Breathing The Brahma Viharas

A guided mediation using visualisation and the body to experience and cultivate the Four Immeasurable States (loving-kindness, sympathetic joy, equanimity, and compassion) and using the breath to build, enjoy, and cultivate those states. Real birdsong from Finsbury Park in the background.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this meditation of breathing the Brahma Vaharis.

This is designed to help you cultivate the four Brahma Vaharis or sublime attitudes,

Also known as the four immeasurables.

So let's begin.

So start by gently settling yourself in the chair or on the bed.

And just allowing yourself to come to stillness in the present moment.

And you can do that by focusing on the breath,

The one constant thing that we have in life.

So just notice where you can feel the breath most vividly.

Perhaps it's coolness of air when you inhale at the nostrils,

Back of the throat.

Perhaps you can notice it in the rise and fall of your shoulders or belly.

Just focus there.

And remember to enjoy and appreciate your breath in this moment.

And if the mind wanders away,

Don't worry about that.

It's what the mind does.

Whenever you notice it,

Just bring your attention and awareness back to your breath.

And if you haven't already,

You might like to bring some softness to your face.

Relaxing the muscles around the eyes.

Relaxing the jaw.

And perhaps you'd like to imagine cultivating an inner smile.

Perhaps an outward smile,

Just gently half smiling with your lips as you breathe.

Notice how you can enjoy the breath.

A lovely life-giving force.

And now we're going to begin with breathing the Brahma Vahara.

And again,

If any of this is difficult,

Don't judge it,

Just notice it.

You might like to note to yourself this is difficult,

It's okay.

So we're going to start with metta or loving kindness,

Universal friendliness.

And I'd just like you to bring to mind the last time that you can remember deeply feeling this feeling of loving kindness or universal friendliness.

It doesn't matter whether it was something you did that made you feel that way or can be something that someone else did for you.

It made you feel the real force of this Brahma Vahara.

And if you can't think of anything you can perhaps think of a story you heard,

Something that really demonstrated the power of loving kindness,

Universal friendliness.

Whatever it is I want you to think of it now and make it concrete,

Something real so you can deeply feel those feelings.

And notice the detail in this mental picture you have.

Notice all the things that feel loving and kind and friendly about this picture.

And just notice how your body feels when you are deep in the experience of metta.

Maybe there's a warmth or a lightness.

Just be aware of that feeling and enjoy it.

And now I'd like you to imagine that this experience of metta has a colour.

It doesn't matter what colour it is,

Whatever comes to mind when you feel this feeling in your body.

And we're just going to breathe that colour,

The colour of metta,

Allowing it to take on all the lovely qualities that you felt in your body,

The colour,

The texture,

Whether it's warmth or lightness or something else.

And just visualising your breath as you breathe with that colour.

Just noticing as you breathe in how your breath feels the whole body,

Filling your body with the colour of metta,

The flavour of metta.

Feeling it fill every cell of your body as you inhale.

And as you exhale you can feel that colour spreading out to the world.

And every time you inhale feeling that lovely feeling inside.

And as you breathe out you can spread that colour a little further each time.

And you might like to notice that when you share this metta by exhaling into the world,

You don't reduce your store of loving kindness,

You share it and it grows.

It's like a mood,

Or when you smile at someone,

You're just passing that on.

It doesn't stop.

You have an immense abundance of metta within you.

And if you lose the colour at any point or get distracted that's ok,

Don't judge it.

Just come back to the experience that you were called before.

Or if that's difficult just enjoy the breath.

Ok so for the final time perhaps we will take an extra deep breath.

Really feeling that metta within.

And out allowing loving kindness and universal friendliness to spread.

Even further.

And now I'd like you to let go of the colour and the image and just return to the moment and just return to the breath as it is in this present moment.

Again noticing where you feel the breath at its most intense and vibrant.

And focusing there.

And now we're going to move to cultivating mudita,

Empathetic or sympathetic joy.

So think of the time when you deeply felt really happy for someone else,

For their success or happiness.

Just something where you really felt so pleased for another person.

And make a mental image of that story.

And then you have that mental image and notice the detail.

And you can see the joyful smile on the other person's face.

Just a light in that feeling of being so happy for someone else.

And notice if that joy has some kind of texture.

Maybe your heart feels slightly different.

Just notice that if this is difficult too,

Don't judge it.

Just notice.

And again when you have that feeling of mudita deep within you.

And just give it a colour,

Whatever feels right for you.

And allow your breath to take on that colour.

So as you inhale,

Feeling the colour of sympathetic joy.

Exhaling your whole body.

And as you exhale,

Just spreading that colour.

Sharing this joy.

Perhaps first you'll imagine sharing it with the person you were joyful for.

Making them even happier about their good news or success.

And again noticing that when you share this mudita,

This joy,

It doesn't lessen as you breathe it out,

It simply doubles.

Really enjoying this sensation.

Maybe you can notice if you have a bigger smile on your face now,

If your eyes are even more relaxed.

And if you lose yourself,

Just go back to the picture or the breath.

And just noticing how your eyes are moving.

