Loving Kindness Meditation
Loving Kindness is the authentic desire for yourself or another person to be happy. We can feel it on our bodies as open, spacious, warm, relaxation, a smile, joy. In this 15-minute meditation, you will practice sending loving-kindness to yourself and others by repeating phrases or using images to cultivate the feelings in your body.
Transcript
Find a comfortable position,
Whether that's sitting,
Standing,
Or even lying down.
I invite you to remain relaxed,
Yet alert in your posture if you're sitting or standing,
Bringing an awareness to your spine,
Working to have a straight,
Stacked spine.
Close your eyes if that feels comfortable,
Or you can also just soften the gaze in front of and slightly below you if that feels better to you.
And we're going to start by using our awareness to bring some relaxation to the body,
Starting with the forehead,
Noticing any tension that's present.
And if so,
Invite some relaxation to enter and soften this area.
Moving to your eyes,
Noticing any tension in the eye area,
And inviting relaxation to soften.
Going next to your cheeks,
Noticing any tension in the cheeks,
Down to the mouth,
The lips,
The tongue,
Any tension you can invite relaxation to enter and soften.
And moving to the jaw,
Noticing any tension in the muscles of the jaw,
Inviting a release and a relaxation.
Moving down to the neck,
Tops of the shoulders,
Release and relax as you continue to scan the upper arms,
The lower arms,
And into the hands,
Letting relaxation enter each finger,
Softening the hands.
And coming to the chest area,
Noticing any tension in the muscles and the chest,
And letting your awareness sink all the way down into your heart space,
Letting relaxation enter the heart,
The muscles around the heart,
Softening,
Opening,
Letting go.
Moving down to your abdomen,
The stomach,
The intestines,
And all the organs in the abdomen,
Inviting some relaxation to enter,
Soften any tension that might be here.
Moving to the hips,
The pelvis,
The seat,
Releasing,
Relaxing,
Letting this sink you deeper into the ground.
Moving to your upper back,
Noticing any tension and inviting it to melt away as you continue to scan to your mid-back and your lower back,
Watching as the tension melts into the ground below you.
The neck scanning your upper legs,
Moving to your lower legs,
And coming down into the feet,
Letting relaxation ease any tension that you notice in the feet.
And now bring your whole body into your awareness,
Noticing what's here and what's present in your body right now.
Maybe there's more relaxation present,
Maybe there's not.
There's no right or wrong.
Just notice how you feel in your body right now.
We're not gonna practice opening to and receiving and then sending loving kindness by repeating phrases silently in the mind.
We'll start by sending loving kindness to ourselves and there are several ways to do this.
You can imagine the energy of these phrases you'll be repeating moving through your body.
You can imagine that someone you love who you feel loves you unconditionally like a grandparent,
A partner,
Even a pet,
Sending these phrases to you and you can imagine yourself receiving this loving kindness from this person who loves you.
You could also imagine yourself at another time in your life as a child or sometime that you feel connected to and we're happy.
Send these phrases to that version of yourself if that feels easier.
Just play around with what feels good to you.
You can always try something new anytime during the meditation.
I'm gonna make some suggestions of phrases but feel free to change words or add any phrases that feel good to you right now.
So repeating after me silently in the mind.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy in body and in mind.
May I be at ease.
May I accept myself just as I am.
May I be kind to myself.
May I have peace and well-being.
Repeating one,
Two,
All or a phrase of your own that feels good to you right now silently in the mind as you imagine yourself receiving and opening to the love from these phrases.
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy in body and in mind.
May I be at ease.
May I accept myself just as I am.
May I be kind to myself.
May I have peace and well-being.
Continuing on your own,
Repeating these phrases silently in the mind as you open to receive these warm wishes of well-being.
May I be at ease.
I'm letting go of these.
Now bring to mind someone that you wish to send loving kindness to.
If you're new to this meditation,
I may suggest that you start with an easier relationship,
A loved one,
Maybe even a pet.
And as you continue to practice,
You could explore sending loving kindness to a more challenging person.
Bringing this person fully to your mind and maybe imagine that you're sending these loving kindness phrases from your heart to theirs.
Let them be affected by the loving kindness you're sending.
Once again,
I'll offer some suggestions,
But feel free to use one,
Two,
Or change them to whatever feels good to you to send to this person.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy in body and in mind.
May you be at ease.
May you have joy in your life.
May you accept yourself just as you are.
May you be kind to yourself.
May you have peace and well-being.
Repeating any of these or whatever feels good to you in this moment,
Imagining the energy of these loving kindness phrases being received by this person in your mind.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy in body and in mind.
May you be at ease.
Living on your own.
Maybe imagining that these phrases of loving kindness are going from your heart to the heart of the person you're sending them to,
Letting them receive and be affected by these wishes of well-being.
Finally,
We're going to send these loving kindness phrases to all beings everywhere.
I like to imagine the energy of my loving kindness phrases spreading from my heart out over to my neighborhood,
Then the city,
State,
Country,
And then the whole world as if this loving kindness energy can grow from my heart and just surround and hold the whole world with these wishes for well-being.
Play around with whatever feels good to you in terms of imagery and repeating these phrases or some version of these phrases silently in your mind.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy in body and in mind.
May all beings be at ease.
May all beings have joy in their lives.
May all beings have peace and well-being.
Continuing to send these wishes of goodness to all beings everywhere as you repeat these phrases or whatever phrases feel good to you silently in the mind.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy in body and in mind.
May all beings be at ease.
Everything on your own.
May all beings be at ease.
Gently letting go of these phrases and take a few moments to come back to seeing your whole body and your awareness.
Scanning through to notice what's present now.
Notice if anything shifted after practicing this loving kindness meditation.
If the phrases might have opened up.
Any pockets of joy or peace,
Warmth,
Calm.
Looking out for any ways you were affected by this meditation,
Big or small.
Practicing loving kindness is like planting a seed.
It will flower at some point in the future.
Even if you don't feel the effects of the loving kindness today,
You can bring mindfulness to what you do feel and mindfulness to what you feel as you say the phrases and trust it will all flower in you.
As you practice over time,
Your capacity to love grows and you can play around with adding people who are challenging to you to send them loving kindness phrases as well.
Taking some gentle movements to wake the body back up and then whenever you're ready,
You can open your eyes.
