Loving Kindness Meditation - Relationships (30 Mins) 2.13.23

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 word together. With Love, Namaste - Abbey

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

Thank you so much for joining me here today.

My name is Abby and I'm a yogi,

Salesforce engineer and creator of Consider Volunteering,

My personal brand of community empowerment.

Today we will be going through a 30 minute loving kindness meditation.

So loving kindness or metta meditation is the meditation practice I've chosen to share with the world because I am overwhelmingly plagued with negative thoughts in the mind,

Most severely about myself,

Right?

I'm the,

I'm not enough,

Those type of thoughts.

And I find that loving kindness meditation works to combat that in a pretty severe way.

I guess maybe not severe,

But every time we practice this loving kindness,

It does something,

It shifts our perspective and these negative thoughts.

And I just found it so breathtaking.

The first time I saw the shift in my mindset to what I know would have been a negative thought,

But it came out more positive.

And then slowly but surely those accumulated on top of each other.

And I want to be able to share that joyful feeling of intentionally changing these negative thoughts or tendencies in our lives into more positive,

Compassionate experiences,

Ideally making the world a better place.

And so during this 30 minute loving kindness meditation,

We will go on a journey together weekly.

This is my practice.

I come back weekly and I hope you do too.

It's been fun connecting and growing together.

But the first part of our practice is we've got to find our way to a comfortable seat.

I myself sit on a meditation cushion in my yoga office room here,

But whatever position feels good for you today,

Jump right in and make yourself comfortable.

I've always got a blankie.

We need lots of blankies around my house.

Maybe just maybe you pull on one for extra comfort today.

So once we found our way to a comfortable seat,

Somewhere we can sit for the next 30 minutes.

Our meditation practice,

Metta loving kindness practice consists of two main parts,

Two parts to this practice.

And that's all the instruction that we have.

And we will jump in.

The first part of first part of the loving kindness practice is a set of phrases that we repeat silently to ourselves.

You could definitely say these phrases out loud,

But you might get some funny looks or hopefully right,

We could do them around others without maybe making such a spectacle.

So silently in my mental thoughts is where we will say our phrases and my example phrases for today are may you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you be safe,

May you live with ease.

Do feel free to select your own phrases.

But these are the ones that I will use throughout our practice today.

First part.

First part of our meditation practice,

Our phrases.

And then the second part is we will send or set our intention of these phrases on to five different groups of people.

The first group will be ourselves.

And then we will move into a loving relationship,

Really feeling that joy of loving others.

Then we move into a neutral relationship,

Member of the community is like to say how I like to think about it.

Fourth is a difficult relationship,

We must find some balance.

And so fourth,

We will cherish our difficult relationship.

And then last but not least,

All beings everywhere.

Fifth and final all beings everywhere,

Our connection to the whole.

So that is our practice for today,

Our set of phrases repeating silently to ourselves,

As we embody,

Feel,

Send our phrases to these different groups of people combating our negative thoughts,

Cultivating more compassion,

Going through our journey so that we may be more holistic,

Whole,

Healed individuals,

Including myself,

Right?

This is a personal practice that I'm now sharing with all.

So I have done this myself.

And I just encourage you through these weekly practices to continue to do them for yourself also,

Because the first time I looked in the mirror and didn't go,

You're the worst in the whole world,

Abby,

It was groundbreaking.

Try it out.

But we will dive in to our practice today.

That's all of our instruction.

Focusing on the self,

Filling up our cup,

Taking this 30 minutes for ourselves to connect to grow.

It is not a selfish thing to be here.

Now,

We will start into our loving kindness phrases about the self.

May I be happy,

May I be 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 continue on your own.

I'm relishing today in my first motorcycle ride of the year.

I know it's 50 and I wore a million layers but man the wind in your hair right next to the mountains.

I live in such a beautiful place here in Colorado.

Just warms my heart.

I have been anticipating that ride for such a long time.

Wishing for spring to come.

