Today we're going to do a loving kindness and compassion meditation.
Try to make yourself as comfortable as possible in whatever position that you can manage to sit still in and that doesn't cause you pain or discomfort.
Many times the proper posture is exactly the position we need.
Spine straight,
Head pulling towards the top of the ceiling.
The crown of the head.
Once you find your position,
Let's start with three deep breaths.
There's no need to force or control your breath.
As you begin to return to your normal breath breathing patterns,
Allow your breath to come and go.
Just as you will when thoughts come,
Your mind will run.
That's what minds do.
When the mind runs,
We can always return to breath.
Our breath focuses us on this present moment.
Our breath exists only here,
Not in the past,
Not in the future,
But in the present moment.
Allow your mind to wander.
We don't need to force it to stop.
We don't need to try to outwit ourselves.
Simply allow the thoughts to come and go like clouds or like cars on a freeway.
We sit and watch,
They come and they go.
Our thoughts are as impermanent as our feelings,
As impermanent as all things.
They come and they go.
Now you may repeat these sayings at your own pace,
If at all,
But today we are going to focus on developing compassion and loving kindness for ourselves and those others that we may come in contact with and those we may never come in contact with.
First imagine someone you love deeply,
Someone who brings warmth to your heart just at the thought,
When that person is in your mind's eye,
Lovingly hold their light gaze.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain and sorrow.
May you be free from fear that you may feel safe and protected.
May you ride the waves of your life in peace and equanimity.
We return to breath.
Perhaps we still see them as we breathe,
Those who touched our hearts so deeply.
Allow the silence to reverberate inside your head.
Allow the silence to become all you hear.
Try and bring to mind your best friend,
The person who's been through everything but didn't have to,
Or the people,
Or many there are lots.
Let them come to your mind's eye,
Remembering there is no rush.
We are exactly where we need to be,
Exactly where we are supposed to be.
Let these friends come to mind and as they gather in the mind's eye,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain and sorrow.
Free from fear that you may feel safe and protected.
May you ride the waves of your lives and have peace and equanimity in all of your days.
We allow them to be there for as long as they need to stay.
May we return to our breath,
To the stillness of a moment.
Let you bring your family,
Your mother,
Your father,
Your brothers and sisters,
Nieces and nephews,
Children.
Allow them to come to mind.
And as they gather,
Allow your mind to wander wherever it goes,
Remembering that thoughts come and thoughts go.
And once you have your family,
Leisurely in your mind's eye,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain and sorrow,
Free from fear that you may feel safe and protected.
May you ride the waves of your lives in peace and equanimity.
May we return to silence,
To stillness.
Perhaps,
As your family start to dissipate,
Their faces fading away into the background,
Allow yourself to bring up someone with whom you've had a difficult relationship.
Perhaps there is always chaos.
Perhaps the mixture of us and them is merely toxic.
We can bring them to mind,
As many of them as there are,
Allowing them to be there,
Allowing our mind to race and our heart to pump at the thought of them.
The thoughts,
The feelings,
The judgments.
We can see they are constructed.
We need not judge them or ourselves.
We need not follow the path of the storyteller.
Simply allow them to be in your mind's eye.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain and sorrow.
May you be free from fear that you may feel safe and protected.
May you ride the waves of your lives and have peace and equanimity in all your days.
We return to silence,
To stillness,
To our breath.
Perhaps the blood is slowing.
The mind slows from the race.
Let us try and bring all living things into consciousness.
Awareness.
Not that we would ever know all of the living things.
But as we imagine as much as we can,
And remember how everyone and everything is connected,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain and sorrow.
Free from fear that you may feel safe and protected.
May you ride the waves of your lives.
Find peace and equanimity.
We return to silence,
To stillness.
Let us take one deep cleansing breath as we return to where we are sitting or lying.
Thank you for practicing with this meditation.
May you be happy and healthy.
May you be free from pain and sorrow.
Free from fear that you may feel safe and protected.
May you ride the waves of your lives and have peace and equanimity in all of your affairs.
Thank you.
