Hello and welcome,
My name is Katie Kalamalame and today we're going to practice a loving kindness meditation.
So take a few moments to find a comfortable position,
A position where you are stable and sturdy,
Yet at ease,
Adjusting your posture in any way so that you may be comfortably sitting for the next several minutes,
Inviting a few deep breaths into the body,
Coming into this present moment,
Into this body,
Sensing if each exhale you can settle a little deeper,
Each exhale a sense of groundedness,
And if there's anything you can do to make yourself even just five to ten percent more comfortable,
Please do so now,
Scanning the body and offering relaxation to any obvious areas of tension,
Allowing the exhale to guide you in this process,
Each exhale a releasing,
Each exhale a letting go,
Relaxing the tongue at the bottom of the mouth,
Any tension in your jaw relaxes,
And allow for there to be just a very slight upturn of the corners of your mouth,
Creating a subtle smile,
Within the mouth itself there's spaciousness,
Forehead relaxes,
And all those little muscles around your eyes relax.
Notice the parts of you that are touching the ground,
The thighs,
Ankles,
Feet,
Tuning into the sensations of your body,
Contacting the surface beneath you,
And allowing the lower part of the body to feel heavy,
Grounded,
Rooted,
And from this solid base,
The spine flows up from the pelvis with a sense of lightness and ease.
The back of the neck is long,
The tops of the ears reach up towards the sky,
While the shoulders relax down,
The arms gently hang from the shoulder sockets,
Hands resting comfortably in the lap or the thighs,
Or by your sides.
Now,
Gather your awareness into your breath,
And begin to feel the breath at the heart,
As if the breath is flowing in and out of the heart itself,
The heart breathing.
Each inhale,
The chest expands outward in all directions,
Spaciousness within the heart.
With each exhale,
There's a softening of the chest,
A letting go.
And since if you can begin to listen a bit deeper to your heart,
Setting an intention to open your heart to your own being,
To free your heart,
As we practice together today,
Let's begin by envisioning someone who you love deeply.
Someone where there's no complicated feelings,
Imagining that they're here with you now,
See their face,
Their smile,
Sense how you feel when you're with them,
See their eyes looking into yours.
You can let these words wash over you both,
Or you can whisper them silently to yourself,
Your loved one and you here together,
Smiling,
Hearts connected.
May we be filled with loving kindness.
May we be well in body and mind.
May we be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May we be happy,
Truly happy and free.
Noticing if these phrases have brought up any sensations within the body.
Just observing without judgment,
Staying in the heart space,
Bowing towards this loved one and letting them go.
Shifting the attention now to yourself,
Awareness of this body breathing,
This heart breathing,
Inhaling your spaciousness within the chest,
Exhale,
There's a softening.
Feeling yourself sitting here.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be well in body and mind.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May I be happy,
Truly happy and free.
Noticing any sensations in the body that this has evoked,
Or any emotions it may have brought to the surface.
Simply observing,
Staying in the heart.
Now imagine that you and I and all others who have listened to this meditation are all together in the same room.
Sensing the hearts of our fellow practitioners together in the same physical space.
May we be filled with loving kindness.
May we be well in body and mind.
May we be safe from inner or outer dangers.
May we be happy,
Truly happy and free.
Allow a gentle smile to come upon the face.
Silently bowing to your fellow meditators.
Now extending the love from this space and this community.
Imagine the love from your heart extending out past your neighborhood,
Your city.
Allowing now the love to extend to the entire country.
The love to extend to the ends of the earth.
Imagining the entire earth sitting right here in your lap,
Your arms gently wrapped around it.
Imagine every creature and being and human,
Those that we perceive as good and those we perceive as bad.
May all beings be filled with loving kindness.
May all beings be well in body and mind.
May all beings be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May all beings be happy,
Truly happy and free.
Spending a few moments now,
Keeping with that breath within the heart space.
Sensing into the heart expanding,
Spacious on each inhale.
And a softening and a letting go on each exhale.
Letting go of any technique now.
Just resting and observing this spacious awareness that we've created together.
Whenever you're ready,
Invite some deeper breaths into the body as an invitation to come back into our everyday alert way of being.
From here it may feel good to stretch your arms up towards the sky as we invite deeper breaths in.
Finding a gentle stretch in any way that feels good to you.
May we carry this sense of a spacious heart with us throughout the rest of our day.
Namaste.
