Blessings,
Dear ones.
Thank you for joining me today in this loving kindness or metta meditation.
Now there are many ways to enter into the practice of metta,
Also translated as unconditional friendliness,
Benevolence,
Or goodwill.
Now if you've practiced metta before,
You may be familiar with the use of visualizations and phrases used to offer loving kindness to various people,
Including loved ones,
Strangers,
People with whom we experience difficulty,
And all beings.
Today I'm offering a different approach to the traditional practice of sending metta to others,
And instead we will be sending it to different aspects of ourselves.
We can look to the benefactor within,
Pema Chodron points to our soft spot,
Our capacity for love and tenderness,
The neutral part we might overlook,
The part we judge,
And ourself as all beings,
The totality of experience.
We are not just one of these categories,
But all of them.
There is no requirement to follow me.
At any point,
You can return to being with the sensation of metta as it shows up for you today.
In this practice,
We cultivate our capacity to experience loving kindness free of goals or expectations,
Free of any need to manufacture a feeling.
Know that resting in awareness is itself an expression of metta.
So let's begin.
Sit or lie comfortably.
We want to be uplifted but not striving.
Be kind to yourself in your posture.
Eyes are traditionally closed,
But if you are sleepy or your system requires it,
You may open your eyes with a relaxed gaze.
Welcome your body as it is right now.
Take some breaths and arrive here feeling the support beneath us,
Feeling our connection to the earth that is always there for us to return to.
Allowing the body to relax is a form of metta.
Now,
Recalling the intention of our practice,
Begin to direct attention to the chest,
Breathing through the heart space.
Connect to the felt sense of metta,
Of kindness,
Benevolence,
As much as is available to you today.
A subtle warmth,
An expansion in the chest,
A sense of energy,
Numbness is also a feeling.
You might simply put your attention on the word metta with your breath if connecting to the embodied feeling is not accessible today.
Relax into this felt sense or into the word itself.
And begin by bringing to mind the being who is practicing here this morning and offer these phrases.
May I be happy and healthy as best I can.
May I be happy and healthy as best I can.
Silently repeating the phrase to yourself.
And if your attention wanders coming back to the felt sense of metta or to the words in the phrase,
May I be happy and healthy as best I can.
May I be free of inner and outer danger.
May I be free of inner and outer danger.
May I be peaceful and live with ease.
May I be peaceful and live with ease.
And may I be held in compassion.
May I be held in compassion.
And now letting that aspect of yourself go,
Bringing awareness back to the heart center and turning towards an aspect of yourself that you feel kindly towards,
The part you appreciate,
That soft spot or tenderness that Pema spoke of.
Yourself being playful or extending a kindness.
Perhaps the part that got you to the cushion today.
Regarding that part with care.
Offer the phrases.
May you be happy and healthy as best you can.
May you be free of inner and outer danger.
May you be peaceful and live with ease.
And may you be held in compassion.
And now letting that part go.
Consider an aspect of yourself that is a stranger.
A part overlooked,
Maybe taken for granted.
Perhaps the part that sets the alarm and gets up for work every day.
Or the part that returns a stranger's smile.
Offer that overlooked part,
These phrases.
May you be happy and healthy as best you can.
May you be free of inner and outer danger.
May you be peaceful and live with ease.
And may you be held in compassion.
Now letting that aspect of yourself go.
Consider a part of yourself that is difficult.
A part perhaps that you judge harshly.
And this is not about like or dislike,
Good or bad.
Simply a part that causes some confusion or pain.
That tries to create happiness or relieve suffering.
Even though the approach is unskillful or confused.
Offer this part of yourself,
These phrases.
May you be happy and healthy as best you can.
May you be free of inner and outer danger.
May you be peaceful and live with ease.
And may you be held in compassion.
And letting this aspect of yourself fade.
Rest in what is here.
Trusting that the practice of metta can hold it all.
And that all is welcome.
Imagine your heart radiating goodwill in all directions.
North,
South,
East,
West,
Above and below.
Radiating goodwill to all beings without exception.
Two-legged,
Four-legged,
Winged,
Scaled.
And extending it to the very earth that has supported our practice.
Radiating the wish for all to know loving kindness.
May I,
May you,
May we be happy and healthy as best we can.
May we all be happy and healthy as best we can.
May we all be free of inner and outer danger.
May we all be peaceful and live with ease.
And may we all be held in compassion.
And now spending some time simply resting in the awareness of metta as it's shown up for you today.
Continuing to focus your awareness on the heart center without judgment or expectation.
Basking in the felt sense of loving kindness.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
Please return to this recording as much as you would like.
And I look forward to hearing how this practice has supported you.
Have a beautiful day.
