Compassion Meditation

Learn to spread loving kindness and compassion through meditation.

Transcript

Compassion Meditation.

Compassion,

By definition,

Is the desire in one to help another who is in pain or suffering.

Another way to think of compassion is simply empathy plus love.

Studies show that practicing compassion meditation,

The technique you're about to experience,

Reduces mind wandering and increases empathy in the brain.

Let's begin.

Find a comfortable position either on a chair or on the ground.

The key to finding a comfortable position is to minimize the amount of movement you'll have to make during the session.

Then when you're ready,

Close your eyes.

Begin to pay attention to your breath as you inhale through your nostrils and exhale through your nostrils as well.

As we begin this session,

Just allow for these first few breaths to help you drop in to this moment,

Into this session intentionally.

You can practice that by taking a moment to just set aside all of the things that happened that led up to this event,

Your day that has already happened,

Maybe the previous days,

The past weekend.

And as you breathe,

As you inhale,

Allow for the past to be intentionally separate from this moment.

Similarly,

Take a moment to intentionally set aside your future the rest of your day,

The next few upcoming days,

The upcoming weekend.

The practice of intentionally setting aside your past and future helps you slow down,

Helps you be here in this moment fully.

When you're ready,

Pay attention to your nostrils and your breath and the path that it takes.

So as you inhale,

Beginning with your attention at your nostrils,

Focus on the air as it travels down through your throat,

Filling your lungs and expanding your belly.

And then similarly,

Noticing the exhale as your belly deflates,

Your lungs contract,

And your breath departs your body through the same place that it entered,

The nostrils.

Perhaps you might even notice the temperature of your inhale is slightly cooler than the temperature of your exhale.

Simply observe,

Setting aside any natural desire to judge or analyze what you're doing in this moment.

And just breathe.

Inevitably,

Thoughts will arise throughout this practice and really throughout your day.

You can use a three-step process to bring your attention back to the practice and back to your breath.

And that process is notice,

Shift,

Rewire.

The first step,

Notice,

Simply involves the very act of being aware enough to notice when your mind has wandered.

And the second step involves just simply bringing your attention back to your breath.

Specifically,

Bring your attention back to the little space underneath your nostrils right above your upper lip.

The third step,

Rewire,

Involves allowing for the change that you just created by shifting back to your breath to settle in.

Just notice in this rewire stage how it feels to have gone from a mind-wandering state of mind to a focused,

Attentive state of mind.

Notice,

Shift,

Rewire is available to you at any time throughout the session.

We will practice compassion through four very simple wishes that we will direct to different people in our life,

Starting with ourself.

The four wishes are as follows.

May I be well,

May I be happy,

May I be peaceful,

May I be at ease.

Each wish will synchronize with one breath.

So on your next breath,

Directing compassion inward,

Allow for your breath to mentally speak.

May I be well.

Really feel with those words.

Breathe in your body physically and on your next breath,

Synchronize.

May I be happy.

Really feeling those words in your body.

And on your next breath,

May I be peaceful.

And finally,

May I be at ease.

Notice any natural resistance.

Sometimes the mind resists receiving self-compassion.

If that's the case for you,

Try not to judge or analyze that,

But continue to send those wishes of compassion inward until you no longer feel or hear thoughts of resistance.

Staying present with the breath and synchronized with the breath.

And when you're ready,

Take a moment now to think of a person in your life whom you care for deeply.

Who might be going through some type of stress or pain or sadness,

Just hard times.

And we'll send the same wishes to them.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be peaceful and at ease,

Synchronizing each of those wishes with one breath first.

As you inhale,

May you be well.

Again,

Feeling,

Noticing how your body feels.

Just send wishes of love and compassion to this person.

And your next breath,

May you be happy.

And third,

May you be peaceful,

Seeing a person in your mind's eye receiving these wishes,

But staying present with your breath.

And lastly,

May you be at ease.

Compassion can transcend cultures,

Geographies,

And reach every being.

Bringing your attention back to your nostrils,

Back to your breath.

Taking a moment now to just reflect how you feel.

Again,

Not judging or analyzing,

But simply noticing to conclude the practice.

Take a moment first to pay some gratitude to yourself for taking time out of your day to practice compassion.

Shifting now to just take a moment to appreciate this technique.

The technique of expressing compassion,

Sharing compassion.

Now taking a few more intentional,

Deeper breaths.

Slowly reawakening your body and some muscles that might have relaxed throughout this session.

Bringing just a little bit of movement into your fingers and toes.

And before you close the session,

Take a moment to just revisit the intention of being compassionate.

And begin now to slowly open your eyes,

Rejoining the room in which you are with a more renewed sense of compassion.

Thank you.

Reviews

May I be well, happy, peaceful and at ease. Ty.

wonderful. makes you feel good

Love the idea of spreading compassion to others in the meditation! Thank you so much!

Lovely thank you

Very good. Very genuine feeling.

Very peaceful. Enough guidance to keep me on track without being intrusive. Thank you!

Amazing Silence.. I enjoy the fact that there is no background noise. Namaste

Just what I needed for myself and a couple who are experiencing a devastating loss.

Great! Love the voice and the intention. Wish it was longer and explored more of whom to send compassione to

Excellent!!! Thank you

Nice short meditation with good clear instructions and spoken in a normal voice and without reverb.

Love the instruction to follow the path of the breath through the body. Thank you!

This was the perfect meditation for me . I multi task and need control and my loved one is watching a loved one pass. It grounds me to help be there for him. Thank you.

Simple and powerful.