Hello and welcome to this guided meditation,
An introduction to loving kindness.
There are many benefits to practicing loving kindness.
It can help to calm the mind,
Especially banishing negative thoughts.
It's also great for developing a genuine sense of love and concern for the well-being of others.
Research has shown that not only can loving kindness increase our positive emotions,
But it can even reduce pain,
As demonstrated in studies with migraine sufferers and biopsy patients.
The Dalai Lama often speaks about altruism and compassion towards others as being the best antidote to anxiety and depression.
In Darren Brown's 2016 book,
Happy,
He writes,
People take longer-lasting pleasure from being kind to others than having others be kind to them.
Loving kindness can help you with that.
So what is loving kindness?
Well,
It's a meditation practice that,
Rather than paying attention to the breath,
It instead asks us to focus on statements of well-wishes that we repeat silently to ourselves.
The three statements we'll use today are,
May you be happy,
Safe and well.
May you be free from suffering.
And may you know peace.
So once again,
That's,
May you be happy,
Safe and well.
May you be free from suffering.
And may you know peace.
In future sessions,
You can choose statements of well-wishes that you're maybe more comfortable with.
But for the purpose of this instruction,
I recommend these for now.
Find yourself a comfortable position,
Sitting upright,
Not rigid,
But alert,
With a straight back.
Let your hands rest gently in your lap or on your knees.
And let your eyes softly close.
Let's start with just a few slow,
Deep,
Nourishing breaths,
Right down into our stomachs to help us relax.
Breathing in through the nose.
And letting it out through the mouth.
Again in.
And out.
One more deep breath in.
And slowly let it out.
Now just let your breath settle into its natural rhythm.
As you relax,
We'll start with the first part of the practice.
We'll take those three statements and we'll say them slowly and with kindness,
Silently to ourselves.
May I be happy,
Safe and well.
May I be free from suffering.
May I know peace.
May I be happy,
Safe and well.
May I be free from suffering.
May I know peace.
Now just spend a moment silently repeating those statements of well wishes to yourself.
May I be happy,
Safe and well.
May I be free from suffering.
And may I know peace.
Now we'll move to the second part of the practice.
Bring someone to mind who is close to you,
Means a lot to you.
Someone you have a great relationship with.
This could be a friend or a family member or even a colleague.
And repeat silently with love and with kindness.
May you be happy,
Safe and well.
May you be free from suffering.
And may you know peace.
And take a minute to silently repeat those statements to the person in your mind who you have a great relationship with.
May you be happy,
Safe and well.
May you be free from suffering.
May you know peace.
And take a minute to silently repeat those statements to the person in your mind who you have a great relationship with.
Now we can move on to the next person.
Think of someone you see regularly but someone that you don't really have a relationship with.
Let's call them a neutral person.
Someone who pops up a lot but you don't feel anything strongly positive or negative towards them.
Someone who you see in your life.
And offer the same three statements to them.
May you be happy,
Safe and well.
May you be free from suffering.
And may you know peace.
And another minute repeating those silently to yourself,
Directing them towards that neutral person in your life.
May you be happy,
Safe and well.
Now bring yourself and your friend or family member who you thought of previously back to mind and picture you both stood alongside the neutral person.
So you can see in your mind all three of you stood together and offer the statements to all of you.
May we be happy,
Safe and well.
May we be free from suffering and may we know peace.
May we be happy,
Safe and well.
May we be free from suffering.
May we know peace.
Spend a moment repeating those statements silently in your head to all three of you.
And now you can open this up further.
Spreading the reach so you're including all those people currently in your street,
Wherever you are,
In your neighborhood,
The wider community,
Your workplace even.
Everyone you encounter each day and those further afield,
Animals as well as humans.
Imagine you're spreading that loving kindness out to everyone.
May we be happy,
Safe and well.
May we be free from suffering.
May we know peace.
When you're ready,
You can gently open your eyes and bring your awareness back to the space around you.
If you practice this regularly,
You will undoubtedly see improvements in your general well-being.
I wish you well and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Thank you.
