Begin by finding a comfortable seated position,
Closing your eyes,
Making any adjustments to your body,
Sitting upright and allowing the spine to lengthen.
Become aware of your breath.
Just awareness that you are breathing,
Feeling the breath as it enters the body and feeling the breath as it leaves the body,
Feeling the breath as it fills the lungs with each inhale.
Then feeling the lungs empty with each exhale.
Become aware of any tension in the body,
Beginning to soften the forehead,
The eyes,
Releasing the face and jaw,
The neck and shoulders,
Relaxing wrists and fingers,
Legs,
Feet and toes.
Take a deep breath,
Inhaling and exhaling a few times.
Breathe in deeply until you feel the air pass through your lungs and reach the middle of your abdomen.
Imagine each cell in your body,
Fully taking in the feeling of peace and calm.
And as you exhale,
Breathe out all of your worries,
Stress,
Tension and negative feeling.
In this practice,
We'll be cultivating loving kindness.
We all have within us this natural capacity for loving kindness,
For friendship that is unconditional and open,
Gentle,
Supportive.
Loving kindness is a natural opening of a compassionate heart to ourselves and to others.
It's a wish that everyone be happy.
We begin with developing loving kindness toward ourselves,
Allowing our hearts to open with tenderness.
Allow yourself to remember and open up to your basic goodness.
You might remember times that you've been kind or generous.
You might recall your natural desire to be happy and not suffer.
If acknowledging your own goodness is difficult,
Look at yourself through the eyes of someone who loves you.
What does that person love about you?
It may help to use your imagination to picture yourself as a young child standing before you,
Perhaps four or five years of age,
If that allows tender feelings of kindness to flow more easily.
And as you experience this love,
Notice how you feel in your body.
Maybe you feel some warmth or heat in the face,
A smile,
A sense of expansiveness.
This is loving kindness,
A natural feeling that is accessible to all of us always.
Resting with this feeling of open,
Unconditional love for a few minutes,
Letting yourself bask in the energy of loving kindness,
Breathing it in and breathing it out,
Inviting feelings of peace and acceptance.
So beginning now to wish yourself well by extending words of loving kindness to yourself,
Offering these words in your mind for yourself.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be held in loving kindness.
May I feel connected and calm.
May I accept myself just as I am.
May my happiness and joy increase.
May I be successful and met with appreciation.
May I know the natural joy of being alive.
And now repeating in your mind these words of friendship and kindness to yourself once again.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be held in loving kindness.
May I feel connected and calm.
May I accept myself just as I am.
May my happiness and joy increase.
May I be successful and met with appreciation.
May I know the natural joy of being alive.
And now you can open the circle of loving kindness by bringing to mind someone who is dear to you,
Someone whom you care about and who has always been supportive.
Reflect on this person's basic goodness,
Sensing what it is in particular that you love about him or her.
Recognize that just as you wish to be happy and successful in life,
That this person too shares the universal desire to be met with encouragement,
Support,
And appreciation.
Begin offering them these affirmations.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you feel connected and calm.
May you accept yourself just as you are.
May your happiness and joy increase.
May you be successful and met with appreciation.
May you know the natural joy of being alive.
And now let that dear person go and return to your direct experience of the breath and body.
Pay extra attention to your heart or emotional experience.
And now bring to mind a neutral person.
This is someone you may see regularly but don't know well.
It might be a neighbor,
A grocery store clerk,
Someone you see but don't know well.
Bring this person to mind now and with the understanding that the desire for joy is universal.
Begin offering that person the appreciative phrases,
Repeating the words of loving kindness.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you feel connected and calm.
May you accept yourself just as you are.
May your happiness and joy increase.
May you be successful and met with appreciation.
May you know the natural joy of being alive.
And now let that neutral person go and return to your direct experience of the breath and the body.
Pay extra attention to what you feel in your heart or your emotional experience.
And now if it's possible for you,
Bring to mind someone with whom you've had a difficult relationship.
Perhaps it's someone that you don't like to feel sympathy or compassion for.
And seeing if it's possible to let go of feelings of resentment and dislike for this person.
Reminding yourself to see this person as a whole being,
Deserving of love and kindness.
As someone who feels pain and anxiety.
As someone who also suffers.
And with the understanding that the desire for love is universal.
Begin offering that person the appreciative phrases.
Repeat the words of loving kindness.
Seeing if it's possible to extend to this person the words of loving kindness.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you feel connected and calm.
May you accept yourself just as you are.
May your happiness and joy increase.
May you be successful and met with appreciation.
May you know the natural joy of being alive.
And now let that difficult person go and return to your direct experience of the breath and body.
And pay extra attention to your heart or emotional experience.
And now let's begin to expand the field of appreciation to all of those who are in your immediate vicinity.
Gradually expanding to all of those in your town or city.
Allowing your positive intention of meeting everyone with appreciation to spread out in all directions.
Imagine covering the whole world with these positive thoughts.
Send appreciation to the north and south,
East and west.
Radiate gratitude and appreciation to all beings in existence.
With a boundless and friendly intention,
Begin to repeat the phrases of appreciative joy.
May all beings be filled with loving kindness.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings awaken and be free.
May all beings know the natural joy of being alive.
Now it is time to let go of the phrases and bring attention back to your breath and body.
Investigating the sensations and emotions that are present now.
And next,
Give this joy away.
Give this love to the person nearest you.
As your gift to that person.
Let him or her have all of the joy and all of the love that you can find in your heart.
And notice how these things are still with you,
Even though you are giving them to another person.
They do not become diminished.
You are only including the other person within these feelings.
And now put your attention back on yourself.
Become aware of the beauty within you.
Know that for your inner life.
Make it as beautiful and as peaceful as you can so that you have much to share with others.
Let beauty and peace fill and surround you.
And now bringing this practice to a close by coming back to extend kindness to yourself.
Sitting for a moment and basking in the energy of loving kindness that has been generated here.
Gradually begin to bring your awareness back to your breath.
Beginning to deepen your breath.
And bringing your awareness back to your body.
Back to your physical body.
Taking your time to gently move fingers and toes.
And to slowly begin to move your body.
When you are ready,
You may open your eyes.
