So just taking time to settle into the posture of your choice.
And it might be that you're lying down in which case perhaps just having one pillow under the neck rather than two so that the spine is aligned.
If you're seated perhaps having a cushion behind your back or maybe under the feet so there's an opportunity of being alert and upright and yet relaxed and stable.
Perhaps gently moving the feet a little bit further forward so that they're a little bit further forward from underneath the knees.
And if it feels comfortable to do so perhaps beginning with two or three really nice deep breaths.
Breathing in wide and full.
And on the exhale starting to release the shoulders.
Maybe sighing out through the mouth to release any tension we hold in the jaw.
Soften the belly.
And having a sense of connecting with the chair,
With the furniture and allowing ourselves to feel held.
And perhaps noticing the sounds in the environment around us.
Just becoming aware and inviting the mind to put attention onto sound.
And then gently inviting the attention to come inwards to listen to the sounds of our own bodies.
And perhaps connecting with the sound and the sensation of breathing.
For some of us we'll notice the breathing in through the nostrils.
Perhaps noticing the flare of the nostrils and the coolness of the air on the inhale.
And the warmth of the air on the exhale.
And for others of us we might prefer to breathe in and out through the belly.
And for this meditation,
Loving kindness meditation,
I'd invite you if it feels comfortable to place a hand on the heart and perhaps connect to breathing in and out through the heart space.
So having a sense of the heart expanding on the inhale and contracting on the exhale.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And the invitation is to bring to your mind's eye a loved one.
Perhaps a friend or a family member or maybe even a beloved pet.
Someone who when you think of them opens your heart,
Puts a ready smile on your lips.
And imagine this person when you think of them,
Just one person for this practice,
Imagine them coming towards you smiling and looking deeply into your eyes.
And as you connect with them really deeply into their eyes and connecting with your own heart centre,
We're going to send them the wishes that the Buddha taught us thousands of years ago.
Really connecting deeply with the intention of wishing them well and in our own minds saying quietly these words to our loved one.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
And noticing how it feels in the heart space for our loved one to receive these words and for us to offer them.
And our loved one fades away smiling and softly taking our words of kindness and compassion with them.
And now we bring to mind ourselves.
Perhaps ourselves just as we are in this moment as if we're looking in front of a mirror.
If that feels too hard to do,
Perhaps imagining a photograph of yourself when you were maybe younger,
A previous event,
A time that was a happy time.
And imagining that you're looking into your own eyes and you're acknowledging the suffering and the pain as well as the joy that you've had in your life.
Connecting once again with the heart space and the intention to offer yourself good wishes.
Repeating silently as you look deeply into your own eyes.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be at peace.
And taking this opportunity to wish for yourself whatever your heart truly desires.
May I be anxiety free.
May I step forward in courage and wisdom.
And then gently and kindly letting yourself fade away.
Taking a moment to notice how your heart space is feeling right now.
And a moment to notice whether it was more difficult to wish yourself well than it was to wish your loved one well.
And now we bring to mind a stranger.
Somebody who we know who they are by what they look like,
But we don't know them as a person.
Maybe they work in the same office or environment as us,
But we haven't connected with them.
Perhaps we see them in our neighborhood or they work in a shop.
Just taking a moment to choose somebody who we might consider a neutral person.
Somebody with whom we have no strong feelings either way.
And when we have found our person and brought them to mind,
Imagine them coming towards us,
Smiling and looking deeply into our eyes.
And just for a moment we might imagine that they're a person just like us.
Someone who has struggles and fears as well as joys and laughter.
And even if we don't know what this person feels or what's going on for them,
We know that we wish them well.
We don't wish them any harm.
And so we connect with them and our own heart space and our intention and we silently say these words.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
Noticing how it feels to offer these words of loving kindness to somebody who we don't know.
And as they gently fade away,
We might bring to mind somebody who we could refer to as the difficult person.
Someone with whom we're having a bit of a challenge right now.
And this isn't going to be the most challenging person in your life.
On a scale of one to ten,
Somebody who sits around a three or a four.
Perhaps an argument,
A minor disagreement.
Let's find one person like this and bring them to mind.
And as they stand in front of us and we look into their eyes,
We connect once more with our heart space and find our compassion that's really deep within us,
Within all human beings.
And we remember that just like them,
We have times when we're not at our best.
We have stresses that they might not be aware of.
We might not know what's going on with them.
And we do know that we wish them well and we don't wish them any harm.
And so we share our words of kindness and compassion and send our good wishes in the way the Buddha taught us to all those years ago.
Repeating silently to ourselves,
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
Understanding how it feels to share compassion with somebody with whom we are struggling right now and taking a moment to say well done to ourselves that we're able to at least have the intention of offering this.
And allowing the person that we're calling the difficult person to fade away now from our mind's eye.
And instead bring together everybody who's here on this virtual meeting and perhaps everybody who's in our wider household,
On our street,
In our town,
In our village.
And holding everybody in our mind's eye,
Connecting once more to our heart space.
And if we don't already have a smile on our lips,
It might be nice to place one there now as we wish ourselves well because we're included in this.
May we be well.
May we be happy.
May we be at peace.
For these last few moments of this meditation,
Breathing in and out of the heart space and noticing if the heart has expanded a little bit more with compassion and love.
And can we keep what we need for ourselves,
What kindness and loving kindness we need.
And let's send out by way of sending the merit out to all those who do not have this connection and this safe space to share,
Who are struggling.
Let's send whatever we don't need to keep for ourselves out into the universe to find those that need it.
And then ever so gently reconnecting with the contact points of the chair underneath us,
The ground beneath our feet.
Noticing the feeling of the clothes against our skin,
The temperature in the air around us.
And listening once again to the sounds of the present moment and listening to the sound of the bell to bring this meditation to a close.
