Welcome to this Metta Meditation to Cultivate Loving-Kindness Metta is a form of meditation that comes from Buddhist traditions.
It involves generating feelings of love and goodwill towards oneself and others.
It's actually personally one of my favorite practices.
In this practice,
We will cultivate a heart full of compassion and extend it to ourselves and those around us.
So let's start by finding a comfortable and quiet space.
You can sit or lie down in a relaxed position.
And whenever you're ready,
Gently close your eyes and take a few deep breaths,
Inhaling through your nose and exhaling everything through your mouth,
Allowing yourself to settle into the present moment to really arrive to this meditation,
To this beautiful practice.
And bring your awareness to your breath.
Take a deep,
Big inhale,
Feeling the breath through your lungs,
And exhale,
Releasing any tension.
And once again,
In your own rhythm,
Take a big,
Deep inhale,
Feeling the air,
Feeling your lungs,
And exhale through your mouth,
Releasing anything that doesn't serve you anymore.
And continue breathing in and out deeply.
And visualize a warm,
Radiant light at your heart center,
Symbolizing the pure essence of love without you.
And I want to invite you to bring your right hand into your heart center and your left hand on top of it.
And in your next inhale,
Connect with your heart,
Feeling the space within.
And I want you to imagine a warm,
Radiant light at your heart center,
Representing the pure essence of love within you.
And I want to invite you to repeat silently or aloud,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I be at ease.
And with each repetition,
Imagine at the same time the warmth and compassion from your heart,
Expanding,
Surrounding you with a cocoon of loving kindness.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I be at ease.
And now I want you to bring to mind someone you care about deeply.
It could be a friend,
It could be a family member,
It can be your partner or your pet.
And I want you to extend the loving kindness phrases to this person.
Imagine saying,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you be at ease.
And visualize them surrounded by the same warm light of loving kindness that comes from your heart center.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you be at ease.
And repeat silent or aloud with me again.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you be at ease.
And now I want to think of somebody you might not know well.
This could be perhaps a colleague or a neighbor.
And I want to invite you to offer them the same loving kindness wishes.
So imagine yourself saying to this person,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you be at ease.
And while you repeat these phrases,
Allow the warmth of your compassion to envelop them.
And now I invite you to bring to mind someone with whom you might have difficulties or conflicts.
A person that you might find challenging to like.
And approach this with a gentle intention.
Extending again the same loving kindness words.
And imagine saying to this person,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you be at ease.
And allow your compassion and your love to get over this person.
Embracing the possibility of healing and understanding in your relationship.
Understanding that usually those who we find challenging are mirroring some aspects of ourselves that we don't like.
And sending that love to that.
And last,
I want to bring your awareness back to your breath.
And I want to invite you to expand your focus.
To include all beings.
Visualize in your mind the entire world bathed in the light of loving kindness.
And repeat after me,
In your mind,
Or aloud,
May all beings be happy,
May all beings be healthy,
May all beings be safe,
May all beings be at ease.
And while saying these words,
Feel how you connect to a shared humanity of all living beings.
Feel the light in your heart expanding over the entire world.
Getting into everybody and anyone that needs the love and compassion.
Bring your awareness back to your breath.
Inhale through nose and exhale through your mouth.
Acknowledging the love and compassion you have cultivated during this beautiful practice.
Expressing gratitude to yourself for giving yourself the opportunity to share loving kindness.
And slowly open your eyes back,
Carrying the sense of connection and compassion into your day.
And as we conclude this beautiful meditation,
May the loving kindness you have cultivated bring you peace and joy to yourself and to all beings.
Thank you for joining me in this beautiful practice.
Namaste.