Enjoying this changing time in my life.

I very much feel as though I'm shifting.

Can you feel yourself shifting from winter to spring?

Enjoy that new perspective as we continue with our phrase.

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 with that dear friends,

It's time to transition away from the self.

Enjoying one last feeling of being your own best partner in this life as we transition into our loving relationship for this week.

Who do you want to enjoy for five precious minutes very specifically in a loving relationship?

One that brings hopefully joy and contentment to your life.

So that's when times are not so joyful.

Maybe just maybe we will recall by practicing here now,

This gratitude for our loving relationship this week.

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 think my loving relationship for this week is going to be Rihanna.

Can you imagine the strange situation?

She must be in the hole,

Having made music in a long time,

But just performed at the Super Bowl and then pregnant with her second child.

I mean,

I can't imagine having one child.

Lots of commitment.

But in this kind of public figure loving relationship,

Pondering the strange situation she may be in.

How can that help me be better the next time I find myself in a strange situation?

Unsure of what to do.

Maybe we can call on her loving kindness 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.

And with that,

My dear friend,

It is time to transition away from our loving relationship,

Taking in that new perspective,

Feeling how we shifted in the short 15 minutes since we've started.

And we will start into our neutral relationship for this week,

Our sense of community.

I'm definitely thinking about a community around music,

How impactful music is to our lives and how that can bring us together.

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.

Thinking about music reminds me of my dad's story of taking a class when he was young around the meaning of songs.

My partner has also been taking something similar with movies,

But I like music more than movies,

So.

But the meaning of a song and how it comes to be and the correlation I'm getting is in Bridgerton where he says to lust or to see the body as a form of art.

And so how can we make our interactions with community,

Even these differently tied communities,

How can we cherish that bond a little more?

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.

And with that,

Dear friends,

It is time to set down our neutral relationship for this week and to transition into our difficult relationship.

Yeah,

I've noticed how just thinking about that difference makes you feel.

I myself was breathing really fast talking to some new people today.

Does this difficult relationship make you breathe fast?

Could you take a deep breath now to calm the body as we start in to our loving kindness praises,

To our difficult relationship this week?

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.

Thinking about difficult relationships has me thinking about new relationships.

I'm in a transition phase where I'm meeting new people for the first time and yet I'm already reacting like it's a difficult relationship before we've even started,

Before I even know their names practically.

How do I make all of these relationships more difficult?

I think I will be sending my loving kindness praises for that for many years to come.

Maybe you will too.

But together we can find a new perspective even when times are tough.

Even when we're the ones making this difficult relationship.

Together we can 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.

And with that dear friends it is time to set down our fourth group,

A difficult relationship.

Taking a sigh of relief as we are on our very last group,

Our last five minutes together.

Opening up to all beings everywhere.

Cherishing this connection we have with all because this fractal of light shines through you no matter if you want to let it shine or not.

Right?

I like to think it's this animation behind us all.

I would just like to let mine shine more times than I cover it or that's my hope for the future.

May all beings 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.

In how many ways can I make strings or similarities of this fractal of light of the whole?

I'd like to think that it's not such an overwhelming feeling because one fractal of the whole,

When the whole is the entire universe that I couldn't even fathom how big it is,

Right?

Feeling how big the universe is around me.

But yet I must remind myself that even though it does seem overwhelming,

Those are also how many possibilities I have to start again.

And so when you feel lost amongst many,

Not quite sure where the direction is,

The direction is in yourself.

Look inward and I believe we will be guided.

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.

That my dear friends,

We are at the end of our practice today.

30 minutes here and gone.

Please do be gentle with yourself as you get up from your comfortable seat.

I hope that you found for those last 30 minutes.

I know my legs are always asleep,

But I've been told that's fine.

I just have my routine now for when I wake up.

But I wish you all the best until next time.

Thank you so much for joining me.

With love,

Namaste.

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you be safe,

May you live with ease.