Hey everyone,
This is Montay with Mindful Higher Ed and given all the recent events in Atlanta or in Colorado,
I thought it might be helpful to take a moment just to have a little bit of groundedness and settling into the body given that there are so many things around us that we frankly can't control.
We can't control what others do around us and even when others are using weapons to hurt one another,
It moves all of our spirits and we know we have to do something.
I suggest we use our focus and our awareness and our love to settle into the moment and do a little bit of loving kindness,
Loving kindness for the victims,
Loving kindness for the families,
Loving kindness for the community,
And loving kindness for ourselves.
We can give love,
We can act on love,
We can be love,
And we can control that.
And that gives me,
I think,
Some confidence to know that in a world where there's so little we can control,
We can at least be and give and receive the love.
And so with that,
I'd like to invite you to settle into a comfortable meditation posture,
Just some position where you can settle into the body and lean in with a sense of relaxation and well-being.
And as you find your posture,
As you find your position,
Just want to invite you to gently close your eyes,
Gently settle into your body,
Just feeling the body,
And just gently noticing,
Noticing where your body is making contact with your couch or chair or cushion,
Noticing where your hands are,
Noticing where your legs are,
Just feeling the weight of the body,
Noticing the body,
Settling into the body as we enter the world of a loving kindness meditation for today.
I'd like to invite you now,
If you feel comfortable,
I'd like to ask you to put your hand over your heart or perhaps just with your imagination,
Imagine putting your hand over your heart and gently starting to breathe in and breathe out,
Just feeling that love,
Feeling that energy inside your heartbeat,
Just settling into the rhythm of the pulse of the heart,
Just knowing that the heart is our center of love,
Our center of compassion,
Our center of joy,
Our center of well-being.
And first,
I'd like to invite you just to breathe in love for yourself and breathe out love to your whole being,
Just breathing in love on the in-breath and breathing out love to your whole body on the out-breath and just gently noticing the feeling of that love as you tune into this energy.
You might even say to yourself,
If you feel comfortable,
When you breathe in,
Just saying to yourself,
I love you and when you breathe out,
Just say,
I feel you.
And as we think about recent events in our community,
I'd like to invite you to bring to mind a loved one,
It could be somebody near or far,
Just somebody with whom you're connecting on a heart-to-heart level or somebody who's in need right now of a little bit of extra love and compassion.
When you have that person in your mind's eye,
Just imagine that as you breathe in and breathe out,
You are connecting with this person and breathing out love and compassion for this person and breathing in feelings of love that they may have for you,
Feelings of love they may have for our community.
Just bringing to mind this person,
Breathing in to mind this person and breathing in,
Breathing out the love you can feel for them and the love and well-being they have for you.
Just connecting heart-to-heart with this person in your mind's eye.
And as you continue to breathe in and breathe out,
I'd like to invite you to just bring to mind everybody in your local community,
Friends,
Family members,
Parishioners,
Activists,
Business people,
The person at the local market you see.
Just bringing to mind all beings in your local community.
And as you breathe in and breathe out,
Just sending thoughts of love,
Thoughts of well-being to all these people in your community.
And see if you can feel the love and well-being that they have for you or for others in the community.
See if you can breathe in that love as you breathe out love for them.
And lastly,
I'd like to invite you to bring to mind all beings everywhere,
Near or far,
Young or old,
Black or white,
Straight or gay,
Liberal or conservative,
Rich or poor.
Just bring to mind all beings everywhere and see as you breathe in and breathe out what you can feel.
Maybe just feeling all that love,
All that community,
All that compassion that people have for one another.
Just breathe that in.
And as you breathe out,
Just returning and giving back that love with the breath.
And because what we give,
We receive,
I'd like to invite you now just to imagine sending back all that love you just gave out,
But sending it all back just to yourself.
Just filling your whole body from head to toe,
From top to bottom with all that love,
From all that loving kindness you just practiced.
Just knowing that if we give love,
We receive love.
That is just the law of nature.
And through love,
We can find a better world.
And in a moment,
I'm going to ring the meditation bell.
And when I do,
I just want to invite you to know you can always tap into this inner love just by slowing down a little bit more and following the breath and opening your heart to what's already there.
Thank you so much and may you go in peace.
