So for this meditation,
Let's see if we can adopt an internal and external posture that's characterized by caring,
By loving,
By being kind to ourselves and to others.
So kind of just notice what subtle changes might happen in your posture as you reflect on those qualities.
You might notice the muscles of your face softening,
Maybe the corners of your eyes or your lips slightly lifting,
A half smile.
Maybe noticing the kind of like the curve of a smile forming inside your body,
Around your heart.
Maybe you're noticing your chest opening a little bit more,
Shoulders softening.
If you want to experiment with it,
You can even place one of your hands over the heart at different times during this meditation.
Letting your own breathing be revealed to you right now as you're sitting here.
With this posture of loving kindness.
Maybe noticing the in-breath as a kind of a gift.
Receiving a gift.
Taking something in.
And the out-breath as giving,
As generosity.
Offering to someone else.
So offering and receiving as the body breathes out and breathes in.
And the out-breath as giving,
As generosity.
Offering to someone else.
And as we sit here.
As we sit here,
This body that's breathing.
I'll invite you now to call up the mind.
Somebody that you deeply,
Deeply care about.
And you know deeply cares about you.
It might be a spouse or a child,
Parent,
Friend.
It might be a pet.
It might be someone who's no longer alive.
Or someone you can only imagine.
The effort is seeing if we can picture this person as though they were in front of us right now.
Seeing if it's possible to communicate to that person that we deeply care about them.
So we might change our facial expression in such a way to communicate that we love that person.
We're there for that person.
We might touch that person with a lot of kindness.
If the hand's on the heart,
You can imagine that the hand is yours and the heart is theirs.
Maybe you want to communicate that love by something we say.
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
May you be free from suffering.
Finding your own words.
Honoring whatever shows up for you.
Knowing you can always come back to that person.
Knowing you can always come back to your own breathing.
Breathing with whatever shows up for you.
Maybe noticing what you're doing.
Maybe noticing what it's like to be that person.
Looking from that person's eyes out at you.
In some ways it's kind of like as though you were walking up to a mirror seeing yourself,
Seeing your reflection.
So imagining yourself now in front of you.
And in the same way that this person cares about us,
Seeing if we can offer ourselves loving kindness.
If I have smile or kind touch,
Kind words,
May I be happy and peaceful.
May I be free from suffering.
Again finding your own words,
Noticing and honoring whatever shows up for you.
Opening to this life that's here.
As you continue to find ways to send loving kindness wishes to yourself.
See now if we can release.
That image from our awareness.
And shift our attention to the people in this room.
And the people who are not in this room that are part of this group also.
Just like us,
These other people want to be happy,
Peaceful,
Be free from suffering.
So let's practice sending loving kindness to this whole group,
Either individually,
Person by person,
Imagining people's faces,
Or maybe just as a group,
As a whole.
Finding our own ways of doing so.
And maybe we want to keep including ourselves as part of this group.
Because we are.
May we be happy.
May we be peaceful.
Or at least find moments of peace.
May we be all free from suffering.
So radiating out this loving kindness to the people around us right now.
Noticing that other people are doing the same thing.
So in a really real way with this breathing we are receiving on an in-breath other people's loving kindness.
On an out-breath we are offering our own.
Taking the last part of this loving kindness meditation to broaden out the scope of this loving kindness to other people on this planet.
Other people in our lives,
Or people we don't know yet.
Maybe we'll never meet.
So choosing how wide we want to spread this loving kindness in our own hearts.
Maybe recognizing that every single living being wants to be happy,
Peaceful,
Be free from suffering.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Coming back to our breathing.
A very concrete and physical sense of receiving and offering.
Thank you.
Thank you.
