Hello there and welcome to this practice of mittabhāvana,
The Buddhist meditation style known as the cultivation of loving-kindness.
There are kind of five stages to this style of meditation.
In some teachings,
One is encouraged to work with each stage one at a time and only move on to the next when you feel ready and fully grounded in the stage you've been practicing at.
So I encourage you as we move through these five stages to know that you can stay with any of the ones that you find easiest to work with rather than forcing yourself on to the next level.
Maybe the next time you come to sit and journey on to the next stage or again you assess the situation on that particular day.
See how you're feeling,
See what you're ready to practice with.
The first stage of this practice,
Once you've made yourself comfortable,
Maybe developing that posture of an upright spine and a softening of the shoulders and the limbs.
The first stage is to cultivate loving-kindness towards yourself.
In the earliest records of this style of meditation,
This was thought to be the easiest stage.
And of course it's important to recognize that for some of us,
Cultivating loving-kindness for ourselves can in fact be really challenging.
See if you can hold the possibility of self-compassion.
You might just let the attention,
Your awareness settle at the heart space.
If it helps to place the hands against the body at the heart space to feel into this area,
Then feel free to let the palms just rest maybe one on top of the other.
Feel the warmth of the body into the hands or hands into the body.
Notice the breath.
You can let the hands just return to resting in the lap somewhere comfortable.
Just beginning to hold in the mind ever so lightly the following phrases.
You might silently repeat after me.
May I be happy.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be filled with loving-kindness.
May I be filled with loving-kindness.
For whom you find it easy to hold affection.
Add someone that when you think of them there's a smile that wants to arise at the face.
Maybe a sense of warmth in the heart space.
As we hold the image,
The thought of this person in our mind's eye,
Just starting to direct these phrases towards them.
May you be happy.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be filled with loving-kindness.
Next we'll start to call to mind someone that is maybe more of a stranger.
Perhaps someone we don't know their name but we can picture their face.
It could be the local barista that you occasionally pop into for your morning coffee.
Maybe an assistant at one of the shops you go to.
Who you don't know well enough to either feel fondly toward or have antipathy toward.
As we hold the image of this person lightly in our mind.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be filled with loving-kindness.
May they be filled with loving-kindness.
May they know peace.
Turning our attention next to the fourth stage.
Which is a stage that many people can find challenging.
So just a reminder if you need to return to one of the earlier stages and focus there today,
Know that you can revisit this at a later date.
Next we might consider an enemy.
Someone we find it difficult to see eye-to-eye with.
It might be that you don't go to the most extreme version of this person in your life.
Maybe you build to them.
How can we recognize the glimmer of sameness in them as exists in us?
Can we hold their image lightly in our mind?
And extend toward them the following phrases.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be filled with loving-kindness.
We turn next to ourselves,
Our loved ones,
To the acquaintances and those we have disagreements with.
We extend these wishes to all beings,
Those we haven't yet met.
Perhaps those we never will.
To all sentient beings on this planet.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be free from suffering.
May all beings be free from suffering.
May all beings be filled with and act from loving-kindness.
Be filled with and act from loving-kindness.
May all living beings know peace.
You might choose to stay in this space.
Stay in this position,
In this attitude of loving-kindness for as long as feels right today.
Back to the heart space,
Resting against the body.
You are in time to bring your meditation to a close.
