Welcome to your loving kindness meditation.
This exercise is a contemplative and intention-based practice where we actively evoke the spirit of friendliness and compassion towards ourselves and towards others through the simple recitation of short phrases.
As we silently repeat each phrase and contemplate what arises,
We train our minds to create neuronal pathways,
Neuronal patterns that support healthier relating.
It may be helpful to think of each of these intentions as seeds that we plant and cultivate in our practice,
That they may grow and sprout in our lives.
And as you tend to that garden through continued practice and as your heart then begins to grow in loving kindness,
You may begin to notice an equal and parallel shift in the way the world receives you as it becomes more beautiful and peaceful around you.
Let's begin.
Allow yourself to be in a relaxed and comfortable position.
You can sit however you like for this meditation,
It doesn't matter.
What matters is that you're at ease.
So you could lay down,
You could be on a chair,
Whatever that is for you,
Get yourself set up nice and easy.
And then when you're ready,
Close the eyes or soften the gaze and invite a deep nourishing breath in.
And as you breathe out,
Allow that sense of nourishment to wash through the body,
Letting the breath return to its natural rhythm.
See if you can get a sense for and feel the affinity your body has for the floor beneath you and allow your weight to simply surrender into the floor.
I invite you to imagine the environment that you're in is being filled with and surrounded with loving and nurturing beings.
You can,
If you like,
Here create the image of being,
Showing you kindness and see if any associative persons or beings begin to come to mind.
So we're in this space that's safe,
The space that's loving,
Nourishing and nurturing and full of people or beings that treat themselves and treat each other well,
With pleasantness,
With ease,
With love.
Silently in your mind,
Repeat these four phrases as you extend the intentions behind them to these loving beings.
May you be safe,
Free from danger,
Art of harm's way.
May you be happy,
Joy-filled,
Contented,
Uplifted.
May you be healthy,
Strong,
Free from bodily or mental suffering.
And may you live at ease,
Being at peace and surpassing and transcending any obstacles that may enter your path.
And you can let that go.
Now imagine these loving beings turn around to you and send it right back.
See if you can receive this loving kindness and take it in as they wish you well.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
And may you live at ease.
Now if it's possible,
And it's not always easy to do this,
But see if you can send loving kindness to yourself.
You can if you like here.
Feel yourself in a mirror and so you're receiving while at the same time extending love to yourself.
Sometimes this can be a challenging practice for us.
Our sense of unworthiness can make it difficult for us to receive love.
And that's okay.
Whatever arises,
We allow that to be held in the spirit of loving kindness and compassion.
So extending attention to ourselves,
Let's begin contemplating the phrases.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
And may I live at ease and accept myself just as I am.
Letting our self-image go,
We extend these intentions to someone whom we care for,
But we may not always have the easiest time getting along with.
And so allow this person to come into your heart and visualize them in front of you.
Just getting a sense for this person here.
And when you're ready,
We'll extend these loving intentions as we contemplate the phrases.
May you be safe,
Free from harm,
Out of danger's way.
May you be happy,
Joy-filled and bliss.
May you be healthy,
Vital body,
Vital mind,
Vital spirit.
And may you live at ease,
Free from struggle,
Unattached to any struggle or pain or suffering.
And now let yourself bring to mind a person or a group of people with whom you want to extend this loving kindness to.
These can be people whom you identify with or with whom you don't identify with.
Perhaps you don't understand these people,
But you wish to send them loving kindness.
Just take a moment here to get a sense for who this is for you.
Visualize them in front of you.
And when you're ready,
We'll extend those loving intentions and contemplate the phrases.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
And may you live at ease.
And now let this loving kindness expand in all directions,
Spreading and touching anyone you want and everyone everywhere,
All sentient beings.
Silently repeat the phrases.
May all beings everywhere be safe.
May all beings everywhere be happy,
Full of joy,
Unconditionally loved,
Content.
May all beings be healthy,
Radiant,
Strong,
Free from bodily and mental struggle.
And may all beings be at ease,
Wonderful,
Well nourished at peace.
And now feel from your heart the wordless quality and feeling of loving kindness extending out in all directions.
And just rest with any feeling that has arisen.
We're cultivating and sending this warmth out not just to ourselves,
But to everyone in our circle and everyone in our lives and everyone in the world.
And when you're ready,
You can bring the attention back to the body.
Getting a sense again for the gravity and the weight of the body as it's pressing against the floor beneath you.
We didn't save the world here today,
But we certainly cultivated intentions of being incredibly well adjusted and well-spirited citizens.
And as we close,
You can reflect on the fact that you can bring these simple skills we cultivated here in this practice of compassion,
Gentleness,
And loving intention into your life and into the next activity that you enter into.
And when you're ready,
You can slowly begin to flutter the eyes open and welcome yourself back into the space.
Again a simple reminder for this meditation,
It's helpful to think of this as seed planting.
And so we plant these seeds and we continue to cultivate that garden through practice,
The regularity and consistency so that it can sprout and grow and we can see and experience the benefit of that in our lives,
In our day to day.
If you do allow this to grow in you,
If you allow this to integrate into your life as a daily practice,
What you'll notice is a gradual unfolding of layers and levels of love that perhaps you have not been able to unlock in your life just yet.
It's a very natural,
Simple,
Easy and spontaneous process,
But it does come as fruit from your efforts of continued practice,
Of being in this world more mindfully and creating healthier ways of relating with yourself and with everyone around you and everything around you.
Thank you for sharing this practice with me.
We'll close by bringing the palms together and thumbs pressed against the chest so the hands are in pranam or prayer pose.
And we'll take a few deep breaths in together,
Taking a nice deep breath in through the nose.
And as you exhale,
Just releasing any tension in the body that's remaining there and allowing it to melt down into the floor beneath you.
Two more times like that,
Nice deep,
Long breath in.
And again,
As you exhale,
Releasing and letting go and surrendering just a bit more.
One more time,
Nice long,
Deep breath in.
And as you exhale,
Bring the hands to rest on your knees or at your sides and simply let go here.
You can offer yourself an internal bow of gratitude for showing up today,
For showing up in love and for love.
And if it's accessible for you,
You can offer yourself and everyone that you've brought into the practice today and that you wish to invite into your practice a physical bow,
Bringing the head down to the floor if you're sitting or a very subtle extension of the heart bowing forward,
Whatever is accessible for you right now.
