Welcome,
My name is Pam Ressler.
I'm a holistic nurse and the founder of Stress Resources.
Today the type of meditation which I will be guiding you is called Metta or loving kindness.
Loving kindness is often easier to extend to others than to ourselves.
But it's essential that we develop strategies for our own self-care and self-compassion in order to care for others.
So allowing yourself to come to a comfortable position and posture,
You could be sitting up or perhaps choosing to recline or lay down.
Let's start by noticing the breath in the belly,
Simply bringing the breath in on the in-breath and letting it go on the out-breath.
Now let's begin what I like to call CPR.
Don't be worried,
I don't mean cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
But CPR,
Compassion for ourselves,
Is also urgent in an emergency.
So let's start with that first C of CPR.
And using that C as a way to imagine compassion.
Perhaps it's easiest to imagine a small child or someone hurt and the words that you would say to comfort them.
Are you okay?
Do you need help?
Allowing these words to bathe over ourselves.
The P in this form of CPR is to actually identify an area of pain or suffering within ourselves.
Perhaps you have a lot on your plate,
A lot of things you're doing,
And so placing your hand on your forehead is a way to identify that.
Perhaps you're feeling a pain or some sort of tension in the body.
Place your hand on that area of the body and simply feel that someone is listening and that someone is yourself.
Taking another breath and letting go of wherever you've placed the hand.
And now our R in our CPR for self-compassion will be how we respond to that area of pain.
And how we respond is actually this Metta or loving kindness meditation.
So starting with yourself and allowing these traditional words of Metta to bathe over you during this meditation.
I will be repeating them twice and you simply need to bring them in to that area of compassion that resides within ourselves.
So let's begin.
May I be happy.
May I be happy.
May I be as healthy as possible.
May I be as healthy as possible.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be at peace.
May I be at peace.
Breathing into that area of warmth or loving kindness.
May feel it in your chest or throughout the body or perhaps just noticing your breath.
Allowing that area of loving kindness to extend in some way to include friends and loved ones.
Extending your loving kindness out now.
May they be happy.
May they be happy.
May they be as healthy as possible.
May they be as healthy as possible.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be at peace.
May they be at peace.
Taking another breath.
Allowing that flame of compassion and loving kindness to burn a little brighter within ourselves.
Now extending it outward again to include neutral people in your life.
People who you don't have judgement towards.
You may not even know their names.
But simply bringing their image to mind and extending to these people loving kindness.
May they be happy.
May they be happy.
May they be as healthy as possible.
May they be as healthy as possible.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be at peace.
May they be at peace.
Taking a breath in again.
Allowing it to move throughout the body again.
Allowing that flame of compassion within you to burn a bit brighter with each breath in and each breath out.
Allowing your loving kindness to extend to difficult people in your life.
Perhaps people you've had disagreements with or anger towards.
Without expectation of your loving kindness being reciprocated,
Returned or even received.
Allow yourself to let go and extend loving kindness to these difficult people in your life.
May they be happy.
May they be happy.
May they be as healthy as possible.
May they be as healthy as possible.
Free from suffering.
May they be free from suffering.
May they be at peace.
May they be at peace.
Allowing your breath to fuel that loving kindness,
That flame of compassion,
Allowing it to burn brighter within yourself and extending it outward yet again to include all living beings.
All living things.
May we be happy.
May we be happy.
May we be as healthy as possible.
May we be as healthy as possible.
May we be free from suffering.
May we be free from suffering.
May we live in peace.
May we live in peace.
Now simply allowing the breath to again stoke that flame of compassion.
Allowing it to simply burn a little brighter with each breath in and each breath out.
As we come to this end of the Metta meditation,
Allowing yourself to remember this feeling of loving kindness throughout your day.
The necessity of giving ourselves CPR.
Thank you for joining me today.
Thank you.
Thank you.
