So you're invited to settle into your body,
Ensure that you're comfortable,
Upright,
Stable,
And let thoughts about the past,
Thoughts about the future,
Other experiences be on the edge of your awareness,
Or let them fade away.
Bring your attention to immediate experience here now.
Perhaps feeling the contact with the cushion,
The chair you're sitting in.
Stabilizing your attention,
Settling your awareness,
And rouse an intention for your meditation,
An intention for the day perhaps.
And you're invited to keep that intention in mind,
In the background of your awareness for the day,
So whenever you seem to stray from that good resolve,
That good intention,
You'll come back.
Now I invite you to a few moments of metta.
The heart's release through loving kindness.
Let your attention settle into the chest area,
Opening up to whatever you're experiencing in that part of your body,
And from that place be aware of that most kind and gentle part of yourself,
A compassionate part of yourself,
Deep in your heart.
Perhaps you have a vision of it,
Perhaps there's a sense of it,
Whatever way you are aware of it,
Let your attention go there,
That place in your heart that's completely receptive,
Open and kind.
And from that place cultivate the wish for happiness,
Peace,
And complete freedom.
From that place cultivate the aspiration for ease and well-being on your path to awakening.
May I be happy.
Think to yourself,
May I be peaceful.
May I be free from troubles of mind and body.
May I practice on the path with ease.
May it be so.
And let this feeling of warm friendliness towards yourself bubble up and permeate your being.
Touch every cell of your body,
Every aspect of your life.
May I be happy,
Peaceful,
And free.
May I live and practice with ease.
Make this warm feeling of loving kindness,
Warm benevolence,
Friendliness,
A wish for happiness and well-being.
Let it extend beyond the boundaries of yourself to touch the hearts of others.
Perhaps beginning with beings that bring a smile to your face,
Perhaps beings you are grateful for,
Friends,
Even children,
Pets.
Extend it out to touch the hearts of other beings,
The beings in the street that you live,
The beings in the town or city you live.
Extend it out to all beings in all directions,
Above and below,
In front and behind,
And on each side.
Simply abide in this divine state of loving kindness.
May I be happy,
Peaceful,
And free.
So now let's continue this meditation in silence.
You're practicing whatever is suitable for you,
Whether it be mindfulness of the breath,
Sounds,
Being present in your body,
Or continuing to practice metta,
Or utilizing the four establishments of mindfulness.
Let's continue in silence.
Let's continue in silence.
Let's continue in silence.
Let's continue in silence.
Let's continue in silence.
