To begin this practice of loving kindness for ourselves,
We first find a comfortable stationary position and we take a few moments to relax our body,
Speech,
And mind in order to bring them to the qualities of stillness,
Silence,
And spaciousness.
Basically a deeply restful state where we release all activity,
All physical movements,
All acts of speech,
And any identification with any of the activities of the mind.
Simply resting.
Making sure our breath is moving naturally without any voluntary control from our side.
Feeling the stillness in the body,
For example in our hands and fingers,
Or in our feet and toes.
And then simply releasing all activity with each out-breath.
Resting deeply.
And then within this restful state,
Establishing a positive motivation for this practice by bringing to mind our own highest aspirations,
Our highest spiritual or psychological goals,
Which ideally also include the benefit of others.
And so,
Generating a wish to liberate our mind,
Cultivate our positive qualities,
Cultivate greater kindness for ourselves and others,
And therefore bring greater happiness to all beings.
And with that shifting to the actual practice of loving-kindness for ourselves,
In this case using an element of visualization conjoined with the aspiration of loving-kindness.
And so first,
Attending to our body and mind,
Attending to ourselves as a person,
And seeing our basic wish for happiness,
Our basic,
Our foundational wish to be happy,
To experience comfort,
Joy,
Contentment,
Well-being.
Holding ourselves with a sense of tenderness,
Affection,
Gentleness.
And out of that tenderness,
Expressing the wish of loving-kindness with a thought,
May I be happy?
May I be happy and have the causes of happiness?
Or may I be well and happy?
A very simple aspiration,
A very simple wish for greater well-being.
What we're doing is we're attending to ourselves and we're holding that wish,
We're holding that aspiration in mind,
And essentially allowing it to pervade our awareness,
And eventually also pervade our body and our mind,
Our entire field of experience.
May I be happy?
Feeling naturally and strengthening this aspiration with each out-breath.
While doing that,
We can imagine our own highest nature,
Our pure nature,
Our basic goodness,
Symbolically represented by a sphere of light in our heart,
At the level of our heart in the center of our chest.
Imagining this sphere of light in any way that we find inspiring.
It can be of any color,
It can be rainbow-colored,
It can be small or big.
But we know that its essence is all the positive qualities,
Including awareness itself,
Including loving-kindness,
Including compassion,
Including wisdom.
And so from this essence of basic goodness,
From this symbolic representation,
Light comes forth,
Filling our entire body,
Enveloping our body and holding us in a gentle embrace of loving-kindness.
So while we think,
May I be happy,
This gentle,
Warm,
Protective light feels our entire experience with a feeling of being held,
Being protected,
Being guided,
Being loved.
We are resting in the union of the aspiration and the visualization.
And we're allowing this visualization to unfold naturally.
For example,
If we see the light swirling around our body and bringing freshness and energy,
That's totally fine.
The main point is to hold the aspiration while attending to ourselves,
Truly wishing,
May I be happy.
Knowing that this aspiration also means,
May I be safe,
May I be well,
May I be inspired,
May I be loved,
May I have a meaningful existence.
Simply resting in this and allowing more and more light to manifest from the energy source in our heart,
Radiating and illuminating,
Healing and protecting our body and mind,
Helping us feel truly held.
We're still breathing naturally,
Still resting in the aspiration,
Still bringing it to mind over and over again,
And allowing the visualization to manifest naturally in any way that would help our body and mind right now,
But certainly centered around this experience of being held and protected by the light of our own basic goodness.
Resting in this for one more minute.
Then,
Taking this experience of being loved in,
Enjoying it for one more moment,
And then releasing it to simply rest in awareness,
In the openness and clarity of our awareness,
Without any aspirations,
Without the visualization,
But still with an aftertaste of loving-kindness for ourselves,
The quality of loving-kindness that we can now consciously bring to everyone around us,
To life itself.
And then before concluding the practice,
We're mentally dedicating our effort,
All the energy that we've invested into this meditation,
Once again bringing to mind our highest aspirations for our own growth,
For our own awakening.
And with that dedication,
Gently bringing our awareness back to the room around us and concluding this practice.
