Nurturing Connection With Loving Kindness
In this guided meditation, recorded live, mindfulness teacher Anne Muhlethaler guides us in a classic Mettā, or Loving Kindness, practice. Mettā, from Pali, can also be translated as ‘friendliness’ or ‘connection.’ Meditation is simple, but not easy, and its benefit can be felt in as little as a single practice. Using gentle visualization, this meditation invites us to also connect feelings of well-being in the body, to bring them into our experience.
Transcript
This guided meditation will be led by Anne Moolitalla.
I'm going to invite you to take a comfortable seat.
And what I mean by that is it's important to feel supported when we practice metta meditation.
Usually we want to make sure that the body doesn't get in the way before we start sending these thoughts of loving kindness towards ourselves and towards others.
So finding a comfortable seat you can perhaps lean back against your chair.
If you feel very energized or you feel like you want grounding,
You can also choose to lie down either flat on the floor or on a yoga mat,
Whatever feels good for you.
I'm going to invite you to close your eyes if that is comfortable for you.
And if you prefer to keep your eyes open,
Leaving a sliver of light to come through.
As always,
I like to remind us that the goal here is to direct our inner gaze inwards.
And so with your eyes closed,
I'm going to invite you to take several breaths in and out with me.
Taking deep breaths in through the nose and taking slow,
Long breaths out through the mouth.
So breathing in and breathing out.
And really breathing in and expand,
Taking the breath all the way to the top of the lungs.
And as soon as the lungs are full,
Just exhale in long,
Slow sigh out through the mouth.
Take another few rounds of this very deep and slow,
Intentional breath.
And letting yourself arrive in this moment,
In this practice,
Finding your own rhythm and also cultivating a sense of relaxation and perhaps a sense of presence.
Breathing in one more time and releasing with a long slow sigh out.
And now letting go,
Letting go of controlling the breath and just resting with this natural breath.
I'm going to ask you to ask yourself,
How am I feeling right now?
Releasing meditation by getting a sense of what state you're in so that you can check in with yourself.
And releasing that,
I'd like you to make an intention for the next 20 minutes or so.
Perhaps it could be an intention of focus,
Of being fully present,
Fully aware.
Perhaps it can be an intention of kindness,
Of letting go of judgment.
Or for those of us who are new to practice,
It could be an intention of being open minded.
Whatever it is,
Just establishing what is your intention for the next 20 minutes.
And now releasing that,
We're going to start with repeating the mantras of loving kindness towards ourselves.
Repeating them silently in your mind.
I will guide you.
And starting with,
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
Losing kindness helps us cultivate a sense of recognition of the fact that we want the best for ourselves for this life.
We want to be well.
We want to live with ease,
Be healthy.
And belonging and connection.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
So repeating the phrases in your mind,
In your own time,
Try to find your own rhythm.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
May I feel loved.
May I be well.
And perhaps you can connect to the sense of being really well.
In this moment,
Who are you when you feel in top form,
Healthy,
Feeling good in your own skin?
May I be well.
Can you invite a sense of that feeling in this moment?
May I be happy.
And similarly,
Can you invite or recall a moment of feeling deep happiness,
A sense of joy?
Can you bring that moment to mind?
Where do you feel it in the body?
Where does happiness live?
Can you connect to that?
May I be happy.
And may I feel peaceful.
Ask yourself,
Who am I when I'm at peace?
Can you have a sense of who you are when you're grounded,
Stable?
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
May I feel loved and connected.
Can you connect to a time when you felt that sense of deep connection to others or a sense of deep connection to yourself?
May I feel connected.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
And now we're going to let go of sending these phrases to the self and move to the next category of person.
And that is the benefactor.
The term benefactor refers to someone who's helped you in some way in your life,
Someone who brings a smile to your face.
It could be a teacher,
A friend,
A family member.
It could be someone that you don't know,
But someone that you look up to and who made your life better in some way.
And we're going to be repeating the same phrases towards this person.
So getting a sense of who they are or if it's easier just softly calling their name in your mind.
Let's start with,
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
I'm going to let you try to connect and repeat the phrases on your own for the next minute or so.
May you be well.
May you be well.
And now we're going to move on to the next category of person.
And that's going to be the neutral person.
So I'd like you to browse in your mind and find someone who you don't know very well.
Is it someone who works at your local supermarket?
It could be someone from the post office,
A taxi driver,
A neighbour.
And let's try to direct the same phrases of loving kindness towards them.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
Notice that if you find it harder to direct the phrases towards this person who you barely know.
And that's okay if that's the case.
Let's not make up a story about it.
But try to get a feel for who they are.
Perhaps imagine their eyes if you remember looking directly into their eyes.
Perhaps even their smile or whatever impression that they left you.
And recommitting,
Refocusing on repeating the phrases.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
Remind the phrases suddenly,
Finding your own rhythm with this practice of loving kindness.
Noticing if your mind has gone off somewhere.
This is completely normal,
That's what minds do.
So letting go of any judgement or any stories.
And recommitting to simply being there,
Present,
Putting all of your attention on the recipient as well as the mantras.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved and connected.
Now letting go of this person.
And now we're going to move to sending loving kindness to someone difficult.
Now this may be a little bit strange if you've never done it before.
But similarly I'd like you to browse in your mind's eye relationships and think of someone who's been a little bit difficult lately.
We're not bringing up anything traumatic,
But just trying to think of someone who's made our life a little bit annoying in some way.
And so getting a sense of this person.
And let's use the same mantras and direct the power of our attention and the intention contained within the phrases.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
If it's challenging either to visualize this person or to send them loving kindness,
I just want to clarify that the only thing that we need to do in this practice is repeat the phrases and connect with a sense of the recipient.
This does not need to modify our actions outside of the meditation at all.
But in this practice we learn to cultivate and recognize how others too want to live with ease,
To be healthy,
To feel loved and connected and at peace.
Again the difficult people in our lives.
So may you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
May you feel loved.
If you find it helpful you can also link the phrases with the breath.
So breathing in with may you be well.
Breathing out with may you be happy.
Breathing in with may you feel peaceful.
Breathing out with may you feel loved.
And now let's move on to the last category which is someone towards whom we have been difficult.
I know that doesn't sound easy either.
Again let's not bring anything too emotional.
But think of someone that perhaps you were short towards.
Generally the first person that comes to your mind is the right one.
And once you've identified this person let's connect and send them the same well wishes of loving kindness.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
Again if at any point you notice that it's more difficult or that your mind has gone off that's completely okay.
That's what our minds do.
They like to follow shiny thoughts or worrying thoughts or planning thoughts.
When you notice that you've gone away you just recommit.
Come back and start again.
And one last time thinking about that person towards whom we have been difficult.
Sending this thought may you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
May you feel loved.
Now I'm going to invite you to let that person go.
We're going to come back to the self one more time.
And even though that may sound a little bit strange I'm going to ask you to bring a smile to your face.
It doesn't need to be the biggest smile but just turn up the corners of your mouth.
As you direct these phrases these well wishes of meta towards yourself.
So repeating with a little added energy.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I feel peaceful.
And may I feel loved.
And as our meditation is coming to a close I'm going to invite you to join me in sending these same thoughts,
These same intentions of loving kindness towards everyone everywhere around the world.
And even if this makes little sense to you perhaps imagine how the intention carried within the phrases can perhaps in some form or another touch others.
So taking a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
Dear entire world,
That's what I say to myself when I practice.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you feel peaceful.
And may you feel loved.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Namaste.
