Loving Kindness Meditation - Relationships (30 Mins) 8.15.22
by Abbey Harmon
Thank you so much for joining me here today. We are taking 30 minutes to complete a traditional Loving Kindness or Metta meditation as I know it. We repeat phrases to ourselves, sending them to different groups of people. I use the phrases: May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, may you live with ease. I believe with these practices we can change the world together. With Love, Namaste - Abbey
Transcript
So I'm Abby,
I'm a yogi,
Salesforce engineer and creator of Consider Volunteering,
My personal brand of community empowerment.
And I'm here today,
EMonday,
To share a loving kindness meditation with you.
I choose to do this because this is the kind of practice that I need to help me combat those negative thoughts that plague my mind when I work all day on the computer.
And maybe just maybe you might feel similarly to me and need some practices that we consciously undertake in order to find some peace in the world.
And so I'm sharing my loving kindness meditation or Metta meditation with you today.
And I will walk you through the entire process.
So no fret,
Anybody can join me,
No skills necessary.
And we will jump into things.
So our loving kindness meditation consists of repeating phrases to ourselves,
Usually in our heads.
You can't say them out loud for fun,
Like my poor doggies get them all the time.
While in our practice today,
We will repeat them silently,
Which is also fun because then I do them in public,
Which is a good pastime instead of being on my phone.
And so in our loving kindness meditation,
We will repeat these phrases again and again to ourselves.
And we change the intention in which we send these phrases to.
So we will bring to mind five different groups of individuals spending five minutes on each of these groups,
Sending our phrases.
And our first group is ourself.
I really appreciate filling up our own cup before we move on.
Feels nice to settle into our practice.
And then our second group will be a loving relationship in our lives.
So oftentimes this is my dog,
But very often can also be a mentor of mine,
A family member,
A close friend,
You know,
Somebody that you have a unconditional love with.
Then our third group of individuals is,
I refer to as the public.
So a neutral individual,
Somebody you normally would pass by on the street and not really think much about,
Grocery store,
In the car,
On the train,
All of those beautiful places where we interact with the public,
We will send our loving kindness phrases to them as well.
My most dreaded group,
But it's part of the practice.
Our fourth group of individuals is that difficult relationship in our lives.
So everything must come in balance.
We send our loving kindness phrases because even in the difficulty,
There's light and we learn from those places.
So the more we can practice on our mats to be more present in those difficult relationships,
I think the better off we all be.
And so those are our fourth group of individuals.
And then we get to wrap out our practice,
Our 30-minute practice today with all beings everywhere.
So we will expand our intention of sending our loving kindness phrases to all beings on this beautiful planet that we share in the ever-expanding universe.
And that will take 30 minutes to jump into and take up space.
So I really appreciate you joining me here today as we work together to make the world a better place.
And so the first step in our practice is to find a comfortable seat,
Somewhere we can settle for the next 30 minutes or just a little shy of that now.
I'm sitting on my meditation cushion today,
But I often enjoy lying down also.
And if you need the nap,
Take a nap too.
That wouldn't be so terrible on this Monday.
It rained here today.
Haha!
Rain on a Monday,
Maybe a nap slash loving kindness meditation is the thing.
And so finding our way to our comfortable seat,
We will start in on our loving kindness phrases and the ones I'm using today are,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
Peaceful for you to select your own phrases,
But these are my examples and the ones I will be using.
In our first group,
We repeat our phrases to is ourselves.
So big bear hug to ourselves today,
My imagery is definitely my current self sitting on the lap of my larger future self and cradling my younger self in my lap.
That kind of cascading dolls,
Us supporting each other as I learn and grow as a human.
And I hope you do as well.
And I greatly appreciate that feeling,
That support my future and past selves.
And so I send my loving kindness phrases.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I live with ease.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I live with ease.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I live with ease.
I too often find myself questioning the feelings that come up,
Like they're bad,
Not worthy of me feeling these guilt for being happy.
