Loving Kindness Meditation
The loving-kindness meditation method, also known as Metta meditation, is a practice that involves cultivating feelings of love, compassion, and goodwill towards oneself and others. It can increase your hearts capacity to give and receive love.
Transcript
Welcome to this loving-kindness meditation.
If you've never done this before,
I'll just explain quickly that this type of meditation is a method for developing compassion.
If you find yourself quick to anger,
Resentful,
Judgment,
Hurt by someone,
Have a hard time being empathetic towards others,
This meditation will help to open your heart chakra and increase your ability to be compassionate.
Loving-kindness is unconditional and inclusive love.
It doesn't depend on if someone deserves it or not.
It is not restricted to friends or family.
It truly extends out to all beings and it is done with no expectation of anything in return.
This is the ideal pure love that everyone has the potential to give,
But it is something that must be cultivated and you must open your heart to allow it to flow.
We'll begin with ourselves in this meditation because if we can't unconditionally love and accept ourselves,
We won't be able to do it for others either.
Then we include a person or people in our lives that are special to us.
Then we include someone it might be difficult to love,
Someone maybe who's hurt us,
And then we send it out to all living beings.
We'll use visualization and phrases to cultivate the feelings of loving-kindness.
The process is first one of softening the heart,
Breaking down barriers that maybe we feel inwardly towards ourselves,
And then breaking down those barriers that perhaps we feel outwardly towards people in our lives.
Let's get started.
Begin seated or lie down.
Close your eyes if that's comfortable.
Come to your breath.
Focus on your heart space.
Start to send your breath into your heart chakra.
Anchor your mind only on the sensations in your heart.
Breathing in and out from the heart center,
Begin by generating loving-kindness towards yourself.
Take a moment to feel right off the bat if there's any areas of mental blockage,
Numbness,
Self-judgment,
Self-hatred.
Feel into that and see if you can drop beneath those feelings to the place where we can care and love for ourselves.
Continue to breathe in and out from your heart chakra.
Repeat the following phrases in your mind.
I am free.
I am safe.
I'm healthy.
I am joyful.
I am loved.
I am free.
I am safe.
I am healthy.
I am joyful.
I am loved.
I am free.
I am safe.
I am healthy.
I am joyful.
I am loved.
Now bring your awareness back to your heart chakra and feel the energy of your heart.
You breathe into that energy.
With each breath,
As the energy grows,
It starts to encompass not just your chest but your whole being.
With each breath,
It continues to grow,
Moving outwardly towards someone you love,
Someone who brings you happiness and joy.
Repeat these phrases in your mind.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
Come back to your heart center and feel your breath coming in and out.
Now move to a neutral person,
Someone for whom you feel neither strong like or dislike.
As you repeat the phrases,
Allow yourself to feel tenderness and loving care for their welfare.
Bringing your awareness to your heart center,
Repeat these phrases in your mind.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
Breathing into your heart space and I want you to now move your awareness to someone perhaps you've had difficulty with.
Maybe there's hostile feelings,
Resentments,
Or they've hurt you.
Open your heart to whatever degree you feel comfortable towards this person and repeat the phrases for this person.
If you have difficulty doing this,
You can say before the phrases,
To the best of my ability I wish that you be.
If you begin to feel ill will towards this person,
Return to saying the phrases to yourself because there is still some internal healing you need to do.
Then try to return to this person.
Now bring your awareness to your heart center and repeat the phrases.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
May you be free.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be joyful.
May you be loved.
Let the phrases spread through your whole body,
Mind,
And heart.
Feeling the energy of loving-kindness emanating outward from your body.
Now you are radiating this energy out to all beings.
Stay in touch with the ember of warm,
Tender,
Loving-kindness at the center of your being and begin to visualize a felt sense of all the living things on earth.
The people,
The animals,
The insects,
The plants,
The rocks.
Feel your connection to all the living things and from the energy of your heart,
Repeat in your mind may all beings be free.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be joyful and may all beings be loved.
May all beings be free.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be joyful.
May all beings be loved.
May all beings be free.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be joyful.
May all beings be loved.
Breathing into that energy.
Come back to your heart center and notice the degree to which your heart feels open now compared to when you began.
Let this feeling of love emanate through your whole body.
Try to carry it with you as you move forward through your day.
Slowly,
When you feel ready,
You can open your eyes.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
