Hello beautiful soul.
Let's practice metta meditation.
Metta meditation is often referred to as loving kindness meditation.
But as a teacher once described to me,
Metta meditation is often translated as boundless friendship.
And so we work to cultivate boundless friendship with ourselves and boundless friendship with the world.
In order to do this,
I'd like to invite you into a comfortable position.
It might be laying down on your back or seated crisscrossed legs.
Find something that makes sense for your body that is a sustainable place to be.
You might close your eyes or find a soft gaze,
But then go ahead and bring one hand onto your heart.
You could absolutely use both hands.
Directing your attention to your heart space.
Metta meditation begins with self.
So here at first I'd like you to draw your own self into your mind's eye.
It might be an image of yourself from years ago,
Or it might be the image you would see looking into the mirror today.
Bring yourself to mind and then offer yourself these words.
I want you to repeat after me either silently in your mind or quietly to yourself.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be safe.
May I be free.
Take a big breath in.
And just sigh it out.
So next I'd like to invite you to bring to mind someone that you love dearly,
That you love deeply.
It might be a family member.
It might be a best friend.
It might be someone that is close to you every single day.
It could even be your animal companion.
Bring them to mind and then offer them these words.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be free.
Deep breath in.
And out.
Next I'll invite you to bring to mind someone that is somewhat neutral in your life.
Someone you might know by knowing someone else.
Someone you might pass during the day but you don't really have a strong heart connection.
You definitely don't have a bad heart connection.
Someone that shows up in your day,
Maybe off in the background.
Bring them to mind and offer them these words as well.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be free.
Deeper breath in.
And let it go.
Next I'll invite you to do maybe the most challenging,
Which is to bring to mind someone that you find struggles with.
That you find maybe pushes your buttons.
Someone that you don't have a strong heart connection with.
As a matter of fact,
It might be someone that you struggle to connect with at all.
Bring them into your mind's eye and just know and note that this isn't a form of thick of this,
But just reminding yourself that everyone deserves loving kindness.
Offer them these words.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be free.
Deeper breath in.
Big exhale.
And then last but not least,
I want you to bring to mind some sort of community.
A community that you are a part of.
It might be a small group.
It might be your co-workers.
It could be your state or even your country.
You might bring to mind the entire world,
The entire population that you are a part of,
But most certainly include yourself here.
And then repeat these words after me.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy.
May we be safe.
May we be free.
Deeper breath in.
Big exhale.
Turn inward to notice the sensations in your body.
The feelings in your heart.
You might stay here and just breathe into that space of your heart for a bit.
May you be happy and healthy and safe and free from my heart directly to yours.
Namaste.
