Hi everyone,
It's Heather here.
Welcome.
We're going to practice a Metta Bhavana meditation or also known as Loving Kindness.
This is one of the most powerful meditations that I have ever taught and it comes from the highly beloved practice within the Buddhist communities.
It has been shown in laboratories to cultivate compassion and increase connection,
Empathy and happiness.
So let's get comfortable.
We're going to sit in a meditative position,
However it is up to you.
You can also lie down if you prefer.
So I invite you to come to a comfortable seat.
Perhaps you'd like to cross your legs and put something comfortable under your sit bones or you can also sit in a chair with some support on the back.
But let's now come to close our eyes.
Just get this feeling of softening and relaxing your body.
Push your sit bones down into the earth and rise up nice and tall.
And with each exhalation of the breath,
Allow the lower half of your body just to soften and sink down.
As you inhale,
Lengthen through your crown again and release the jaw.
And we'll just relax from the top down.
Soften any tension in the head,
The forehead,
The eyes,
Shoulders,
Arms and hands.
Perhaps you'd like to have your hands facing up or your hands,
Palms facing down.
That's very grounding if you feel you need it.
Relax the hips and pelvis,
The belly.
Just allow the belly to really spill out and relax like a Buddha belly.
Relax the legs,
Soften through the bottom of the ankles and the feet.
So this comes from the Buddhist tradition with Metta meaning unconditional love and Bhavana meaning cultivation or development.
So I invite you to just gently breathe now into the heart and lift your heart up nice and tall towards the sky.
And we're just going to breathe into the heart,
Opening the heart with the breath in.
Imagine it perhaps a flower opening to the sun and then as you exhale,
Just feel yourself relaxing further.
And just bring your awareness to the heart.
We're going to start by visualizing someone that we love and care for deeply.
So visualize that person in your mind's eye now.
Just whoever comes first,
It doesn't matter.
We're just cultivating the sense of someone that we already love dearly.
So bring them and draw them into your heart.
Take a nice deep breath in and we're going to work our way up to the heart.
And we're going to work our way up to the heart.
So we're going to work our way up to the heart.
And we're going to work our way up to the heart.
And we're going to work our way up to the heart.
And we're going to work our way up to the heart.
And we're going to work our way up to the heart.
Perhaps you feel a sense of happiness,
Gratitude,
Warmth,
Expansion.
Okay,
Now we're going to start visualizing someone neutral.
And this neutral person might be someone that you saw this morning in the supermarket or somebody you saw yesterday walking passing you on the road or on the walkway.
We're just visualizing that neutral person now.
Bring them into your heart.
Breathe them in.
And we're going to wish this person well.
May you be happy.
May you be free from suffering.
May your hopes and your dreams for this life be fulfilled.
And may you be safe and may you be well.
Now our compassion has already expanded and grown.
And we're going to move now to someone that we struggle with.
Perhaps it's someone that's harmed you.
Or perhaps you have some negative feelings towards.
Just notice the resistance and think of that person now.
It might be a neighbor.
Might be a family member.
Okay,
Now just start to draw that person into your heart.
And allow whatever is to be,
To be.
Because we're going to wish that person well too.
May you be happy.
May you be free from suffering.
May your hopes and your dreams for this life be fulfilled.
And may you be safe and may you be well.
Just notice how you feel.
Keep breathing into the heart,
Expanding and lifting the heart up.
Now we're going to move on to ourselves.
We deserve the love and compassion too.
Now notice any feelings of resistance here.
Allow it to be.
Being more tender with ourselves,
If you like.
You can imagine yourself as a child.
Perhaps there's a picture of you when you were younger that you can bring into your heart.
Pull yourself now into your heart,
Breathing in.
May I be happy.
May I be free from suffering.
May my hopes and my dreams for this life be fulfilled.
And may I be safe and may I be well.
Okay,
Now we're going to move on to the whole world now.
So in a sort of general,
Open way to all sentient beings.
And for this,
I invite you to visualize the whole world.
This will be people,
Humans,
Animals,
Insects,
Ocean mammals,
Every sentient being.
So gently draw the whole world into your heart.
Breathe it in.
We're going to wish everyone well.
May you all be happy.
May you all be free from suffering.
May all your hopes and all your dreams for this life be fulfilled.
May you all be safe and may you all be well.
And notice this feeling of expansion,
Openness,
Expanded into your prefrontal cortex of your brain,
This ability to have compassion and in turn makes us happier.
And this increase of connection to ourselves and others.
And if you like,
You can start to breathe in this feeling of a flame or a fire within the heart.
As you feel that warmth or feelings of love.
Invite you to sit here in this expanded,
Open awareness.
Invite you to take a deeper breath.
Bring your hands together into the center of your heart.
Take a little bow.
And with that,
We have finished our practice.
Thank you for joining me today.
I hope you have a wonderful,
Wonderful day.
Take care,
Everyone.
Thank you.
