I’m Present Now 6/10: Cultivate Loving Kindness

This is the sixth of a series of 10 guided meditations on training the art of being present. Each meditation in the series will be about 1 minute longer than the previous one, thus progressively going from 15 to 30 minutes. In this one, of about 23 minutes, you will start to cultivate loving kindness, a very important quality of the mind that will be explored also in the subsequent meditations. Albina will guide you, leaving also some silent space. She is an Italian meditation coach, holding a Neurobiology PhD, who has been practicing Vipassana for many years.

Transcript

Welcome!

This is the sixth of a series of meditations on being present now.

I am Italian and I live in Italy,

So I speak English as a second language.

If my essence and my lexical and grammatical errors do not interfere too much with your mindfulness practice,

Then I do really hope that you can find some hints or insights here on the art of being present.

And if my essence is interfering too much with your comprehension,

Then I'm sorry but my meditations are probably not good for you.

I have practiced vipassana meditation for many years with different lay and monastic teachers and I also have a strong scientific background,

So I'm sharing with you my personal experience on this ancient practice of the science of the mind.

This series is going progressively from about 15 minutes of the first meditation to the 30 minutes of the tenth and the last meditation.

So this one will be about 23 minutes altogether.

Let's start as usual by bringing our attention to the process of the breathing and feeling the breath strong.

We can maybe take a few deep long breaths.

Hearing the sound of the breathing in the mouth,

Behind the nose.

And feeling the sensations of the breathing in the chest,

In the abdomen.

I feel the movements of the chest and the abdomen rising and falling,

Like a wave coming and going.

So I keep my attention,

My wise attention,

Non-judgmental attention to this movement,

The air coming in and out of the body.

If there are tensions in the body,

I can let them go while I'm breathing out.

So I breathe in,

Mindfully,

And breathing out,

I let go of all the tensions in the body and the mind.

Breathe in and breathing out,

I let go of all the tensions in the head,

In the cheeks,

In the jaw,

In the eyes,

The throat,

The neck,

The shoulders,

The arms,

The back,

The legs.

Breathe in and breathing out,

I feel all the muscles softening,

The body becoming relaxed,

Soft.

The breathing is natural.

I naturally follow the breath,

Just the way it is,

Right now,

Without wanting to change anything.

And if I feel that I'm being too hard on myself,

There is tension in the body and the mind,

I can take a deep breath and let go of this tension.

And I gently,

With kindness,

I just follow the air going in and out of my body.

And if there are still tensions or aching somewhere in the body,

I can go there,

Go inside with awareness,

Inside the itching,

The burning,

The pulsating,

Just to feel it,

Just to know what is it.

I'm knowing myself,

I'm knowing my functioning,

I'm getting into the functioning of my body and my mind.

But as my body and my mind are very complex,

I need to be patient and to be simple.

So if I can,

I keep my mind on my breathing,

Which is simple.

It's like a wave coming and going.

And if I feel that I am not able to stay on my breathing,

I can go in my body and if there is a painful sensation,

I bless it because it means it is strong and I can keep my awareness there.

Kind awareness,

Not a judgmental one.

I'm not judging.

I just keep my awareness on the sensations that are happening right now in my body.

To know them,

To know what they are,

How do they function.

But I don't want to go there with my ideas,

With my intellect,

With the rational mind.

I'm going there by feeling them through awareness.

Because that way I can embrace these sensations and transform my mind in the huge space of awareness.

So I wake up and create new beings.

And to help the process of acceptance,

Of allowing also pain or things that we don't like to be just the way they are,

We can use the loving-kindness meditation that consists into repeating words in our mind that help to incline the mind towards acceptance.

So by being in contact with our breathing,

Inhaling and exhaling mindfully,

We can repeat May I be well.

Breathing in,

May I be well.

And breathing out,

I let this wish go through all my body into every cell of my body.

Breathing in,

May I be well.

And breathing out,

I let this well-being go deep into my body tissues,

Down till the toes,

To the fingers and up,

At the top of the head,

Filming all the body,

All the corners of my body.

Breathing in,

May I be well.

