Hi,
My name is Nina Grunewald and today I am going to guide you on a loving-kindness meditation.
Today's theme is self-love and that is such a beautiful and deep and sacred practice so be extra kind with yourself here today.
So let's start,
Relax and open your heart so we can begin.
I invite you to get into a really comfortable position,
That is very important for this practice.
So do your last adjustments now,
Get really comfy,
Lean back,
Settle in.
Notice your shoulders dropping down and your hands relax,
Resting in your lap or on your side and holding your chin underneath your head,
Not looking up or down.
Take a nice long deep breath all the way into your stomach,
Open your mouth,
Take a long deep exhale to let it go.
Let's do that again,
Breathe into your stomach nice and long,
Pause for a moment before you open your mouth and exhale to let go.
And one last time,
Inhale a nice nourishing breath in,
Pause and letting it go.
As we begin this practice allow yourself to settle into your body.
Notice how the body is feeling,
Noticing if there are any predominant thoughts distracting you from this meditation and take a conscious moment to bring your full awareness and full attention here to this moment.
You can begin by focusing on how your body is breathing and if it helps you can label your inhales and your exhales with breathing in and breathing out,
Labeling each breath while you stabilize your mind.
From time to time your mind might wander away and when it does effortlessly bring it back to this moment.
And now as you begin to stabilize your mind I invite you to picture yourself in front of you and picture everything that you love about yourself,
No matter how big or how small,
Whether big qualities or things that you can see,
Noticing all of that embodied in a version of you.
Notice what she looks like,
What her eyes look like and sending yourself in your mind these good wishes.
May I be filled with loving kindness,
May I be at peace,
May I be filled with self compassion,
May I live a life of deep joy,
May I be filled with love for myself.
Now further opening the aperture of self love I want you to now picture another shape in front of yourself,
Picture a part of you that you feel neutral about,
Again that can be qualities or parts of your body.
She may look different from you,
Different from the first version,
She might symbolize a part of you,
Something abstract.
Something that you usually don't give a lot of attention to,
That you don't think about much but that is a part of you.
Visualize them in front of you and sending them these good wishes.
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be at peace,
May you be filled with self compassion,
May you live a life of deep joy,
May you be filled with love for yourself.
I see you.
And now lastly opening the aperture of self love even further,
Picture a part of you that you find difficult to accept or love.
Knowing that true deep confidence,
Compassion and self love root in your ability to love all parts of yourself.
And so see this part in front of you,
Visualize them looking at you and you may want to tell them I see you,
I hear you.
And here today in this meditation we take another route,
A path of the usual loving kindness phrases and I invite you to try on the Hawaiian prayer of self forgiveness.
Still visualizing in front of you the part that you find a bit difficult to accept,
Love or be compassionate with and sending them these words.
I'm sorry,
Please forgive me,
Thank you,
I love you.
And take a deep breath into that,
Loosening the grip of the breath if it's tied into your throat or has stopped entirely.
Taking a deep breath into these wishes and this prayer,
Letting the breath truly flow.
Beautiful.
And knowing that having seen all of these different parts of you in this meditation,
None of them are who you are at your essence.
At your essence you are the one sending the loving wishes,
You are the loving awareness that's always here no matter what.
And now bring your attention back to your body.
As you bring your attention back to your body I invite you to take a deep long breath again into your stomach.
Open your mouth,
Exhale and let it go.
And again take a long deep breath in into your chest and belly.
And as you open your mouth let your whole body exhale.
And taking a last deep breath in into all your beautiful cells.
Opening your mouth and letting now everything go with a sigh,
A smile and a sway of your body.
Begin to notice how you feel.
Notice what feelings you feel.
Perhaps a feeling of deeper love or joy or kindness embracing you.
And take this energy into your day.
How can you be kinder to yourself today?
So begin to come back to this moment,
To this room that you are in.
Gently moving your fingers and your toes.
Perhaps rolling your eyes behind your eyelids.
Rolling your head on your neck.
And gently coming back.
Opening your eyes whenever you're ready.
And taking all of this into your day or evening.
Enjoy.
