Embodied Loving Kindness

In this meditation, you are guided in an integrated, multi-faceted practice of loving awareness for yourself, loved ones, those who are more challenging, and all beings. The traditional methods of metta are joined with the non-dual awareness approach of Zen & Dzogchen.

Transcript

So,

Go ahead and just intuitively shift into the mode of meditation.

And trusting what that is for you.

How body and mind shift as you shift into meditation.

And noticing if there are echoes of the past moving through the mind.

Memories and reverberations of conversations you may have had.

Particularly if there's something that feels it's tugging on your attention strongly.

You can do this now and also anytime during the session.

Something is really pulling on your mind.

Pulling you out of the present moment.

Realize that there is a cord between you and that event or person.

Feel or see that cord.

That tendril.

Bow to that cord,

Respecting it,

And then gently and temporarily cut it.

So you see or feel yourself cutting the tie to that event,

At least for now.

And now opening to energetic influence.

So inviting in if there are protectors or guardians that you work with in your practice,

Invite them into your being at this time.

Perhaps asking for their guidance,

Their protection.

If you have lineage connections,

Opening to those connections.

And particularly if there is a teacher or public figure or family member that embodies loving kindness for you.

Let their image arise in the mind's eye.

And feel that quality of loving kindness that they embody.

Perhaps they are smiling upon you in that easy way,

That genuine way that they do.

And then let that visualization of that being dissolve into your heart.

And as you do that,

As the visualization,

Perhaps it's a ball of light,

Hits the heart,

The energy of that being suffuses throughout you as if you took a vitamin of the essence of that person.

Next we will use the breathing to both relax the body and as a purificatory practice.

So inhaling to the apex of your capacity.

As you exhale,

Both releasing what can be released with mental and physical tension.

And you may wish to add a visualization of perhaps smoke,

Intending that you are releasing any residual negativity in your system.

Any psychic or emotional toxins.

They feel like you're bidding it farewell.

It's being carried out on the exhalation.

Inhaling to the apex of your capacity and allowing a long and full exhalation,

Releasing what can be released,

Expelling negativity.

Feeling the pleasure and the infusion of energy with a robust inhalation.

Feeling the quality of release and letting go on the exhalation.

We know that we are literally biologically exhaling toxins.

Expelling psychic toxins as well.

Now we bring awake the quality I call welcoming.

Welcoming,

Simply being whatever is present,

Acknowledging its presence and giving up any struggle against it.

So acknowledging what's present in the body,

Heart,

And mind.

Whether that's a sore toe or some timber,

Some tone of grief,

Whatever it may be.

And acknowledging what's in the room.

Perhaps there's a sound that's drawing on your attention.

Perhaps the temperature is not perfect.

Essentially affirm,

This is what is for now.

And I welcome that.

Welcoming.

Whatever we don't welcome in our meditation is the limit of the meditation.

Welcoming.

Sometimes welcoming is releasing a quality of body armoring.

Sometimes it's releasing the complaining mind that wishes the neighbors would X,

Y,

Or Z.

And as we continue,

We're awake to when we turn against some quality of presence.

Notice the tension that brings and then reopening into this quality.

Welcoming whatever is present.

Letting each element of experience express itself just as it is.

Now we begin to more directly center in the heart.

Letting attention move into the heart center.

And trusting what that means for you.

That may mean the chest in general,

The chest and the back.

That may mean the physical heart.

We're going to let the heart be the somatic root of our meditation.

Energetic root of our meditation.

And as you feel within the heart center,

Just noticing what is there.

Not what we've been told we should feel or might feel.

But what is actually there?

What is the texture of your heart center?

And usually these textures speak for themselves,

So we don't need to label.

And feeling what is there in the heart and further consent to feeling what is there in the heart center.

You may feel that as a shift because for example,

Often heartbreak or grief,

We may instinctively be flinching from it and not fully consenting to its vibration.

So here we are fully welcoming and even further consenting to feeling the heart's texture.

You may wish to gently guide the breath into the heart as you're feeling within it.

You're feeling resting in the heart as an organ of perception,

As a mode of knowing.

Feeling centered within the heart,

Breathing into the heart.

With each inhalation into the heart,

Feel that you're expanding it.

That the size of the heart center increases with each inhalation.

Like a warm light that is beginning to spread beyond the chest or the heart into the rest of the body.

We are intentionally fanning the flames of the heart.

Feeling into the heart,

Feeling it expanding its scope.

And shifting the body into this mode of loving kindness with a gentle smile.

Even if we're faking it till we make it,

With a gentle smile we're diffusing,

Perhaps a frown or a scowl.

You may be able to feel the subtle energy of the smile.

Smile has a vibration to it.

And whether the eyes are open or closed,

Letting them be soft.

Letting them be eyes of loving kindness.

So we have the foundation of our practice.

Feeling centered within the heart.

Let the circuit of the breath move through the heart.

Breathing a quality of openness.

And we have a gentle smile and soft eyes.

Now we begin to ally with the cognitive mind,

The intentional mind in directing the heart's energy.

