Let's start by just getting into the body.
If you're like me,
You're probably wiggling a little,
Just sort of getting grounded through your sits bones and through your legs,
Lifting up through the spine,
Relaxing the shoulders and the arms,
Relaxing the muscles in the face.
When you're ready,
Let's bring ourselves to the point of mindfulness of the breath,
Just noticing the natural flow of the body breathing,
Letting each in-breath and out-breath anchor us into the present moment.
At this point we can transition into the loving-kindness practice itself.
We're going to focus on various elements of who we are,
And as you know in loving-kindness we often move into places,
People we like,
People we don't like,
People we don't know very well.
Here we're going to do that for parts of ourself.
So let's start by just bringing to mind the part of yourself that's easy to love.
Maybe even images come to mind,
Like you with your family,
Being a good brother,
Sister,
Son,
Daughter,
Whatever it might be,
Aunt,
Uncle.
So the part of yourself that's easy to love,
You with your family,
Are you serving as a good friend?
Are you volunteering and helping others?
We're just going to acknowledge this part of yourself that people cherish and enjoy.
Whatever images come to mind are fine.
We're going to offer a sense of loving-kindness to this part of ourselves that we really cherish and love.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I feel safe,
May I be free of fear.
We're just repeating these phrases,
Letting them wash over us,
Offering a sense of open-heartedness,
Love to this part of who we are,
That we really admire.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I feel safe,
May I be free of fear.
Let's shift gears here to bring to mind the part of ourselves that we actually don't know very well.
By that I mean,
You know,
The hidden recesses of our mind.
This is the aspect of our mind that we may not normally look at.
Maybe it's a hidden bias,
Or maybe it's how you act or speak after a few drinks,
Or part of you that sort of insists on mindlessly taking out the phone and scrolling through social media whenever there's a gap in your day.
You don't even know how the phone got there,
But boom,
It's that part of you that's sort of subconsciously maybe itching for something,
Or putting things down,
Or whatever it is.
We're just going to acknowledge that part of ourselves that we don't always want to look at,
And could obviously benefit from a bit more observation.
You might notice that I actually placed my hand on my heart in response as we go further with this practice.
If you want to do such a thing,
You can.
This part of yourself that you don't know very well,
What is that part?
When we have a hunch,
We make these same aspirations of loving-kindness toward ourself,
Toward this particular part of who we are.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe.
May I be free of fear.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe.
May I be free of fear.
Having looked at the part of ourselves that we really like,
And the part we don't know very well,
Not surprisingly,
We're going to move into the part of ourselves that we don't like very much.
Maybe it's the part of you that's got a sugar addiction,
The part of you that snaps at loved ones,
Or just trying to help.
The part of you that's caused a lot of conflict in your romantic relationships.
We're just going to acknowledge that part of us that could actually use some healing,
Some gentle attention,
And we're going to offer that in these phrases of loving-kindness.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe.
May I be free of fear.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe.
May I be free of fear.
We're now going to embrace all of who we are.
So the totality of who you are,
You have each of these parts inside of you,
Yet none of them are entirely who you are.
You are larger and more complex than these individual parts.
So embracing the totality of who you are,
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe.
May I be free of fear.
Noticing how you're feeling in this moment,
Any sense of love,
Or openness,
Or appreciation,
Or tenderness,
Or vulnerability,
Or whatever it is.
Begin to just radiate that out.
Radiating out from the heart center,
Any sense of openness or love.
Radiating to the beings in your home,
Moving out to your neighborhood,
Your state or your province.
Continuing to radiate the sense of love and openness further outward.
Take the time to let your love flow.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings feel safe.
May all beings be free of fear.
Taking a deep breath.
Transitioning out of the practice at your own pace.
