Hello and welcome to a loving kindness meditation,
Especially as we head into a new year.
Whether you're listening to this at the beginning of the new year or we're further along in the year,
It's always a good time to take stock of where we've been and look ahead to where we're going,
Setting intentions and visions for ourselves from a place of feeling more quiet and centered and compassionate.
So to support us in coming from that more centered place,
I'll be guiding a metta,
A loving kindness practice.
Come into a comfortable seated position.
Feel your sitting bones rooting down into the cushion with the energy going straight down into Mother Earth,
Feeling that support from the earth.
And feel the crown of the head lifting toward the sky,
That expansive energy of the sky where the stars twinkle and the moon glows.
And here you set energy that flows down from your body grounding into the earth and energy that flows upward,
Connecting to the expansiveness of the sky.
And you breathe in through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
That is a miraculous part of all of the energy of life.
If your eyes are not closed,
Close them gently now or allow them to stay open in a soft gaze,
Gently looking ahead,
Maybe on the ground a few feet in front of you or out the window,
Not analyzing or making stories about what's going on outside if you keep the eyes open,
Just a soft gentle gaze.
If you do decide to close the eyes,
It helps bring the awareness inward,
Helps the senses not get so distracted.
Allow the breath to flow in and out in a natural way without forcing or modifying the breath.
Invite the muscles of the face to relax so the eyes feel relaxed as they're closed.
Invite the forehead to relax,
Even if you don't feel much of a difference,
You're gently inviting the forehead to relax.
Invite the jaw to relax.
Let all expression melt from the face.
Continue to stay awake during this meditation as you invite the entire body to relax.
Accept the muscles you need to hold yourself upright.
Invite relaxation into the shoulders,
The arms,
The hands and the fingers.
Invite relaxation down the torso,
The legs,
The feet and the toes.
And as the breath flows in and flows out,
If you notice you're holding tension anywhere in the body,
Simply invite the tension to release.
It may help to envision that when the inhale happens that you're sending the energy of that inhale down to help release the tension.
When the exhale happens,
You're exhaling whatever's causing that tension,
Whatever energy is tight there.
So for a few more breaths at your own pace,
If you found a place in the body where there's some tension,
Imagine sending the breath gently to that area.
Then when you're exhaling,
You're exhaling whatever's causing that tension there.
A few breaths at your own pace.
And now holding your whole body in your awareness,
See if you can feel a sense of gratitude for all that your body does and has been doing all these years.
And now holding your whole self in your awareness,
Your whole self,
Send yourself the wish with friendliness and loving kindness,
May I be happy.
And as you breathe,
See that as so,
What it looks like,
What it feels like.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
And if there are specifics about what you envision for yourself and your health,
See that healing as if it's already happened.
May I be healthy.
May I know peace in my heart.
And feel that and see that as though it is so.
May I feel peace.
May I know peace in my heart.
And as your breath flows in and flows out now,
Hold in your awareness someone it's so easy for you to love.
And as you hold them in your awareness,
Send the wish may you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you know peace.
And now hold in your awareness someone you haven't seen for a while.
Someone you think of,
You haven't seen for a while and holding that being in your awareness,
Send the wish may you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you know peace.
Check in with yourself and invite the muscles of the face to relax.
Scan the body and invite relaxation into the entire body except for the muscles that are holding you upright.
Continuing to feel relaxation as you do loving kindness.
And the breath flows in and flows out.
As you call to mind someone you don't know too well but you see sometimes,
Maybe at the post office or the grocery store.
And silently send the wish may you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you know peace.
Now hold in your awareness someone who might need some extra healing right now.
Maybe someone you know or someone that your friend has told you about.
Or if you can't think of anyone in specific then maybe just in general anyone who could use a little extra healing.
And send the wish may you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you know peace.
Hold in your awareness now someone with whom you have a misunderstanding or a small conflict.
Someone where there's some tension going on if there is such a person in your life and if not you can pick anybody then.
So either someone where there's some kind of misunderstanding or small conflict or anyone in your life.
Send the wish may you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you know peace.
And now hold all beings in your awareness all beings.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings know peace.
And as you breathe in and breathe out envision the new year.
A chance as every day is to begin again.
To try a new good habit.
To take the next step in an important venture in your life.
To start to learn something you've been wanting to learn.
See this as a chance for possibility even if you just take one step.
It all happens just one step at a time.
Preparing to come out of meditation take a nice deep inhale through the nose.
A slow exhale through the mouth.
Open your eyes if they were closed.
Make small movements in the body to start to bring more energy and movement back into the body from having been seated in stillness for so long.
And slowly move into the next part of your day or evening.
Feel free to come back to this meditation as many times as you want.
Starting by sending loving kindness to yourself and then sending it out to others in the world.
