Welcome to your loving-kindness meditation practice to learn to love yourself a little bit deeper while you are in recovery.
Start off by just making sure you're somewhere comfortable either sitting up with your back supported or you can lay down which is what I prefer.
So just make sure you have your hands at your side,
Your body is relaxed and nothing is tense or tight.
We're going to start by just observing our breath,
Just taking a few moments to focus in on our breathing and try not to overthink it.
Just focus in on the oxygen filling up in your lungs,
Holding it for a couple seconds and then letting it go.
Now we are going to practice deeper breaths specifically through our hearts and I know it's not actually possible to breathe through your heart but the heart is the center of our truth so if we can focus on our hearts and take some deep breaths through our hearts we can activate truth in our lives and in our minds.
So let's take a few moments to try and breathe in and out through your heart.
It might help if you place your hand a little bit to the left on your chest where your heart is,
Just take some deep breaths for about five seconds,
Hold it at the top and let it go and try and focus on your heart now.
If you find your mind wandering don't worry just congratulate yourself on catching your thoughts that are drifting and recenter them back to your breath and your heart.
Now we are going to think of somebody that you love so much.
We're gonna think of somebody that is in our lives,
A family member,
A friend,
A teacher,
Anyone in your life who you love and respect so much unconditionally.
Think of that person now and just consider them while you take some deep breaths.
Now imagine this person's face,
Imagine their face in your mind and in your heart and imagine extending love to them right now,
Thinking of them,
Imagine them receiving the love that you are giving to them,
Their smiling face,
Their appreciative manners and just imagine them receiving the love and extending the love to them and you can literally imagine love just beaming out from your limbs,
From your heart and just thinking of them at this time.
Now think of a place that you love.
This can be nature,
Somebody's house,
In the company of maybe that person that you thought about,
It can be your own home,
It can be anywhere that you feel very at peace.
Just think of this place and put yourself there right now.
A place where you have a good memory or a place that you love to go to often,
Maybe it's even somewhere you've never been.
Just think of this place that is so special to you and that you love.
Now just extend this love to the world,
To the place that you love,
To the outside world in which we get to live in that's just been crafted for us.
Think of this and extend love to this place.
Now it's time to internalize this love that we've extended to the person that we thought of and the place that we thought of.
You are the most important person in your own reality and relearning to love yourself like you did when you were just a baby,
When you didn't even know that loving yourself was a thing,
Can be a really long journey but you have taken a massive first step by practicing this meditation and taking on the responsibility of learning to love yourself again so that you can better love and serve the world around you.
So take a few moments and breathe through your heart and just show gratitude for yourself for taking the time to practice this meditation and learning to love yourself.
Now we get to do the work of extending the love into ourselves so let's consider the love and respect you have for the loved one you thought of a few moments ago and physically imagine expanding your heart and duplicating that love and respect for yourself because you deserve it.
What is one thing that you love about yourself?
This can be anything.
Are you a good friend?
What positive values do you practice?
Is there a physical attribute you love about yourself?
Are you creative,
Intelligent,
Emotionally connected?
It can be anything.
Thinking of this one thing that we love about ourselves,
It can be a word,
It can be a sentence.
Just breathe and sit with that and imagine that thing in your heart even if that thing that you think of is barely there even if you can't really think of something that you truly love about yourself even if it's a fraction of something it's where all begins in the heart and it can grow from there.
It's like a plant that you have to water and it has to start somewhere so plant that gratitude and love for yourself in your heart now.
For just a few moments we are going to just say the word love in our minds and breathe now with the word love in mind through our hearts so we can take a deep heart centered inhale and think of the word love and then when we exhale from our hearts we can also think of the word love.
Just do this for a few moments just to fill up your entire body with love and gratitude for yourself right now.
As we close this meditation I want to say that you are fully loved and capable of loving yourself.
This is a journey it will in turn allow you to love not only your body and your mind and your soul but it will also allow you to better love the world that you live in and the people in it as well.
So as we close this meditation I just would like you to slowly open your eyes and get connected back into the space that you are.
You can look at something that maybe you've never noticed in your room or in the place you're at just looking at that thing for a little bit and just imagining how it must feel,
The color it is,
Maybe take some movement to your fingers and your limbs and your toes and take a deep stretch.
That is going to be the end of the meditation practice.
Take this gratitude that you feel in your mind in your body in your heart and just let it sink into every part of your body in your mind and stay with you throughout the rest of your day.
