Welcome to your self-compassion and loving-kindness meditation.
For this meditation,
I will be drawing on concepts of equanimity,
Mindfulness self-compassion,
And metta or Maitri practices.
Sit in a comfortable position.
Relax your spine.
Soften your face.
Notice all points of contact with the earth or a symbol for the earth,
Like your couch,
The floor,
Your bed,
Or chair.
Maybe draw an outline of your body as it is supported by the earth.
Do a quick scan of your body from head to toe and toe to head,
And notice if you're holding tension anywhere in your body.
Intentionally relax those parts of your body.
Take a big inhale through your nose,
Long open mouth exhale through puckered lips.
Do that again.
Inhale through your nose,
Exhale through puckered lips.
When you're empty,
Inhale through your nose once again.
Exhale fully through puckered lips.
And now bring awareness to your natural breath as it is.
No need to regulate it,
No need to manipulate it.
Just becoming aware of the breath as it moves in and out of your body.
Perhaps you notice your abdomen and chest rise and fall as you breathe in and out.
Or maybe you bring your attention to your nostrils and upper lip and feel the touch of your breath as you inhale and exhale.
We will be here for a few breaths.
You don't need to count.
I will do that for you.
If your mind wanders,
Which it will,
Gently bring it back to your natural breath.
Without judgment,
Without frustration,
Perhaps with a sense of humor,
Perhaps with kind talk,
As if redirecting a little child or a beloved puppy.
Okay.
Stay with your natural breath as it is.
We are not trying to be thoughtless,
Rather we are trying not to respond to thoughts or emotional states or mental states that arise.
Just a few more breaths here.
This breath work is part of our equanimity practice where we maintain a calm mind,
A calm perspective to whatever arises.
And now bring to mind an incident that made you upset in the recent past.
It could be in your relationships,
At work,
Or something that you became aware of in society at large.
And once you have that incident,
Observe where in your body you feel some stress in relation to this incident.
Every emotion we experience has a corresponding response in our physical body.
So locate that part of your body where you feel some stress in relation to this incident.
And just observe the sensations in this part of your body.
You don't have to go to the epicenter of the sensations,
But just stay on the outline,
On the periphery.
Notice the shape,
Notice the texture.
How would you describe the sensations in your body?
How would you describe this physiological experience of an emotional or mental state that is arising within you?
This is the practice of embodiment.
So we are experiencing physically through our bodies whatever is happening to us emotionally,
Psychologically.
And then we move to the step of mindfulness.
So ask yourself,
What am I feeling?
Name the feeling.
This is an experience of dash.
This is an experience of sadness,
Of grief,
Of hurt,
Of anger,
Of helplessness,
Or maybe something else.
So ask yourself maybe two or three times,
This is an experience of dash.
You can also include phrases like this hurts or ouch,
This is stressful.
And now we move to the next phase,
Which is reminding ourselves of common humanity,
That suffering is a part of life.
Such experiences are unfortunately a part of life.
Other people feel this way too.
I am not alone.
We all struggle in our lives,
Perhaps in different ways,
But we do.
I am not alone.
You can use any phrases here that are similar to what I have just said,
Or you can use one of the phrases that I used.
And as you do this,
You have the option of stacking your palms and putting them over your heart.
Feel the warmth of your hands and the gentle touch of your hands on your chest.
Or you can place your palms at some other point in your body where it feels comforting.
I like to massage my knees sometimes.
The next stage is self-compassion.
So perhaps say to yourself,
May I be kind to myself?
You can ask yourself,
What do I need to hear right now to express kindness to myself?
Is there a phrase that speaks to you in your particular situation?
Maybe,
May I give myself the compassion that I need?
May I learn to accept myself as I am?
May I forgive myself?
May I be strong?
May I be patient?
We will stay here for a few breaths,
Extending self-compassion,
Self-kindness to ourselves.
And our last and final stages,
Loving kindness for all.
We already established that suffering is part of the human experience and that we are not alone in this experience of suffering.
So like we extended compassion to ourselves,
We will close this practice by extending compassion to all.
You can start by including others who have a similar problem to yours.
So you can say,
May all people with strenuous family relationships find peace.
May all people with chronic health conditions find ease.
May all people with difficult financial situation or work stress find ease.
May all people struggling with self-deprecation find it within themselves to forgive themselves or whatever you extended for yourself,
Extend it to others who might be in the same situation.
There are 7 billion people on this planet.
We are never alone in what we are experiencing.
And finally,
We will extend loving kindness to all beings,
Human and non-human,
Known or unknown,
Born or yet to be born.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be freed of their pain and suffering.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings live with ease.
May all beings live in harmony with each other and the planet and its ecosystems.
May all the ecosystems of our planet be balanced.
May there be an abundance of resources and may those resources be shared equitably amongst all.
May our planet be an embodiment of divine love and grace.
May all beings share their merits with each other.
May all beings be liberated.
We will be here for a few breaths.
You can add your own phrases here.
Or simply stay here in this spot where loving kindness is overflowing through your being.
Stay with your natural breath.
Continue to bless the earth.
Dedicate the merit from today's practice to someone who needs it.
Maybe someone you know closely or someone that you're aware of in your extended circles.
You can even dedicate the merit to yourself.
And when you're ready,
You can rub your palms together and place them over your eyes.
Gently open your eyes into your palms.
Thank you for meditating with me and I hope that we will meditate together again soon.
