Welcome to this meditation for exploring self-love.
So when you're ready,
Getting comfortable,
Whether that's sitting or lying down.
And gently closing the eyes,
Softening the face,
Shoulders,
Legs,
Arms.
Just inviting your body to let go of any holding,
Any unnecessary tension.
Inviting the body to be spacious and soft.
And then in your own time,
Taking three deep,
Expansive breaths,
Just to settle.
So deep breaths in,
Nourishing your body.
And as you breathe out,
Just letting go of the day,
Letting go of your thoughts.
And really arriving in your body in this moment.
Nourishing the breath,
The body on the in-breath.
And letting go of the day as you exhale.
And letting the breath settle.
Coming back to its own natural rhythm.
As you bring to mind three people you love and care for.
So any three people that you have a lot of love for,
A lot of care for.
People who you wish well,
Who you want to be happy,
Who you enjoy being around.
And whoever you choose is the perfect choice.
So choosing these three people and picturing them in your mind.
Picturing their faces,
Eyes,
Smiles,
Hair,
Clothing,
Posture.
And maybe you want to picture them one at a time.
Maybe you want to picture all three of them together.
That's totally up to you.
But just picturing these three people you have a lot of love for.
And as you picture them,
Connecting with that sense of loving them.
Caring for them.
Wanting them to be happy.
Wanting them to enjoy life.
Wanting to ease their pains and sorrows.
Wanting their hopes and dreams and aspirations to happen,
To occur.
Just really connecting with all that sense of wishing them well.
Sense of loving.
That feeling of loving and caring for them.
That feeling of loving and caring for them in your physical body.
How does it physically feel to love and care for them?
Maybe you feel it in your belly or your chest.
Maybe it's a general felt body sense.
What does it feel like?
Does it have a color?
Does it have a texture?
Does it feel warm or cool?
Does it feel like a tingling?
Does it feel like a squeeze or a hug or a caress?
Does it feel spacious?
Soft?
What does it feel like in your physical body?
Love and care for them.
And as you connect with that feeling,
Starting to increase it.
As if you're turning up the volume dial on these feelings.
Increase the feelings.
So they grow and start to fill your whole body.
Slowly radiating.
So your whole body,
From head to toe to the tips of your fingers,
Fills with these loving,
Caring feelings.
However they feel in your body.
Whole body filling up.
And as it fills up,
Start sending this love,
This care towards these people.
So maybe it's one by one.
Or maybe it's the three of them as a group.
Whichever makes sense to you.
Maybe it's just a felt sense of sending love towards them.
Maybe there's a light or a color of love radiating from you to them.
Just reaffirming it.
But with the words,
With the mantra.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
So just sending those words,
Repeating them in your mind,
As you say them to either the group or one by one,
Saying it to these people.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Just sending these loving,
Good wishes towards them.
And all of them open up.
They receive your love.
They welcome your love.
Maybe you see them make a gesture where they acknowledge that love.
They open themselves up.
They place a hand on their heart.
Just acknowledging that they're receiving your love,
Your care,
Your good wishes.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
And then as they receive your love,
In turn,
They send some love back to you.
They send their love back to you.
Starting to visualize this.
Maybe there's light or color radiating from their heart or their body to yours.
Starting to experience that,
That sending of the love from them back to you.
As they state,
May you too be happy.
May you too be healthy.
May you too be at peace.
So whether it's as a group or one by one,
They're saying back to you,
May you too be happy.
May you too be healthy.
May you too be at peace.
May you too be happy.
May you too be healthy.
May you too be at peace.
And as they send their love and their good wishes towards you,
Your care,
You also open yourself up to receive that love.
So acknowledging that love,
Whether by placing a hand on your chest,
A hand on your heart,
You're just opening your hands up to receive that love.
Some small gesture that shows you're opening up,
You're receiving,
You're welcoming their love.
Visualizing it,
Whether it's just an energetic felt sense or color or light radiating from them to you.
Receiving their love and reaffirming what they're saying to you.
So may I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
And just repeating that a few times in your mind.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
Maybe even connecting if there's a hand on your body,
Connecting with that felt sense.
Warmth coming in from your hand into your body as you receive their love.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
And if there is resistance,
Judgment or discomfort,
That's okay too.
Just seeing maybe if you can get it just to step to one side just for now,
It can come back later.
But just for now as you do this exploration of what it'd be like to open yourself up to receiving love.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
Just letting go of the words,
Letting go of the visual,
Maybe thanking.
Thanking the people who joined you in the practice.
Letting them dissipate,
Their images dissolve as you come back to your body with the surface beneath you,
Whether that's a chair or a bed or the floor.
They are on your skin,
Body breathing.
And maybe just deepening your breath a little bit or a lot.
Just taking a few deep breaths just to finish the practice,
Close the practice,
Ground you in the present moment.
Three or a few nourishing deep,
Deep breaths.
You're ready to setting the breath settle back to its own natural rhythm.
And feeling free to stay here for a little longer,
Just watching the breath being in stillness.
Otherwise,
Whenever you're ready,
Opening the eyes and in your own time,
Going back to the rest of your day.