And breathing out,

I allow this wish,

Like a warm feeling,

To fill up my body.

May I be well.

May I be at peace.

May I be well.

May I be at peace.

May I be well.

May I be at peace.

And I let this peaceful feeling fill up my body.

I can feel maybe it in the chest,

Like a warm feeling spreading down into the arms,

Into the hands,

Down in the belly and the legs and the feet and the back.

In breath and out breath.

And by being in touch with my breathing I feel how my muscles,

My tissues are softer.

And if it helps I can keep repeating in my mind those words,

Peace,

Well and maybe also happy,

Calm,

Safe.

Breathing in,

I allow all these good sensations to arise in my chest,

In my body.

And breathing out I let them spread all around my body.

Breathing in and breathing out.

I feel my body relaxing,

Softening,

Warm and the mind getting softer as well.

Relaxing.

Feeling of all the judgements,

All the hostility,

All the contractions.

I am gently bringing peace,

Calm into my mind,

Into my attitude.

By repeating those words,

Peace,

Well,

Happiness,

Calm.

I choose the attitude of my mind.

Instead of getting caught up,

Getting lost into aversive thoughts,

Hostility,

Anger,

Anger,

Towards this well being.

It is really important to develop this kind attitude of the mind.

To be able to really accept and embrace all the content that's inside of me.

And I can use the breathing to soften my body and my mind.

Mindfully breathing in and mindfully breathing out.

I allow everything to be just the way it is.

No judgements.

I let everything surface just the way it is.

And to help this process of embracing all the contents that are inside myself,

I can repeat those loving kindness words.

Peace,

Well,

Happy,

Safe,

Free from hostility,

Free from suffering.

Free from conditioning.

And as this is not something that we need to understand with our intellect,

It is something that we just need to practice to do every day.

It is really important that each one of us spend a few moments every day connecting to this attitude of the mind.

We all have peace inside.

And if we learn how to connect to that peace,

To that kindness,

Then we can develop more wisdom.

And we become able to choose better for ourselves and others.

So it is very important that we spend a few minutes every day in silent meditation,

Connecting to our breath,

To our breathing,

Getting in touch with the sensations in our body,

All the sensations,

The pleasant sensations,

The unpleasant sensations,

And the neutral sensations.

And then we can help the process of accepting by practicing the loving kindness meditation repeating.

May I be well.

May I be healthy and happy.

May I be safe.

May I be at peace.

Each one of us can choose the best way to evoke that loving kindness in the heart.

And that will spread in the body and the mind from the heart.

Reviews

Thank you...so much
It was beautiful

The majority of the meditation is a lovely body scan and breathing meditation, with some loving kindness sprinkled in. I like how the loving kindness was focused on oneself, instead of others. We all need a bit more of this.

I really love your guidance, it is so helpful for me and the spaces in between are just perfect. I still find it difficult to do these longer meditations but your guidance really helps!

Such wise sentiments yet again, “to connect to the compassion that lies within is how we become peaceful”. Peace undoubtedly begins with ourselves — I wish you much happiness, peace & wellness. 🙏

I am grateful that Albina has shared her teachings in this series of meditations. Whenever I do them, I feel infinite self acceptance and in touch with my insides. Hate to explain. :) Peaceful.

This is my first time listening to this teacher. I found her very good at lovingly directing the meditation. I was quickly comfortable and focused. I will definitely listen to more of her meditations.

Good reminders of how and why we meditate! Thanks you!

Just lovely. Thank you

Thanks for this meditation! I enjoyed the instructions and found your voice and accent to be very pleasant!!! Much appreciated

Excellent for evoking the feeling of loving kindness. An extra dose of gratitude for all the IT facilitators who hold Nuero, Physics, Theology, Science, Counseling degrees. 🙏

Very peaceful and relaxing. Thank you!

I started the meditation with a disappointment running in my head. At the end all that obsessive thinking was gone! Thank you

Connecting to our inner peace. Thanks for this gift.

Thank you for welcoming me into this peaceful place. Simply breathing, simply allowing, simply being at peace. I am grateful for your unhurried gift to us. May peace fill your being, and may you smile.