Hello and welcome to the loving kindness meditation.
The purpose of this meditation is to help cultivate love and compassion for yourself and others.
Please get comfortable by sitting on a cushion on the floor or in a chair.
If you sit in a chair,
Please have your feet flat on the floor.
If your feet will not touch,
Feel free to find a cushion,
A bolster,
Or a stack of books to add height.
Make yourself comfortable.
Please feel free to pause this recording to get yourself as comfortable as you can.
Now take three deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Breathe slowly.
On the last out breath,
Release any residual tension in the body.
Now breathe normally through the nose.
Moving down the body,
Relax the muscles in the face,
The throat,
And mouth.
Relax your neck and move to your shoulders.
Release any tension that you are holding there.
Feel free to breathe into any areas that are holding tension and release on the out breath.
For example,
If your shoulders are holding tension,
On the in breath,
Imagine breathing into that area and on the out breath,
Releasing all tension or as much as you can,
Out with the breath.
Now relax your back and your stomach.
Many of us hold a lot of tension in our stomachs.
Let that release and breathe fully.
Move down to your hips and legs.
Allow them to relax.
Place your hands,
Palms down,
On your mid thighs with elbows gently bent and relaxed.
Gently close your eyes if they aren't already closed.
Move your attention to your breath and breathe gently and normally in and out.
Notice how relaxed you are.
Now place your attention onto yourself,
Visualize yourself in front of you,
See your face looking back at you like you're looking into a mirror.
Notice what comes up for you,
The emotions,
The sensations,
The thoughts.
Sit with those and take a couple of breaths.
Now repeat silently after me and after each of these phrases.
I will be saying these phrases and just in your mind repeat them to yourself after each one.
Here we go.
May I feel safe.
May I feel happy.
May I feel healthy.
May I feel loved.
You can repeat those as many times as possible after I say them.
May I feel safe.
May I feel happy.
May I feel healthy.
May I feel loved.
May I feel happy.
May I feel safe.
May I feel healthy.
May I feel loved.
Now place your attention on someone or something that you love or someone who supports you,
Someone or something that is there for you,
A friend,
Parent,
Pet,
Mentor,
Anyone.
See them standing in front of you,
Facing you.
Look at their face and breathe.
Notice the sensations and feelings that come up for you while you are looking at them.
Sit with those feelings for a few moments.
Now please repeat silently after me.
May you feel safe.
May you feel happy.
May you feel healthy.
May you feel loved.
May you feel safe.
May you feel happy.
May you feel healthy.
May you feel loved.
May you feel safe.
May you feel happy.
May you feel healthy.
May you feel loved.
Now place your attention on someone you barely know,
Someone neutral or fairly neutral.
This can be someone random or someone you see on a regular basis.
It can be someone you know but have never met,
Know of or have never met.
Bring them to your attention.
See their face in front of you.
Notice how it makes you feel.
All the sensations and emotions.
Sit with that and breathe.
Now please repeat the following after me silently.
May you feel safe.
May you feel happy.
May you feel healthy.
May you feel loved.
May you feel safe.
May you feel happy.
May you feel healthy.
May you feel loved.
May you feel safe.
May you feel happy.
May you feel healthy.
May you feel loved.
Breathe.
Now bring your attention to all beings.
Think of the unity of all beings in this world and how connected we all are.
Breathe while you gather these thoughts and faces in your mind.
Let the sensations and emotions come to you as you think of all beings on this earth.
Sit with that for a few moments.
Now repeat silently while breathing gently.
May you all feel safe.
May you all feel happy.
May you all feel healthy.
May you all feel loved.
May you all feel safe.
May you all feel happy.
May you all feel healthy.
May you all feel loved.
May you all feel safe.
May you all feel happy.
May you all feel healthy.
May you all feel loved.
Take a few moments and move your attention to your breath and just breathe normally like you have been and sit in the present for a few moments.
Now feel free to place your hands over your heart or keep them relaxed on your thighs.
Take three deep breaths.
Full breaths.
Now as you wish,
Let some movement come back into your fingers and toes gently.
Let yourself hear the sounds in the room,
Whether it's sounds coming in from outside or someone else in the room or a pet or any of the ambient room sounds that you may have.
Let yourself notice that.
Feel free when you are ready to open your eyes slowly and bring back your full attention to the room that you are in.
I want to thank you so much for your practice.
Feel free to use this meditation anytime you'd like to cultivate kindness and compassion.
Thank you.
