Welcome to this simple present moment meditation with some loving-kindness phrases at the closing.
You might begin with finding a comfortable position,
Eyes open or closed,
Whatever is more comfortable for you.
Begin with inviting some softening to the face,
Relaxing the little muscles in the forehead,
Around the eyes,
Noticing any tension in the jaw,
The temples and just bringing the attention there.
Often a softening takes place without any effort and then inviting a few deeper breaths with an emphasis on the exhale being longer than the inhale.
If you have trouble elongating the exhale you might try exhaling as if you were blowing out through a straw.
It's kind of helpful for drawing out the exhale and that's simply sending a signal to our nervous system that everything is okay in this moment right now.
It's okay to relax and down-regulate the nervous system.
And on the last few longer exhales just bringing the attention to the shoulders,
Allowing them to kind of drop down and away from the ears,
Flattening out those muscles,
Relaxing the shoulder muscles.
Imagine any tension in the shoulders just simply rolling off the shoulders onto the floor like water rolls off of a duck's back.
And then moving the attention down the front of the body to the heart space.
We're looking to have an open heart space.
Metaphorically and physically you might imagine your shoulder blades in the back pulling together ever so slightly maybe two millimeters to open up the heart space bringing a very slight smile to the mouth.
You might even imagine breathing in and out of the heart space even though we know we don't breathe with the heart.
Imagine just for a moment breathing in and out of the heart space and then bringing the attention down the front of the body to the belly.
Just inviting a soft belly.
It's a place we often hold worry,
Tension and unknowingly tighten the muscles there.
So right now we're just inviting some softening,
Relaxing the muscles,
The top of the belly,
The sides of the belly.
The opposite of tightening the core and sucking it in that we do all day long as we move around.
Just let the belly relax.
Bringing your attention to the lower part of your body,
Your legs,
Down to the feet.
Just noticing if you're wearing shoes or socks.
Noticing the sensation of having shoes or socks on the feet or if you're barefoot noticing any contact points of the feet with the ground or the surface you're on.
How do you even know that you have feet?
What kind of information is coming in from the feet?
Pressure,
Warmth,
Coolness.
And then drawing the attention up the back of the body to the seat and the lower back.
If you're sitting in a chair or lying down,
Noticing the contact points touching your body,
Your lower back,
Your seat,
The back of your thighs.
This is a good place to begin to notice the sense of gravity,
This invisible force of nature.
Just kind of lovingly holding us in place.
If someone turned off the gravity for a moment,
We would float away.
Instead we have this gentle,
Loving pull from the earth.
Just kind of tethering us down and just noticing.
It's not too much,
It's not too little,
It's just right holding us in place.
And then drawing the attention up the back,
Returning to the top of the shoulders,
Seeing if any tension has crept back in there.
Just inviting some relaxation in the shoulders.
And then simply moving our attention to the breath going in and out of the body.
Simply noticing how do you know that you're breathing?
Maybe some cool air at the nose,
Feeling the cool air going down the back of the throat.
Might notice a very slight rise and fall at the chest.
Just in and out of the diaphragm,
The top of the belly.
Just resting our attention on this very simple and elegant process of the breath going in and out of the body.
We're not actually putting any effort into this.
It's almost like the body is just being breathed.
And we are observing the process.
And you may find that the attention wanders off to something you're doing later,
Something you did before.
We don't have to make it a problem.
We just simply notice the attention has moved off of the target,
The target for our attention.
Lovingly bringing the attention back to the awareness of breathing.
I'm aware of the in-breath.
I'm aware of the out-breath.
I'm aware of the in-breath.
I'm aware of the out-breath.
It's very simple,
But sometimes it's not that easy to maintain the attention on the experience of the breath.
This is normal.
We're not doing it wrong.
In fact,
If the attention is resting on the breath,
That's great.
We're strengthening our ability to hold our attention in one place.
And if the attention has wandered off the target and we notice that the attention has wandered,
This is equally valuable.
We are noticing our thoughts,
Noticing our wandering attention.
The very moment that we notice our thoughts,
This is mindful awareness.
This is equally valuable.
So we just lovingly redirect the attention back to watching the breath going in and out of the body.
These are the only two places our attention can be.
Noticing the breath and noticing that the attention has wandered and inviting it back.
I'm aware of the in-breath.
I'm aware of the out-breath.
If you have a very busy mind,
You might even offer an additional present moment experience of hearing.
So you might focus on the in-breath,
The out-breath,
And the space before the next in-breath with hearing.
I'm aware of the in-breath.
I'm aware of the out-breath.
I'm aware of hearing.
The sounds in the room,
The sounds outside.
What is the furthest away sound you can hear?
And not getting entangled with the content of what's making the sounds.
Just the direct experience of hearing.
Maybe it's right ear,
Left ear,
Close to me.
Just the direct experience of hearing.
