Lovingkindness Practice

The practice of lovingkindness invites us to meet ourselves and others with wisdom, love, care, and compassion. When we cultivate the landscape of the heart through this practice we can deepen our capacity for self-acceptance, kindness, forgiveness, and healing. These are the innate capacities of the heart, waiting to be revealed if we take the time to explore them.

Transcript

Loving kindness meditation take some time with yourself in a quiet space where you will not be disturbed allow yourself to come into a comfortable sitting position with your spine straight your shoulders relaxed your chin slightly pulled in and now allow your eyes to close let this be a time for you to nourish yourself with awareness bringing your attention to the feelings of the body, Accepting it just the way it is with kindness see if you can allow yourself to accept all the feelings and the sensations of the body completely bringing your attention now to the feeling of the rhythm of your breath as it enters and leaves your body perhaps you can hold a sense of appreciation for each breath that you can feel if you like breathing in with a sense of trust and well-being and breathing out letting tension or tightness dissolve not thinking about the breath but actually feeling the breath as it moves in and out of your body and now see if you can locate the breath more closely in the region of your chest notice the subtle expansion of the chest on the in-breath and the deflation on the out-breath notice any qualities of the breath in this part of your body is the breath light or deep heavy or slow can you allow the breath to be as it is as you notice and now notice any qualities of the sensations in the region of your chest tightness or softness heaviness or lightness giving yourself the time and the space to just notice and now see if you can locate your own heart in this part of your body in some traditions the heart center is known as the seat of the soul you might like to rest your awareness in the area of your heart or even place your hands on this part of your body left hand on the chest right hand on top of left holding your own heart with awareness see if you can become aware of the qualities of the heart that many traditions see as innate compassion care patience kindness the human heart can be boundless in its capacity to forgive trust and let go we are taking time in this practice to explore these qualities of the heart there's nothing here that you have to contrive or force it's more about giving yourself the space to know your own heart and to explore its capacity for loving kindness without judging what you notice so see now if you can feel any sense of that capacity in your own heart just noticing any stories that come up in the mind around the capacity of your heart it's useful to remember that even the smallest gestures patience with a loved one a kind word and empathetic thoughts are examples of that capacity so staying connected to that warmth and that kindness of your own heart see if you can begin to extend the kindness of your heart to embrace the entirety of your being sitting and breathing acknowledging yourself with your own heart sending feelings of warmth and kindness throughout your being allowing your heart to send that kindness to every cell of your body like a mother rocking and cradling her own child rocking and cradling yourself with gentle awareness you just like a benevolent mother forgiving your past and trusting your future if you like while you sit here you can send yourself a blessing or a prayer or just some words of kindness if you like you can use these words for yourself may I be safe may I be at peace may I be happy may I take care of myself joyfully and allow your entire being to absorb those words and now holding in your mind's eye those who you are close to in your life if you like you can just choose one person a friend a partner a loved one a child somebody here or somebody past wishing them well and sending from the center of your own heart a blessing if you like you can imagine them surrounding you sending warmth to you and you sending that warmth back to them using the words may you be safe may you be at peace may you be happy may you take care of yourself joyfully and now holding in your awareness the image of somebody who is more neutral to you somebody who perhaps you see but you do not know very well taking time now to acknowledge them with your heart for their essence their ambitions hopes fears dreams wishing them well and sending them the blessing may you be safe may you be at peace may you be happy may you take care of yourself joyfully if you like now bringing into your awareness the image of someone with whom you are perhaps battling with or with whom you may have had a struggle in the past the human heart has a capacity to forgive and let go this is not about condoning the action it is more about being able to see things from the perspective of the heart that all beings wish to be free from suffering and that harboring pain or anger is in itself suffering for your own heart so in whatever way works for you holding that person in your mind's eye and sending that blessing from your being to that individual may you be safe may you be at peace may you be happy may you take care of yourself joyfully now becoming aware of the capacity to hold in your heart all the people in your own city this might be a faint feeling but see if you can allow yourself to bring the people in your city into your awareness and now seeing if you can expand that capacity to embrace all the inhabitants of the country you live in with their hopes and dreams histories and fears and the essential nature within all of them that wants to be free of suffering and with that gesture of the heart taking time to wish them well with the blessing may you be safe may you be at peace may you be happy may you take care of yourself joyfully now expanding the capacity of your heart to care even further see if you can embrace the entirety of this globe in your awareness with its billions of inhabitants and millions of species creatures in the sea on the land and in the air if you like you can imagine this planet as seen from space a precious and beautiful globe extend this blessing to all who inhabit this planet creatures great and small to the beauty of this planet itself embracing it with your heart with warmth and light sending the blessing may we be safe may we be at peace may we be happy may we take care of ourselves joyfully turning your attention to that sense of peace and light and whichever way works for you allow it to expand as wide as it can go without limit let the sense of me and the sense of the world dissolve in the stillness of the present see if you can sense a boundless capacity to care without boundaries now turning your attention back to yourself notice the screen of your mind and the place where images arise let it be quite empty or full allow the screen of your mind to be illuminated by the soft light of caring taking time now to feel the breath in the region of the chest once again aware perhaps of the capacities of the heart that you've been exploring warm gentle letting go patient kind not judging anything that has come up for you in this meditation but rather acknowledging yourself for having taken the time spent with yourself in this way take as long as you need to sit here and when you are ready slowly opening your eyes taking with you through the day the capacity of that heart

Reviews

Thank you Linda. Cultivating the natural capacity of our hearts …..