Discovering Loving Kindness Inside

Like so many creatures, we have an innate love of safety and freedom. Just as plants grow towards light and water, we can feel what is precious in life.
Feeling and breathing in and through the chest, if that's helpful, we can allow the goodness of leaning towards life and what supports life.
What’s precious?
Being in touch with the texture of what is important—maybe silkiness, openness, sweetness, or whatever you find. Letting that sweetness meet what’s in you and around you—a natural opening.

Transcript

Maybe giving a few extra moments for getting comfortable,

Letting yourself arrive,

And then feeling if the body would make adjustments,

And then arriving further still and letting the body adjust gradually into a stillness that's comfortable if possible,

Supportive,

And with enough space,

Letting our bodies spread out like the roots of trees into our earth.

And just also a few moments of not giving in to the habit of getting down to work or believing in a goal that's over there,

But just receiving the moment as we are.

My wish is for us to delve down into ourselves and discover the friendliness that's already in us,

Rather than to put something from outside on,

Rather than taking a medicine or being too formal.

And if you wish,

It can sometimes be helpful to have the feeling of breathing through the heart or chest area,

And or having a hand or two placed over your heart,

Whether you feel like having your hand on the physical heart that we went into earlier,

Or just over the center of the chest,

Less of a physical heart,

And more just an orientation towards heartfulness or even just,

Hmm,

What happens if I bring presence into the center of the chest or the whole chest,

Ribcage,

Underarms,

Lungs,

Heart,

Spine,

Skin,

Breasts,

Shoulder blades,

Or sometimes with the sense of breathing through the heart or breathing through the middle of the chest,

Having permission to be here in this upper part of our main body.

Sometimes there can be a feeling of almost starting to fill in the whole thoracic cavity,

The whole area above the diaphragm,

The whole realm of chest or heart,

Upper body,

Heartfulness.

And other times touching in here,

There can be emotions,

Allowing the dignity of emotions that come,

Rage,

Sadness,

Sweetness,

Bittersweetness,

Loneliness,

Guilt,

Shame,

Whatever may come.

Finding an appropriate space,

Appropriate measure of space and support without identifying with the emotions.

So it's not all we are,

But there's a dignity to whatever emotions are there.

They have their reasons,

Their causes.

So maybe as if there would be a harp in a room and without touching the harp,

Sometimes some of the notes of the harp might resonate,

Some of the emotions might be available,

And we can take care not to pluck the strings,

Not to disturb or agitate,

Not going into stories,

Not going into repression.

And sometimes just feeling the sensations of the emotion can be helpful if there's a help,

Heaviness or pressure,

Et cetera.

But other times it could be important not to go too much into the emotion that it starts to take over completely.

So feeling maybe behind or beneath the heaviness or speediness or whatever you find could be one way.

There could be an approach of feeling what we feel and leaving space for more as well.

If we feel a high or a low,

Letting that be,

And also leaving space for more than that.

There can be a high and still simple,

Heavy body,

Ground,

Simple breath,

Simple presence.

There can be a low and the tempting thoughts of something wrong or not enough,

The tempting stories or movies,

Letting that be.

But however actively is needed,

Feeling what else,

Leaving space for more and even sometimes more actively tuning into,

Yes,

There's the twang or the sourness or whatever of the emotional heart.

And I can feel the backbone behind there,

Just underneath that twang or sourness or bitterness or heat or whatever is something else,

Maybe more quiet or that's allowed to be strong,

That's allowed to feel safe or whatever.

So with the hand on the chest,

If you wish,

Breathing through the chest,

If you wish,

Feeling just simply feeling the chest area,

If you wish,

Or just feeling what's precious,

That we have built in a capacity to feel for what is precious,

That built in in us is a quality of valuing or loving what's important,

Knowing what's important,

Feeling what's beloved or life sustaining,

Essential.

