Okay,
So as we go into our loving kindness.
Metta meditation practice.
Take a moment and allow yourself to land.
I find in these practices,
It's like.
.
.
A series of landing again and again and again and again.
So land here.
Feel every point of contact to the ground.
And for right now,
Just keep your eyes open.
Maybe like a half gaze,
So eyes not darting around,
Just eyes soft on one spot.
In yoga we call that our drishti.
Just where your hands meet your body.
The drishti,
The gaze.
Is like.
.
.
20% outside of you.
These aren't hard fast numbers.
And 80% within.
And so allow your inner Drishti to settle too.
And as you're ready,
I invite you to close your eyes.
And bring to mind your mind's eye.
Somebody in your life.
Pet or a person.
Alive here on earth.
Maybe not here on earth.
That really.
.
.
Allows you to just feel love and give love.
And picture this person or pet in your mind's eye as clearly as you can.
Illuminated,
Surrounded by light.
And wish them well.
They're so easy to wish well.
You just.
Such a delight.
And wish them well.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
It's so easy to wish them that,
And so offer that to them.
As you're offering it to them.
Notice if you also feel it in your body.
Now shift your attention.
To yourself.
Can be helpful to place a hand on the heart.
If that's helpful,
Do it.
If not,
Don't do it.
And picture yourself as clearly as you can.
Maybe it's your.
Image you're familiar with in the mirror.
Maybe it's a photo of yourself that you're fond of.
And at whatever age you'd like.
Right now.
Maybe when you were 10,
Whatever age,
Picture yourself.
As clearly as you can.
Illuminated.
Surrounded by light.
And wish yourself well.
You deserve that.
This is your birthright.
May you be happy.
And so say it to yourself,
May I be happy.
Can say these phrases in your mind.
May I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
And just feel that.
Feel that as you're imagining yourself illuminated.
And now shift your attention to a neutral person.
Don't think too much about this.
And picture this neutral person in your mind's eye as clearly as you can.
Illuminated,
Surrounded by light.
And wish them well.
May you be happy and safe.
May you be healthy.
May you feel peace and ease in your life.
This is our birthright.
As sentient beings.
And so offer this to this person that you don't really know.
Now shift your attention.
To somebody in your life that can be challenging.
Just pick one person.
Maybe not number 10 on the challenge scale.
Picture them as clearly as you can in your mind's eye.
And allow them as difficult as they may be.
To be illuminated,
Surrounded by light.
And wish them well.
May you be happy.
You be healthy.
May you feel safe.
May you experience peace and ease.
Wish that to them.
Chances are.
If they felt that,
They wouldn't be so difficult.
And then just notice if this feels very challenging or just like too much of a obstacle to get there.
This is an indication that you.
.
.
Can offer yourself this love.
It's offering.
Maybe even yourself and the difficult person.
Happiness and safety.
The conditions for health and peace and ease.
Now shift your attention.
To all of the people in this room that you might know or just recognize.
Expand your awareness to the people in this building.
And outside of this building.
Expand your awareness to the people in this town.
In the state.
In this country.
Expand your awareness to all sentient beings that you know and that you don't yet know.
To this part of the world.
This northern hemisphere.
Imagine you're Awareness is just circling the globe.
All beings that you know and you don't yet know in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
Expand your awareness so much that it can go all the way up.
To the stars,
And then beyond,
Beyond,
Beyond of what you even know,
All beings.
Can you include them yourself in that?
May we all be happy.
May we all be safe.
May we all experience the conditions for health.
May we all feel peace and ease.
Now close the aperture of your attention right back swiftly,
Right back to your heart,
To you.
And offer yourself.
And compassion.
Know that you deserve this.
You,
More than anyone in the universe,
Deserve your love and compassion first and foremost.
And so offer that to yourself.
Let's see if you could just let that all go.
That's a lot of energy of the mind and come back to the grounding of the body.
But you're seeing.
Be.
Heavy in the earth.
Notice any areas of your body that feel contracted or that are talking to you and invite them to relax to the extent that they can.
And for the next three breaths.
Really ride your breath,
Your surfer riding the wave of your breath.
Right here.
Right now,
Feeling it.
As we exit out of this formal seated.
Loving kindness,
Metta meditation.
Take a moment.
And remember your intention.
Name it as clearly as you can.
And then breathe it in as you say it in your mind.
And the breath can be like a vehicle to all the cells in the body,
Like.
Everyone's getting the message.
All on board for this intention.
And on your exhale.
Can be like symbolically letting go of whatever might be blocking you from that.
It's usually just ourselves.
Feel that exhale.
Once you're ready,
Open your eyes.
And releasing out of this formal meditation.
And bringing this into the very next moment.
