Welcome to your 10-minute loving-kindness meditation.
So starting off today by finding a comfortable posture,
Whether that's seated,
Standing or lying down,
And allowing yourself to settle into this moment and turn to the breath to ground yourself in the here and now.
And we're going to start this loving-kindness meditation by you imagining and bringing to your mind's eye a loved other or someone who it's really easy to offer well-wishes to.
That could be a loved one,
It could be a pet,
And it could be somebody from your past,
Or an imagined figure.
Whoever you bring up to your mind's eye though,
It should be really easy to offer them love.
And so when you have this person,
Really picturing them as if they were sitting in front of you,
And when they're there,
Seeing if you can notice the warm feelings that come with them being in your presence.
Maybe you imagine looking into their eyes,
And without saying a word,
You can feel the love and affection coming from them.
Maybe you lock eyes and a smile comes across your face.
And silently to yourself,
Repeating the following phrases to that person.
May you be free from pain.
May you live with ease.
May you be well.
May you live with freedom to enjoy what life has to offer to the fullest extent.
May you know unconditional and radical love.
May you be happy.
Just noticing what it's like in your body when you send these well-wishes to this loved person.
What feelings come up for you in your chest,
In your body.
Maybe noticing a quality of warmth that comes up,
Or ease,
Or love.
And now,
Repeating those words to yourself,
Or if that feels too hard,
Imagine them coming from the loved other that you see in front of you,
And imagine receiving them from them to yourself.
And this isn't always easy to offer ourself these warm wishes.
It might even feel unfamiliar.
So no matter what the feeling is when you offer these to yourself,
Just letting it be what it is.
There's no judgment around it.
It might feel really good and free-flowing to offer these things to yourself.
It might feel way too hard or downright painful.
And that's okay.
You can just start where you are today.
Don't have to force anything.
It doesn't have to feel 100% right.
But just even noticing what comes up for you as you offer the same well-wishes to yourself.
And so,
Either repeating,
I,
Or you can say,
May you,
If you're imagining those words coming from your loved other to yourself.
So may I be free from pain and suffering.
May I be truly happy.
May I know freedom to explore life to the fullest extent possible.
May I be well and at ease.
May I know unconditional,
Unwavering love.
And feel that every day.
Noticing what it's like when you offer those wishes to yourself.
Maybe it feels foreign to offer yourself this kind of love.
Maybe there's blocks up.
Maybe it feels really easy and nice to give that love to yourself.
And whatever your experience is,
Just letting that be exactly as it is.
And just noticing what's the quality of your chest.
Is it open and soft?
Or tight and closed off?
And if you found it difficult to offer yourself those wishes,
Maybe even imagining that those are little seeds that you're planting on your heart.
You don't have to force them to sprout or grow,
But just know that they're planted and in their own time may they blossom and open up.
So your wish to yourself might be as simple as may I one day be ready to offer myself love,
Kindness,
And compassion.
What's it like for you to offer yourself that wish?
Maybe a wish of may I feel free of pain and suffering feels easier to offer yourself than may I be loved and happy.
And the nice thing about a wish is that it doesn't have to be true now.
Even if that's not your present moment experience.
That this is just a wish that you have for yourself or the future.
And is there a place in you that can hold out hope for that?
And what does it feel like to hold out that hope?
And maybe asking yourself what words do I need to hear right now?
What words would feel like a gift?
That if I were to hear these words,
It would just really feel like a true gift in this moment.
Maybe it needs to be something like I'm okay or I'm allowed to make mistakes too.
Or may I love myself even though I'm imperfect.
So just taking a moment to think of whatever words you need to hear right now and offering yourself those words.
Ending with a deep breath to really cement this practice and carry it forward with you the rest of the day.
