A very warm welcome to this loving-kindness practice.
My name is Michael Atkinson and this meditation will last for a duration of around 30 minutes.
So just establishing yourself in your meditation posture,
Ensuring that you are comfortable and relaxed,
But also alert.
Finding a steadiness in your posture by perhaps widening your stance or adjusting your cushions and your knees if you're cross-legged.
Bringing the shoulders back to open the chest and maybe adopting a half-smile.
Bringing some uplift to the upper body as if you're being gently pulled upwards,
Just to allow yourself to remain alert and aware.
And perhaps moving your body backwards and forwards to side to side gently just to find your centre of balance.
So I invite you now to take some deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Nice generous in-breaths and extended out-breaths as if you're trying to empty the lungs entirely.
And when you're ready,
Just allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm.
And now bringing your attention to how you are,
Just checking in with yourself.
First of all,
Just noticing your state of mind.
As best you can,
Just noticing without judgment,
Without the need to modify,
Seeing if you can allow the mind to be as it is.
And also noticing how you feel.
Bringing attention to your heart area,
Your heart centre,
Maybe even placing a hand there gently to help you tune in.
Again,
Noticing without judgment and bringing some kindness towards yourself,
Some warmth.
Just allowing whatever's there to be there.
And I encourage you throughout this loving kindness practice to meditate from this heart centre,
To stay tuned to this area.
And now when you're ready,
Just expanding your field of attention to your whole body,
Noticing your posture,
Noticing your facial expression,
Readjusting the posture if necessary.
And scanning through the face and the body for any signs of tightness or tension that you may be holding unnecessarily.
It's typically in the shoulders or between the eyebrows or in the jaw,
But can be anywhere in the body.
And once identified,
Seeing if it's possible to soften those areas somewhat,
Maybe just drop the shoulders a few more millimetres,
Relax the jaw,
But keeping a strong and steady posture.
Now bring attention more into the body,
Noticing the contact between the body and the floor,
The chair,
The cushion.
Noticing your hands resting in your lap.
Bringing attention to your breathing,
Simply noticing when you're breathing in and when you're breathing out.
And perhaps using the breath as your anchor during this practice,
Or some other part of your body,
Whatever works for you.
Now we're going to go into the loving kindness practice.
So just a summary,
The first stage is where we bring well-wishing to ourself.
Second stage is wishing our good friend,
Our loved one well.
Third stage,
The neutral person,
This is someone we don't feel strongly for or against.
Maybe this could be a local shopkeeper or somebody who delivers your post.
Fourth stage is where we bring to mind a difficult person.
And if you're fairly new to this kind of practice,
I would encourage you to choose somebody who is maybe just mildly difficult to you,
Maybe just irritates you slightly.
Perhaps somebody you don't have great rapport with,
Nothing too emotive.
And throughout these stages,
I encourage you to stay alert to whatever feelings arise,
Particularly positive,
Warm,
Open-hearted feelings.
And also noticing any resistance that you might have towards wishing any of those four people well,
Just bringing a sense of curiosity to that without judgment and with kindness,
Just noticing that.
So following these four stages,
We bring to mind all four people,
Wishing them well as equally as we can,
And then extending that well-wishing out further to others.
You can do this through choosing friends and family first,
Then to other people around the world.
You can choose to focus geographically on people who are in our room,
In our building,
In our town,
City or country,
And then expanding around the world.
And we can expand that further to non-human beings and the world as a whole,
The environment,
As you wish.
So let's move into stage one of the loving-kindness practice,
Bringing your good self to mind.
You could perhaps imagine an image of yourself or just getting a sense of who you are,
Bringing attention to the body,
Whatever helps you connect in some way with yourself.
And this connection may come and go and that's fine.
What matters here is the intention and the cultivation of positive regard towards yourself and others throughout the rest of the practice.
If it helps,
You could hold a hand to your heart space,
Just to help you tune in.
