Hello,
My name is Beatrice and welcome to this Metta or loving kindness meditation First of all find a space where you can sit quietly Whether it's a chair or on the ground or even on the bed Make sure you can keep your spine fairly straight And that you're comfortable for the next 10 minutes or so Once you're ready if you feel safe you can close off the eyes If that doesn't work for you for any reason you're welcome to just gaze down and soften all the muscles around your eyes And start by gently noticing your breath Just your breath going in and out through the nostrils or even the mouth if breathing through the nostrils is not available for you today Beginning to come into this space into the body Then preparing the mind for the meditation Preparing the mind for the meditation There's no need to modify your breath to stay with your natural wave in and out,
In and out Slowly come to notice your body and the weight of your body on the ground or on the chair And perhaps noticing if there's any tension that you're holding anywhere And with your next exhale can you become a little softer Notice the surface you're sitting on and allow your whole body to rest into the surface Keeping the crown of the head pointing up to the sky and your back straight to your shoulders relaxed Once you're ready bring to mind a person that you love deeply It can be a parent,
A member of the family,
A partner,
A friend,
Someone that is so easy to love And it doesn't matter how it comes to mind how you visualize this person there's no right or wrong Just take this person in,
Stay with it And repeat either in your mind or even out loud,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be free from suffering May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be free from suffering Now come to imagine someone you may struggle with,
Someone that for you is not as easy to love as the previous person Visualize them And extend to them the same wishes,
Keep them in your mind and repeat May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be free from suffering Now think of yourself Visualize yourself in any way that feels good for you And say,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be free from suffering May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be free from suffering Now come to think of all the people in the world in any way you can picture it And repeat to yourself,
May everyone be happy,
May everyone be healthy,
May everyone be free from pain May everyone be happy,
May everyone be healthy,
May everyone be free from pain Come in to think of all living beings,
All people and animals and insects and all living beings May all beings be happy,
May all beings be healthy,
May all beings be free from pain May all beings be happy,
May all beings be healthy,
May all beings be free from suffering And now for the next few moments you can invite the hands to come one over the other on the heart Noticing this feeling of loving kindness to everyone and everything Breathing into the heart space,
Keeping your shoulders relaxed Noticing the wave of your breath now in and out,
In and out And maybe finding a moment of gratitude for something you have or something that happened to you today And being thankful And if you are ready,
Take your palms together now,
Still at heart centre and just gently bow your head down to show this gratitude When you are ready,
Lift the head back in line with the spine and then kindly flow the eyes open And take your time to move your neck from side to side,
Slowly looking around,
Taking in the room around you,
The light,
The colours Giving yourself the time to return to your day And thank you very much for practicing with me today,
I hope you practice with me again soon
