Lovingkindness

A Lovingkindess (metta) meditation led by Gena Bean, director of Mindful Boston.

Transcript

As we begin this time of meditation practice, I invite you to simply notice. Notice where you are. Notice the breath. Notice the position of the body. The idea is to simply rotate your awareness towards what's here now as it is. Perhaps even engaging in a sense of curiosity and asking yourself the question, What is here now? What's present with the breath? For example, On the inhale you might feel a little more coolness. On the exhale you might feel a little bit more warmth. But maybe not. The idea is that you are tuning in to what's true for you as it is right now. Sitting with a sense of your own body and your own breath. And taking this as an opportunity to kind of ground yourself in this moment. Becoming more present to what's here. And as you're engaging in this experiment of being present, Of bringing the awareness to yourself, You don't have to stay with just the breath, Just the body. You can be present to any part of the self that is here now. There might be heat or coolness. There might be a sense of itching in the body or something else. Sense of tension or relaxation. In this form of meditation there is no need to change anything. Simply noting what's true. As you sit here with your breath and your body, Your sense of self as it is. If you'd like to start with the formal practice of loving kindness. Starting with repeating the phrase to yourself, May I be happy. And it's an interesting thing to wish kindness for the self, To wish happiness for the self. There's no imposing of happiness upon the self. There's seeing if it's possible to awaken good wishes. Using the phrase, May I be happy. I'm sending myself good wishes for happiness. Maybe it can happen, Maybe it can't. But I'm sending the wish and seeing what arises. May I be happy. And perhaps experimenting with changing the phrase to, May I be healthy. As you send a wish to the self for health, It's possible that you feel something on an emotional level or a physical level in response to sending that wish. And simply noting that. If it arises. And if nothing arises, Noting that. And even if something that might feel negative or judgmental if that arises, Noting that. No need to judge the judgment. Just returning to a sense of self, The breath, The body. And perhaps moving on to the third phrase, May I be free from suffering. As you're working with the phrase, May I be free from suffering. Nothing could arise, Including a zero, Nothing arising. And the mindfulness part of this meditation is to simply note what's true. Because I'm leading this meditation as a mindfulness meditation, There's no imperative to change anything about the outside world. The idea is that we're working with these phrases and we're seeing what does arise when I send good wishes. Is it possible that my heart is opening? And if my heart is not opening, Can I be present and aware and accepting of that as it is? And now releasing the idea of the self, Awareness of the self is always here with us. But perhaps allowing it to fade into the background for a moment. Taking a moment to simply feel the breath. Holding an open space of awareness. And then bringing to mind someone who is easy to love. It could be an animal, It could be a child. Anyone really. And as you're aware of yourself, Your breath, Your body, Working with the loving kindness phrases for this beloved being. May you beloved being be happy. And seeing if any feelings do happen to arise. As you're sending a wish out to the beloved being for happiness. Just playing by switching up the phrase. May you beloved being be healthy. Seeing if a wish for health feels slightly different than a wish for happiness or not. May you beloved being be free from suffering. Simply tuning into the loving kindness wishes for your beloved being. If verbalizing may you be happy, Healthy and free from suffering isn't quite how you feel today. You can create some kind of visual way of doing it. It's important to be playful in these meditations. And for now, Allowing the idea of the beloved being to fade into the background of your experience. Starting to an open awareness of the breath. And then if you choose to do it, Figuring out a neutral person. And it can seem a little odd. A neutral person, Someone that you might not have even noticed all that much before. Perhaps a bus driver or the last person who sold you a cup of coffee. And once you figure out someone who feels somewhat neutral in your life. Seeing what happens inside. When you experiment with sending loving kindness to this neutral person. May you neutral person be happy. Is there a way to awaken some loving kindness for someone you hadn't really thought about all that much in the past? Maybe but maybe not. Noting what's true, Noting what's possible. And perhaps switching the phrase to, May you be healthy. And seeing how that feels. May you neutral person be free from suffering. And simply noting what it was like to send happiness and health and freedom to a neutral person. And then allowing the idea of the neutral person to fade into the background for now. Taking a moment to tune into the breath once more. Simply being present. And then if it works for you, Bringing to mind what is called the difficult person. So it doesn't have to be the worst person in the world. Maybe someone who's just a little bit itchy. And just experimenting. Seeing what happens when you work with the phrases. May you difficult person or people, Maybe you had multiple difficult interactions lately. May you difficult persons or person be happy. And then realizing what's happening as you're working with these phrases. Again there's no need to feel as though there should be a certain kind of outcome. This is not an experiment in creating forgiveness or anything like that. The idea is to be present with the self, The breath and the body. And simply see what happens. Does anything shift at all? Maybe not, But maybe. Perhaps shifting the phrase to be, May you difficult person be healthy. And then maybe even experimenting with the phrase, May you difficult person be free from suffering. Perhaps taking a moment to reflect on what that was like to wish happiness, Health and freedom for a difficult person in your life. And then allowing the idea of the difficult person to fade into the background for now. Taking a moment to be present with the breath and the body as they are right now. Bringing to mind all people everywhere. It's an interesting thing to see if there's a way to expand the circle of thought to include all of us folks. Perhaps bringing to mind an image of the earth. And this includes the self, The beloved being, The difficult person or people, Neutral people, Traffic going by, Your neighbors, The city you live in, The country you live in. Just experimenting with how wide can the circle of loving kindness go. And maybe as I'm saying this, It's not working for you and that's fine too. Probably being aware of what arises as you experiment, As you play with this. And part of the experiment might be working with the phrases again. May we all be happy. May we all be healthy. And may we all be free from suffering. And now taking a moment to reflect, Simply noting what it was like to wish us all happiness, Health and freedom. And letting that image of the world or however you were working with this to fade into the background for now. Returning once more to the breath and the body, Yourself as you are right now. Understanding how you're sitting or lying down or standing, The position of your body. And coming to a sense of completion with this meditation. Thank you.

Reviews

Straightforward and Loving

A thoughtful gentle way to manifest freedom from suffering for us all. Namaste 🙏❤️

thank you for this beautiful meditation. i’ll come back to this whenever i need to remind myself of the love i have within 🙏🏼

You have a lovely voice, Gena, and I like your approach to a LovingKindness meditation. Thank you.

Always a favorite of mine!