The following practice is led by Sonia Lockyer,
Host of the Wellbeing Ritual Club.
It's a mantra meditation so you might choose to use beads.
They are just an accessory,
They're not essential but they're quite nice.
And because we're exploring the theme of roots this month,
I thought for our mantra we would use the metta prayer.
And the metta prayer is quite long.
If you're like me you might think,
Oh no I'm going to forget it.
And we don't really want to have that kind of anxiety coming into our practice.
So if you want to write it down,
Then by all means grab a piece of paper and pen and write it down.
But what I'm planning is that I'll repeat it a few times and then I'll let us go and do our own thing.
I mean I really can't say this enough,
That the structure of the prayer is really what comes to you.
So there's a gazillion billion versions of this prayer and you can make your own.
But I'll read it to you for three or four times and then I'll let us drift into our own version in silence.
That's my plan,
We're going to do 20 minutes.
So the metta prayer,
For those of you who want to write it down.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be free of suffering.
May I be free of mental anxiety.
May I live in peace.
And may my life be blessed with ease.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free of suffering.
May you be free of mental anxiety.
May you live in peace.
And may your life be blessed with ease.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy.
May we be free of suffering.
May we be free of mental anxiety.
May we live in peace.
And may our lives be blessed with ease.
So the metta prayer is the prayer of the heart,
So we're rooting into our heart space with this prayer.
And like I say,
It does not need to follow that formula exactly.
It can wander off into its own expression and isn't that a fantastic thing if it does.
So it becomes your prayer and not the prayer that you're trying to learn from someone else.
So don't feel a clinging or an attachment to those words.
Let them be the words that take us through the beginning and then allow whatever unfolds for the rest of the time.
So my plan is to say it three times,
Three rounds,
And then I'll go quiet.
And then I might say it a couple of times during the 20 minutes to just keep bringing us back.
And as we've said a million times before,
A meditation practice has three clear stages.
Stage one is when we begin and we're all in and we know what we're doing and we're focused.
Stage two is when we notice we've drifted off and we smile and recognize the humanness of drifting off.
And stage three is coming back from drifting off and steering yourself back into the practice.
And all three stages are as important as one another.
There is no fail on this.
Okay,
So if you'd like to get yourself comfortable,
You want to be sitting or lying,
But preferably sitting,
In a position where your spine can be straight.
And for some,
It's nice to drop the eyelids.
For others,
They prefer to have eyes open and just soften the gaze to a more peripheral vision.
And you might come in and out of both of those places as you practice.
And if you're working with the beads,
You start with the queen bead,
Which is usually the largest bead on your miler.
And we'll take each round,
I mean,
If we're going to do an hour,
We'll do all three of those per bead,
But we're not.
Maybe do the eye round and that's one bead,
You and that's the next bead,
We and that's the next bead,
And we'll go around like that.
If you're not using the beads,
You're welcome to use your hands.
You can just bring the tips of your thumb to the tips of your finger for each round.
And that may help you stay anchored in your body as you practice.
Okay.
So finding your position,
Knowing that if it becomes uncomfortable,
You can move.
Pins and needles don't help practice,
So feel free to move if legs become uncomfortable.
Breathing in and out very gently and very easily through the nose or the mouth if the nose is blocked.
So that was a lot of words to start with,
So now we come into stillness with an easy breath.
Finding a comfortable place to rest your tongue upon the roof of your mouth.
Allowing a softness to move through the palate,
The gums,
The teeth.
Letting the jaw soften.
Noticing the space around your ears,
The space inside your ears.
The sounds that you can witness.
Releasing any tension in your scalp.
Allowing a sense of spaciousness to the point of the third eye between the eyebrows.
Allowing a lengthening in the neck.
Slightly tucked to allow the expansion of the space in the neck and the back.
Shoulder blades dropping towards the air.
Feeling the bones of the rib cage,
The spinal column,
The pelvis.
Allowing them the space to breathe.
Awareness in the territory of the pelvis.
Feeling the magnetism that exists between the pelvis and the ear.
Allowing the legs to be heavy and comfortable.
And sensing the subtlest shifts of expansion as you inhale and releasing as you exhale.
Holding an intention that our practice reap fruits for all beings.
As we anchor into our heart space,
Remembering how to come from the heart more often.
Draw your inhale into the very deepest part of your heart.
And allow the exhale to expand from that place.
And so the breath originates from the heart,
Allowing life to breathe your heart.
Now begin the mantra of the Metta prayer.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be free of suffering.
May I be free of mental anxiety.
May I live in peace.
And may my life be blessed with ease.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free of suffering.
May you be free of mental anxiety.
May you live in peace.
And may your life be blessed with ease.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy.
May we be free of suffering.
May we be free of mental anxiety.
May we live in peace.
And may our lives be blessed with ease.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be free of suffering.
May I be free of mental anxiety.
May I live in peace.
And may my life be blessed with ease.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free of suffering.
May you be free of mental anxiety.
May you live in peace.
And may your life be blessed with ease.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy.
May we be free of suffering.
May we be free of mental anxiety.
May we live in peace.
And may our lives be blessed with ease.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be free of suffering.
May I be free of mental anxiety.
May I live in peace.
And may my life be blessed with ease.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free of suffering.
May you be free of mental anxiety.
May you live in peace.
And may your life be blessed with ease.
May we be happy.
May we be healthy.
May we be free of suffering.
May we be free of mental anxiety.
May we live in peace.
And may our lives be blessed with ease.
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