Just like so many creatures have an inbuilt love of safety and freedom,

An inbuilt leaning towards what's needed when things don't get in the way,

When that instinct isn't broken,

Trees and plants leaning towards what they need,

Whether it's more shade or more sun,

More water,

And leaving room for arriving into our spiritual instinct where there's a natural leaning towards alignment,

Towards realignment,

Towards tapping into what's essential,

What's sustaining of life,

Not just biologically,

But in a wider sense of the word life,

What loves life,

Loving what loves life.

And again,

Not trying to do so,

But sometimes just waiting quietly for what's gotten a bit broken or stuck naturally,

And maybe sometimes silently or with a quality of silence or naturalness can come unbroken.

Sometimes the quality of silence might release crying or raging or shaking,

Or it might release us into a feeling of ease.

We don't know why.

Just noticing how it is for you,

Connecting to your chest or connecting to what's precious and the loving or knowing or valuing of what's precious.

And whether that feels like relief and homecoming,

Or whether it releases some pain or joy,

Or whether it brings more of a sense of longing.

If there's longing more than a sense of connection to what's precious and loving that,

If there's more of a longing,

Just really simply and caringly,

Carefully,

Just like if we were in the kitchen cooking,

We would keep things clean.

So being with the longing,

Keeping things simple and clean,

The longing as something deep in us that feels some kind of magnet,

Simple,

And allowing the magnet to pull,

Not indulging stories of lack,

Perhaps even enjoying being pulled,

That gentle or strong pull of longing.

Like a realignment happening,

Like a tree being pulled towards what it needs,

Shade,

Sun,

Water,

Food.

We don't need to know how to get there.

We don't even need to know what is pulling.

It doesn't need a name necessarily.

So just noticing how it is for you,

Breathing through the heart or feeling the chest or feeling what's precious and the loving of what's precious.

So like a stream going towards the sea,

There's the sea and there's the streaming.

What's precious and the loving of that or honoring of that,

Knowing of that,

And whether the river has a name for the sea or not,

Doesn't matter so much.

So this could be a kind of phase one way of practicing loving kindness or maitri,

Means friendship,

Friend,

Or gentleness,

Which is an expansive resting place that's built in that we can tap into with practice.

Phase two,

If you wish,

If it feels needed or helpful to shift the practice from phase one,

A bit more primordial and formless,

Just feeling what you feel in your chest or feeling the love of what you love or feeling a longing and avoiding stories the way you might avoid mosquitoes,

Just blowing them away or covering up with long sleeves.

Phase two,

If you wish,

Could be if you're feeling sensations in the chest that are not necessarily so much of emotion or emotional release or touching places that have needed touching that are more painful.

But if there's more sense of touching places that have needed touching,

That's more of joy or open heartedness.

And just feeling that in your body,

Getting to know where is there a tension or texture,

Temperature,

Movement,

Or if there's a sensing of what's precious and allowing that heart flow of loving what's precious,

Feeling that in sensations for a while.

Where do you feel what?

If there's longing,

Then is it possible to feel something of the quality of what's longed for what's pulling and how that's already inside us to be pulled?

There's something of that flavor in us,

Something that recognizes what's not that and is open to that,

Whatever that is,

Home or joy or belovedness or freedom,

Ease,

Belonging,

Generosity,

Expansiveness,

Intimacy,

Whatever it might be for you.

What we love and the love of that,

What we long for,

And the being willing to be pulled towards or to receive that,

To find it already here,

Perhaps.

And if it's hard to believe or connect with that,

Then we can try a few different things.

One could be imagining yourself as a child,

Or some people might have more of a sense of even feeling oneself as a child at whatever age feels comfortable or appropriate to you.

And what you know the child knows or lives for or needs or loves,

Feeling the texture and temperature and taste of that,

Offering that to ourselves.

Or remembering someone whom you love and respect who loves and respects you.

In the tradition,

It's recommended that it be someone who's living now.

And also in the tradition,

It's recommended that it not be someone that we're sexually involved with.

Many people find that it can work well even with someone that they haven't necessarily met personally.

So someone who's written a book or a talk that was touching,

Someone with whom you feel pretty well met and seen and allowed,

And that the person wants the best for you,

Really wants your path,

Fulfillment.

Imagining being in the presence of that other person and what that draws upon in you,

Or what they would wish for you,

What they see in you,

What they resonate within you,

And how that grows in that resonating.

And then maybe choosing any way of connecting.

You can always come back to try another way another time,

But it could be easy to spend a lot of time and energy like,

Oh,

How shall I do that,

That,

A little bit of this,

A little bit of that.

One way that could be a combination of several things,

You might be feeling your chest and imagining a person who in their presence,

Resonating with them,

You feel your potential coming alive.

You feel not needing to hide weakness or strength,

And what's beautiful can become strong in you.

What's receptive can receive,

Can drink,

What sings can sing,

And how that feels to be open to that love.

Sometimes it can help to find a word or two,

Or an image may come,

Or a memory may come.

Sometimes it can be helpful to have these reference points of word,

Image,

Memory,

Just to help us root back into our direct experience,

What it feels like for us,

What it has felt like in that moment.

An image or word that helps us,

Oh yeah,

This is what I love.

This is what I need.

This is what life needs in me.

This is where love can go today in a fresh way.

And with the help of sensations in the body,

Image,

Word,

Memory,

Imagination,

Feeling,

Just as simply as is possible today,

We can get on with it,

Feeling what is precious and what does it feel like to be in touch with what's precious and to love what's precious.

Or if we're imagining ourselves as children or imagining ourselves in the presence of a good friend,

What does it feel like to remember or imagine being loved today?

If a word or image or memory is helpful,

Returning to that to help the sensations be more vivid,

The experience be more real for you,

Feeling in our bodies what it feels like,

Whatever you're going through.

Allowing love to go somewhere new can be breathtaking,

So we can allow things to unfold in their own time,

Sometimes gently,

Sometimes swiftly.

When possible,

Less thinking and maybe starting to feel as if loving what we love were honey or a breeze or the earth or whatever kind of quality or texture you might find,

As if loving what we love would be a kind of almost a substance that we could fill with,

Letting it be 100% or towards 100%.

And whenever you feel it's appropriate,

There could be a sense of allowing that quality or texture to fill and overflow.

So to fill your being and also beyond your being through what we usually think of as the borders of ourselves,

Through our skin or through our normal spread of presence into the ground,

Into the air,

Staying tuned to the quality or texture or sense of loving what you love or being loved,

Meeting in love,

Meeting in friendship or gentleness,

Which doesn't mean that there's not courage involved.

Meeting in gentleness takes a lot of courage to meet and to be met.

Could we allow that the sweetness or the breeziness or the bounce or the floatingness or the ground,

Validity,

Whatever quality or texture,

Start to meet yourself and spread beyond the normal bounds of yourself to meet our world,

Sweetness into the ground,

The air,

If you wish,

Into everything,

Cushions,

Walls,

Trees,

Grass,

Sand,

Depending on where you are,

Streets and buildings or forests,

Bodies of water and other creatures like us.

Staying tuned to the quality that speaks to us today and letting it resonate more widely,

Letting it not stop anywhere,

Gradually spreading more widely,

If you wish,

Or if you notice that you start to lose connection or power or vividness,

Maybe coming back closer in to the child or to breathing through the chest.

What is it like to be in touch with the kind of innermost preciousness and love of that preciousness,

Letting that quality spread throughout your being and also be in touch with what seems to be other than you,

Another precious creature,

Plants,

Animals,

People,

Whatever you like.

And for some people,

Including everything,

Including ground and stone and wind,

Cloud,

Building,

Computer,

Whatever feels fun and true,

Accurate,

And maybe edgy in a fun way,

Staying tuned to the quality that's important to you,

That's important to yourselves and your nonverbal being,

Where your nonverbal being says yes,

Is present and feels whole with that.

And then letting that music fill your being and whenever it's time,

Coming in closer or spreading more widely.

