Lovely Loving Kindness Exercise
Loving Kindness is practiced in order to cultivate Compassion and Healing for Self first. Then, by allowing and receiving Love from self, One can extend this Love and Compassion more freely towards others. This practice promotes peace and ease within Body, Mind, and Spirit.
Transcript
Loving kindness meditation.
This meditation can be done in any position.
You may choose to lie down onto your back,
Perhaps with a cushion or a thin blanket behind your head,
Perhaps with a pillow beneath your knees.
You may choose to be seated in a chair with support for your back and for your seat.
In any position you choose,
Do your best to remain relaxed and focused.
When you find yourself to be passive or distracted,
Simply bring your attention to your breathing,
Focusing on each in-breath,
Following the air as it enters through the nose and down your throat,
Into your chest and into your belly,
And paying attention to each out-breath,
Feeling the release of tension from the body,
From the muscles and the bones,
Relaxing in the shoulders and the muscles of the face.
Over and over again,
As the mind wanders away during this meditation,
Gently bring your focus back to your breathing.
As we begin,
Take a moment to become aware of any thoughts or any feelings that you may be experiencing right now,
Acknowledging how things are for you right now in this moment.
What does it feel like to be inside of your body right now?
What is the state of your mind right now?
And when you're ready,
Beginning to bring awareness to your body as a whole,
Noticing sensation or lack of sensation from the tip of your toes all the way up your lower and upper legs,
To your hip and torso,
The front of your body and the back of your body,
The shoulders down the arms to the tips of your fingers,
Allowing there to be space between the top and bottom rows of teeth.
Gently remove your tongue from the roof of your mouth and sense your whole body breathing in with every inhale and releasing further tension with every exhale.
Beginning to feel the movement of your breath,
The actual sensation of breathing,
Reminding yourself that you are here,
You are alive and whole.
When you're ready,
You might bring to mind the image of a person that you know or have known in your life to be loving and kind to you,
Someone who easily evokes feelings of warmth or love,
Could be a spouse or a partner,
A parent or family member,
A mentor or close friend,
Someone who's been good to you,
Helps you feel safe and whole,
Who's caring easily emanates from them to you.
And if a person past or present doesn't come to mind,
Maybe someone you know to be an inspiration may come to mind,
Someone who is easy to imagine sending wishes of well-being to,
Wishing them well.
And if it feels right,
Imagining yourself saying to them,
May you be happy,
Healthy and whole and while you're saying this,
Picturing them receiving your wishes for them,
Seeing them close to you,
Hearing your whispers of goodwill,
Wishes like may you have warmth,
Love and affection in your life,
May you be protected from harm and suffering,
May you be free from illness and dis-ease in your body and in your mind,
May you be free from fear,
May you be alive,
Engaged and joyful and may you experience inner peace and ease.
You may have your own words and wishes for them,
So feel free to use words that resonate with you.
Taking a few moments now to feel how it is to wish these things for them,
Allowing yourself to have this sense of these wishes emanating from you to them,
Connecting you to them,
Noticing how it feels inside of you as you send these wishes of well-being to this person that you love and care about.
And when you're ready,
Seeing if you can imagine this person wishing these very same things for you,
Sensing and knowing that they have your well-being in their heart,
Imagine them saying to you,
May you be happy,
Healthy and whole,
Seeing them close to you,
Hearing their whispers of goodwill to you,
Wishes like may you have warmth,
Love and affection in your life,
May you be protected from harm and from suffering,
May you be free from illness and dis-ease in your body and in your mind,
May you be free from fear,
May you be alive,
Engaged and joyful and may you experience inner peace and ease,
Letting those feelings wash over you,
Feeling their unconditional love and caring for you,
Letting those feelings of love and safety grow in you,
Knowing there is nothing you have to do to deserve this love and care,
That these wishes are given freely,
Without condition and are meant for you to receive and in so receiving,
You are renewed and filled with the strength and compassion to extend these wishes outward to others,
Taking in and feeling these wishes of warmth and love for you and seeing if you can extend them to yourself,
Perhaps placing one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly,
Perhaps your left hand on your heart and your right hand onto your belly,
Feeling the warmth of your hands pressing into your skin,
In this moment feeling completely connected to yourself and saying to yourself,
May I be happy,
Healthy and whole,
May I have warmth,
Love and affection in my life,
May I be protected from harm and from suffering,
May I be free from illness and dis-ease in my body and in my mind,
May I be free from fear,
May I be alive and engaged and joyful and may I experience inner peace and ease.
