Begin by finding a comfortable seat or perhaps lying down.
Maybe taking a roll of the neck or the shoulders or any other movements you need to find stillness.
Settling in,
Starting to find the focus on the breath.
Just recognizing the gentle rise and fall of the chest and of the abdomen.
Not trying to necessarily change the breath at all,
Just being aware of it,
Being in the moment with it.
With your next inhale,
Gently thinking the words,
I am.
With your exhale,
Thinking letting go.
Inhaling,
I am.
Exhaling,
Letting go.
One last time,
Inhaling,
I am.
Exhaling,
Letting go.
Begin to bring to mind a person or even a pet.
Someone you love or something you love.
Wholeheartedly,
With no limits and no conditions.
Holding them perfectly in your mind,
Feeling that love for them.
Maybe even acknowledging where that love lives inside the body and what it feels like.
With each breath,
Allowing that love to grow maybe just a little bit more.
You might even visualize this person or pet as though they were in front of you.
Allowing the love to grow as you inhale.
As you exhale,
Gently sending it their way.
Maybe you visualize them right in front of you,
Sending it directly to them in front of you.
Or maybe you visualize it passing through the airwaves all the way to wherever they are right now.
Allowing your love to continue to grow,
That sensation to continue to grow.
As you begin to send the love their way,
This time thinking,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be free from all suffering.
Repeating that twice more,
Allowing the love to grow as you inhale.
And as you send your love to them,
Saying gently to them,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be free from all suffering.
Repeating that process one more time,
Sending love with the phrases,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be free from all suffering.
Keeping that sensation of love with you,
But allowing the image of that specific person to fade.
Or that specific pet to fade.
Tapping into whatever sensations of love are there,
Taking note of what they feel like.
If there's a color or texture,
Weight,
A lightness,
Brightness,
Or darkness.
Noticing where in the body you feel that love.
From that spot in the body,
Allowing both the sensation of love to grow,
But also visualizing that place physically growing.
So it encompasses all of you,
And then all of the room that you're in.
Maybe all of the building you're in,
Your house,
Wherever you are.
Allowing that love to flow through any beings inside your house,
Be they human or otherwise.
Any other beings in the building with you,
And then expanding that love field even further out to maybe the entire block that you're on,
To all beings,
All creatures on the block.
Sending each of them love,
Allowing that field to continue growing until maybe it surrounds an entire neighborhood,
Or the entire city.
All creatures within that city,
Getting just a little bit of that sensation of love from you.
Allowing that love to continue to grow to as large a field as you feel you can create and sustain.
Maybe it's the whole city,
Maybe the whole county,
The state,
The country,
Maybe even all the way across the entire globe.
However big a field you feel you can sustain.
Each breath,
Feeling that love grow.
Feeling the strength of it as you inhale,
And this time as you exhale,
Thinking,
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be free from all suffering.
Repeating that process twice more,
Feeling the strength of your love,
The strength of that field,
Stretching out as far as you can.
And as you exhale,
Thinking,
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be free from all suffering.
Repeating it one more time,
Finding the strength of your love,
The strength of the field that you create.
And then wishing,
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings be free from all suffering.
Allowing that field to shrink gently back in until it covers just the surface of your body.
That feeling of love flowing through every vein,
Through every joint,
Through every muscle,
Every neurological connection,
Every nerve.
Beginning to send that love back to yourself.
Maybe even imagining looking at yourself in a mirror,
Gazing into your own eyes,
As though you were gazing into the eyes of someone you love dearly.
With that same amount of love that you had for that first person or first pet.
Beginning to send that love back to yourself through your own reflection,
Through gazing into your own eyes.
As you inhale,
Feeling the strength of that love reflected back into you.
As you exhale,
Thinking,
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be free from all suffering.
Sending yourself back that love.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be free from all suffering.
Allowing yourself to gaze into your own heart.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be free from all suffering.
Allowing that love to grow just a little bit more,
To flow just a little bit more smoothly.
Staying with that sensation of self-love for as long as you need and as long as you want.
That compassion back to yourself.
When you feel ready,
Allowing that feeling to dissipate.
Allowing the focus to return to the breath,
The natural rhythm,
The rise and fall,
Without the need to change.
With love and compassion for who you are in this moment as you breathe.
When you feel ready,
Beginning to find more movement in the body,
Maybe gently blinking eyes open,
Taking a conscious swallow and returning to your day.
