day or meet your day right now with an inward exploration.
So with that why not take the deepest breath you have taken all day in through the nose,
Let it wash out through the mouth.
Sealing off the lips take a few more deeper breaths just in and out through the nose now and imagine as you're breathing in you're just meeting the present moment a little bit more even if you're not fully present right now you're just getting a little bit closer to the present unfolding experience.
And imagining that the breath had the power which it actually does to drop you into a calmer state of being.
If you haven't already placed the hands somewhere intentionally maybe now you formalize their position and let them rest down.
Noticing your shoulders and just letting them soften,
Creating a little bit more space between your ear lobes and your shoulders through that relaxation.
And then letting warmth and softness wash its way through the face now,
Softening all the facial muscles not needing to wear any face right now just let yourself be.
And for the next few moments the invitation is to simply witness the breath without adding too many layers of complexity are you able to simply watch and bear witness to the breath.
And over the next few moments are you able to round out the breath,
Smoothing it out,
Taking any edginess off that might be present.
And just like a balloon expanding in the ribcage imagine the breath were expanding 360 here and as you exhale just witness that slow fall and contraction back toward the spine.
Take just a few more breaths working with that imagery,
That beautiful balloon in the ribcage letting your whole lungs expand and gently with control letting them contract.
Start to allow the breath to nourish you just like you were sipping in a really luxurious drink that had the power to again instill a sense of calm from deep within.
The breath is that.
So for the next few rounds of breath imagine that sipping in motion,
Take a pause maybe for a few moments at the top of the breath just to savor it and then relish the release.
Start to bring this into an experience now with the breath,
Sipping it in,
Savoring it and relishing the sweet release.
Coming out of the mechanics and moving into more of a felt experience now.
Allowing gratitude to gently infuse that breath,
Thankful for this breath,
For life itself,
For a body that breathes,
For a mind that has chosen meditation today,
For your deeper sense of self that is meeting you here and now.
Just a few more rounds of that intentional felt breath.
For the last few rounds of our breathing work are you able to imagine the breath traveling from the inside of you all the way to the edges of the room with the inhale and as you exhale imagine the breath returning to your center back toward your heart space.
Inhale from your heart space the breath grows to the edges of the room and beyond and as you exhale it returns back to you.
Really nicely done.
Over the next few moments just letting yourself ease back into a natural breath without shaping,
Just being with a natural breath now.
And for today's heart expanding meditation I invite you to draw your awareness deep into the heart space.
You might even visualize the shape of your heart,
The muscle,
The organ tissue,
The small veins,
The blood flow.
And then come into the feeling sense of the heart so not just the mechanics of this pump that keeps us alive but come into the energetic sense of the heart what it means to you.
And notice on a scale of one to ten how open does your heart feel and you can perceive that however you need to.
How open does your heart feel on a scale of one to ten?
And you might join me in this visualization of a rosebud here in the heart center and over the next few moments the rosebud starts to bloom and the petals start to unfurl layer by layer until you see that beautiful delicate fractal in the middle of the flower and maybe you don't get to that part but you get to an opening of some kind.
And imagine that with your heart blossoming and opening toward this practice.
And as we visualize that I'd like you to bring to mind someone or something could be an animal that you absolutely adore.
Like your heart is just so quick to find them.
You adore this person or animal despite the small things that might aggravate you sometimes but you adore them.
And I'd like you to just take a moment to consider why it is there is that adoration.
What are the main qualities?
Then imagine from your heart center that opening space in the heart a warm light traveling from your heart to theirs.
And on the waves of that light we place these metaphrases,
Loving kindness phrases.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with peace in your heart.
Feel free to repeat that a few times from your heart to theirs.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with peace in your heart.
That beautiful warm light traveling from your heart to theirs.
Connecting you even if you're geographically apart.
And then just notice the feeling.
And imagine this person or animal receiving those words of love like a warm embrace.
And suddenly they feel a little bit lighter,
Warmer and brighter because of it.
Thanking them.
Thanking you.
And then letting their image dissolve.
Coming back to the breath in the heart space.
And now I invite you to bring to mind someone that you feel neutral towards.
Perhaps it's someone that you work with that you're starting to get to know professionally.
Perhaps it's someone you get your coffee from in the morning.
Find someone that you feel neutral towards.
Imagine them.
And then tune back into your heart imagining that openness here.
A lovely warm golden light from your heart to theirs.
And we place the same metaphrases on the surface of the waves to them.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with peace in your heart.
Repeating once or twice more from your heart to theirs.
And imagine wherever they are they receive that as a warm embrace.
Feeling lighter and brighter because of it.
Thanking them.
Thanking you.
And then letting that image dissolve.
Return to the heart space where you can watch your breath.
And now I invite you to bring someone to mind that you feel a little distant to or perhaps there's some tension between you.
It could be someone that you want to feel closer toward or that you just want to bring to mind if there's something between you that needs resolving.
Imagine them.
And even if they've done something to hurt you this practice does not condone their behavior.
It does not make someone right and someone wrong but it frees you of some of the resentment or bitterness or tension that might be placed between you both.
So just like we did tuning into the openness of your heart.
Letting it be there.
And like that lovely warm golden light we witness from your heart to theirs with the same intention,
The same connection.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with peace in your heart.
Feel free to repeat that once or twice more.
And imagine that your intention around this and your commitment to this practice did have the power to release some of that tension that might be there or bring you a little bit closer together.
With that tune back into your heart space.
Thank them.
Thank you.
And check in with your breath.
And the final part of our Metta meditation today is to ripple that same love,
That same kindness to all beings on this earth.
So imagine from the smallest of creatures to the largest.
From your heart in that openness you wish for all creatures,
All humans to be happy,
To be healthy and to live with peace in their hearts.
And you could visualize a warm golden light from your heart filling the room that you're in,
Filling the building that you're in,
Overflowing into the street,
Through all the towns or land until it meets the ocean.
And then it dives under the ocean and illuminates the ocean with that gold light until the whole planet is glowing in your golden warmth.
Just sit within that visualization for a few moments and see how it feels to breathe into that.
Wishing everyone to be happy,
Healthy and peaceful.
And sometimes this can be quite an emotional moment so don't restrict anything,
Let it flow.
And then shooting back in to your beautiful breath.
For the last few moments of practice I invite you to find three things or people or experiences that you're grateful for today.
And you can just repeat it internally,
Today I am grateful for finding one thing and then move on to the next but don't make it mechanical.
Let it be felt,
Bring it into the heart space.
And then finding that breath once again and then asking yourself the same question we dropped in.
On a scale of one to ten,
How open does my heart feel now?
And just noticing if the number is the same or if it's changed.
There's no right or wrong,
Just is.
And then returning to the visualization of you here and now in your body,
Feeling whatever is beneath you,
Beneath you.
Noticing any sounds in your environment and over the next few moments you can slowly bring yourself back into the external space.
Maybe the fingers start to move and then when you're ready you could blink the eyes open and take all the time you need to come through that.
