Hi,
My name is Adriana DeFazio and this is a 20-minute guided metta meditation.
Metta is otherwise known as loving-kindness practice and it's a combination of concentration,
Visualization,
And contemplation techniques in which we offer ourselves a series of phrases of well-wishes towards ourselves and other people.
We'll start off by taking a comfortable seat.
If you're seated in a chair,
I invite you to bring yourself to the edge of your seat so you can feel both your feet firmly planted on the ground beneath your knees.
If you're seated in a cushion,
Begin to feel your sit bones ground down into the earth,
Bringing your awareness to the connections of your shins,
Thighs,
And the tops of your feet.
Place both your hands palms down on tops of your thighs,
Supporting and lifting up your upper body.
Then imagine as if there's a gold silky string running along each one of your vertebrae and there's someone right above you,
Gently lifting you up.
As you do so,
Your organs stack upon one another.
Your belly,
Ribs,
And chest expand and broaden.
Your shoulders lengthen across your back,
Developing a strong back and soft and open front.
Tuck your chin in ever so gently to make sure the back of your neck is long and aligned with the rest of your spine.
You may feel your jaw naturally unhinges,
Lips slightly part,
And that's okay.
Relax your cheeks,
Nose,
And ears.
And then for this type of practice,
I invite you to close your eyes if that feels comfortable for you.
Smoothing out through your eyelids,
The delicate skin around your eyes,
Relax your eyebrows,
And forehead.
We'll begin our practice by directing our phrases of loving kindness towards ourselves.
If you'd like,
You can visualize yourself looking at your reflection in the mirror,
Taking note of the nuances and the specifics of your hair.
Skin and eyes.
Really allowing yourself to take yourself in.
And then silently offering yourself our phrases of loving kindness.
May I know happiness and the roots of happiness.
May I be healthy in mind and body.
May I be safe.
May I live with ease.
Offering yourself those same phrases again.
Really giving yourself the time and space to feel into the resonance of each phrase.
May I know happiness and the roots of happiness.
May I be healthy in mind and body.
May I be safe.
May I live with ease.
Silently repeating these phrases towards yourself.
Imagining as if each phrase is a gift of loving kindness you're offering.
If it's helpful,
You can link your in-breath and out-breath with each phrase.
Giving yourself the opportunity to really feel the intention and resonance within your body.
Gently let go of the visualization of yourself.
And now bringing to mind a loved one or friend.
Someone in which loving kindness comes easily to you without any sense of restrictions.
Bring this person or being to mind.
You can imagine as if they're sitting across from you.
And again,
Giving yourself the opportunity to really visualize the details of this person.
Almost as if you can feel their presence in front of you.
As you visualize this person or being,
Imagine as if they're happy,
Smiling,
Expressing that in whatever way they do.
And then offering the same phrases of loving kindness to them.
You may silently repeat,
May you know happiness and the roots of happiness.
May you be healthy in mind and body.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
Repeating our phrases of loving kindness,
Directing them towards this loved one.
Planting seeds of loving kindness with ease repetition.
Gently let go of the contemplation of this loved one.
And now bringing to mind a neutral person.
This can be someone you see often,
But don't necessarily think of.
A neutral person is someone that we don't necessarily feel very strongly about in either a positive or negative direction.
Taking a moment to visualize this person.
And again,
To the best of your ability,
Imagining as if this person's sitting across from you.
And although you may not know this person very well,
They too want to be happy,
Have dreams and fears,
And want to live without suffering.
Silently offering our phrases of loving kindness to them too.
May you know happiness and the roots of happiness.
May you be healthy in mind and body.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
Allowing these phrases to be vehicles for your attention.
Letting go of this neutral person.
And then moving on to our difficult person.
So this can be someone who simply irritates or annoys you,
Or it can be an individual in your life in which you recently had a disagreement with,
And you don't feel like it's fully resolved.
Someone in which you feel some resistance to sending loving kindness to.
Simply bringing this person to mind.
And then also offering our phrases of loving kindness to them.
May you know happiness and the roots of happiness.
May you be healthy in mind and body.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
Gently letting go of this difficult person.
And now we'll direct our phrases of loving kindness to all sentient beings.
Expanding our field of awareness in all directions 360 degrees.
Start off by bringing to mind the other people in the physical location that you're currently practicing,
Whether that be your home or building.
Spilling out onto the streets,
To your neighbors,
To other people in school,
At their jobs,
At work.
Going about their lives.
And expanding even further,
Miles away in all directions,
Across borders of seats,
Country,
Across the oceans,
Until your awareness envelops the entire world.
Sending loving kindness to all sentient beings,
Silently repeating to yourself,
May all beings know happiness and the roots of happiness.
May all beings be healthy in mind and body.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings live with ease.
Feeling Metta,
Our loving kindness,
Radiating in all directions,
Beaming from your heart center.
Feeling those waves ripple out.
And then gently letting go of our Metta practice.
Simply resting back with sensation of our body breathing,
Our last minute.
In your own time,
You can slowly begin to open your eyes,
Bring movement back into your body,
And end your meditation practice.
