Today's metta or loving kindness meditation.
This meditation can be done while seated,
While driving,
While participating in other things.
But it's coming into a position where you can be mindful of the thoughts and words.
You can do the seated laying down.
Swami Sai,
Premanananda said,
Practice love until you remember that you are love.
And Sharon Salzberg reminds us that when we practice metta,
We're open to continuously to the truth of our actual experience,
Changing our relationship to life.
This type of meditation uses words and images and feelings to invoke a loving kindness or just a friendliness towards others and yourself.
With each affirmation or recitation of the phrases that I'm going to offer to you,
We express an intention or planting seeds of loving wishes to ourself in our heart and radiating from our heart to others.
With this loving heart or metta in the background,
You can begin the practice by simply starting with the words or if you wanted to start with breath work,
You can.
Let your body be at rest here,
Relaxed,
Let your heart be soft.
I want us to simply begin by breathing consciously.
What this means is bringing it in through your nostrils,
Letting your belly and the heart expand and then slowly releasing.
Each breath expanding through the belly,
The ribs,
The heart,
The head and then releasing.
Breathing gently in,
Feeling as though you were bringing in loving awareness and as you exhale feeling yourself radiating it back out.
Bringing in metta in a way to expand the body to almost open up to new experiences,
New life.
And as you release,
Standing steadfast and grounded,
Offering the same love to others around you.
As we move through practice,
Be conscious of your breath,
Not letting it get away and not letting it move back into its subconscious rhythms,
But simply breathing in with each statement,
With each affirmation,
With each loving kindness words.
And as you exhale almost imagine them traveling.
Breathe gently and recite inwardly these phrases that are used very traditionally.
Starting with radiating them to ourselves in our own well-being.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
Take a breath in and release.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
Take a breath in and release.
May I be well in my body and in my mind.
Take a breath in and release.
May I be at ease and happy.
Take a breath in and release.
As we recite these phrases again,
Picture yourself.
Maybe in the chair that you're in,
The bed that you're in,
Wherever you are.
Or maybe it's easier to picture yourself as a young child or picture yourself in a different environment.
Adjust the words in any way that you wish,
Creating an open space,
A conduit to loving kindness.
Repeat these phrases over and over,
Feeling them permeate your body,
Your mind.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May I be well in body and in mind.
May I be at ease and happy.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May I be well in body and in mind.
May I be at ease and happy.
Repeat this phrase or these series of phrases over and over and again,
Letting them permeate your body,
Letting them radiate throughout you,
Being conscious of the breath as it comes bringing in the words from the universe around you.
And as you exhale,
Feeling safe and secure,
Rooted in your place,
Your space,
And releasing those feelings outward.
This meditation may feel maybe a little awkward or mechanical as you breathe,
As you repeat the words.
You may start to feel sensations of irritation or maybe even a little bit of anger.
It is very important for you to be patient in this time towards yourself,
Letting whatever arises arise,
Let it show up and offer kindness,
Affection,
Nurturing as you breathe in with each affirmation.
When you feel you have established some sort of strong sense of what that loving kindness feels with yourself,
Then you can let it expand to others.
For now,
Let's focus on this,
On ourselves for just a few moments.
Repeating the words or maybe the affirmations that you've chosen for yourself.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May I be well in body and in mind.
May I be at ease and happy.
Spend a few moments here within your breath and within your metta,
This loving kindness.
May I be well in body and in mind.
Now that we have brought in metta into our own selves with our affirmations,
We can now release that or share it with others.
I'd like for you to bring into your mind's eye someone you care for deeply,
Someone who is a part of your life and a significant source of sharing and of energy.
Doesn't matter if you have all the details of that person,
Just bringing to your mind's eye their image,
Their energy,
Their maybe their aura.
Whatever it is that you see or how they make you feel,
Bringing them into your awareness.
You can gradually begin to offer this to other people as it is filled within your own heart.
