Hello everyone,
Welcome.
We're going to finish this series of meditations for helping cope with COVID-19,
The coronavirus,
With the love and kindness or compassion meditation.
This is a beautiful practice that I've found a lot of peace and calm from over the years,
Especially when things are less than peaceful or calm either within me or in the world around me.
This meditation can help us access a place within us that I've always found to be really helpful.
It's a practice you could do long term if you feel.
We'll start with our gong sound.
And then our one minute silence.
So the compassion meditation offers us some words and the words are there to help us to offer us in the intention of compassion or loving kindness first to ourselves and then out to a number of people in our lives and in the world.
I'd like to offer that you,
While you're saying those words,
Allow spontaneously or fluidly any imagery or sort of sentiment or intention of how you want to spread that message to just kind of flow naturally while you do the practice.
I'd like you to start by offering the kindness or compassion towards yourself with the following words and you can repeat them mentally after me.
I'll give space for this after each line.
May I be happy.
May I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
Just allow those sentiments to settle in and come in towards you.
Compassion or kindness towards yourself.
And then starting to spread that out first to your nearest and dearest family or your closest friends or people.
Imagining while you mentally repeat the words.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Imagine those sentiments going across to your nearest and dearest.
And then we'll imagine spreading that kindness and compassion another layer out further in our circle of connections.
So this might be to friends and close friends.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
You might find you imagine images or names of people floating to your mind while you're sitting digesting.
Just let that energy flow towards those people.
The energy of these words of kindness and compassion.
Spreading that kindness and compassion now to more distant friends or other members of your wider community,
Other people you know.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Again letting faces or images or just the general sentiment of people you want to offer that to float through your awareness.
Spreading those words of kindness and compassion.
And now a challenging one potentially is to spread those words of kindness and compassion to someone or some people that you have some kind of level of conflict or disagreement or tension with.
Offering kindness and compassion to someone or people you have some tension or conflict with.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Seeing if you can let go any resistance that comes up to that and offer kindness or compassion these sentiments to those people freely.
And then spreading this sentiment of kindness and compassion to people in your broader community,
Maybe people you don't know in your community or the country you live in.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Again spreading and offering that compassion and kindness.
Allowing an imagery or intention that comes to mind.
Allowing yourself to fluidly flow with that sentiment of how you connect with this practice.
And then spreading this kindness or compassion to the farthest reaches of the world.
So really spreading it out wide and far.
Imagine you're going across the whole world to everyone you don't know.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Spreading kindness and compassion far and wide however you imagine yourself doing that.
And then a little extra piece of special kindness and compassion for people that are currently suffering or struggling in the world.
They may be in your closer community or friends and family or they may be in the wider world.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
So spreading that sentiment of kindness and compassion to some people in the world.
That need it.
Some people that are struggling or suffering.
Just imagine that kindness and compassion spreading out from you.
And then to finish the practice just bringing that energy back into yourself again.
So kindness and compassion for yourself.
May I be happy.
May I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
And just allowing any imagery or the feeling of the flow of that energy of kindness and compassion coming in towards yourself,
Refilling and recharging you.
And this may be taking a few deep breaths as you absorb that sentiment,
Kindness and compassion towards yourself.
And we'll finish our practice today with that gong sound.
Thank you for joining me on the journey of these practices.
I've really enjoyed putting them together for you.
The loving kindness or compassion meditation is a really nice practice to continue to do long term.
And likewise with all the meditations,
If you have a favourite or one you're enjoying,
You can stick with that practice consistently for a week or a month or a longer time.
A nice way to evolve your practice once you've got the flow or the feel for a practice is you can stop using the recording and run yourself through that same practice.
Please enjoy the meditations and thanks once again.
I've really enjoyed the process of going on this journey with you all.
Thank you.
