Seeds of Kindness.
This meditation is about planting and nurturing the seeds of kindness within ourselves.
It helps us to prepare the ground to receive these seeds so they have a chance to germinate and to grow.
In this practice the seeds of kindness are watered and nourished by the warmth of our attention,
By our good intentions and by helpful attitudes such as patience,
Openness and acceptance.
So beginning by finding a comfortable upright and dignified posture.
Feeling the firm foundation of your posture in the lower part of the body and the contact with the calm stable earth below.
A sense of really receiving that support of really allowing yourself to be held.
And to help you settle,
Taking a few longer deeper breaths.
Noticing the energizing,
Refreshing quality of the in-breath and the releasing,
Softening quality of the out-breath.
A sense of letting go.
And then after having taken a few deeper breaths in this way,
Taking a little time to allow your awareness to flow down your body from the crown of the head down to the feet.
Noting any tension that is there and just seeing what can be released.
Giving particular attention to areas where tension tends to linger such as the forehead,
The eyes,
The jaw,
The shoulders and the belly.
Softening whatever can be softened.
Accepting whatever remains.
And just seeing what it's like to rest your mouth into a gentle smile.
A smile that both symbolizes and supports your intention to meet your experience with patience,
Kindness,
Openness and acceptance.
Then directing your awareness to the breath.
The breath as it flows into and out of the body as a whole.
And simply noticing what there is to notice.
All the sensations and movements of the in-breath and all the sensations and movements of the out-breath.
Letting the breath be the resting place for your attention.
And knowing that the breath is something that you can come back to at any point during the meditation.
Should you feel for example a little disorientated or that you've lost your focus.
And practicing having a lot of patience whenever you become distracted from the breath.
Just very gently and kindly escorting your awareness back to the breath as many times as you need to without judgment.
And if it feels right,
Giving particular awareness to the sensations and the movement of the breath in the heart center.
Right in the middle of the chest.
So in this way staying with the heart center as you breathe in.
Staying with the heart center as you breathe out.
And staying with the heart center in the pauses between the breaths.
These moments of stillness,
Of rest.
You As well as the experience of the breath in this part of the body.
Perhaps also noticing the heartbeat and any other sensations that are there.
Such as warmth or tightness,
Heaviness or softness.
Whatever it may be.
So really tuning into what is in the heart center right now.
Accepting whatever you find there.
And perhaps you can explore a sense of each breath supporting you to soften this part of the body even more.
Releasing judgments.
Releasing resistance and tension.
So that you can really just open to whatever is here.
You And at this point or at any time during the meditation to help you connect with the qualities of the heart you might find it helpful to rest your hand there in the center of the chest.
Feeling the warmth and the gentleness of that touch.
As if to nurture the seeds of kindness.
So connecting with the heart center and connecting with these qualities of the heart.
The qualities of openness,
Of acceptance,
Of patience.
And then expanding your awareness out from the heart.
Just seeing if it's possible to relate to your experience,
Whatever it may be,
With friendliness and acceptance.
You It may be that there is ease and comfort in the body,
In the heart,
The mind.
Or it may be that there is discomfort or difficulty in the body,
Heart or mind.
There may be strong sensations,
Feelings or experiences.
Or there may be subtle ones or even just numbness.
Whatever is here as best you can,
Exploring this invitation to open to it,
To meet it with kindness and gentleness.
You Not trying to get rid of anything or block anything out.
In the case of uncomfortable feelings or sensations,
Being sure to acknowledge them respectfully.
To notice with compassion how and where they are showing up in the body.
And then perhaps imagining that you are bathing those areas in kindness.
Not to make them go away but to reach out to them,
To soothe them.
You When it comes to watering these seeds of kindness,
It can be helpful to remember a time when you offered kindness to someone else.
Perhaps a child,
A friend,
A loved one or even an animal.
Taking a little time to recall the details of that experience.
Where you were,
Who was there and how it felt.
And seeing if it's possible to then direct the same kindness and acceptance towards yourself and towards your own experience.
You You may find yourself losing focus or you may in this moment find it difficult to connect with any sense of kindness towards yourself.
In which case it can be helpful just to imagine what it would be like to relate to yourself and your experience in this way with kindness and unconditional acceptance.
Just like you would perhaps in the case of a dear friend.
There is no need to make anything happen.
No need to force anything or to try too hard.
For many of these invitations it may be that a sense of kindness arrives or it may be that it does not.
To prepare the ground and to nurture the seeds of kindness it is enough simply to explore these invitations with a spirit of openness,
Patience and curiosity.
So again and again as best you can.
Coming back to this intention to explore a sense of kindness towards yourself and towards your experience.
In the last part of this practice you might find it helpful to repeat some phrases that can strengthen this intention of kindness to self.
So repeating the following phrases silently in your heart with sincerity and gentleness.
As often as it's helpful to maintain your focus.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself just as I am.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself just as I am.
Really getting in touch with the intention beneath these phrases.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself just as I am.
So for the next short while continuing to repeat all or any of these phrases or any other phrases which resonate at this time.
As often as is helpful.
You Just as with seeds that we plant in the garden we cannot force the seeds of kindness to germinate and grow.
But we can diligently and patiently create the conditions for them to do so.
So by way of this practice as well as in daily life we can deliberately hold this intention to nurture the seeds of kindness.
Cultivating this heart quality towards ourselves,
Towards our experience and towards others.
