Welcome to this loving-kindness meditation.
So taking your time to get comfortable,
Whether that's sitting or lying down.
Maybe closing the eyes.
Closing the eyes is something that doesn't work for you,
Then just keeping the eyes open and gazing softly at a fixed point,
Softly downward.
And just starting to land,
To arrive in your body.
Softening the face,
The shoulders,
Arms,
Legs,
Belly,
Chest.
Just inviting the whole body to settle.
And noticing if the mind is a little distracted,
But still arriving.
And just inviting your mind to bear witness on your breath.
So noticing your breath.
Noticing where you feel your breath.
And let's just take three deep breaths together to start off.
So breathing out.
And then slow,
Deep breath in,
Expansive,
Nourishing your body.
And then sighing out on the exhale,
Letting go of the day,
Really arriving in your body.
Another time,
Deep expansive breath in,
Nourishing the body.
And sighing out,
Letting go of the day,
Arriving in your body.
And one last time,
Deep expansive breath in,
And slowly breathing out,
Body softened.
And the breath settles.
So letting the breath come back to its own natural rhythm,
As you bring to mind the person you love.
Someone you have a lot of love for,
An unconditional type of love,
An easy love.
And picturing them before you,
Picturing their eyes,
Their posture.
And connecting with that sense of wishing well for them,
Of wanting them to be happy.
Wanting good things for them.
Live an easy,
Peaceful life.
And noticing how that feels in your body.
So where can you feel it in your body?
And what does it feel like?
Is it a warmth?
Does it have a color?
Does it feel soft?
What does that love and care feel like in your physical body?
And then as you feel it,
It's starting to increase.
It's almost as if you're turning up the volume on it.
So it becomes stronger.
It starts to fill up your whole body.
Just turning up the dial on these feelings in your body,
So they grow,
Increase,
Expand,
And fill your whole body.
From head to toe.
And then it starts to radiate out.
And as it radiates out,
You start to send it towards this person you love and care for.
So whether that's just an energetic,
Felt sense of sending love to them.
Maybe you see a color or a light radiating from you to them.
You're just starting to send this love towards this person.
Sending the good wishes.
And as you send the love,
Starting to repeat these words in your mind.
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.
Just repeating those over and over in your mind.
And sending those good wishes,
That love,
That care towards this person.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
And then letting the words go.
Letting the image dissolve.
Going back to your breath for a moment.
Body breathing.
And then bringing to mind another person.
This time it's someone you don't know so well,
But who's in your life.
So maybe it's a work colleague.
Maybe it's a doctor,
A dentist.
Someone you see at the shop.
Shopkeeper,
Bus driver.
Someone who's in your life in some shape or form.
You don't know very well.
It's no wrong choice.
So whoever comes to mind,
Just choosing them,
Picking them and picturing them.
Picturing them in your mind.
Picturing their face,
Their hair,
Their posture.
Maybe their clothing,
Maybe the environment in which you see them.
And it might not be as easy to picture them.
So just whatever you can is perfect.
And connecting with that sense of,
Although you don't know this person very well,
You wish them well.
You want them to be happy.
You want good things to happen for them.
And connecting back in with that feeling of love and care that you had before for the previous person.
That feeling in your body of loving and caring.
Coming back to that feeling in your body of caring and wishing well for this person.
And sending it towards them.
So radiating that out towards them.
Whether it's just that felt sense of good wishes.
Whether it's a light or a color radiating from you to them.
Just sending those good,
Caring wishes.
Wishing them well.
Good things happy for them.
Good things happen for them.
They live a life of ease.
And just reaffirming,
Repeating those words in your mind.
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.
Just repeating those a few times in your mind.
As you send these good wishes towards them.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
And then letting them go.
Letting their image dissolve.
Letting the words drift away.
Back to your body breathing.
And now visualizing,
Reconnecting with that sense of warm,
Loving,
Caring feelings in your physical body.
Expanding them so they fill your whole body.
And start radiating them out.
Just sending these good wishes,
This love,
This care out in all directions.
So it's radiating out of your body and into the world.
So that whoever might need a little extra care,
Extra support,
Will receive it.
So this love,
This caring,
Warm energy is radiating out of your body.
And traveling far and wide,
All across the globe.
So that whoever needs extra care,
Extra love,
Extra support,
Will receive it.
Again,
Maybe it's just that felt energetic sense.
Maybe it's a light or a color radiating out of your body.
Maybe it's an image radiating from your body.
Just sending those loving,
Caring wishes out into the world.
And reaffirming that mantra to yourself.
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.
Repeating that a few times as you send those good wishes out into the world.
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.
And now resting,
Bringing a hand and resting it on your chest.
Maybe two hands on your chest.
Maybe a hand on your chest and a hand on your belly.
Whatever feels most supportive.
And connecting with that hand,
The warmth,
That warm,
Supportive hand.
Maybe there's warmth where there's contact between the hand and the body.
And recognizing you as part of the global community.
And sending some of that love in towards yourself.
So maybe it's visualizing it.
The energy coming out of your hand and back into your body.
Maybe it's just a felt sense of sending love towards yourself.
Maybe it's filling yourself with those warm,
Loving feelings.
Just recognizing yourself as one of many people on this planet.
Who deserves love,
Support,
And care.
And sending those loving,
Caring energies in towards yourself.
Through your hand,
Into your body.
And just affirming the words,
Repeating the mantra a few times.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
Just repeating that to yourself a few times.
If there's discomfort or judgment or resistance,
Just see.
See if you can get it to step to one side for now.
And explore the possibility of what it might be like.
Just send some love,
Some care,
Some good wishes in towards yourself.
So you repeat the words.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
And letting go of the words.
Letting go of the visuals.
You can bring your hands back down if you'd like.
Just coming back to your body.
Body in the chair,
Body on the floor,
The bed,
Wherever you are.
The air on your skin,
The body breathing.
Feeling free to stay here for a little longer if you wish.
With the eyes closed or open.
Just observing your breath.
Otherwise,
Whenever you're ready.
Gently opening the eyes.
Stretching or moving if you need to.
And taking your time to go back to the rest of your day.
