So thank you for coming today.
As I mentioned before,
We're going to work on a loving kindness meditation,
So learning to be gentle with yourself and helping to build resilience when you're in a difficult situation.
As Ian looks at me and smiles,
Yes.
Right?
I get it!
I know!
So it's a bit of a compassion practice,
So there's no aim to force anything to happen,
There's no need to try and force yourself to feel a certain way.
Anytime you try and do that,
It never ends well anyway.
So just remembering to be gentle with yourself throughout the process.
So we'll start with closing our eyes gently,
Our hands resting and relaxed.
Your feet flat on the floor or curled underneath you in easy sitting pose.
And I invite you to take a nice deep breath in through your nose.
And a nice full exhale out through the nose.
Let's do that two more times in through the nose.
Really feel your body expand as you bring that oxygen into your body and sigh out through the mouth.
One last time,
A nice full inhale and a nice full exhale.
Good.
Allow your body to settle into a comfortable space for you.
And allow your breathing rhythm to return to normal.
Bring your attention to any spots in your body where you may be carrying tension or discomfort or carrying stress or other emotions.
Gently allow your breath to shift any of those sensations if they're comfortable for you.
If those sensations prefer to stay where they are,
That's okay.
There's no need to force anything.
Allow any thoughts that come into your mind to gently drift by.
It's okay that these thoughts come up.
Be gentle in bringing your attention back to your breath,
Noticing those natural rhythm cycles for you.
On your next inhale,
You're going to bring to your mind's eye someone that makes you feel good,
Someone who continually has unconditional love for you and who makes you happy to be around.
Bring that image of that individual forward in your mind.
And when that person is firmly in your mind's mind,
You're going to bring them to that level of feeling.
And then,
Gently wish for them to be happy,
To be healthy.
Wish them love and wish them ease in their life.
If these phrases don't feel quite comfortable for you,
You can replace them with something that feels a little smoother for you.
Repeat these wishes silently to yourself for the next few moments and truly feel the emotions and the wish that you are sending to this individual.
Again,
Saying silently to yourself,
I wish you happiness.
I wish you health.
I wish you love.
I wish you ease in your life.
Allowing your heart to feel the essence of each of these wishes for this individual.
Remembering to breathe comfortably.
You may find it beneficial to time your breath with each of these wishes for this individual.
Take an inhale.
I wish you happiness.
Allow your body to exhale.
Another inhale.
I wish you health.
Fully exhale.
Inhale.
I wish you love.
Exhale.
Inhale.
I wish you ease in your life.
Exhale.
Allow the rhythm of your breath to guide the cadence of these wishes.
On your next inhale,
Bring to mind someone you feel neutral about.
Someone you may see on a relatively regular basis.
But not someone that you're particularly close with or have any emotions or feelings towards one way or the other.
Find the image of that person closer to your mind's eye.
Once you have that image firmly in your mind,
Wish them happiness.
Wish them health.
Wish them love.
Wish them ease in their life.
Continue with these wishes,
Following the rhythm of your breath for the next few moments.
Exhale.
And again,
Wish this individual happiness.
Wish them health.
Wish them love.
Wish them ease in their life.
On your next inhale,
Bring an image of yourself to mind.
This can be yourself as you were as a child.
This can be yourself as you are today.
This can be yourself as you see yourself in the future.
Bring your awareness to your heart center as you draw this image of yourself forward.
Take a slow,
Deep inhale here and a slow,
Full exhale.
As this image of yourself comes forward in your mind's eye,
Wish for yourself,
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I have love.
May I have ease in my life.
Releasing any judgments you may place on yourself during this practice.
Be gentle with yourself.
You are human.
And humans do make errors and mistakes.
And as such,
Remember that you are worthy of happiness.
You are worthy of health.
You are worthy of love.
And you are worthy of ease in your life.
Continue with these wishes for yourself for another moment.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I have love.
May I have ease in my life.
Checking in with your breath if any portion of this becomes difficult for you.
With gentle kindness,
Bringing yourself to the beginning.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I have love.
May I have ease in my life.
May I have ease in my life.
May I have ease in my life.
I invite you to bring to mind someone that you feel there is a conflict with.
Someone you don't particularly care for.
And with gentle loving kindness,
Wish them happiness.
Wish them health.
Wish them love.
Wish them ease in their life.
If at any time this part of the process becomes too uncomfortable,
You are welcome to bring yourself or a loved one back to your mind's eye.
And wish them happiness.
Wish them health.
Wish them love.
And wish them ease in their life.
Be gentle and patient with yourself.
Connecting in with the cycle of your breath if you feel you need a break from the process.
And beginning again at the beginning.
I wish you happiness.
I wish you health.
I wish you love.
I wish you ease in your life.
Sit with whomever is in your mind's eye right now.
And continue these wishes for another moment.
I wish you happiness.
I wish you happiness.
I wish you happiness.
Allowing yourself one last round of wishes for the individual in your mind's eye.
And finished.
Slowly follow the sound of my voice.
Back into this room.
Back onto the chair in which your body sits.
Feeling the noises around you.
Feeling your consciousness anchor back into your body.
Taking a slow,
Deep inhale.
And a full and complete exhale.
Continue to wiggle your fingers and toes.
Once you're ready,
You gently open your eyes.