So I will begin to repeat some phrases which we will repeat throughout the different stages,
Starting with may I be well.
May I be happy.
May I live a life of ease.
May I be free from suffering and pain.
May I find peace of mind.
It's just allowing those phrases to resonate.
And at any point throughout the practice,
If the mind wanders,
Just using the breath or the body as an anchor to draw your attention back to the present moment.
So just tuning into your heart center.
You may notice some kindling of warmth,
Of kindness,
Of openness.
But if not,
That's fine too.
Just persist with the practice.
Maybe having a minute or so to yourself to repeat one of the phrases or add your own if you wish.
And now,
Allowing your sense of self to fade temporarily into the background.
And moving to the second stage,
Evoking a sense of a loved one,
Good friend.
This could also be a pet if you wish.
Just allowing yourself a little time to choose somebody and find some form of connection with this person.
So may they be well.
May they be happy.
May they live a life of ease.
May they be free from suffering and pain.
May they find peace of mind.
So again,
Maybe spending another minute or so on your own,
Repeating a phrase or two,
Maybe adding your own,
Wishing this person well.
Tuning into any positive feeling that this may be evoking within you.
And when you're ready,
Just allowing this person to temporarily fade into the background.
And now moving to stage three,
Where we bring to mind a neutral person.
Somebody we don't like or dislike.
Just maybe see around.
Taking your time to choose somebody.
And again,
Bringing that sense of curiosity to the choice you make.
Perhaps somebody pops up and you discard them until you find somebody you wish to focus on.
So may they be well.
May they be happy.
May they live a life of ease.
May they live a life of ease.
May they be free from suffering and pain.
May they find peace of mind.
Again,
Just spending another minute or so on your own,
Spending a minute with this person,
Wishing them well in a way that works best for you.
When you're ready,
Allow this person to temporarily fade into the background.
Now moving to stage four,
Bringing to mind the difficult person.
So just taking your time to choose somebody.
It can be helpful to reflect at this stage that this person is likely difficult because in some way they are suffering.
It's trying to form some kind of connection.
And again,
May they be well.
May they be happy.
May they live a life of ease.
May they be free from suffering and pain.
May they find peace of mind.
So again,
Just spending a minute or so wishing this person well in your own way.
When you're ready,
Bringing all four people together in your mind's eye.
Or you can perhaps imagine that you're holding all four people tenderly in your heart,
Recognizing the shared humanity.
May we all be well.
May we all be happy.
May we all live a life of ease.
May we all be free from suffering and pain.
May we all find peace of mind.
Just having a minute or so on your own.
Tuning in.
Tuning into your heart space to any positive feeling that you may have cultivated throughout the practice so far.
Maybe this manifests as warmth.
Maybe a little more open-heartedness.
Perhaps some positive intention.
Expanding that well-wishing out further to others nearby,
The village,
The town,
The city within which you live,
All the people you know.
Within which you are practicing.
Expanding to the whole of humanity and perhaps non-human beings and the world as a whole too.
May all beings be well.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings live a life of ease.
May all beings be free from suffering and pain.
May all beings find peace of mind.
Now just dwelling in any positive feeling.
Allowing your breath to take you into your heart space.
To take your attention there.
Allowing your breath to take your attention into these feelings.
And if you feel fairly neutral,
That's fine too.
Just notice that.
This is an ongoing practice.
It may take a while to kindle those flames of compassion and empathy,
Kindness towards yourself and others.
Now bringing your attention into your body,
Your breath,
Your surroundings.
Noticing the contact with the chair and the floor,
The cushions.
Noticing sounds and light.
Sensing into the space surrounding you.
Maybe starting to wiggle the toes,
The fingers.
Taking a few deep breaths.
Maybe starting to stretch the arms.
And when you're ready,
Starting to flicker the eyes open if you have them closed.
Taking in your surroundings.
And relaxing as you wish.
Thank you for joining me in this meditation.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
