Loving Kindness Meditation - Relationships(30 Mins) 9.26.22
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 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.
I greatly appreciate you joining me here today for my weekly installment of a loving kindness meditation.
So I've been showing up each week to share this loving kindness meditation with the world in hopes to make the world a better place.
And so I greatly appreciate you participating in this week's version.
I've been having great fun in my practice of sharing this practice with all of you.
And so through that our practice will take 30 minutes,
The next 30 minutes we will be together.
And the first step in our meditation is to find a comfortable position for our practice today.
So like normal,
I'm sat on my meditation cushion for today here in my office yoga studio,
But please do feel free to select the position that is good for you today.
You need no prior experience of loving kindness meditation to do this meditation with me today.
I will walk you through each and every step we will practice together throughout the entire process.
So I appreciate your confidence in me that I'm your fearful leader going forward.
From that perspective,
Our practice will be made up mainly of two parts.
The first part is our set of phrases in which we will repeat silently to ourselves.
And so the phrases I will use today as our examples are,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you live with ease.
Please do feel free to select your own phrases I promise the rhythm comes in time but those phrases are the ones I will use during our practice today.
So the first part of our practice is repeating these phrases to ourselves.
And then the second part is we will send these phrases to certain groups of people.
So when I say send the phrases,
We will hold different people in our minds and our hearts and our bodies however you'd like to feel that connection to another person or group of people.
And then we will repeat our phrases and in theory send our phrases to these different groups of people in order to gladden the mind,
Find some inner peace and hopefully make us more prepared when times get tough,
When interactions get uncomfortable.
Our loving kindness practices help us be more present,
Be more compassionate.
And I agree,
Hopefully you will too,
That it makes the world a better place.
And so we practice each and every week together hopefully doing our loving kindness practice which consists of one,
Our loving kindness phrases and two,
These groups of people.
So we will send our phrases to five different groups of people during our practice today.
We'll spend about five minutes on each group.
The first group is ourselves.
So we will send our loving kindness phrases to ourselves first to be very grateful for taking the time for yourself today.
The second group is a loving relationship.
So a family member,
A friend,
Your dog,
Teacher,
Mentor,
Somebody where you have a loving,
Easy relationship we will spend the next five minutes being grateful because those loving relationships really do help us get through the tough times.
Third is a neutral relationship.
We'll send our loving kindness phrases to a neutral relationship.
I often describe this group as a member of the public,
Right?
So that person checking you out at the grocery store,
Beside you on the train,
Whatever that public space,
Neutral relationship,
We cherish it because we are all still connected and we find our balance through our loving kindness practice in this manner.
Which leads us to why we practice this fourth group or our difficult relationship.
So after our neutral relationship,
We move on to the fourth group of individuals,
Which is our difficult relationship.
So however that is for you today,
I say pick the first one that comes to mind.
Even if we don't get through all of our difficulties in one session,
We certainly pile things together,
Accumulate that momentum in order to overcome those negative thoughts.
And the last but not least,
We open up to all beings everywhere.
Our fifth group is all beings everywhere.
So we really go on a journey through our loving kindness practice today,
Sending our phrases to these five distinct groups of people ending with all beings everywhere.
But it is now time to start in to our first group,
Which is ourself.
So do bring yourself to mind as you've taken this time to practice to become better today.
We cherish that relationship we have with ourselves and we are grateful for this time we take to practice our loving kindness meditation and the first group we send to ourselves.
So we repeat our phrases.
May I be happy?
May I be healthy?
May I be happy?
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?
May I May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be safe.
May I live with ease.
Repeat on your own.
Repeat on your own.
Repeat on your own.
I know being grateful for yourself can feel strange and kind of like an out of body experience.
But we all do die alone.
And so I find it no better to have a pure,
True relationship with oneself.
Because isn't that such a cliche where we are our own worst critics,
Where we hold ourselves back,
Where we lie to ourselves most often.
And so I find when things get tough,
It is always best to start with the self as we do here in our loving kindness meditation.
So I promise you we can push through.
Just like we do here today and continuing with our phrases even if it's uncomfortable.
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.
May I be healthy.
Excellent work,
My friend.
I know the last week may have felt tough.
I promise a new moon is over.
The moon energy is slowly but surely coming back.
Times will get brighter.
And together we make the world a better place.
One practice at a time.
And with that is time to move to our second group today,
Our loving relationship.
