Hello,
Beautiful human.
My name is Raven and I'm going to lead you through a Metta meditation,
Also known as loving kindness meditation.
Go ahead and either lie down or sit in a comfortable seat.
Metta is a practice where we're attempting to produce a specific state of mind.
There is a goal here.
The goal is to feel loving kindness for oneself and for others and to make the state of mind as vivid as possible.
This practice is an attempt to rewrite some of the emotional software you have running on your brain by default.
We will consciously adopt another pattern of thinking.
The focus is to wish you and other conscious beings to experience as much well-being as possible.
Science shows that performing just this kind of practice over time can bump up your levels of compassion.
Close your eyes if you haven't already.
Take a few deep cleansing breaths before we begin.
Deep breath in through your nose and then open mouth,
Exhale.
Let's do that one more time.
Deep breath in and then open mouth,
Sigh it out.
Bring to mind someone you really care about,
Someone you love,
A partner,
A friend,
Or even your favorite pet.
Bring to mind this person or this critter.
Feel in your heart what it feels like when you think about them and all the love you have for them.
Focus on that.
Visualize them.
Flash an image of them.
And with the voice of your mind or out loud,
Slowly repeat these phrases after me.
May you be happy.
May you be free from fear.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
Feel that intention and imagine the happiness.
How does it feel?
You really do want them to be happy.
Maybe feel the corners of your mouth curl up into a smile,
Sending them loving kindness.
Now we're going to send compassion to someone that is often hard to feel compassion towards,
Ourselves.
Take a second to think about yourself.
Because yourself,
Your face,
Your body,
You sitting here or lying here right now.
Let's apply those same statements.
Repeat them in your mind or out loud.
May I be happy.
May I be free from fear.
May I be healthy.
And may I be safe.
For some people it's easier to apply compassion to themselves.
But some people find it hard.
Just notice what it feels like for you.
Now we're going to broaden our compassion to an even larger scale.
Think of your community right now.
Your world,
Your planet.
Send your compassion to all of them.
Thinking of everyone together.
May you be happy.
May you be free from fear.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
See how it feels in your heart space.
How it feels to send that loving kindness.
Imagining everyone together happy and free from fear.
And healthy and safe.
To end practice,
Take a few deep cleansing breaths.
Deep breath in through your nose.
And then open mouth exhale.
Let's do that one more time.
Deep breath in.
And open mouth,
Sigh it out.
Thank yourself for showing up today.
For taking time for you.
And taking time for others.
Sending you so much loving kindness.
Have it.
