Loving Kindness Meditation I'm Rebecca Ryan.
The practice I have for you today is a Loving Kindness Meditation.
The practice of Loving Kindness comes from the Buddhist tradition where it's called Metta.
This is a seated practice.
Taking your time now to find a comfortable seat where you can sit with a naturally straight spine.
Sitting up reasonably tall with energy in your body but not rigid or stiff.
Taking your time to make this a comfortable seating position for you.
When you're comfortable,
Place your hands,
Palms down on your thighs and close your eyes.
Or have them downcast if that's more comfortable for you.
Inhale a really deep breath and sigh out through parted lips like ahhhh.
Doing this twice more,
Inhaling really deeply and sighing out through parted lips.
Feeling the release on that exhale.
Once again,
Deep conscious breath,
Long sighing exhale.
And then allowing your breath to settle,
Watching your breath,
Noticing the inhale and the exhale.
Noticing perhaps as well the corresponding movements in your body with the inhale and the exhale.
Nothing to change,
Watching your body,
Watching your breath.
Checking that you're still sitting comfortably.
And we'll start with the practice of loving kindness.
In this practice,
We send compassion to ourselves.
We extend that same compassion for a loved one.
A neutral person in our life,
A difficult person in our life.
And finally,
We extend love and compassion to all beings.
We do this by using a really simple mantra and this is the mantra.
May I be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Say this for yourself.
Firstly,
May I be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Repeating this silently in your mind.
May I be safe,
Happy and healthy.
And as you repeat that mantra for yourself,
Notice how it feels to send love and compassion,
Safety and good wishes to yourself.
May I be safe,
Happy and healthy.
A few more times.
May I be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Letting go of the repetition of the mantra for yourself.
And take a moment to pause and see how that feels in your breath,
In your body.
Noticing.
Now bring to mind the image of a loved one.
Someone you care about deeply.
Noticing who pops into your mind.
And maybe clarifying that image for yourself.
Looking at your loved one's face.
Seeing them as they look to you in their day to day.
Visualizing your loved one.
And now we'll repeat that same mantra for your loved one.
May my loved one be safe,
Happy and healthy.
May my loved one be safe,
Happy and healthy.
And repeating that now.
Are there sensations that arise for you when you repeat this mantra for your loved one?
And how it feels to send safety,
Happiness and wishes for health to your loved one.
May my loved one be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Maybe do a little smile.
As you wish your loved one well and allow the image you've created of them to fade.
Next we'll repeat the mantra for a neutral person in our life.
Someone you come in contact with,
Perhaps you don't even know their name.
Someone in your neighborhood or in your wider circle.
Taking time to picture a neutral person.
Maybe seeing their face or noticing them in the activity where you know them.
From a coffee shop,
From a workplace.
Bringing to mind this neutral person.
And repeating the mantra for the neutral person.
May this neutral person be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Sending good wishes and compassion to a neutral person in your life.
May this neutral person be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Repeating that a few more times.
May this neutral person be safe,
Happy and healthy.
And letting their image fade.
The next focus for our mantra is a difficult person in our life.
Someone who you might disagree with.
Perhaps someone who's hurt you in the past.
Choosing now a person who's difficult for you,
Who you'd like to send wishes of safety,
Happiness and health to.
Going gently with this part of the practice.
Remembering it's your practice.
So you can skip this piece if you'd like.
If you've decided to proceed with the difficult person you've chosen.
Here's the mantra again.
May this difficult person be safe,
Happy and healthy.
A few more repetitions of the mantra for the difficult person in your life.
May this difficult person be safe,
Happy and healthy.
As you repeat that,
Perhaps notice what does it feel like in your body to wish a difficult person love and compassion.
To extend good thoughts and good wishes to a difficult person.
May this difficult person be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Allowing the image of the difficult person to fade away.
As you notice what it's like to have sent this difficult person.
Wishes of safety,
Happiness and health.
Finally we're going to try and take our awareness quite wide.
Picture all beings,
All people,
All animals,
Globally all beings.
Perhaps you might want to picture a globe.
Sometimes when I do this I picture a flight map radiating from where I know I am in the world.
To all beings.
And here's the mantra again.
May all beings be safe,
Happy and healthy.
And as you repeat this a few more times remember you're included in all beings.
May all beings be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Sending love and kindness,
Wishes of safety,
Happiness and health to all beings.
May all beings be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Releasing the mantra now.
And for a few moments return to a breath awareness.
Noticing your inhale and exhale.
Noticing how your body feels seated as you are.
Maybe compare this body and breath awareness to your body and breath awareness at the beginning of this practice.
And as we come out of this practice take a moment to recognise yourself and what you've done in this practice.
Spreading loving kindness from yourself to a loved one,
To a neutral person,
To a difficult person and to all beings.
May all beings be safe,
Happy and healthy.
Gently open your eyes or if they're downcast look up.
Smile,
Wriggle.
Bring some energy back into your body.
Before you go on with your day.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
