Hello and welcome to today's practice for loving kindness and compassion.
If you haven't already,
Find a comfortable position,
Either sitting upright with a straight spine or lying down on your back if that feels more supportive to you right now.
Allow your eyes to gently close and rest your hands wherever feels good,
Maybe with the palms facing down somewhere on your body if you want a little extra grounding and support.
Just start to allow yourself to arrive here,
Letting anything from the day or week thus far go.
Anything you may have to do after this practice also go.
You can even tell your mind it doesn't have to solve any problems right now.
Let's take three deep inhales and slow exhales together.
Empty any air out,
And big slow breath in,
Really filling the belly with air.
And then through the mouth,
Slowly exhale.
Again,
Long deep inhale,
Imagining oxygen moving into every inch and cell of the body.
And then let it out,
Maybe with a sigh.
Last one,
Deep breath in,
And exhale,
Maybe letting something go.
Beautiful.
You can let your breath fall back into its natural rhythm,
And for the next minute just follow the cycle of the breath,
Allowing every inhale to bring you deeper into this present moment,
And every exhale to soften and relax the mind and body even more.
Beautiful.
Now think of someone that you love,
Someone who you love easily and naturally,
Rather than someone for whom you feel a complicated love.
This could be a person or a pet,
Anyone that you love.
And then while holding them in mind,
Focus on the area around your heart.
You can even put your hand over your heart if that feels good.
And then start to breathe in and out through your heart.
Take several deep breaths into your heart space,
And see if you can feel your heart breathing.
Now turn your attention to feelings of gratitude and love for the person that you chose,
Maybe noting the impact they've had on your life,
Or qualities you love about them,
Like their laugh or kindness.
Now feeling that love,
Send loving kindness and compassion to yourself.
Imagine that there's a warm glow of love and compassion coming from your heart,
And start moving it outward throughout your body.
You can feel it,
Visualize it,
Or just hold the intention that it's taking place.
Letting this love from your heart expand to the entire body.
Now repeat after me,
Either out loud or in your head.
May I be happy.
May I be well.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
Now we're going to send loving kindness and compassion to family and friends.
Start by imagining friends and family as vividly as you can,
And then imagine that the warm glow of love and compassion from your heart starts moving into theirs.
Again,
Either visualizing this love from your heart to theirs,
Or just holding that intention,
Knowing that you have an infinite supply.
And now repeat after me.
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be safe.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
Now expand this circle by sending loving kindness and compassion to neighbors,
Strangers,
Animals,
And even people with whom you have difficulty.
Keep breathing through the heart,
Sending that infinite love out.
And then expand further,
Imagine all of planet Earth,
And send loving kindness and compassion to all living beings,
No exceptions,
And the rest of planet Earth.
And now repeat after me.
May they be happy.
May they be well.
May they be safe.
May they be peaceful and at ease.
And take a moment to just sit in this loving kindness,
Trusting that your love and kindness is healing to yourself,
Others,
And the world at large.
Beautiful.
Go ahead and take a deep breath in,
Breathing in love,
And exhale,
Breathing love out.
And start to gently come back to the present moment.
And whenever you feel ready,
Taking as much time as you'd like,
You can slowly and gently open your eyes,
Taking this love with you.
