Hey there,
My name's Joey and today we're going to be doing a loving kindness meditation,
Or meta as it's also called.
So go ahead and find yourself in a comfortable seat,
Or maybe you're lying down,
Maybe supporting your head with a blanket or a pillow.
Take a moment to get yourself settled in,
And then as you start to settle,
Just allow yourself to feel grounded wherever you are.
Allow yourself to feel supported,
Safe,
And held by your cushion,
By the floor,
By your mat,
Whatever it is that is holding you up.
And take a moment to let go of any expectation that you might have for the next ten minutes or so.
And starting by taking a deep breath into your belly,
Filling all the way up into the belly,
And with an open mouth,
Sighing it out.
And taking another deep breath in,
Filling all the way up,
Open the mouth,
Let it go.
And again,
Breathing in deeply,
And letting go completely.
And if it's available to you,
Allow your lips to seal.
If it's comfortable for you,
Allow your eyes to close.
Allow your breath to settle into its natural rhythm,
As you soften the shoulders,
As you soften the abdomen,
As you soften the jaw,
The eyes,
The brow.
And allow your attention to rest at your heart space.
Just noticing whatever you notice about that space.
Maybe it's the skin as it touches your clothes.
Maybe you can feel your heart beating in your chest.
Maybe you can feel the breath expanding and contracting up into the chest.
There's no right,
There's no wrong.
Just allow yourself to experience this space exactly as it is right now.
Try to release any judgment that you may have toward yourself.
Release any criticisms that you may have about yourself.
And I want you to think about a time when you felt happy.
When you felt happy.
Not really worried so much about who was there,
Or what you were doing,
But instead capturing that feeling of pure happiness.
Allowing that feeling of happiness to flood through you with a warm,
Golden,
Radiant light.
Thinking to yourself,
May I be happy.
May I be happy.
May I be happy.
May I be happy.
Start to think about a time when you felt healthy.
Again,
Not really worried so much about the things that you were doing,
Or the foods that you were eating,
Or how much you were exercising.
But instead,
Just enjoying that feeling of health.
Whatever that felt like to you.
Allow that feeling to fill you up.
From the tips of your toes up through the crown of your head.
And think to yourself,
May I be healthy.
May I be healthy.
About a time when you felt safe.
You felt safe.
Try not to dwell too much on who it was that made you safe.
Try not to dwell too much on why you felt safe.
Instead,
Embracing that sensation,
That feeling of being safe.
Just like it wraps you up in a warm blanket.
Holding you in.
Feeling secured.
Feeling supported.
And think to yourself,
May I be safe.
May I be safe.
And think about a time when you felt like your life flowed with ease.
When you felt carefree.
Felt like things just worked out the way that they were supposed to work out.
And allow that feeling to wash over you.
Allow that feeling to flow through you.
Just like a cool breeze.
And think to yourself,
May I live with ease.
May I live with ease.
May I live with ease.
These feelings that we experience when we think about these times in our lives.
These sensations that come up for us.
Maybe it's chaos.
Maybe it's warmth.
Maybe it's joy.
This is what is known as meta,
Or loving kindness.
So take a moment again to repeat to yourself,
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe.
And may I live with ease.
And beginning to project that energy outward,
Thinking about somebody you love,
Picturing that person in your mind.
As you think to them,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you feel safe.
And may you live with ease.
Thinking about a person whom it's difficult to love.
Maybe it's somebody who holds different values than you.
Somebody who holds different viewpoints.
Extending them the same loving kindness.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you feel safe.
And may you live with ease.
Allow yourself to enjoy this feeling for another moment.
Take a deeper inhale,
And a complete exhale.
Slowly begin to bring movement back into fingers and toes.
And slowly start to flutter open your eyes as you're ready.
Coming back into this space.
Back into this body.
Back into this moment.
Breathing in another breath of gratitude for taking this time to sit with yourself.
To feel this loving kindness toward yourself and toward others.
And thank you for taking this time to practice with me.
I look forward to practicing with you again soon.
Take care.