Maybe it's right ear,
Left ear,
Constant or intermittent sounds.
Just resting the attention on the experience of hearing,
The direct experience.
Where's my attention right now?
I'm aware of the in- breath.
Noticing the breath and hearing sounds are two things that can only be experienced in the present moment.
We can't hear tomorrow,
Experience the breath tomorrow,
Or yesterday.
So as our attention kind of surfs these two direct experiences of noticing the breath and noticing sounds,
We know that we are solidly in the present moment.
Just this next breath in.
Just this next breath out and hearing right now.
What can I hear right now?
Breathing is something we do 20,
000 times a day,
Usually with no awareness.
Right now we're just simply being curious about the experience.
Where do I connect with this experience of the breath going in and out of the body?
I'm aware of the in-breath.
I'm aware of the out-breath.
I'm aware of hearing.
And in a moment we're going to transition to practicing some loving-kindness,
Which are metta practices.
It's the practice of cultivating positive emotions.
And so you might begin with bringing to mind a few people in your life,
Maybe family members or friends who are like family.
Kind of the inner circle,
Maybe two,
Three,
Four people.
Bring these close people to mind.
Imagine them in front of you.
Maybe they're all sitting on a sofa in front of you or at the table with you.
Really getting a sense of their presence.
Maybe they're smiling.
You notice their eyes.
They're happy.
I'm gonna offer some phrases of loving-kindness and you may wish to repeat these in your own mind.
Really leaning into a feeling of loving-kindness,
Friendliness,
Goodwill towards these beings,
These people in your life.
Holding their images in mind in front of you,
You might repeat these phrases to them.
May you be happy.
May you all be healthy.
May you all feel safe and protected.
May you all face challenges with ease.
And just imagining this goodwill,
This loving-kindness,
This universal friendliness.
Kind of washing over them as we offer the phrases one more time.
Having their image in front of you.
May you be happy.
May you all be healthy.
May you all feel safe and protected.
May you live with ease.
And then we'll take this same wish for goodwill,
For loving-kindness,
Loving energy and we'll turn this towards ourselves.
Maybe you're looking in a mirror.
You might even imagine yourself as a younger child.
In whatever way you connect with an image of yourself or a presence of yourself.
We'll just simply imagine sending goodwill to ourselves,
Wishing well for ourselves.
Kind of having our own back.
So with the image of ourselves in mind,
You might repeat the phrases.
May I be happy.
May I have good health.
May I feel safe and protected.
May I face life's challenges with more ease.
Really just letting this radiating quality of goodwill,
Loving-kindness,
Well-wishing for ourselves wash over.
And offering the phrases one more time with an image of ourselves in mind.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel safe and protected.
May I face challenges with ease.
And before we close our loving-kindness practice,
We'll take this same wish for goodwill,
Universal friendliness and kindness and we'll basically expand it out to all living beings.
Starting with all the people that you have in your daily life.
Friends at work,
Co-workers,
People who live in your immediate neighborhood,
Your town,
Your city.
You might imagine an umbrella over them or like a radiating energy out from your heart that encompasses all these people that you know and people you don't know in your city and town.
And then just expanding this wish for goodwill,
This universal friendliness,
Kindness,
Expanding it out to beyond your town.
Maybe everyone in the country you live in.
And then out from the borders of your country to the continent that you're on.
And then out to the entire world to all beings in the world.
Animals in the sky,
In the ocean,
On the land,
And all people.
Every being has a wish to be healthy.
And so we'll offer the phrases to all living beings.
May you all be happy and content.
May you all have good health.
May you feel safe and protected.
May you face challenges with more ease.
Just imagining that you are able to send this goodwill,
This universal friendliness,
Kindness,
Out in all directions.
It washes over all the beings,
Bringing them goodwill,
Good health,
And contentment.
And then we'll begin to draw our attention back inward,
Closer and closer,
Until it's in the room that you're in,
Or the space that you're in.
And bringing our attention back home,
Home inside of our body.
And just noticing once again the breath going in and out of the body.
I'm aware of the in-breath.
I'm aware of the out-breath.
Breathing in a loving awareness,
Seeing love and kindness in the world.
And breathing out a loving presence.
The way we want people to experience us is a loving presence.
Breathing in loving awareness,
And breathing out loving presence.
Breathing in loving awareness,
And breathing out loving presence.
And in a moment I'm going to ring a bell three times to bring the practice to a close.
And when you're ready you might slowly wiggle your fingers and gently drop your head from one shoulder to the other shoulder.
Maybe roll the head around,
Stretching the neck gently.
If your eyes were closed,
Open them with a low gaze in front of you,
Sort of slowly taking in your surroundings.
You might even choose one color you can see and follow this color around in the space that you're in.
It's an orienting practice where you can bring this practice to a close but not our presence.
I hope you enjoyed this simple present moment meditation with loving kindness at the end and wishing you a peaceful day.
