Good morning.
Welcome everyone to our virtual meditation on the lawn.
My name is Kim Penberthy and I am the Chester Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
I welcome you this morning and hope you are all well.
This morning I am inviting you to join me in a compassion meditation,
What we would call a loving kindness meditation.
This practice has been shown to be quite helpful for people,
Both mentally,
Physically,
And as just a beautiful connecting form of meditation.
So I invite you to take a few seconds to really let yourself arrive here at this place this morning,
To be present,
Aware,
Let your mind catch up with your body where you are,
And settle in to a comfortable position.
You might need to readjust,
Get comfortable.
If you're seated,
Preferably have your feet on the ground,
With your back nice and straight and comfortable,
Relaxed and attentive.
And I invite you to take a breath,
A nice deep breath as you settle in and notice how your body accommodates each breath.
Just being present.
I invite you to turn your focus to your heart.
Feel your heart.
You may put your hand on your chest and feel your heart beating with gratitude and warmth,
That life force within you.
And I invite you to call to mind a person or a pet,
A living creature,
Past or present,
Whose steady love and unconditional acceptance touches your heart in a special way.
Feel that heart,
That heartbeat,
That strength,
And allow yourself to experience their loving kindness as if they were right here near you,
That living creature that you are connected to with love.
Allow yourself to experience their loving kindness,
How they are happy in your presence,
Happy to see you,
Grateful for you,
Just as you are.
And notice how this image eases your mind and body,
Thinking of this special creature or person.
Relax into this warm feeling of connection.
And you might invite yourself to repeat silently to yourself words that reflect this love.
May I be held in loving kindness.
May I be happy and safe.
May I be healthy in body and in mind.
May I always have enough.
May my heart have peace.
Now I invite you to bring to mind someone who means a lot to you,
Someone whose presence you can relax within and fully appreciate.
Feel the goodness of that connection with that individual.
Really imagine them being there with you,
This person you care for or this pet or animal you care for.
Feel how your heart is drawn to them.
As you offer your good wishes and your love to them,
You can repeat the same words.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you be happy and safe.
May you be in a healthy body and in mind.
May you always have enough.
May your heart know peace.
Next I invite you to bring to mind someone you know only casually.
Someone you might see out and about or a neighbor you vaguely know.
I invite you to bring them to mind and wish them well with the same words,
The same heart wishes.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you be happy and safe.
May you be healthy in body and in mind.
May you always have enough.
May your heart know peace.
And now I invite you to remember to breathe,
Maybe even take a deeper breath as our heart is full.
And we are going to imagine someone you don't care for.
It can be someone you know personally or someone you just know of or imagine.
Someone you've seen in the news.
Someone that generates antipathy.
Someone you don't like.
And with a full heart.
I want you to include them in your good wishes with these words.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you be happy and safe.
May you be healthy in body and in mind.
May you always have enough.
May your heart know peace.
And now with an extra full heart connected from ourselves to ourselves,
To our friends,
Loved ones,
Colleagues,
Associates,
And those who we have negative feelings about.
We have generated our heart love for them and connected to them with well wishes.
And we can take this opportunity to expand our good wishes,
Including as many people,
Living creatures,
Sentient animals,
As we can imagine,
Throughout our community,
Throughout our country,
Onto other countries,
Throughout the globe,
And indeed the universe.
To all creatures,
We can extend our good wishes,
Our loving kindness,
With the same words.
May all be held in loving kindness.
May all be happy and safe.
May all be healthy in mind and body.
May we all always have enough.
May all our hearts know peace.
Thank you and peace be with you.