We must rejoice in this happiness as too few of us feel it far less often than we should.
And so no second arrows has been my mantra.
And so today,
I pray for you to no longer have any second arrows about the thoughts and the feelings that come up because they are natural.
We practice to react consciously to these feelings that are so natural and beautiful to our lives.
With gratitude,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I live with ease,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I live with ease,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I live with ease.
And it's okay to feel guilty about living in the happiness.
But that happiness is so natural,
So beautiful to live in the peace that is now.
And so we first fill up our cup with our loving kindness phrases.
And now we shift to our second group of individuals that we will direct our phrases to,
Which is that loving relationship in our lives.
So what loving relationship would you like to honor today?
Whether that's my dog or my new fixation of Rosalia,
Which I will totally be listening to during my yoga practice.
But this loving relationship,
We send our phrases.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
The feelings that I get as I send my phrases to each of these groups often feel so much the same.
But yet again,
When I think about it a second time,
They feel so much different.
And so when the practice seems mundane,
Please lean into your faith that it will work,
Does work.
Together,
We make the world a better place.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
This connection,
Very much like our loving relationship,
Often reminds us of how we're connected to everything else.
And so with that,
We transition to our third group of individuals to send our phrases,
Our member of the public,
Our neutral relationship.
Maybe a person has a face,
Maybe it's more of a feeling of a group,
But cherishing the public reminds us that there's something greater out there that we live for,
That motivates us,
That I personally don't think we can understand past my feeble human mind,
But I will still cherish it with faith because I believe it to be true.
And so I send my loving kindness phrases to my neutral relationship.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
May feel strange to be grateful for a stranger,
But I know I've met some wonderful strangers before,
And I hope to meet very many wonderful strangers in the future.
And so even if it's strange,
Even if it's scary,
I continue with my phrases.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
I hope one day that my kindness to a stranger truly makes an impact because I try.
I promise.
And with that,
I'm sorry it's my dreaded part of the practice.
We will shift our loving kindness phrases to difficult relationship,
Difficult relationships.
And yet,
Trying to find this balance on our life.
To continue to rewrite,
Write these difficult relationships,
We must continue in our practice of sending our loving kindness phrases.
And so may you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
This difficult relationship is often difficult for me.
I wish today to make an analogy to something else.
I'm going to say it's all a matter of perspective.
Whatever thing that connects you to this person that you have a difficult relationship with,
I'm certain they have a very different perspective on that connection between the two of you.
Whether that's work or family,
You know,
There's many other things that connect us to other people.
It could just be a matter of differing perspectives.
And so maybe it's time to share your differing perspective.
With kindness and compassion,
We can choose to learn from these difficult relationships,
Or at least we try.
And so we practice.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
With a deep sigh now,
I let go of that difficult relationship.
With a deep sigh now,
I let go of that difficult relationship.
And I'm grateful for it.
I promised to learn from it,
But I let it go.
And we finally get to expand into all beings everywhere.
I'm so grateful to share all these resources on this beautiful planet,
So fragile,
Suspended and never-ending space.
And so I cherish it with this practice.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
I know I can be grateful for all beings everywhere because of how many people have enjoyed being able to hear my snoozing dog over my microphone.
Look there,
It's just a little Zeke's snoozing his life away so loudly that he can be picked up on mic.
And it brings a lot of people joy.
And so I know there's faith in this world.
And so I relish that in my practice.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
I'm so grateful for you practicing here with me today,
Friends.
Truly believe we're solely,
Virtually making an impact in the world by sending our loving kindness phrases to all members because we are all connected in those most intricate of ways.
Thank you again.
I hope you enjoyed your practice.
Please take your time getting up and reacclimating yourself to the world.
I myself am about to hit my yoga mat since it's my Rosalina to myself.
Some doggies poke at me,
Say it's time for a walk.
And I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
And maybe just maybe I'll see you next time.
With love,
Namaste.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
