30 Minute Guided Loving Kindness Meditation

This 30-minute guided loving-kindness meditation focuses on generating and sustaining the feeling of Metta — warm, sincere well-wishing — directed toward yourself. The session begins with the four smiles (lips, eyes, mind, heart) to settle the mind and body, then guides you to locate the warm glow of loving-kindness in your chest and rest your awareness there for the full session.

This track is particularly helpful for reducing stress and mental agitation, cultivating self-compassion, easing difficult emotions, and building the concentration needed for deeper meditation. It is also an effective tool for improving sleep quality and settling an anxious or restless mind.

Transcript

First, Let's get into a meditative position. Typically that's in a chair. Some people might be seated on a cushion or you know on the floor with their backs against the wall. Just whatever works for you. And we're just going to settle in here. We're just going to get very relaxed. We're going to find that meditative posture. Just don't worry about anything. We're just going to relax and let go here for a moment. If you've got a itch that needs scratched or you need to adjust, You just kind of want to take a moment here and settle in. All right. We will be doing a guided meta or loving kindness meditation this morning and we'll spend the whole 30 minutes just rating loving kindness to ourselves. The way that we will start this is, We're going to place a little smile on our face, An actual physical smile. And the reason we do this is, It uplifts the mind. It's a very wholesome activity that helps to set the tone for generating metta. And then next, We're going to place a little smile in our eyes. And you just want that little crinkle in your eyes. It's kind of like when you see an old friend and you're going to be getting together with them or you, You know, See someone that you really admire, Just kind of that uplift a little bit, Smile in the eyes. Third, We're going to place a smile in our mind. And this helps uplift, Helps uplift our, Our sense. And then fourth, We're going to place a smile right in our heart, Right where we're going to be generating that metta. We just do a, A warm, Peaceful smile, Just like that. And then, We're just going to relax. Just take a deep breath. Just let that out. Just relax. Perfect. Please bring up a feeling of loving-kindness for yourself and place that right here in your chest. Loving-kindness is that warm glow, That peaceful wholesomeness. And think of it like a candle that just glows and radiates. It's not a spotlight. We're not trying to force anything. We're just going to let that loving-kindness rest right here in our heart with that smile, Just like that. And we're going to let that glow, That loving-kindness just be radiated to ourselves. Just wrap ourselves in that, Kind of like a warm blanket of loving-kindness, Just wrapping ourselves in that. And just let that little glow, Just like a candle, Just radiate to ourselves. Yeah, Just like that. And if that feeling of loving-kindness doesn't come up for you right away, That's perfectly fine. That's okay. You might want to recall a time that you felt that to help generate that loving-kindness right here. Do you think about maybe a time that you held a baby or held your child or even a grandchild? Just that feeling of just peace, Loving-kindness, That relaxation where everything in the world is wonderful. That's the feeling we're looking for. And it's that feeling, The feeling of loving-kindness right here. Just want to radiate that gently to ourselves. Yeah, Just like that. And if you're familiar with the six R's and you find that your mind wanders away, You'll want to gently use the six R's to bring your awareness back. And just let it rest on that feeling of loving-kindness. And if you're new to this practice and your mind wanders, Don't worry about it. Just relax when your mind wanders away. Just gently, Kindly bring your awareness back to that feeling of loving-kindness. Just rest in that. Just radiate that to yourself. That's all we're doing here. It's very calm, Very peaceful. Just let that loving-kindness glow to ourselves. Just let that warm glow of loving-kindness for yourself continue. Just rest in that. Just relax. Just rest your awareness on the feeling, That feeling of loving-kindness for yourself. Just let that glow, Just like a candle, Just radiates out in all directions. It just goes where it wants to. Feel that radiating for yourself like a blanket of loving-kindness. We just rest our awareness in that. If our mind wanders away from the loving-kindness, That's okay. The mind is going to do what the mind is going to do. We don't beat ourselves up about it. We just gently, Kindly bring our awareness back to that feeling of loving-kindness. We just rest there. We relax. Just rest in that warm glow. Now, Gently come back to the present moment. Don't rush to break your meditation. Just relax. Just rest in that feeling of loving-kindness for yourself. And just reflect back how that felt and know that you can bring that up at any time. You can do this while you're washing the dishes or walking the dog or driving your car. Bhante Villamaramsi always said, This is an all-the-time practice. Sometimes we just need a little reminder that we can radiate loving-kindness to ourselves at any time. So you can slowly, Gently open your eyes and come back.