Hugging Kindness - 10 Minute Meditation On Connection And Community

10 minute "Hugging Kindness" practice. This brings a sense of connection and community, a very positive tool if struggling with loneliness. The practice is based on loving kindness and self compassion.

Image used by Helena Lopes via Unsplash.
Background music; "The inner calling" composed by Music Of Wisdom - Licensed

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Chris.

I'm the SutuJogi and today we're going to be doing a lovely nourishing practice I like to call hugging kindness.

So this is a practice I've developed myself and the output is really a sense of connection and a greater sense of community.

The practice itself is based on loving kindness,

So metta and self-compassion,

So self tonglen.

And what we're going to be doing is visualising different people and groups of people and they'll be narrating throughout.

So the practice itself is around 10 minutes long and I'm just going to be giving you some brief instructions beforehand and then we're going to be doing a very short grounding practice before we start the hugging kindness practice.

So for those of you who haven't done a compassion based practice before,

One caveat I'd just like to mention is we often open up ourselves to emotions when we do this.

This can obviously be a beautiful thing and it's very important that we do open ourselves up.

However,

If you're feeling in any way sensitive,

Just go easy on yourself because this is after all a self-compassion practice.

So if you feel a strong emotion come up,

That sense of backdraft,

Maybe just back off that focus a little bit.

So within the practice we're going to be focusing on five different people and scenarios.

I'm going to be narrating throughout and in between each person I'll be ringing a bell.

There is an optional physical practice during this when we're doing the visualisation of hugging you can actually open up your arms and then close your arms and feel the person in your mind's eye as you're hugging them.

So before we start make sure you have a nice comfortable seat,

Either sat on the floor on a chair or anywhere that really suits,

Ideally keeping the back straight so we have an alert nervous system.

And then just maybe relaxing the shoulders a little bit,

Gently closing the eyes or bringing the gaze low.

Let's just start to ground ourselves for a short while before we begin today's practice.

So with every exhale have a sense of connection into the ground,

A sense of letting go,

A sense of being held.

With every exhale have a sense of safety,

A sense that Mother Earth is looking out for you.

And then very subtly place one hand on your heart and the other on top.

And on your next inhale just have a sense of breathing into your heart.

So as your heart and your chest rises,

Have that sense of breathing in and recharging and connecting with your heart.

Then exhaling,

Returning to normal breathing.

Just continuing that a few rounds,

A sense of breathing in,

Nourishing,

Form energy into the heart.

So we're going to start the practice now.

You can either keep your hands,

One hand over the other on the heart or bring them down to a comfortable position.

And the first person we're going to think of within this practice is a stranger.

So it could be somebody that you've seen in the last couple of days,

Maybe a postman,

Grocery shop attendant,

Bus driver,

Somebody ideally that you don't have an emotional attachment to,

And just see them sat in front of you.

Make eye contact with them in your mind's eye.

And have a sense of a connection,

Have a sense that they're pleased to be here with you.

And in your mind's eye,

We're going to repeat four phrases.

And as we say these phrases,

I'd like you to think of that person feeling these emotions.

So may you be well,

May be happy,

May be safe,

May be loved.

So as I'm saying those words,

Think of them in your mind's eye and think of that person being well,

Being happy,

Being safe and being loved.

So may you be well,

May be happy,

May be safe,

May be loved.

Maintaining eye contact with that person in your mind's eye,

You're invited now to physically open your arms and invite them to have a hug,

Acknowledge they would like a hug.

And in your mind's eyes,

They step forward,

You're now able to hug them,

Lean into them and just share a connection with them.

So if you're doing this physically,

You can wrap your arms around yourself,

Just mentally thinking of the hug and then slowly opening your arms and letting them go.

So the second person we're going to think of today is somebody who's very dear to you.

So it could be your partner,

It could be a child,

It could be parents,

Sibling,

A dear friend.

Just think of that person sitting in front of you.

See how happy they are to see you.

Maybe say their name.

In your mind's eye,

You can repeat those phrases again,

But again trying to feel the emotions,

Seeing them be those emotions and live those emotions.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

Just repeating those phrases in your mind's eye.

And then very subtly making eye contact with them,

Acknowledging they would like a hug and opening up your arms either just mentally or physically and embracing them,

Embracing yourself and feeling that person,

Feeling that connection,

Maybe remembering something about them,

Their perfume,

Their aftershave,

What clothes they usually wear and the things you love about them and then slowly letting that person go.

So moving on now to the next person and this is you.

To see you sat on a chair opposite you.

Say hello your name and just acknowledge how beautiful you are.

See your smile.

See your eyes light up.

And let's start feeling those phrases.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

And just repeat those phrases over in your mind,

Looking into your own eyes.

And then very subtly acknowledge that you would like a hug from you,

The world's best hugger.

And open your arms.

Give yourself a lovely hug.

Hug yourself as if you would hug the person dearest to you in the world.

Give that same love that you gave to that last person back to you.

And then slowly let yourself go.

Moving on now to the next person.

Somebody who you've had a disagreement with in the last while.

So you have a connection with them but there's a slight bit of friction there.

And go easy on yourself here because this isn't forgiveness,

This is just a healing to the relationship.

So see that person sat in front of you on a chair.

Maybe in your mind I say their name.

And let's repeat those words and as we think of those words think of the meaning of the words.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

And repeat those words in your mind's eye just a few times.

And then very subtly.

Not necessarily going to hug this person so it's up to you but just open your arms,

Maybe keep them open.

Just looking at that person,

Giving them a smile.

And then slowly let them go.

So moving on to the last part of the visualisation which is as many people as you want it to be.

So it could be the people you've just thought of,

It could be other people you know that are meditating right now,

It could be anyone else.

Your neighbours,

Your work colleagues.

Think of them all in front of you.

Think of what an amazing party that would be just to have them all there in the same room.

And they all look so happy to see you.

Just look around at all those beaming smiles and say those words to them.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

And acknowledge they would like a hug.

See if we can do a big group hug.

So open up your arms.

Wow.

Epic.

Feel the energy of all those wonderful human beings.

True community.

Your tribe.

Yeah.

And then in your next exhale just slowly let them go.

Bring your hands one hand on top of the heart and the other on top.

And just breathe back into your heart.

Very,

Very subtly start to lengthen the breath.

Start to bring a little bit more energy to the body.

Very,

Very gently open the eyes.

So thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to practice today.

Try not to rush back into your day to day life just yet.

Maybe have a cup of tea or go for a little walk around the block.

And I'll see you next time.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be safe.

May you be loved.

Reviews

🙏🏽

This is wonderful. Thank you.

Absolutely beautiful. Tears the whole way through. May the teacher of this meditation to be happy, safe, well and loved ❤️

May you be safe, live with ease

Namaste 🙏🏼

Fantastic loving kindness meditation with a huggy twist

Thank you so much! 🙏🏻🙌🏻

Again beautiful 🙏

Wow, Chris! I even started to cry by the time I visualized the stranger who I always see looking at the windows from another blocks. I even found out this Grandpa name. His name is Gani. May Opa Gani be 😊 happy.

Thank you, happy tears ❤️

These hugging meditations... awww ♥️
thank you

Very wonderful way to start my Friday ⭐️

In kindness,
Hope