20 Mins Of Metta Meditation

This is a 20 minute long metta meditation I originally recorded for Mindful on Wall Street. Its purpose is to alleviate suffering and increase empathy. In this meditation, you will send loving kindness to people you know and do not know.

Transcript

Find a place where you are comfortable.

And whatever that looks like to you,

It could be sitting in a chair,

Could be laying down,

It could be walking,

Could be cross-legged.

Do you need to lean up against something?

That's absolutely perfect.

But settle into a place where you can comfortably sit and ground into where you are.

Notice the parts of your body that are making contact with the floor.

If your feet are on the ground,

Notice the weight of your toes and your heels.

Notice your sit bones grounding down to where you're sitting.

And I'll invite you to roll your shoulders up to your ears as you inhale.

Hold at the top of your breath and exhale,

Roll your shoulders down your spine.

As if you're rolling off a layer of today.

And we'll do that one more time.

Inhale,

Roll your shoulders up to your ears,

Breathing in,

And exhale,

Roll your shoulders down your spine,

Exhaling out any heaviness from today that you're carrying.

And I'll invite you now to close your eyes if that's accessible to you or just lower your gaze to the floor.

And begin to notice your breath without changing it,

But just check in.

Is your breath short and jagged?

Is your breath deep and full?

How are you feeling today?

And I'll invite you now to lengthen your breaths.

Slowly at first,

Seeing if you can take a four second inhale.

Inhaling for one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight.

Seeing if you can take a four second inhale.

Inhaling for one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Hold at the top full of air,

Feeling your lungs filled with oxygen.

Exhale for four,

Three,

Two,

One,

Sitting at the bottom of your breath,

Empty of air.

Inhaling again for one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Three,

Four.

You can continue at this cadence of breath if it serves you.

And if it doesn't,

Drop it.

And I'd like to invite you now to call into your mind a person that you really care about,

That you absolutely adore.

Maybe it's a partner or a friend or a parent.

And hold them in your mind,

The image of this person.

And if you could imagine that you're sitting at a table,

A beautiful table in a beautiful restaurant,

Maybe one you went to a year ago,

A place you can't wait to go back one day.

If you're sitting at that table,

Can you invite that person to sit across from you?

And just notice the expansion in your heart as you think about them.

This person who is so easy to care about.

And can you say to that person,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you live with ease.

And now let that image of that person begin to fade away.

And can you call now into your mind's eye,

The image of someone that you work with?

Maybe you've never met a person who's been in a relationship with you and maybe you've never met them in person.

You know that's possible.

Maybe you haven't seen them in a long time,

But it's someone who makes your workday better,

Someone who you cherish.

And we've been working alongside each other in our respective homes for a year now.

And can you imagine that they walk up to that table where you're sitting and you invite them to sit across from you?

And can you say to that person these words,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you live with ease.

Holding them in your heart,

Knowing that this year has been hard for everyone and that we know maybe 1% of what everyone is really carrying.

And let that image of that person begin to fade away.

I invite you to check in on yourself now.

Has your mind wandered?

How is your breath?

Just checking in,

Recommitting if needed.

Inhaling through your nose.

Exhale out your mouth.

And if you could call into your mind's eye now the image of someone you don't know very well at all.

Maybe if you went outside today,

Someone who passed by on the street,

Or if you've been ordering groceries,

Maybe the person who delivered those.

Someone who is tangential to you in your orbit.

Maybe you don't even know their name.

And can you think of that person holding their image in your mind's eye?

And can you invite them to that same table sitting across from you?

Inviting them to relax and have a glass of water.

And can you say to this person,

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you live with ease.

Continuing to notice your breath.

Letting the image of that person fade away.

And can you think now of a person you do not know at all?

Maybe a person on this Zoom call.

Maybe the parent of one of your coworkers.

Maybe someone completely on the other side of the Earth who you've never walked past on the street.

Can you imagine this person?

Can you invite them to that same treasured table to sit across from you?

And can you say those same caring things?

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you live with ease.

Exhaling through your nose.

Exhaling out your mouth.

And if you're sitting or standing,

Could you notice the palms of your hands?

And can you,

If it feels comfortable to you,

Turn them face down?

On your thighs or making contact with yourself,

Grounding down in a new way.

And can you think about yourself when you were seven or ten?

Little you.

And can you invite that little you to the table to sit across from you?

And can you say those same caring things,

Those same compassionate things that you say and you think about other people all the time?

Can you say them to yourself?

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I too live with ease.

Inhaling through your nose.

Exhale out your mouth like a sigh.

And can you think about all of the people that you've held in your mind's eye over these past few minutes?

And can you think about all of the people that they care about?

And all of the people that they care about?

And so on and so on.

Can you think about this entire contagion of people on Earth?

All sitting at their own respective tables,

In their own respective chairs.

Can you imagine all beings on Earth?

And can you say those same things?

May all people be happy.

May all people be healthy.

May all people live with ease.

Inhale through your nose.

Exhale out your mouth.

Checking in with your heart space,

Noticing if there is expansion there.

I like to imagine,

Like Iron Man,

There is this warm glow in my heart when I consider all of the people I care about and all of those people who care about us.

And I'll invite you to take one more big breath,

Inhaling all of this positive energy you have cultivated.

Inhale for one,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Holding at the top of your breath,

Your belly full.

And now exhale out your mouth,

Sighing out every bit of heaviness you still have for four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And I'll encourage you to bring slowly at first just a little bit of sensation back into your body.

Wiggle your toes.

Twinkle your fingers.

Roll out your neck.

Drop any tension in your jaw or in your eye sockets.

Maybe roll your shoulders.

And when you feel comfortable,

I invite you to reopen your eyes.

Maybe stand up and stretch.

Move your limbs.

That's 20 minutes of meditation straight.

Amazing job.

So give us a few moments to come back.

And I'll be acknowledging all of the work that you did here.

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May you be safe, and find peace within your heart

Namaste 🙏🏼