Start by just picturing this person and begin to recite inwardly or outwardly the same phrases that have invoke loving kindness to this person.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and in mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
Take a breath in,
Expanding through the belly,
The ribs to the heart and release.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
Send this message to that person.
Take a breath in and release.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
Take a breath in,
Expand the belly,
The heart and release.
May you be well in body and in mind.
Take a breath in and release.
May you be at ease and happy.
Continue to offer these meta or loving words to this person that is special to you.
Expressing gratitude to them.
Expressing loving kindness to them.
Expressing wishes of their health and their happiness.
Embodying the words.
To offer them an experience through meta.
Take a few moments here.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and in mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
Now that we've spent time sending love to ourselves and to those who are important to us,
We begin to shift the meta in a way that may show to be more difficult as we reach beyond that which we know and those who we know and who we have kind feelings already for.
Starting to shift the awareness to maybe someone you don't know or at least don't know well.
This could be your neighbor,
Someone you saw at this grocery store,
Someone who you've passed on the street,
Your server at a restaurant.
Drawing awareness towards them,
Maybe just the image,
Their feeling,
Their energy or their aura.
Beginning to draw that awareness towards that person and offering them the same words.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
Take a breath in and release.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
Take a breath in and release.
May you be well in body and in mind.
Take a breath in and release.
May you be at ease and happy.
Expanding with your breath into the nose and release grounding,
Sending this energy outward.
And a few moments here offering metta to a stranger.
Now,
As we have offered.
Meta or loving kindness to ourselves,
To the special people in our lives and to strangers.
We finally come to offering loving kindness to those who may be difficult in your life.
Even an enemy,
Someone who does not wish you well.
Offering them loving kindness and peace.
This may take practice.
But as your heart opens,
First to your loved ones,
Your friends and strangers,
You may find that you don't want it to close anymore.
You want to leave your heart open.
Practicing this loving kindness you can do anywhere.
And especially in times of struggle,
Of finding maybe other sensations like anger,
Hostility,
Anger.
As they are present,
Loving kindness allows you to shift the tables,
Allows you to shift and to be able to offer them to anyone,
Including yourself.
Want you to begin to visualize or see a person,
An organization,
A business.
Someone who you may have difficulty with or a person or a place you have difficulty with.
That traditionally has offered to you feelings that are not loving and kind.
Turning this with our open heart.
Turning this feeling into meta.
As you visualize this person,
This business,
This place,
This thing,
Offer them the same words.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
Take a breath in and release.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
Take a breath in,
Expand your heart that is full of love and release.
May you be well in body and in mind.
Take a breath in,
Lift your heart,
Release.
May you be at ease and happy.
Breathing in and release.
Keeping your awareness into the space that is right behind your heart where we offer this loving energy.
As though you are breathing in and out through your heart,
Offer these words to this person,
This place,
This business that maybe has given you difficulty.
All the love you need is right there behind your heart.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
May you be well in body and in mind.
May you be at ease and happy.
Letting this feeling of loving kindness radiate outward as you breathe in,
Draw it from the universe,
Filling the heart space,
Radiating boundless love towards yourself.
And as you exhale,
Letting that loving kindness reach outward across the earth,
Across your neighborhood,
Across the spaces that you know,
Offering this loving kindness to wherever it may find a home.
Sitting present with your affirmations,
Allowing the breath to remind you of each affirmation,
Each statement.
Thich Nhat Hanh offered a meditation that you can add to yours as we radiate this loving kindness outward and inward.
He said,
May I be peaceful,
Happy,
And light in body and spirit.
May I be safe and free from injury.
May I be free from anger,
Afflictions,
Fear,
And anxiety.
May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.
May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in myself.
May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger,
Craving,
And delusion in myself.
May I know now to nourish the seeds of joy in myself every day.
May I be able to live fresh,
Solid,
And free.
May I be free from attachments and aversion,
But not indifferent.
Closing practice today,
Bringing your hands to your heart,
Feeling the energy coming and going.
Remember to practice love until you remember that you are love.
Namaste.
