This is a 15-minute meditation on metta or loving-kindness.
In this meditation,
We extend our intention with a mantra of,
May I be at ease.
And starting with ourselves,
We eventually will connect to others.
So begin to say to yourself internally,
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
The key is to follow the phrase and to allow whatever arises to arise.
And stay with the intention and the simple loving-kind gesture that the intention is suggesting.
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
As with all meditation practice,
See that you've relaxed any tension in the body.
Allow the ground to support you and continue with the mantra,
And may I be at ease.
So you may notice there's certain pacing,
A natural rhythm at which you might repeat the phrase,
Just noticing what works for you.
Also noticing if any associated imagery arises.
You may be directing that at your physical body in the space of your heart,
Or you may see yourself as an image.
Whatever the case,
Continuing the phrase,
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
Thank you.
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And we're five minutes into the meditation,
Checking in with any tension in the body and releasing gently.
And now we're going to extend the mantra to others.
Continue to repeat the phrase,
May you be at ease.
And see who it is in your life that arises in your mind's eye.
May you be at ease.
As we move from focusing on the self for this loving kindness,
And extending it to what seems to be other selves.
May you be at ease.
Allow whoever to arise in your mind's eye.
You may want to scroll through and index through family and friends,
But you can also simply continue to repeat,
May you be at ease.
And let that connect to whomever.
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And now extending that meta to all sentient life on the planet,
Animals,
And the plants,
And even the planet itself.
May all sentience be at ease.
May all beingness on the earth be at ease.
And we reached five minutes remaining and continuing to extend this to the whole of the planet.
May you be at ease.
May you be at ease.
May you be at ease.
We will in reverse go back in from the scale of the planet in all sentience and go back through larger groups to friends and family and acquaintances until we arrive back at extending this loving kindness to our individuated self.
Again,
Connecting to yourself in a way that works for you.
It may be in the space of the physical heart.
It may be seeing an image of the whole body.
But extend to yourself,
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
And notice the rhythm of the mantra.
Notice the tone.
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
May I be at ease.
Again seeing that your body is at ease,
Relaxing any tension.
May I be at ease.
And as we come to the conclusion of this practice,
Applying some gratitude and appreciation.
I am grateful for and appreciate the opportunity to be expressing this loving kindness to myself and others.
I now express my gratitude for this practice and my sense of appreciation.
Allow that praise of loving kindness and the reflection of gratitude.
Fill up your being,
Fill up your body,
Fill up your mind.
And here we conclude the metta practice.