Loving relationship,
Would you like to send some more gratitude to today.
Some more compassion for maybe the uniqueness of way in which this loving relationship may come about.
Maybe you feel the loving relationship I may have for you.
And so we send our 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.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
Thank you.
Thank you.
When the mind wanders,
We simply take that short split second to pause to notice.
And we start again.
Now is the time to relish in this warm,
Expansive feeling that comes about when we send our loving kindness phrases to this loving relationship.
I find that life is so negative.
And now is the time to really lean into this loving feeling for oneself or one's loving relationship.
Because that's what makes us this life so worth living.
And so we repeat.
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.
Be safe.
May you live with ease.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
Thank you.
Now that I'm feeling softer.
Now that I'm feeling more open to the possibilities in this life even though we do take on so much suffering.
I hope I hope maybe you can take this openness into our other groups and our loving kindness meditation today.
Can you maintain this openness,
Maybe even after our practice ends with compassion and resilience.
And that's what our loving kindness meditation brings into our lives.
And with that we switch to our third group of individuals,
Our neutral relationship or a member of the public,
Whether it has a specific base or maybe feeling.
We send our loving kindness phrases to this neutral relationship,
Because I promise you even the smallest things make a true impact to change the world.
So I hope you will see it,
Or I hope in time,
You will see it as I do.
And with that,
We repeat our phrases to our 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 healthy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe.
We may never know the right way to conduct ourselves and every interaction we have with another human.
But I have faith that if we open ourselves up to just let the rhythm flow,
The right choice will find its way to us.
From another perspective,
I almost wonder,
Are we pursuing things that don't really touch our souls and make us happy?
Possibly these things you see from others,
We found within yourself instead.
Just something to think about.
As we cherish this connection we have with all.
And so we continue may You be happy may You be healthy,
Baby safe May You live with these May You be happy may You be healthy may You be safe may You live with these May You be happy may You be healthy may You be safe May you live with ease.
You You I've only planted a million seeds in the last 20 minutes of my practice that I've been sharing with you.
I Look forward to seeing which ones turn into beautiful flowers,
But maybe just maybe This will also open up the opportunity for you to see the fruits of the plants the seeds that you have planted You'll have to let me know how it works out And with that we shift to the fourth group of individuals in our practice today our difficult relationship there's no need to take on the Isof high difficult relationship you have it can be safer Especially if you're new to the practice to pick more of a annoying relationship and serve the hardest one you have But no matter which journey you select for today I'm so Glad you are practicing.
You are so strong you can do anything Even when we have to cherish this difficult relationship with our loving kindness practice So we practice together.
I'm with you on this We repeat 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 You You I see the true growth in these loving kindness practices And I unfortunately see the role that I play in making certain relationships of mine difficult I Truly tried to make my intention and every interaction to be beneficial and honest I've made a lot of mistakes over my years causing a lot of pain and a lot of difficult relationships to occur So I know I must always continue to practice more and more because I'll never get a just right And I hope you'll practice with me We can do anything 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 be happy may you be healthy may you be safe may you live with ease You You I always find it so perplexing This knife edge of good and evil that we find ourselves on this paradox of life Especially when Whose definition of right and wrong do we leverage I try to make it my own But maybe whose rules have you been following Because with this we also we open up to our fifth group of individuals today all beings everywhere We direct our loving kindness phrases to all beings because we are just not connected as the human race We are connected as all organisms on this Lonely planet in the universe Where we have no idea What it's encapsulated in So to the mystery of life we finish our practice today sending our loving kindness phrases to all beings everywhere Wonderful work 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 be safe May you live with ease May all beings be happy may all beings be healthy may all beings be safe May all beings live with ease May all beings live with ease You You Excellent work today in meeting each new emotion with a fresh perspective and a fresh set of loving kindness phrases Please do remember that you can pull them out on any time In any place whenever you feel like you need some of that support And so we continue with 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 all beings be happy May all beings be healthy may all beings be safe May all beings be safe may all beings live with ease You You You Fantastic work today my friends we have made it to the end of our practice Please do take your time coming up moving on with your day Please feel free to continue on And find your own practice see what comes up?
I greatly hope to see you next time.
Please do fill me in of how your practice has been going I very much look forward to continuing to share My passion for loving kindness meditation with you all in hopes to make the world a better place And I couldn't be more grateful that you've chosen to be part of it With deep gratitude until next time with love Say may you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease
