Welcome to Compassion and Loving-Kindness Meditation.
This meditation will help you cultivate more compassion and kindness towards yourself and those you encounter in your life.
To begin this meditation,
You can be seated or if you prefer to be lying down,
That's okay too.
As you make your way into your position,
Begin to relax your shoulders,
Your face,
Let them soften.
Gently close your eyes and allow yourself to relax deeply.
Place your palms over your heart.
Feel your heart beating.
Feel the lungs gently expand with each breath.
Notice the breath.
Breath coming into the nostrils,
Breath going out of the nostrils,
Breath coming in,
Breath going out,
Breathe,
Just breathe.
Lower your palms down to your thighs.
In keeping your eyes closed,
Call to mind a person close to you who loves you very much.
It might be a parent,
A grandparent,
A partner,
Or a teacher.
It could be someone who has passed or someone who is still here.
Picture them standing in front of you,
Sending you their love.
Feel the love coming from this person towards you.
Just like you,
This person wishes to be happy.
Send all your love and warm wishes to this person.
Repeat the following phrases silently in your own mind.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain.
May you live your life with ease.
Next bring to mind an acquaintance,
Someone you know but you don't have a very deep relationship with.
Perhaps a colleague at work or a neighbor or someone that you only see occasionally.
Picture that person.
Just like you,
This person wishes to be happy.
Send all your love and warm wishes to this person.
Repeat the following phrases silently.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain.
May you live your life with ease.
Now expand your awareness and picture the whole planet in front of you as a little ball.
Just like you,
The people on the planet want to be happy.
Send all your love and warm wishes to the planet.
Repeat the following phrases silently.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from pain.
May you live your life with ease.
Now keeping the eyes closed,
We relax our intention,
Allowing the mind to be,
Allowing any sensations in the body to settle down.
And in your own time,
Whenever you are comfortable,
You can slowly open the eyes.
Don't worry if the mind wandered or you had difficulty visualizing during this meditation.
This is okay.
This is normal.
We simply notice that we've wandered and come back to the meditation.
Each time we practice,
We increase our capacity to stay present in the moment.