And spreading more widely when that comes about could just be a sense of gradually spreading in all directions or just in front of you or behind you,

Above you,

Below you,

Or to one side.

Let's say spreading in front of you for a while,

Being in touch with that silkiness or ground or embrace or openingness,

Sweetness,

And letting that sweetness or silkiness also,

At least in your mind,

Meet what's in front of you.

Water,

Air,

Insects,

Building,

Tree,

Person,

Bird,

Letting this love of what we love,

That really super intimate space,

Be present as we meet what's in front of us.

And letting that sweetness unleashed or silkiness unleashed,

Silkiness loved,

Be given also to the neighbor,

The neighboring creatures and things.

People and creatures,

People and other creatures that we know and don't know as far as you feel like going,

As far as you feel like letting that spread or radiate.

If it feels too intense to keep a kind of continuous receiving and radiance,

There could be a rhythm of maybe with the in-breath tuning in and remembering inwardly,

Or even just a rest and maybe with the out-breath spreading or with the out-breath receiving and overflowing.

Noticing for our mind what works more easily,

What works with less friction.

Is it kind of visiting in our imagination one creature or spot or type of landscape or place at a time,

Or is it more sort of globally spreading across and through the landscape and atmosphere in us and in front of us,

In you and in front of you.

And maybe the more we receive the kind of almost purity of that love of what we love,

The simplicity of that,

The basic-ness of that,

The more we let ourselves receive and honor that,

Perhaps the more it also radiates or intensifies or gives itself more widely.

Relaxing,

Going as widely or as close in as you like towards yourself and what's in front of you,

Towards what we like and don't like,

Pleasant and unpleasant,

Just allowing that to radiate as far and as widely as we like to a sense of fullness.

The cities,

Forests,

Fields,

Seas,

Rivers,

Deserts,

Mountains,

Ice,

So many creatures with eyes,

So many creatures in a place on the earth,

Wishing for safety and freedom.

And if you wish,

We could give a few minutes playing with feeling the back of the body and what's behind us,

Staying tuned to loving what's precious to us and what's most precious in everything that we find precious.

And the tenderness in being in touch with this intimate secret of what we find that built in we love,

Not by our choice or preference,

Built in we need and built in what supports life with a big L in us and through us.

Being in touch with that same quality with the help of word,

Image,

Memory,

Place in the body,

Whatever helps stay connected or keep connecting and reconnecting and letting that quality fill you and also kind of transmit beyond our normal sense of ourselves to what's behind us,

Letting it happen.

It might feel less vivid since we're more practiced at tuning to what's in front of us,

Just playfully letting the texture or quality fill in and overflow behind us,

If you like.

What we wish for ourselves,

Allowing that wish to overflow,

To radiate through our back to what's behind us,

Air,

Ground and creatures.

And if you wish also things,

Buildings,

Cushions matter,

Whether it spreads out through the back like the fragrance of a flowering tree,

The rays of a sun or in whatever way you find happens,

Just trusting your own way to start to happen.

Sometimes allowing the quality to spread through our back,

It can feel less personal,

Less vigorous.

So it might in some way feel more gentle or more of a trickle,

More of a drop by drop.

And at the same time,

It could also feel in a more subtle way,

Very direct and vast.

It might feel more or less comfortable than playing with radiating from the front.

And then as you wish in the last moments,

There could just be a resting,

Leaving it all alone,

Or a sense of coming into all directions,

Inward and outward,

Receiving and radiating,

Filling and overflowing.

Our preferences aside,

Loving what we love and letting that quality fill and overflow and spread in all directions,

If you like.

Maybe allowing if any specific places or people come to mind,

Allowing that in the final moments of our meditation,

Including maybe oneself.

May all beings everywhere be at ease in fulfilling love and awakening.

And everywhere,

Including here,

May there be ease,

May there be fulfilling love and awakening,

And just resting quietly.

Reviews

New images and ways to love my self, this practice is my companion and healer going through illness these days…

Tremendously good loving-kindness practice. Very different from what I've learnt before. Heart opening.