So beginning with your own body,

You may wish to envelop the whole body or if you have a difficult relationship with a part of your body,

A part maybe that gives you trouble or you wish it was a different shape or size or it was younger.

Developing the body in this heart energy.

And these are the standard phrases but I encourage you to find ones that are genuine for you.

The standard is body may you be at ease.

May you be free from fear.

Just acknowledging any resistance and still may you be at ease.

May you be free from fear.

Perhaps may you be healed.

Developing the energy of the heart,

The attitude of warm acceptance enveloping the body.

And perhaps a visualization,

A cocoon of light or whatever feels right to you.

Perhaps inhabiting the body with the quality of kindness,

Of loving kindness.

Just like with the soft eyes,

How do we inhabit the whole body with the quality of loving kindness?

Now as this meditation unfolds,

You may intuit that certain aspects of it are really a good medicine for you at this time.

And trusting that could be staying with loving kindness for the body is the perfect practice.

Now if you like shifting to the heart itself.

The heart attending to the heart.

Heart may you be at ease.

Heart may you be free from fear.

We are practicing a kind regard of our being.

Perhaps you're aware of vulnerable parts of yourself,

Wounded or traumatized parts of yourself.

And you may wish to direct this loving kindness to those parts.

Maybe you can contact an image of yourself as a child or an adolescent or whenever you were wounded or abandoned.

And to that being who is with us in some way,

May you be at ease.

May you be free from fear.

Setting the energy of the heart towards this part of yourself.

Welcoming these wounded parts of ourselves.

Perhaps even letting them know you see them and you're here for them.

And beginning to close this section of loving kindness for ourselves with the phrase,

May I be at ease.

May I be free from fear.

May I be happy.

Sometimes we hear voices that say,

You don't deserve that or that'll never happen.

And just let those move through.

We don't have to hinder this awakened quality of free kindness freed from those voices.

May I be at ease.

May I be happy.

May all my aspirations be fulfilled.

And now we move to turn this energy to others in our lives.

And we'll do this by categories.

So beginning by inviting to just spontaneously arise in the mind's eye beings that you have a positive connection with.

And with each one,

May you be at ease.

May you be healthy.

May you be liberated,

Whatever you choose.

Still sustaining the circuit of breathing into the heart.

And also inclining this energy towards this person.

After meeting each being with that well-wishing and energy,

Let them go and let room for the next to arise.

Who else wants to come into the mind's eye?

Sometimes we see them at ease.

We see them happy.

If there's difficulty in finding beings of positive regard,

Maybe even a pet or someone you don't know that you feel positive or affection towards.

Opening up to cosmocentric perspective,

Loving kindness for unseen beings,

For the animal realm,

Spirit realm,

Plants,

Minerals,

Galaxies.

Let this love extend as widely as it wants to.

May the whole universe flourish in kindness.

Letting yourself shift more and more to this openness of love.

Part of you that gives this energy away has these wishes very spontaneously.

Some breath circulating through the heart.

May you be at ease.

May you be free from suffering.

Noticing the feeling of this positive regard.

However subtle,

Noticing the feeling tone of this positive regard.

And if you like,

Shifting categories to the neutral beings.

These may be people in your social circle,

Your work circle,

Even your practice circles who you don't particularly have a warm attitude towards.

Maybe you don't feel anything about them in any particular way.

Now you're extending warm kindness towards this person that maybe is off the radar or there's indifference towards.

Noticing if there's any physical or energetic shifts in your heart as you do this.

We are stretching the muscle of the heart.

And we let any rationalizations of why we shouldn't just move through.

They may be valid.

They may have validity.

That we're choosing to consciously open the heart.

Maybe you open loving kindness for the male person,

The UPS driver.

Maybe you open it for the culture or the country whose plight does not particularly concern you.

Folding the heart,

Feeling it from within.

Towards these beings,

May you be at ease.

May you be happy.

Perhaps the trees and plants in your yard are not normally recipients of loving kindness.

Perhaps the heavenly bodies.

Perhaps the bacteria in your gut.

And now if you are feeling resourced enough,

Sometimes we are and sometimes we aren't.

Turning to the category of negative.

Those who we dislike or feel some animosity.

Maybe you don't leap into the person who you associate most with your traumas.

Easing in with those that maybe irritate you or that you judge or that you close the heart to.

You're consciously opening it,

Bringing them to mind.

Turning them at ease,

Smiling,

Wishing them that.

And feeling what happens in the texture of the heart center as you do this.

This loving kindness is not approving or consenting to the way they behave or show up in the world.

It's undoing the suffering of our own closed heart.

It's releasing the burden of the closed heart.

The person who doesn't treat you quite fairly.

May you be at ease.

If the field is extended outward,

It's a good time to bring it back so that you are contained in your energy.

Not cutting off connection but being sure to be connected to yourself.

And then take a couple minutes and just let your mind reflect on anything you noticed about this practice of love.

Where it was easy,

Where it was hard.

What are the edges?