Hello and welcome to your meditation practice today.
My name is Lauren Lee and I will be your friendly guide.
And today we will be practicing a love meditation.
This is a beautiful meditation practice from Thich Nhat Hanh.
Today I invite you to begin to cultivate the seeds of joy,
Happiness and compassion in your life.
While we're able to love and take care of ourselves,
We cannot be much help to others.
It's a beautiful quote from a Plum Village monk by the name of Sister True Dedication.
So wherever you are,
Go ahead and find a comfortable place to sit or rest your body.
Know that you have full agency over your body and you're welcome to support it as you see fit.
Comfort is your priority.
You want to make sure you're in a place where you're not going to be distracted for the next 10 minutes.
As you adjust and settle into your space,
Maybe it feels good to gently rest your hands in your lap or at your side,
Or begin to take a few deep centering breaths in through the nose and centering breaths out through the nose.
If closing your eyes are in your practice,
Go ahead and invite you to begin to do that now.
If you prefer to have your eyes open,
You're welcome to do so and have a soft gaze a few feet in front of you.
In this moment,
I invite you to begin to connect to your breath.
Beginning just to notice the sensations of the breath moving in through the nose and out.
Beginning to connect to the rhythmic nature of your breath.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Without forcing and being gentle and easy on yourself.
Managing the transition you're making from whatever you were doing before to being right here into the present moment connected to your breath.
Breathing in and gently breathing out.
And as the mind wanders,
We just gently ask it to come back to the present moment,
Strengthening our ability to just return to come back.
Breathing in and gently breathing out.
And here if it feels good for you,
You can begin to just take a gentle scan of the body,
Starting at the crown of your head and relaxing any areas you may feel any tension or stress,
Maybe between the eyebrows or the jaw.
And as you scan the body,
Maybe you can reside a little bit longer in the heart space.
Maybe you can soften your heart right here in this moment.
And now we will begin the love meditation.
And I'll be offering a few gentle phrases for you.
Feel free to repeat the phrases internally or allow yourself to explore what those phrases bring up for you.
Knowing that we always have the invitation to observe and let go and begin again.
May I be peaceful,
Happy,
And light in body and spirit.
May I be safe and free from injury.
May I be free from anger,
Fear,
And anxiety.
May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.
May I be peaceful,
Happy,
And light in body and spirit.
May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in myself.
May I learn to identify and see the sources of my pain.
May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in myself every day.
May I be able to live fresh,
Solid,
And free.
Go ahead and begin to connect to your breath again.
Just seeing the breath as a good friend that maybe you haven't seen in a while.
Maybe it feels good to wiggle the fingers or wiggle the toes.
Maybe bring a gentle smile to your face.
Allowing yourself this space to plant the seeds,
To nurture them,
The seeds of happiness,
Joy,
Compassion.
Thank you so much for allowing me to guide you in a meditation practice today.
Thank you for practicing.
And I'll see you on the next episode of Calm Point.
