So I think you're both sitting,
So just wiggling even slightly,
Just moving your shoulders,
Maybe back a little bit,
The chest just rising forward.
Just feeling alert,
But also open to being rested to.
Allowing your head to float just above the spine,
Almost held up by a piece of string from above.
So just recognising we've come here to practise.
Honouring the fact we are taking this time.
Everything we just breathe.
Here we are human,
With thoughts and feelings and sensations and images.
And this is all just normal.
We may bring to mind an intention for this practice,
And the intention is to practise compassion,
An aspiration of compassion.
And we may also have a sense of motivation,
What motivates us to come here,
What may even motivate us to bring to mind that feeling of compassion.
So gently turning your attention towards the forehead,
All those little muscles between the eyebrows,
Just inviting a sense of softening there.
And the eyes,
Possibly feeling a little rested in the eye sockets.
And the jaw just opening a little,
Muscles melting.
Feeling a sense of smile across the lips.
The smile may even just gently,
Subtly ripple across the face too.
And its echo move into the body.
The whole body smiling.
And this body sitting here held by gravity.
Feeling weighted.
Natural breath flowing.
Being aware we breathe.
And gently inviting the breath to lengthen,
Extend on the in breath and the out breath.
Feeling as we breathe in the air to fall into the lungs,
Inflating them.
And feeling the air and the warmth just leave the lungs as we let the breath release.
Opening on the in breath and releasing on the out breath.
Opening,
Breathing out,
Releasing.
Taking a few more deep breaths this way.
Feeling nourished and enlivened by them.
Feeling on the out breath how the centre of gravity of you moves lower as we breathe out.
The centre of gravity falling into the body itself.
And allowing the natural breath to gently return.
Realising how you may feel centred a little lower into the body,
This breathing body.
Being curious once more what thoughts are here,
What feelings and sensations and emotions are here.
And we may allow ourselves to bring our hands in front of the heart.
Holding them above the heart.
In a sense of soothing and softening.
Feeling the warmth of the hands.
Feeling this as a gesture of holding and allowing.
As we breathe out we may feel a softening too.
And the warmth of the hands a reminder of a soothing.
Allowing whatever is here to just be here.
Feeling a self compassion for what is present in our experience.
Whatever it is.
Simply allowing without even trying to change anything.
And we may feel this self compassion open a little.
Unfurl a little.
And now to include any being.
Allowing whoever or whatever to spontaneously arise in our minds.
And with our hands on our heart we may send out some warm thoughts,
Friendly thoughts.
We may even hope or wish that this being feels safe.
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you flourish.
Allowing our mind to present to ourselves whoever and whatever beings we wish.
Allowing compassionate thoughts to flow out to them.
May you be well.
As each person or being comes to mind we may even choose to greet them with our own wishes.
Falling back once more to the feeling of our hands in front of our own heart.
Recognising a sense of compassion towards ourselves too.
May we experience happiness.
And if holding the hands in front of the heart becomes tiring,
Release the hands to the legs but do this mindfully,
Slowly.
Aware of the muscles moving and the touch on the legs.
Recognising our own humanity and ability to be compassionate,
Even to ourselves.
Really bringing to mind someone who is a little challenging to you.
Someone who brings a sense of difficulty but nothing too big,
Nothing too difficult to hold.
And touching into a sense of compassion we allow this warmth to flow out from ourselves again to this person.
May you flourish.
May you be wise.
May you be loved.
May you feel valued.
Allowing whatever phrases they come to mind to for yourself.
Allow these phrases to flow out to this challenging person or being.
Can we be curious of any sense of resistance or contraction around sending compassion out to this person?
Do we brace against these wishes?
Can we hold back on these wishes?
And if we do sense a restriction,
A contraction,
A resistance,
Just be curious and allow this feeling.
Show compassion to this feeling too.
This is the heart of compassion practice.
Feeling with our resistance.
Feeling into our contraction.
And if you're able to with the hands in front of the heart,
Remembering this sense of warmth.
Feeling the heart beat beneath the hands.
Bringing a return of a sense of compassion towards ourselves.
May I feel whole.
May I be confident.
May I know well-being.
And allowing once more this challenging or difficult person or being or animal to come into focus again.
This time our perspective may be different.
We may see this person or being in the context that we know that person.
Can we also see the people around them that know them too?
And recognize some of these people may love this person.
Some people may respect this person.
Some may value their company.
Some may feel nourished by them.
They may be kind to others.
They may feel full to animals.
And some may even feel just neutral towards this person.
And may just accept them as they are.
Can we be curious of this perspective,
This view?
Although we know this person in a particular context,
Others may love them.
Others,
Many more,
May just feel neutral.
This person isn't intrinsically how we view them.
Can we briefly sense how others may see this person?
Opening to a wider perspective.
And allowing gently this challenging person to fade again.
As we recognize our own compassion towards ourselves once more.
May I have the strength to face challenges.
May I have the courage to deal with the things I need to.
May I feel seen.
May I live with a sense of grace.
Feeling a heartbeat.
The warmth of our hands.
The ability for compassion to open a little.
To flow out from us.
Once more bringing into mind this challenging person.
All being.
We can also sense and feel into the fact that our wish to be happy is also their wish to be happy.
Just as I wish to be healthy,
So too do they wish to be healthy.
Just as I wish to be loved,
So too do they wish to be loved.
Just as I wish to be valued,
So too do they wish to be valued.
Just as I wish to experience peace,
So too do they wish to experience peace.
Just as I wish to be free from suffering,
So too do they wish to be free from suffering.
With this compassionate heart we may have a sense of a similarity between us.
There is more in common than maybe that is not in common.
Their wishes are also our wishes.
And although their behaviour may be challenging,
Can we see behind the behaviour and the experience of the person?
We sense into the common humanity between us.
Just as I wish,
So too do they wish.
We may even open space within our heart to see ourselves as equal.
And releasing the sense of image for this person or being,
Allowing it to fade.
Once more returning to our own beating heart,
This body breathing naturally as it always has done.
We may even feel a sense of warmth in our centre,
An opening slightly.
Gently can this open even more,
As we bring to mind the whole sphere of people near us,
The whole sphere of beings surrounded,
All of life.
And allowing this compassionate heart once more to send out wishes to all these beings.
May you feel safe.
May you know contentment.
May you flourish.
May you experience peace.
May you have courage and strength to deal with difficulty.
May you be wise and live skilfully.
Gathering any sense of heat,
Warmth and openness in the heart.
Sending one final big pulse out to all beings with a wish,
May you feel loved.
Gently just releasing the doing of meditation.
Notice the weight of the body sat here.
The breath flowing from one breath to the next,
Naturally.
The heart beating its rhythm.
Using the hands to the legs,
Feeling the warmth in the palm of the hands.
The body held within a field of gravity against the solidity of the earth beneath.
Recognising ourselves just to be here.
Recognising our own humanity and the humanity of all those around us.
The common humanity.
Not seeing any meditation and falling into the breath itself.
Just allowing sensations of the breath to rise up in the body.
Allowing the mind to fall into the body.
And all gravity of this will even drop slower.
Gently nourished by the remaining breath.
And when the singing bulb rings,
As the third bell rings.
Allowing this meditation to wash through you,
This practice to finish with you.
Allowing this meditation to finish with you.
Allowing this meditation to finish with you.
