Hello.
Hi there and welcome to this meditation on loving kindness,
The meditation of loving kindness.
To begin our practice today,
Find yourself in a comfortable position,
Of course,
In a relaxed and realer posture.
And that may be sitting or in a chair or sitting on your cushion,
Whatever feels best to you,
But just where the body can be relaxed and alert.
And take a few moments sitting up straight.
If you're sitting in a chair feet on the floor and let's of course bring our attention for a few moments simply to the breath and the experience and the sensation of breathing.
Finding the place in your body where the breath is easiest.
Perhaps the rise and fall of your chest,
The belly,
Wherever the sensations of inhaling and exhaling are most prevalent to you.
And get a sense of your feeling tone today.
Perhaps in this moment you feel a little constricted or maybe not.
Maybe you feel relaxed and open.
Just to check in with the self to become connected with your own true experience in this moment.
We know that loving kindness isn't in the moment intended to change our experience,
But simply being kind to ourselves first and foremost means recognizing our experience.
So allow the attention to collect itself.
What's here for you in this moment?
Collecting itself around the breath is a gentle anchor.
And remember that this practice is simply a practice of working with intention.
We often have intentions,
Some of which we're aware of,
Others of which we're not.
And our intention with our practice today is simply to cultivate,
Cultivate an openness to our experience,
Openness to the experience of others and create a friendlier relationship with all experience towards ourselves and to others.
Remember this isn't about trying to make something happen or trying to make ourselves more kind.
This is simply a cultivation practice.
For the beginning of our practice today we will bring into awareness,
Bringing to mind a person in your life who you feel a connection with.
Perhaps it's someone who's kind to you,
It could be someone close to you where the relationship isn't too complicated,
Someone you care about deeply.
And simply bring that person to mind.
It could be a friend,
A family member,
Could even be a pet if you like,
Teacher.
And simply bring that person to mind,
The image.
Maybe using the memory to recall a moment in which you were aware of them or their presence.
And notice the gratitude you may feel for this person,
Something that you like about this person.
And as we have this person in our mind and in our awareness we can simply start to send this person friendly wishes or what we would call loving kindness.
And I'll use a couple of phrases that you can repeat silently to yourself.
Just to begin you may create your own phrases as you go along.
So don't get hung up on my phrasing.
Then we'll repeat the phrases after a couple of breaths and I'll be guiding you.
You can feel free to repeat the phrases after I say them in your mind,
Keeping this person in your awareness.
We'll start with this first phrase.
May you be safe and free from harm.
May you be happy and peaceful.
May you live with ease.
And simply giving a few breaths.
To send this caring message.
This beneficial wish for this person you care about.
And then we'll move on to loving kindness practice and compassion for ourself.
We'll use similar phrasing so that we can practice our intention for this being that we are.
You may repeat the phrase to yourself after I say it just giving a brief pause in between.
May I be safe and protected from harm.
May I be happy and peaceful.
May I live with ease.
Again,
Simply staying with the experience as it is arising,
As is true with all practice.
Simply noticing what is here.
Returning to the breath.
Thought may arise.
Sensation may arise.
Simply returning to the breath.
And now a third part of the practice.
Bring to mind someone who you may not know that well.
Someone who may be an acquaintance for you.
Perhaps someone you see at your local grocery store or your local coffee shop.
Someone who you may see on a semi-regular basis but you may not know really that well.
You may bring that person to mind.
Perhaps that someone delivers packages to you or maybe someone who lives in your building who you cross paths with from time to time or in your neighborhood.
Simply bring that person to mind.
And we'll practice with the phrases again.
Give me a brief pause.
Being meaning anchored in the breath.
No specific attachment.
But simply sending these intentional wishes of compassion and kindness.
May you be safe from harm.
May you be happy and peaceful.
May you live with ease.
Giving a moment of pause.
Returning to the breath.
And for the last part of our practice,
If you so desire,
You may bring to mind someone who you might have a more complicated relationship with.
This is an advanced part of the practice.
If you'd like to experiment with this part of the practice,
You may.
Perhaps it's a person that you might have had conflict with in the past.
I recommend choosing someone that perhaps isn't too complicated.
Maybe someone you've had a disagreement with or maybe someone that had difficulty with but not too much difficulty.
You may bring that person to mind.
And we can explore practice even in this instance.
Sending these wishes of kindness and compassion.
Bringing this person into awareness.
May you be safe and protected from harm.
May you be happy and peaceful.
May you live a life of ease.
And simply returning to the breath.
Being aware of breathing and aware of sensation in the body.
Getting a sense of what this experience is like in the body.
Begin to bring your practice to a close.
This is the practice of loving kindness we may practice daily for ourselves and others.
Until we meet again.
Thank you.
Thank you.
