Offering Loving-Kindness to Others and to Oneself [MBSR All-Day]

In this meditation, Dr. Julien Lacaille guides a loving-kindness meditation towards self and others, as part of an MBSR all-day silent retreat. This meditation may help you cultivate more wellbeing in your daily life.

Transcript

So,

Let's begin by finding our breath.

And for this meditation,

I'm going to invite you to place one of your hands on either your chest or your abdomen.

And for now,

You can just kind of delicately place your attention at the contact point between your hand and your body.

And just noticing what sensations are there.

It might be movement.

It might be pressure.

It might be warmth.

And I'll invite you for this whole meditation to just see if you can keep some of your awareness at your hand,

The contact point.

And for this first part now,

I'd like you to think of someone who you really care about.

It can be a member of your family.

It can be a friend.

It can even be a pet.

It can be someone who's alive or someone who's no longer alive.

But someone who you deeply care about and someone who you know cares about you also.

And imagine this person as though they were just right in front of you.

And we'll practice sending well wishes to this person.

And that can be done in many ways.

So it could be nonverbal.

It could be a simple smile.

So you can either actually put a smile on your face now or imagine yourself smiling,

A half smile perhaps.

As though you're communicating to the person,

I'm there for you.

I care about you.

Another way would be through touch.

So perhaps imagining that this hand that's touching your chest or your belly right now is your hand and the body is their body.

And maybe noticing the warmth at the hand.

A kind and compassionate touch.

And you can also send these well wishes through words.

And I'm going to invite you to come up with your own way of sending these well wishes to that person.

But for example,

It can be may you be happy.

May you be peaceful.

May you be strong and healthy.

Or it can be I'm there for you.

I care about you.

I love you.

Just finding your own way of sending these well wishes to that person in front of you.

And as you do so,

See what happens inside of you.

And I'm going to invite you to come up with your own way of sending these well wishes to that person.

Seeing if you can be aware of your whole body.

And what's happening in your mind as you wish well to this person.

And on the next out-breath,

I'll invite you to let that person kind of recede to the background of your awareness and this time pick someone different.

And I'll invite you to pick now someone who's neutral.

Someone that you see frequently maybe,

But that you don't know very well.

Someone you don't have positive or negative feelings about.

It could be a cashier,

Bus driver,

Neighbor,

A colleague you don't know very well.

See if you can just pick that person or one person now imagining them as though they were right in front of you.

And just practicing what it would be like to send well wishes,

Unconditional well wishes to that person.

So smiling at them,

Imagining touching them,

Imagining speaking to them.

What would we say?

May you be happy.

May you be strong and healthy.

May you live with ease.

May you be free and free from suffering.

What else would we say to that person?

And what shows up as we do this?

And on the next out of breath we'll let that person recede to the background.

And this time I'm going to invite you to call up someone who you have some difficult relationship with.

Not picking the 9 out of 10 difficulty,

But maybe like the 3 or 4 out of 10.

Someone who maybe was mean to you or mean to someone you care about.

Maybe someone for whom we wouldn't kind of spontaneously wish well to.

And then imagining this person that we pick standing in front of us.

And then practicing in our own way wishing well to this person.

Which doesn't mean letting the person take advantage of us,

But it means recognizing the humanity of the other person.

There is someone who's a human like me who wants to be happy in his or her own way.

Maybe someone who's suffering.

How would I wish well to that person?

Just like me you want to be happy.

Just like me you want to be peaceful.

Just like me you want to be free from suffering.

So may you have those things.

Just like me you want to feel safe and protected.

Just like me you want to be touched in a caring and appropriate way.

You want to belong.

So may you have those things.

And as we wish well to this person just seeing what shows up in us.

Seeing if we can just let whatever shows up in us be there even if it's resistance.

Trying to treat each guest honorably,

Each experience honorably.

Just out-breath letting that person receive to the background.

And this time imagining another person.

This time yourself.

In front of you as though you were looking in a mirror.

Is it possible to send ourselves well wishes?

Maybe noticing that the hand and the body are our own.

Maybe noticing the touch and the warmth at the hand.

Maybe letting that warmth kind of spread through the different parts of the body.

Imagining the curve of a smile forming around the chest area.

Perhaps even forming on her face.

The corners of the eyes lifting.

The corners of the lips lifting up in an authentic way.

What would we say to ourselves to wish ourselves well?

Recognizing our common humanity.

We want to be well and happy and free from suffering like any other human.

And can we offer ourselves that?

May I be happy.

May I be peaceful.

May I be free and free from suffering.

Just finding your own way of wishing yourself well and just sitting with that for now.

That's showing up.

And finally we can broaden and expand these well wishes to other people maybe in this room.

Just going through the exercise of imagining every single person in this room and just in a way or two to send them well wishes.

Imagining their common humanity.

And perhaps expanding even more to include other people in their life or not.

Perhaps people that live far away,

Different countries.

Imagining their humanity.

So just sitting here with this intention of being kind and compassionate towards ourselves and other people.

Coming back to our hand in contact with the body from time to time.

And just dwelling in this state of being.

OK.

Reviews

Thank you, Julien! Such a great lead for this loving kindness meditation. It’s just what I needed this morning. Perfect beginning to the day. Wishing you peace of mind, a loving heart, and a knowing that you are a divine being. 🦋❣️🦋❣️🦋

Thank you. Bringing in touch and allowing us to choose our own phrases made such a difference. Thank you for your soothing gentle presence.

Gentle and reassuring loving kindness practice

So practical, gentle and kind in its presentation. Just the right amount of explanation to make this accessible. A demystified presentation of this type of meditation. Thank you! ❤️

The message is liberating, the content is simple but the effect profound,
Perhaps
Because it comes from the lived experience?
The voice is the embodiment of the message!

A little different, I really enjoyed it

Gentle, straightforward and effective. Thank you! 🌼

In this exercise I smiled at the thoughts of ny daughter's and how they bring me so much laughter and joy. I forgave myself and their father and I called out to my daddy over and over and forgave him for not showing up for me in life.

I am at peace after this meditation, even through relationship problems. Thank you

Love it, thank you 🙏 ✨💫🌞