Let's now set aside any distractions or other tasks or activities and come together in community to practice mindfulness.
And I'm feeling drawn today to do what's called a loving-kindness meditation,
Also known as a metta or maitri practice.
And a little bit different,
Once we do our settling in,
Our grounding,
Focusing with breathing,
I'll then offer you statements which you repeat silently to yourself.
And simply as a checking in,
What do you notice that shows up as you do these statements to yourself?
And so I just wanted to give you a heads up a little bit different type of meditation today.
So let's begin.
First,
Inviting a settling in,
Feet comfortably resting upon the floor,
Thighs and bottom supported by the chair.
Inviting a comfortable rising up of spine towards sky,
Not forced or rigid,
But just a lifting through the torso,
Through the top of head up towards sky.
Maybe some simple shoulder rolls to loosen and lower shoulders and torso.
Hands finding a comfortable resting place,
Maybe resting upon thighs or cuffed within lap,
Whichever you prefer.
Head resting comfortably atop spine and shoulders.
Inviting a loosening of jaw.
Lips can either be gently touching or slightly parted,
Whichever you prefer.
And eyes either opened or closed,
Whichever you find invites a deepening of focus in this moment.
And settling in.
Bringing your attention now to the very top,
The crown of head and slowly moving attention down through the body,
Just noticing across face,
Jaw and ears.
Noticing any tension or tightness,
Inviting a letting go as best as you can.
Moving your attention around the back of head,
Down into neck and across shoulders.
Down into arms,
Forearms and hands and fingers.
Noticing tension,
Inviting a letting go as best as you can.
Moving your attention now down across chest and upper back,
Ribs and mid-back and belly and lower back.
Noticing tension,
Inviting a letting go.
Moving your attention now into hips and thighs,
Across knees and the calves and across ankles and to feet and toes.
Noticing tension,
Inviting a letting go as best as you can.
And now having practiced self-care by simply checking in with body in this moment.
Now bringing your attention to body breathing,
Wherever it's easiest to make contact.
Perhaps feeling the rise and fall of chest and belly or the movement of air through nose or mouth.
Not needing to change or manipulate breathing,
But simply coming in close into contact with the sensations of body breathing.
And at any time during this exercise,
When,
Not if,
When you notice your focus has drifted away perhaps into some sort of thinking of the past or the future,
Just acknowledge that your focus has drifted,
No big deal.
And then with gentleness and kindness coming back to our object of focus,
Which in this moment is body breathing.
An opportunity of practicing this sense of an embodied mind.
Another way of recognizing the true oneness of mind-body,
Not two separate entities or experiences,
But it's really one complete experience to tune into by focusing on something such as breathing.
And as we transition now to a loving-kindness practice,
One thing that can sometimes be helpful if you're comfortable doing so is placing your hand over your heart region,
Over your chest.
Again,
Only if you're comfortable doing so.
And in this way,
That gentle pressure and warmth of hand upon chest is another way of infusing our practice with a compassion,
A kindness in this moment.
Noticing what shows up if you're placing hand upon chest and just acknowledging that in this moment.
And I'll be offering you some simple statements to say silently to yourself and just notice what shows up with these statements.
And if my words don't particularly fit,
That's okay.
Please change the words to something meaningful for yourself.
Let's begin with this loving-kindness practice.
So our first statement is,
May I be happy.
Just saying that silently to yourself and noticing what rises up in response and suspending judgment or striving for any particular experience,
I mean,
Opening to what shows up.
May I be happy.
May I be at peace.
May I be free from suffering.
Just noticing what shows up within with these statements of truly an act of caring for ourselves in this moment.
And now broadening this circle of compassion to include a dear love for yourself.
So bringing to mind a dear loved one in your mind's eye,
Either before you or by your side.
And extending this compassion to include them as well.
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
May you be free from suffering.
Just noticing what shows up as we tap into this endless well of compassion now and extend it to a dear loved one.
And now extending this circle of compassion even more broadly.
To someone in our life we have a neutral relationship with.
You know,
Maybe someone we see on a regular basis in our community,
At the grocery store,
At the office,
At the gym.
Someone we're aware of but really don't have either a positive or negative experience with.
And including them in our circle of compassion.
And now broadening this circle of compassion to include a dear loved one in your mind's eye.
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
May you be free from suffering.
Just noticing what shows up within as we extend our circle of compassion to this neutral person in our life.
And now we're going to extend our circle of compassion far and wide.
Including all of our family and friends,
Our community,
And perhaps even encircling the globe in this moment.
Extending our circle of compassion far and wide.
Including ourselves.
May we all be happy.
May we all be at peace.
May we all be free from suffering.
Just noticing what shows up as we play and explore with extending compassion far and wide.
Acknowledging there's no wrong or right experience to be happening.
It's a checking in of sorts.
Where am I at today?
And accessing this inner well of compassion,
This endless well of compassion,
And extending it to myself,
A dear loved one,
A neutral person,
And far and wide.
Being kind to yourself with whatever shows up in this moment.
And then coming back once again to the physical sensations of body breathing.
Resettling,
Refocusing,
Regrounding.
Maybe a moment of gratitude for showing up today.
Exploring a loving kindness meditation.
Now,
Opening your eyes if they were closed and inviting in your surroundings.
Maybe a little gentle stretch or movement as a way of mindfully moving back into activity with your full presence.
Thank you.
Appreciate you joining me for some love and kindness today.
And may you be well until we meet again.
