Welcome to today's loving kindness meditation.
My name is Ling Jin.
Thank you for joining me to cultivate love and kindness within us as well as in the world around us.
Gently take a few moments to settle in and allow yourself to come to a comfortable seated position.
When you are ready,
Start to slowly soften the gaze or if you prefer,
Close your eyes.
Together with it,
Start to shift the awareness and attention from the outside physical world to the inner world.
Bring the awareness to the base of the spine.
Feel the connection with Mother Earth and with each exhale,
Allow yourself to relax a little deeper into the support it brings.
On the next inhale,
Allow the spine to grow tall and straight from the base.
Feel the energy shooting up from the base,
Through the spine and all the way to the crown of the head.
Gently roll back the shoulders,
Relax the muscles around the jaws,
The cheeks and the eyes.
Imagine there is a string attached to the crown of the head,
Gently lifting you up towards the sky,
Allowing you to be able to rest in the upward seated position more easily and effortlessly.
Inhale,
Feel the lightness,
Growth and space.
And exhale,
Feel the heaviness,
Grounding and connection.
Feel the unity between the seemingly opposite forces and directions with each inhale and exhale.
Take a deep inhale,
Feel the expansion of the belly,
Lower ribs,
Upper chest and exhale,
Feel the contraction of the upper chest,
Lower ribs and belly.
Take another deep inhale,
Feel the rise of the belly,
Lower ribs and upper chest.
Exhale,
Feel the fall of the upper chest,
Lower ribs and belly as you draw the navel in towards the spine.
Take one more inhale,
Feel the body with air and light.
Exhale,
Let go of any tension and stress you might be carrying with you.
Option to rest your hands where they are right now or option to press the palms lightly against the heart center.
Slowly bring your awareness to your chest,
To your heart as you continue to breathe.
Notice how it feels like to breathe into your chest,
To breathe into your heart.
Now slowly bring the image of yourself to the third eye between the eyebrows.
It might be a vivid picture of yourself or it might be a vague image of yourself when you were a child or a baby.
Or it might be some abstract patterns,
Colors or energy field.
Whatever comes to you,
Whatever resonates with you,
Observe what you see,
What you feel.
There is no need to comment or change anything,
Simply observe whatever that arises within you.
Bring a smile to your face as you look at yourself who is smiling at you.
Take a deep inhale into the chest,
Into the heart and silently repeat this phrase in your mind and in your heart.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be love.
May I be at peace.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be love.
May I be at peace.
Continue to breathe into the heart,
Into the chest.
Continue to repeat these words and notice any subtle changes that occur.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be love.
May I be at peace.
Now bring your awareness to a person you love dearly,
Notice who comes to your mind.
Hold that image to your mind's eye between the eyebrows.
Bring a smile to your face as you look at this person who you love dearly who is smiling at you.
Take a deep inhale into the chest,
Into the heart and silently repeat this verse.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
Continue to breathe into the heart,
Into the chest.
Continue to repeat these words and continue to notice how you are feeling at your chest.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
Bring your awareness to a person you consider as an acquaintance.
It might be a passerby or it might be a neighbour that you don't know that well.
Whoever comes to your mind,
Bring the image of that person into your mind's eye between the eyebrows.
And again,
Bring a smile to your face as you look at this person you consider as an acquaintance who is smiling at you.
Take a deep inhale into the heart,
Into the chest and silently repeat these words in the mind and in the heart.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
Continue to breathe into the heart,
Into the chest and continue to repeat these words at your own pace.
And continue to notice how you feel to extend your love and kindness to an acquaintance.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
And may you be at peace.
Think of someone that you had conflicts with or you have struggled with,
Either in the past or recently.
Notice who comes to your mind.
Hold the image of this person in your mind's eye between the eyebrows.
Gently bring a smile to your face as you look at this person who you had conflicts with with smiling at you.
Take a deep inhale into the heart,
Into the chest and see if you can offer this person the same loving kindness that you offered to others.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
Continue to breathe into the heart,
Into the chest.
Continue to repeat these words and continue to notice how this feels to offer loving kindness to someone you had conflicts with.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
May you be at peace.
Now let's picture the entire human race.
All countries,
All cultures,
All genders,
All ages,
All colours of skin,
All body shapes,
All sexual orientations,
All people,
All human beings.
Move the image of your version of the human family to the mind's eye between the eyebrows.
Gently bring a smile to your face as you see all of us included in this picture of the human family.
Take a deep inhale into the chest,
Into the heart and silently repeat these phrases in the mind and in the heart.
May we be well.
May we be happy.
May we be love.
May we be at peace.
May we be well.
May we be happy.
May we be love.
And may we be at peace.
Continue to breathe into the heart,
Into the chest.
Continue to repeat these words at your own pace.
And continue to notice how you feel in your heart right now.
Notice what is present for you.
May we be well.
May we be happy.
May we be love.
May we be at peace.
Let's expand this feeling another step further.
Let's picture the entire universe with all the living beings.
All nature,
All animals,
All people,
All stars,
All galaxies,
All beings.
Hold an image of your version of the universal family to the mind's eye between the eyebrows.
Bring a big smile to your face as you look at this magnificent image that we call home.
Take a deep inhale into the heart,
Into the chest.
And silently repeat these words in the mind and in the heart.
May we be well.
May we be happy.
May we be love.
May we be at peace.
May we be well.
May we be happy.
May we be love.
May we be at peace.
May we be well.
May we be happy.
May we be love.
May we be at peace.
Continue to breathe into the heart,
Into the chest.
And spend the next few moments feeling this,
Noticing this.
Simply experiencing this feeling right in your heart.
As you continue to breathe,
I invite you to contemplate on this quote by Swami Shantananda.
If you begin to be who you are,
You will realize everything.
But to begin to be what you are,
You must come out of what you are not.
You are not those thoughts which are turning in your mind.
You are not those changing feelings.
You are not the different decisions you make and the different wills you have.
You are not that separate ego.
Well done.
What are you?
You will find when you have come out of what you are not,
That the ripple on the water is whispering to you,
I am that.
The birds in the trees are singing to you,
I am that.
The moon and the stars are shining beacons to you,
I am that.
You are in everything in the world and everything in the world is in you.
Since it only exists because it is mirrored in you.
And at the same time,
You are that,
Everything.
Take another deep inhale into the heart and into the chest.
And exhale,
Let go of the quote and let go of any thoughts you might have.
Gently press the palms against each other to form prayer hands.
Slowly elevate the prayer hands so that the thumbs are touching the mind's eye between the eyebrows.
May I see kindness in me and in others today.
Slowly lower the prayer hands so that the thumbs are touching the mouth.
May I speak kindly to myself and to others today.
Lower the prayer hands back to the heart center.
May I carry this loving kindness during my interactions with myself and with others today.
Now gently wrap your arms around you to give yourself a big hug.
Thank yourself for making the time to meditate,
To connect with your inner self and to cultivate love and kindness.
When you feel ready,
Take your own time.
Release the arms and slowly open the eyes to bring your awareness back to the physical world.
Thank you for joining me today.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be love.
And may you be at peace.
Namaste.
