Settling the body into as much ease as we can.
Lower body rooted to the earth in a wide,
Well-supported posture.
Sitting cross-legged or kneeling or sitting in a chair,
Well-supported.
So that the upper body can find the most easeful,
Spacious breath that's available in this moment this evening.
Beginning with a simple form of loving-kindness practice or metta,
Friendliness,
Directed toward ourselves.
Through the pathway of opening to the life of the body as it is here and now.
So we feel the body in its posture,
Allowing the activities of the day so far to settle.
And the deep rest of stillness to begin to unfold the body.
We feel any of the layers of momentum that are there as a kind of restlessness or worry,
Dullness or sleepiness.
We find swirling in wanting or fearing,
Liking or disliking anything about our life in this world.
Any of the layers of doubt or shame or blame that are present,
Even in the background.
In a way,
Our intent in meditation is to drop through those layers,
But we do it by meeting them.
We settle,
We feel an aspect of ourselves come to the foreground.
We feel the body and its emotions,
The life of the heart here now,
Showing itself as your mood and the activity of the heart-mind.
The path of insight is to see the states of the heart-mind clearly for what they are.
That's balanced by the path of kindness,
Which is to love the body and its aliveness,
The flow of its aliveness,
No matter what's here.
So as we feel the body settling into its posture,
Inviting intentionally,
Drawing in or breathing in kindness for this one sitting here.
A kind of friendliness to the body.
This might come forward in words or in silent feeling.
Sometimes it's sweet to put a hand on the heart or the belly or just to let attention soak through the body.
Everything this body has experienced,
The result of all the conditions present,
Is here showing itself moment to moment,
Worthy of love and care,
As is everything.
The feeling of kindness for this body,
Compassion for its wounds,
Joy for its well-being and health and pleasures,
Warmth of heart for this body.
In the metta practice we invite feelings,
But we don't worry about what shows up.
Sometimes I invite kindness and anger shows up or fear.
That's okay.
This practice really is just to turn toward the channel of emotion as a place where life unfolds,
Shows itself,
Where insight arises.
Where the hindrances are melted by the warmth of kindness.
Kindness for this body and then for this heart as you feel these moods,
These states that are here.
You might name your mood to yourself in one or two words.
If the moods are big,
So often we identify with them.
They become who we are.
I'm a tense person or a depressed person or an anxious person or a heartbroken person.
If the feelings are big and often the negative ones are the ones that feel like that,
But joy can feel like that too.
Oh,
I'm joyful.
Anytime we make it into who we are,
It can be helpful to rephrase it.
In this moment,
There's joy.
In this moment,
There's anxiety,
Sadness,
Grief,
Anger.
In this moment,
I invite kindness and friendliness toward the mood of this moment.
The metta sutta says,
Even as a mother protects with her life her child,
Her only child,
So with a boundless heart should we cherish all living beings.
All living beings includes ourself.
Just as a parent doesn't stop loving their child when the child is having a tantrum or has gotten hurt or is not cooperating.
Just as the parent doesn't stop loving the child,
In some ways loves them even bigger when they're present with the hurt,
Present with the anger.
Why is it easy to do with a child and hard to do with ourselves?
The bigger the feelings you're having,
The more powerful in a way it can be to be present with them with kindness and compassion.
For this one.
Oh,
Friendliness for this body,
Friendliness for this heart.
And then perhaps the stickiest of all sometimes.
What we call the mind,
Its thoughts,
Stories.
So often untrue or selective,
Obsessive.
What is this mind that churns out the story of our life and who we are,
Who others are,
Again and again all day,
Every day?
Knowing that the mind is so often confused,
Afraid,
Vigilant,
Anxious.
Or when things are going well,
Grasping,
Clinging,
Bargaining for more.
Even knowing this,
Can we rest into a kindness or a friendliness with this mind?
This attitude can shift our entire meditation practice.
The mind wanders.
Can we hold the unstoppable fountain of story,
So often painful,
Even when pleasant,
Difficult to bring to rest?
Can we hold that too with the heart of kindness,
The heart of love for this mind?
Wild,
Born of conditions,
Confused but so sincere at the same time,
Trying to make sense of a world that doesn't make sense.
Kindness,
Compassion,
Friendliness for this mind.
Rest in natural great peace.
This exhausted mind,
Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought,
Like the relentless fury of the pounding waves in the infinite ocean of samsara.
Rest in natural great peace.
Rest in natural great peace.
Everything that arises can be met with kindness.
And when it is,
So often,
Easily,
Whatever was distressing or distracting,
Runs its course,
Dissolves back into the ground of silence,
And only the kindness remains.
