This meditation is loving kindness for ourselves.
So before you start the meditation perhaps reminding yourself of the phrases you'd like to use rather than using this meditation time as a time to find phrases.
Settling in now,
Arriving in your chosen position,
Sitting or lying in a relaxed yet alert posture,
Letting the eyes close fully or partially and taking some breaths now to settle,
Settle into the body,
Into the present moment.
Please practice these phrases in a really light relaxed manner without needing to worry if you're doing it right or wrong.
Remember that beautiful saying,
Just placing the words on our heart,
Waiting for the right time for our hearts to melt and receive the words.
Placing a hand now wherever you find it comforting,
Soothing,
Supportive,
As that reminder to bring not only awareness but loving awareness to your experience and to yourself.
Perhaps even noticing a little inner smile or a slight turning up of the corners of the mouth even.
Now noticing your breath moving in your body wherever you notice it most easily,
Perhaps noticing the gentle rhythm of the breath.
And when your attention wanders,
Just noticing the thoughts,
No need to block them or struggle them,
Leaving them there and returning to the sensation of the gentle rhythm of the breath in the body.
Now releasing the focus on the breath,
Allowing the breath to slip into the background of awareness and beginning to offer yourself the words or phrases that are most meaningful to you,
Perhaps even whispering them into your own ear,
Just letting the words do all the work.
So you're slipping into a warm bath and letting the warm water do all the work,
Offering the words or phrases ever so gently like blowing a dandelion into the breeze.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go,
Just bathing yourself with kind words,
Letting them wash over you and through you,
Words that you need to hear.
And whenever you notice that your mind has wandered or if you're finding the practice difficult today,
You can bring yourself back to offering yourself soothing or supportive touch,
Just feeling the breath or sensations in the body,
Coming home to your own body.
And when it feels right,
Offering yourself the words again,
Like little wishes,
Little blessings,
Soft wishes that land on the heart,
Having that sense that the heart is at rest.
And if it feels right,
Perhaps even having the sense that you're absorbing the words,
Allowing them to fill your being,
Allowing the words to resonate in every cell of your body,
Knowing that the meditation is soon coming to an end,
Gently releasing the phrases now,
Resting quietly in your own body,
Your own experience,
As best you can,
Bringing kindness towards whatever your experience has been in this meditation.