You may have loved ones for whom it's easy to send wishes of warmth to,
It might even be possible for you to expand slightly further out to acquaintances,
If it feels right to you,
Take a moment to picture someone with whom you are acquainted,
Perhaps someone you may even feel neutral towards,
Such as a clerk at your local bank or your postman or the person who helps bag your groceries at the supermarket,
Seeing if you can picture them in your mind now and picture yourself saying to them and feeling wishes of warmth emanating from you to them saying,
May you be happy,
Healthy and whole,
May you have warmth,
Love and affection in your life,
May you be protected from suffering and from harm,
May you be free from illness and dis-ease in your body and in your mind,
May you be free from fear,
May you be alive,
Engaged and joyful and may you experience inner peace and ease.
And even if the wishes are not accompanied with the same warmth as with your loved one,
Seeing if you can extend the kindness and compassion without expectation that it should make you or them feel any particular way,
Connecting with what these wishes represent,
Keeping this person in your awareness as you send these good wishes out from you to them,
Wishing for them to be healthy and whole,
Wishing for them to have aliveness and warmth in their lives.
And if you feel strong and secure and if you feel comfortable with this,
You may try extending these wishes of warmth and kindness to someone who is difficult for you right now,
Not necessarily someone who is the most difficult in your life,
But someone with whom there has been some frustration towards or between.
And in doing this,
It might be helpful to remember that just like you,
They want to be loved.
And just like you,
They want peace in their lives.
So you could say to yourself,
Just like me,
They want to feel happiness and love.
And just like me,
They want to experience joy.
Just like me,
They want to experience peace and ease.
And they want to be loved and to know that their loved ones are safe and healthy.
And just like me,
They're doing the best that they can with whatever inner and outer resources that they have.
And if this feels possible to you,
And if you feel comfortable and safe,
Silently saying to them,
May you be happy,
Healthy,
And whole.
May you have warmth,
Love,
And affection in your life.
May you be free from illness and dis-ease in your body and in your mind.
May you be protected from harm and from suffering.
May you be free from fear.
May you be alive,
Engaged,
And joyful.
And may you experience inner peace and ease.
Even if this is difficult,
There is value in noticing what it's like to extend this wish,
Recognizing that you are not condoning their actions,
But rather seeing in them a human being with some of the same needs as you.
To be loved,
To be safe,
To experience joy and ease and warmth in your life.
And if this is possible for you,
Remembering the circle that it began with yourself and the person that you love the most,
And seeing if you could extend that circle of compassion to include all of the people that you don't know,
Those who may live far away in other countries and part of other cultures,
And saying to them,
May all beings be happy,
Healthy,
And whole.
May all beings have warmth,
Love,
And affection in their lives.
May all beings be protected from harm and from suffering.
May all beings be free from illness and dis-ease in their bodies and in their minds.
May all beings be free from fear.
May all beings be alive,
Engaged,
And joyful.
And may all beings experience inner peace and ease.
And now,
As this loving kindness meditation comes to an end,
Taking time to appreciate and to feel and to sense what has been generated through this meditation within and around you and between yourself and your relationships.
And even if there have been parts of this practice that have been difficult,
Knowing that through this practice,
You have the potential to increase your sense of aliveness and interconnectedness and to increase your capacity for compassion and kindness to all living things.
When you're ready,
Letting yourself feel your physical presence,
Sensing your whole body breathing in and breathing out,
Noticing sensations within and around your body.
And gently,
In your own time,
Beginning to flutter your eyes open and orient yourself back to your physical space.
