Welcome to Breathe and Be Kind.
Your eyes can be open or closed.
If they're open,
See about looking down and just softening your focus and give yourself permission to be fully present for this practice.
Anything that came before and anything that's waiting for your attention afterward will still be there when you finish.
So you can just put it all onto the shelf for now.
And this gesture of setting aside those people,
Places,
And things that are pulling at your attention is your first act of kindness.
Let yourself be present.
Bring your attention to where your body is being supported from below.
It might be a cushion or a chair or a mat or whatever.
And just allow yourself to feel those points of contact and to surrender into the support of what's below you.
And now you can shift your awareness to the energy behind you.
Is there anything there supporting you or is it just air and maybe your clothes or a blanket?
Sense into the energy of your back body.
Sense into your inherent strength.
Bring your attention to the front of your body.
Where is the front of your body in space?
Is your heart open?
And then sense into the fundamental softness of your heart.
What is to the left of your body?
Observe with curiosity and maybe even an attitude of friendliness.
What is to the right of your body?
Witness without judgment.
And then you can go ahead and shift your awareness to the top of your head or whatever the highest point of your body is.
Sense the space above you and see about setting an intention to be open to receiving exactly what you need from this practice.
And keep your awareness at the points of contact between you and what is above you.
And let's take three deep breaths together.
Nose or mouth is fine,
Whatever feels best.
Exhale everything out.
Inhale deeply.
Exhale,
Release.
Inhale deeply.
Exhale,
Release.
Last one,
Breathe in.
And breathe out,
Let it go.
And then you can just let your attention drift to the space between your eyebrows and just inviting opening and softness there.
And you can soften the muscles around your eyes and let your jaw be soft.
You can just rest the tip of your tongue behind your top front two teeth,
Keeping the jaw soft.
Relax the insides of your ears.
And from here,
Just find your breath wherever it's easiest to feel it.
And this gentle scanning of the body in space is another gesture of kindness.
You are welcome to revisit this at any point in the practice.
Trust and listen to yourself.
So with the breath as your anchor,
Just notice if you find yourself following a thought path that takes your attention away from your breathing.
No matter the tone or texture of the thoughts or feelings,
Just simply label it all as thinking.
It's a nice neutral term.
And come back to the breath.
And this coming back to the breath is another opportunity to practice kindness.
You can see about the manner in which you come back to your breath.
Can you experiment with doing it with grace,
Love,
Friendliness,
And ease?
Can you let the noticing of your thoughts and the coming back to your breath with kindness be infinitely available?
Let's try it for a few minutes.
So just noticing your thinking,
Labeling it thinking,
Coming back to the breath with love,
Non-judgment,
Friendliness,
And curiosity.
And we're gonna go ahead and make a switch to a loving kindness practice.
Stay exactly as you are.
And just silently repeat each phrase that I say.
The first round will be for yourself.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be held in loving kindness.
May I experience the joy of being alive.
May I be safe.
And may I be free.
And now you can bring to mind someone who you really love or care about,
Someone who it's really easy to repeat these phrases for.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you experience the joy of being alive.
May you be safe and may you be free.
And then just see this beloved being,
Also called a benefactor,
Just sending those phrases right back to you.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you experience the joy of being alive.
May you be safe and may you be free.
And you can bring to mind someone you know who's going through a hard time,
Suffering in some way.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
And may you experience the joy of being alive.
May you be safe and may you be free.
And you can bring to mind a neutral person,
So it's someone you don't really know very well,
But maybe you see from time to time.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you experience the joy of being alive.
May you be safe and may you be free.
And you can bring to mind someone you know who's a challenge for you in some way.
If you're new to the practice,
I suggest you take a few minutes to do so.
I suggest picking someone who's just a little bit annoying versus if you want an extra challenge,
Pick someone that you have a really,
Really hard time with.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you experience the joy of being alive.
May you be safe and may you be free.
And then we'll just widen the circle to include yourself,
Your benefactor or loved one,
Someone you know who is suffering,
Your neutral person,
Someone you have a hard time with,
As well as everyone in your immediate physical proximity,
Everyone in your town or city,
Everyone in your country,
Everyone in your continent,
And all beings everywhere on the planet.
May all beings be filled with loving kindness.
May all beings be held in loving kindness.
May we all experience the joy of being alive.
May we all be safe.
May we all be free from suffering.
We'll just go ahead and finish our practice today by taking three nice,
Big,
Deep breaths together.
Once again,
Exhale everything out.
Take a nice,
Big,
Deep breath in.
Exhale,
Let it go.
Inhale deeply.
Exhale,
Release.
Last one,
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
You can just let your breath return to its natural pace.
Take a moment here to give thanks to yourself for showing up and experimenting with cultivating kindness for yourself and for others.
And when you feel ready,
You can just gently flutter your eyelids to come back to your space.
And thank you so much for joining me for this breathe and be kind practice.
Have a beautiful day.
