Hi there,
I'm Kianne Ademir from Mysore Yoga Paris.
These droplets designed to support you in your practice are a collaboration between myself and sound artist Jotham Agam.
They're best experienced listening with headphones.
So,
Yesterday I shared one of the four pillars of this approach that I call Yoga Bhavana,
Which was Metta Bhavana,
The cultivation of care.
So we went through it in quite some detail yesterday for those of you who weren't here.
As a more traditional,
Formal meditation practice,
Metta practice falls under concentration practice.
So instead of resting the mind simply on the breath,
As we do in Samatha practice,
In a way all whatever meditation practice you engage with,
It sort of has its ground in Samatha practice,
In resting in awareness.
Metta practice,
Instead of focusing on the breath,
We focus on certain phrases.
We rest our mind on specific phrases.
And the traditional Metta phrases are,
May you be safe.
So,
May you be safe,
It begins here because without a fundamental sense of safety,
It is impossible to practice.
If we're unsafe,
If we're fleeing for our life,
We cannot practice.
So it's sort of the foundation that we have a level of safety.
May you be happy.
This phrase,
For me personally,
Took a little time to sort of become friends with,
Because I felt some kind of pressure of being extraordinarily happy all the time,
Which is not my experience of life,
Unfortunately.
But it's not that kind of sort of winning the lottery happy,
As you might think when you hear may you be happy.
It's more a sense of well-being,
Contentment,
We talk about santosha in Sanskrit,
A level of mental,
Emotional,
A sense of being at ease,
Well-being.
So may you be happy.
May you be healthy.
So you also have a level of physical health.
And when we talk about physical health here,
It's simply being healthy enough to be able to sit or lay down so that you can practice the Dharma.
May you be healthy.
And then the last phrase is may you live with ease.
May your life not be such a struggle.
You might notice that the phrases that I use are slightly different.
They vary a little bit from tradition to tradition,
But also we can create our own phrases that feel more authentic to us,
That feel more natural to us.
But today I'll guide us through a more sort of traditional meta-practice,
But I might not use these sort of most common phrases,
But other phrases that I've come to connect with in my own practice so that you have something to lean into today.
But just know that you can use whichever phrases feel natural to you.
So take a moment to settle into your seat,
And I'll ring the gong to mark that we are going into formal practice.
Taking a few deeper breaths to simply arrive in your body.
See if you can let your out-breath teach you how to let go into this shared space,
Into the ground,
Into this precious moment.
And see if your in-breaths can open up some space,
Some room in your body.
Devotion to the practice,
Feeling the support from the ground,
Feeling what it feels like to sit here with a tall spine and tender heart,
Allowing a subtle bow of the head towards our heart space,
Spacious through the neck.
Soften your eyes,
Offering yourself a friendly inner gaze.
Soften your jaw and your lips.
You might naturally feel a smile arising from the inside of your mouth,
That half-smile of the Buddha,
Connecting us to a sense of ease and benevolence,
Allowing a friendly attention to sweep through your body,
And noticing if there are any areas of your body that is asking for a bit more care.
You might want to place your two hands on your belly center,
Connecting to this home ground,
Allowing your belly to soften,
Allowing yourselves to feel held,
But also to hold this shared space.
Now if it's helpful,
You could place one of your hands onto your own heart space,
The other one might rest on your belly,
Knowing that the heart has its root in the belly,
Receives support from the belly,
Feeling the warmth of your listening hand onto your heart,
And whatever resides in your heart this morning,
If you can offer a friendly listening attention,
Then you might want to offer blessings onto your own heart.
May I be safe,
May I be happy,
May I be free from suffering,
May I have peace,
May I awaken and be free.
You can continue to repeat these phrases,
Or anything else that resonates with you,
That feels authentic.
May I be safe,
Happy,
Free from suffering,
May I have peace,
And be free.
Now is there anyone else in your life that could benefit from this heart space that you would like to invite in to this heart space?
Take a moment to bring them to mind,
And see if you can tap into their struggles,
Their challenges,
Feel into their experience.
May you and me both be safe,
May the both of us be happy,
Free from suffering,
May we have peace,
May we awaken and be free.
May we both be safe,
Free from suffering,
May we have peace,
May we awaken and be free.
Now explore if you could widen your heart space further,
Perhaps begin by including this room,
These beings,
Inviting them into your heart.
And moving beyond that,
See how wide your heart space can grow,
Knowing that your capacity for metta,
For care,
Is immeasurable,
Is unending.
Inviting all living beings to share this heart space,
Human and non-human,
All being,
In the oceans,
In the sky,
All beings,
Everywhere,
In all ten directions.
May we all,
All beings everywhere,
Be safe,
Happy,
May all living beings be free from suffering,
May we all have peace,
May all beings everywhere awaken,
Allowing your heart space to grow wider,
More spacious,
And simply rest in this field of metta for a few moments.
Take a deep breath,
If you want you can bow your head to your human heart,
And gently blink your eyes open again.
