Preparing ourselves for the practice of metta meditation,
I want you to find a place that your body feels comfortable,
A seated place or some place lying down,
Any place that you can close your eyes and tune into this experience.
And when you feel like you've arrived in that place,
I'd like you to just rest one hand to your heart space.
Make this really intimate connection with the heart.
Close your heart and feel your breath.
And with your focus,
Your awareness in that heart space,
I want you to bring an image of yourself to your mind's eye.
See yourself clearly as you are,
Or maybe as you were.
And from that heart space,
Truly from the place of the heart,
I want you to offer yourself these words,
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be safe.
May I be free.
And then take a deep breath in with me and let it go.
I want you to bring into your mind's eye now someone that you love deeply.
Someone that might be a friend or a family member.
Someone where your heart connection is strong.
Bring them into your mind's eye and see them so vividly,
So clearly as much as possible.
And then from the place of the heart,
From that heart space,
Offer them these words.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be free.
Take a deep breath in with me and draw it in through the nose and let it go out of the I want you to move your mind's attention into a person that you might not have really strong connection to.
Someone that's a little more neutral in your life.
Someone you might know by knowing someone else,
Someone that you might see throughout your day.
Bring them into your mind's eye.
Try to imagine them as vividly and as clearly as possible.
And then from that place of the heart,
Offer them these words.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be free.
Take a deeper breath in with me and out.
Moving our metta meditation now to someone you may not have very strong connection with.
As a matter of fact,
It might be someone that you struggle to have a heart connection with.
Someone that might press your buttons or you find it challenging to accept or love.
And it's always important to remind ourselves in this place of metta that it's not necessarily a place of forgiveness and working through all of the experiences with this person,
But just a recognition that every being deserves love,
Deserves this boundless friendship.
So bringing this person into your mind's eye as vividly and as clearly as you can,
Send them these words as well.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be free.
Take a deeper breath in and out.
One more to bring into the mind's eye.
I want you to bring into your mind's eye an image of community,
A community that you yourself are a part of.
It might be a circle of friends or family.
It might be a group that you are a part of in the world.
It might be your country or your state or the earth.
Bring the image of community into your mind's eye and then from the place of the heart,
Offer these words.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy.
May we be safe.
May we be free.
Take a deeper breath in and out.
And if the hand is still placed against the heart,
Go ahead and let it drop or fall to the floor.
Just notice the lingering effects of stepping into that place of metta,
Boundless friendship,
Love and compassion.
You might find yourself wanting to stay in this energy,
In this space for a bit,
But if you're ready to move on with your day,
Give yourself a few breaths,
A few stretches,
A few moments to enter back into your world.
So very deeply from my heart directly to yours,
Namaste.
