This is a meditation based around the Buddhist concept of Indra's net,
Which is a metaphor to describe the interconnectedness of all beings.
So to start,
Go ahead and find a comfortable position to sit or lie down or stand.
If comfortable,
Close your eyes and tune in to what's happening inside of you right here,
Right now.
Just noticing the movement of your breath in and out.
Noticing how your body responds to the breath,
Where movement occurs,
Where sensation occurs.
Checking in with the flow of thoughts through your mind.
And then just checking in with the state of feelings,
Whatever is swirling inside of you.
And the first part of this meditation,
We're just gonna send some compassion and some loving kindness to ourselves for whatever our struggles are right here,
Right now.
Just the intention of being good to yourself,
Nurturing.
Whatever struggles you're encountering in your life,
You're gonna offer up just a little bit of care for yourself for those struggles.
And then think about all of the people in your life who are also struggling,
Maybe in similar ways,
Maybe in different ways.
And you're gonna call to mind the image of a net where each person and their struggles is a shining jewel with strings connecting them throughout this web of interconnectedness.
So you're one jewel in the web and all the people in your life are jewels that surround you connected by threads.
And this is Indra's net,
This interconnected experience that we all have.
So now you're gonna think about all of those people in your life and all of the people in their life.
So we're gonna add some more jewels to the net of all those who are struggling.
And we're gonna add those little strings of connection between each of us in our experience.
And just as you cultivated that little moment of nurturing and compassion for yourself,
You're gonna let that sense of compassion radiate through the strings of the net to each of those jewels.
You can start with being really specific about people in your life that you wanna send that same sense of compassion and nurturing towards.
Or you can just use the image in and of itself without even specific people in mind.
Just imagining those waves of compassion filtering out from one jewel to the next.
And the wonderful thing about Indra's net is that all these strings of connection,
They don't just flow outward,
They also flow back.
So maybe starting to feel some of that sense of support,
Of kinship,
Of connection between all of the people in the net,
All of those shining jewels,
And how all of those threads of connection,
How we hold each other up,
How while each jewel is unique in its struggle,
We're all part of this same human experience,
We all suffer,
But we also all benefit from the support of the whole web holding us up.
Maybe even imagining as we have these shining jewels that the more,
The stronger those strings are that connect us,
The more the jewels shine.
And bringing that image back to your own heart,
You can maybe even imagine that shining jewel pulsating,
Sending out that sense of compassion and loving kindness and support outward throughout the web and inward from the web.
And as you breathe with these sensations,
Let your breath be a part of that pulsing jewel.
With the inhale drawing in that loving kindness and the support along the web,
With the exhale sending it out again,
Feeling that intention for nurturing both inward and outward with every breath.
And noticing now any changes to those internal sensations of the breath,
The body,
Your thinking mind,
Your emotional state,
And just know that this net,
This web of support is something you can call upon at any point in your day when you feel struggles,
When you're in pain,
When you're hurting,
Or when you see the pain of others.
Calling upon the web that feeling of interconnectedness and that support system where we hold each other up.
