Hello,
This is Dr.
Tricia and I'm going to be guiding you through a Metta or loving kindness meditation.
Metta,
Loving kindness meditation is taken from the Buddhist practice and it is a meditation of compassion.
It's a really beautiful practice that you can do for an extended amount of time,
Whether 20 or up to 45 minutes or a brief session.
And it's something that is portable even though you're going to be listening to me now.
The phrases that we'll be repeating are again compassionate phrases that we start with ourself and then we go towards someone we love or an animal we love and then we'll progress to someone we feel neutral towards,
Someone we dislike and then the community or the world at large.
So I'll be guiding you through that at any time if it becomes too difficult.
For example,
If we focus on someone we dislike or even hate and we feel that sense of hate emerging within us,
Then we're going to give loving kindness back to ourselves because at that moment the only person that is suffering is you.
So this,
Like I had mentioned,
Is a Buddhist practice and these phrases that I'm going to repeat today,
Most of them are from a previous Buddhist teacher named Deepa Ma.
And I want to share a quote from Buddhist psychologist Jack Kornfield who says,
If your compassion does not include yourself,
It is incomplete.
And the reason that we start with ourself is it's meant to be the easiest.
But sometimes in the Western culture,
This can be really difficult,
Really difficult to give love to ourselves because we're so hard on ourselves.
And so this is the reason why when we do these loving kindness meditations,
Starting with yourself,
Sometimes the loving kindness meditation you might just focus on yourself.
If that's something that you have to work on is self-love and self-compassion,
You might just want to repeat these phrases just about yourself.
So let's get started.
Find a comfortable seat,
So perhaps cross legged,
Or if you'd like you can lay down,
Just remembering to stay alert as it's easy to fall asleep.
Taking a couple of deep breaths.
Inhale and exhale.
You don't have to manipulate your breath at any rate.
Just slowly allowing yourself to breathe naturally and just noticing the rhythm of your breath right now.
We're going to start with ourselves,
Sending loving kind thoughts and messages to ourselves.
May I be free from suffering.
I be free from suffering.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be free from internal and external enemies.
May I be free from internal and external enemies.
May I be free from anxiety.
May I be free from anxiety.
I be free from anxiety.
May I live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May I live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May I live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
Now bringing to your mind's eye an image of someone that you love,
Whether it's a partner,
A child,
A parent,
A friend,
Or a pet,
Bringing that entity to your heart.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from internal and external enemies.
May they be free from internal or external enemies.
May they be free from internal or external enemies.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
Now we're going to switch to someone we feel indifferent towards.
This might be someone we may not know very well,
Whether a gas station attendant,
Barista,
Someone that's just an acquaintance.
You might not even know their name,
But we can bring to mind perhaps their face,
Someone we saw online at the grocery store.
Bringing that image of that person to your mind's eye,
Someone you feel indifferent towards.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from internal and external enemies.
May they be free from internal and external enemies.
May they be free from internal and external enemies.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
And now bringing to mind's eye and your heart someone you dislike or maybe even someone you hate.
Now again if this is too difficult,
Bring it back loving thoughts,
Loving kind thoughts to yourself because you are the one that needs it at this moment.
If you're willing,
Bringing that person to your heart,
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from internal and external enemies.
May they be free from internal and external enemies.
May they be free from internal and external enemies.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they be free from anxiety.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May they live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
And now we're going to send loving and kind thoughts to all of us,
All of us listening,
All of us practicing together,
All of us in the world.
May we be free from suffering.
May we be free from suffering.
May we be free from suffering.
May we be free from internal and external enemies.
May we be free from internal and external enemies.
May we be free from internal and external enemies.
May we be free from anxiety.
May we be free from anxiety.
May we be free from anxiety.
May we live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May we live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May we live this life with a healthy body and a happy mind.
May it be so.
Slowly taking another couple of deep breaths and feeling this opening of your heart at this moment,
This softening of your heart,
This compassion and love and peace emerging for yourself,
For your loved ones,
For those you are indifferent towards,
For those you dislike and for all of us.
May we live this into existence.
May it be so.
May it be so.
