Hello,
My loves.
Welcome to this Metta meditation.
My name is Dabney and I'm going to be your guide.
Metta is a Buddhist concept.
It means loving-kindness.
So for today,
We're going to be focusing on the heart space and sending Metta or loving-kindness towards ourselves.
And then if it's accessible to you in your body,
Sending Metta out into the world towards others.
So let us begin by finding a nice,
Comfortable seat.
One where the spine can be long and you can focus fully on landing inside your body.
If it feels safe,
Go ahead and close your eyes.
Or if not,
Allow your gaze to simply softly gaze down your nose,
Allowing the eyes to gently rest.
And we'll begin by taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Nice and softly,
Nice deep breath,
Filling the belly in through the nose.
And then gently exhaling out through the mouth.
Once again,
In through the nose,
Allowing the belly to expand,
The ribs to expand.
And then sighing it out through the mouth,
Really letting go.
One more time,
In through the nose and sighing it out through the mouth,
Releasing,
Letting go.
And we're just going to allow our breath to return to its normal rhythm.
Not trying to force or change anything,
But just noticing where you are in your body right now.
Becoming aware of what you sense inside.
And I'm going to invite you to place your hands over your heart,
One on top of the other.
And see if you can notice your heart space,
The heart chakra.
Just allowing your breath to focus you on this part of the body.
Notice the contact of your hands.
See if you can breathe into this space and begin to connect to your heart.
And we're going to begin by directing metta into our own heart,
Into our own body.
We're going to repeat these four phrases.
And you can say them softly to yourself out loud,
Or you can speak them in your heart quietly inside.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
And keeping our hands on our heart,
We're going to gently repeat these phrases to ourself.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
And gently continuing this practice,
Either leaving your hands on your heart or allowing them to rest in your lap or by your sides.
Continue to allow yourself to receive your own loving kindness,
Filling your heart and your body with the practice of metta.
See how much of you can receive your own love without judgment or criticism of how much you can take in,
But just noticing.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
And now we're going to focus on sending metta out into the world.
If this doesn't feel accessible to you,
Continue sending metta towards yourself.
Repeating those phrases gently into your own heart.
We're going to begin by sending metta out to someone that's easy to love.
So bring to mind someone in your life who is easy to love.
Maybe it's a child,
A partner,
A friend,
A coworker.
And holding that person in your mind's eye.
We're going to repeat the phrases.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
And pulling all that energy from our own heart,
We're sending metta to whomever it is in our life that's easy to love.
Focusing on sending loving kindness from our spirit to their spirit.
And now we're going to focus on sending metta out to someone more neutral.
Maybe an acquaintance,
Someone you work with,
A person in your life that doesn't hold any kind of emotional charge,
But just someone that you encounter out in the world.
And again,
We'll repeat the phrases.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
And now focusing on someone who maybe is a little bit hard to love.
Maybe someone in your life who you have some tension or conflict.
This part of the practice can be quite challenging.
So give yourself grace and compassion.
And feel free to stay focused on someone neutral,
If that's what feels best in your heart today.
And again,
Bringing to mind someone who might be hard to love and sending out metta to them too.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
And finally,
We'll send metta out to all beings in the world.
Expanding our heart out and including all souls.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
And taking a nice big inhale and exhaling it out.
Let's bring our awareness back to ourselves.
Inviting you once again to place your hands on your heart as you pull your energy back in.
And notice how this practice of sending out loving kindness may be landing in your body today.
Breathing into your heart space and simply noticing.
Focusing on metta helps us to cultivate self-compassion,
Peace,
Groundedness in ourselves and in the world.
We'll seal in today's practice with three deep breaths.
Breathing in through the nose and sighing it out through the mouth.
Once more,
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
One final deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Thank you so much for your practice,
For your being in the world.
Wishing you much peace in your day as you carry forward.
Until next time.