And just how your body feels in cultivating mudita.

And then notice how your mind feels.

And allowing yourself to let go of this experience and simply return to breathing.

Just bringing yourself back to the present by noticing the temperature of the air on your skin.

Now we're going to move on to upeka equanimity.

And again if this is difficult,

Don't judge it,

Just notice.

Ok,

If it were easy we wouldn't have to cultivate these things.

So perhaps you'd like to bring to mind a time when you felt that you greeted a difficult time,

A challenge,

With a wise and serene response.

A time when you weathered a storm,

Skilfully.

If you really can't think of a time,

Perhaps you can think of a time when you notice someone else doing that.

And perhaps you can imagine what that must feel like inside,

To have a place of such stillness and calm.

And come into that place yourself.

And when you've settled into serenity.

Allowing yourself to give that serenity a colour.

And as you breathe in,

Just feeling the colour of equanimity and peacefulness.

Feeling your whole body.

Feeling it fill your belly with this nice rich colour.

And as you breathe out,

Just sharing that equanimity,

Breathing it into the molecules of the air.

Allowing it,

You can see it may be travelling,

Picture it.

As you're spreading it,

And sharing it with the world.

And if you struggle at any time with this,

Then perhaps you can just gently smile.

It's okay to struggle.

It's important that we try.

Breathing in and out and perhaps taking a deeper breath and allowing the shoulders to settle.

It helps us feel more serene and peaceful when the body is relaxed.

And no matter how you're doing in this meditation,

Just allowing yourself to enjoy the breath.

Or if you're not enjoying it,

Being okay with that.

And perhaps you can notice now how your mind feels as a result of this practice.

Is it moving slightly differently?

And one final breath of Upaka equanimity.

And then just let that go.

Give yourself a nice smile for trying that.

Just bringing you back to the present.

And when you're ready,

We're going to cultivate the final Brahma Vahara,

Which is Karuna,

Compassion.

So bring to mind the last time that you deeply felt this feeling of compassion.

And again,

It doesn't matter whether it was a time when you felt deep compassion for someone else,

Or whether it was a time when you felt it being practiced towards you.

And making sure that when you choose your experience,

You're not confusing it with any feelings of pity.

Making sure it's a deeply compassionate feeling.

Compassion isn't pity,

It's when we see someone suffering,

Recognize it,

And have some sense of wanting that person to feel better for their own sake.

Perhaps wanting to take action to help that.

So when you have your experience,

Make your picture big and bright.

And notice the details in that picture.

Just notice how your body feels,

And you feel compassion.

You feel it in your heart,

Your chest,

Your belly.

And noticing the texture of that experience.

And when you're ready,

Just apply a color to Karuna,

Whatever seems to suit it.

Next time you breathe out,

Allowing that color to flood your lungs and spread to the world as you exhale.

Then perhaps sharing it with the very personal people you had in your mental picture.

And as you inhale,

Allowing this beautiful color to breathe through you,

Coloring every cell of your body with the color of compassion.

And again,

Noticing as you breathe the color in and out,

That every time you share it,

It doesn't reduce in size,

It simply grows.

Perhaps you can see that color of compassion spreading even further as you breathe.

Perhaps the color even deepens,

Becoming more rich.

And again,

Just coming back to the breath or your picture if you're losing track,

And saying that's okay.

Feeling compassionate towards yourself in your practice.

And just allowing yourself to enjoy the practice.

And as you breathe in the next time,

Allowing that color to really settle in your heart area,

In the chest.

Feeling your heart beat with compassion.

And noticing how that feels in the body.

To be filled with compassion.

And just noticing what has happened during the practice.

As you're breathing that color in and out.

And just noticing how your body feels now.

How your mind feels.

Even if you feel softer or stronger,

Or both.

And then when you're ready,

Just allowing yourself to come back to the present moment.

Letting go of the color.

And perhaps just focusing on your toes for a moment.

And focusing on your fingers.

And back to the breath.

And then as you breathe perhaps you can remember that we cultivate the Brahma-Ahara's through our thoughts,

Our words,

And most importantly our actions.

So perhaps you can imagine later on being out in the world and seeing one of your special colors.

And who knows how that will happen?

Perhaps someone you walk past or be wearing that color.

Perhaps you'll see a flower that color.

Or a street sign.

When you see that color you can remind yourself to practice.

Whether that's loving kindness,

Empathetic joy,

Equanimity or compassion.

So before we ring the bell to bring this practice to a close just allow yourself to really notice how that practice has changed things if it has for you now.

And just making the commitment when you come back into your life to practice the Brahma-Ahara's.

And on the third bell you can gently open your eyes and go about your day.

Namaste.

Reviews

Beautiful visualisation practice. I found it to be very grounding. Great suggestion on how to take it into everyday life. Thank you.

Wonderful exploration of the divine adobes..very practical suggestion to cultivate them daily.. very grateful to have found this, thank you🙏

That was nice. Very unique and lovely way to meditate on the Bramavaharas. Soothing voice and instructions. I hope to see all my colors every day. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏☸️