All right,
My friends,
Welcome to meditation.
I wanted to offer metta meditation.
I've offered it before,
But it's been at least a year.
And as I've reviewed all of my video library,
I remember that we did metta meditation,
The very first part of this journey online.
And so I wanted to revisit it.
It's a beautiful meditation,
Any time of year,
But it's just so full of compassion.
And I think that when we can embody compassion,
It feels as though we're nurturing the whole world.
And this is a very intentional meditation.
So go ahead and get comfortable.
If you just did my pranayama practice,
You are feeling calm and centered.
So it's a nice thing to start with little breathing technique to get yourself there.
Go ahead and close your eyes.
I'm going to turn off my camera just to not have any chance of distraction.
And I want you to go ahead and just start to take a few deep breaths doesn't have to be any style of pranayama,
But just start to take a few intentional deep breaths.
Start to feel the body begin to settle into the couch that you're sitting on the chair,
Maybe the floor,
Maybe a cushion,
Start to feel this gravity pulling you into a place of being centered.
Now I want you to picture beautiful heart space.
So we have our physical heart that keeps us alive.
This beautiful yogi heart,
This vessel of compassion and light goodness.
It's in the center of your chest,
And it has this quality of pulsing.
Much like a heartbeat,
It has its own rhythm,
Reciprocity of,
Of giving and receiving.
Taking in all that is good,
Recycling it through the breath and giving it.
I love that metaphor of the inhale bringing in and the exhale sharing.
Metta means loving kindness.
So as I guide you through this meditation,
Just listen to the sound of my words.
Maybe silently repeating them when guided to our first practice of Metta.
I want you to picture the face of someone that you love so deeply.
As if you were sitting across from this person,
I want you to see their eyes.
Looking into their eyes.
Feeling a soft comfort of love for this person.
Bring your awareness to their beautiful face.
May this person that I love be safe.
May this person that I love be happy.
May this person that I love be healthy.
And may this person that I love know peace.
Take a really big breath in.
And on your exhale,
Imagine sending Metta loving kindness just to them.
And as you continue to breathe,
The presence of their image begins to fade.
Start to bring your awareness to the face of a child.
Could be a child that you know,
Personally.
It could be maybe someone who lives in your neighborhood that you've seen.
It could be the idea of a child.
It could be a child far away.
Symbol of a child.
I want you to look into this child's eyes.
That innocence and that wonder that children have.
May this child be safe.
May this child be happy.
May this child be healthy.
May this child know peace.
We take a full breath in.
And on our exhale,
We send it to that child.
We give loving kindness.
No strings attached,
Simply love.
And as you breathe,
The image of that child's face begins to fade.
And now bring into your mind's eye,
A person that has caused you pain.
Maybe somebody you've had trouble with in the past,
Maybe someone who has let you down,
Betrayed you.
Remember,
This is a practice of unconditional.
So I want you to look into this person's eyes,
The eyes of the person who has caused you harm and pain.
We see the humanness of this individual.
May this person be safe.
May this person be happy.
May this person be healthy.
And may this person know peace.
We take a breath in.
We unconditionally send it on our exhale.
We sit with it.
We take a few breaths.
And eventually the image of this person begins to fade.
Now in your mind's eye,
You see a collective group of people.
It could be people on your street.
It could be the people in your house,
A group of people.
It could be your neighborhood.
It could be your city.
Perhaps the state that you live in,
Or even the country.
Or it might be that you see the faces of people in another country that is suffering.
And you look into their eyes.
One by one.
There's a lot of faces and you take in each one of them.
May these people be safe.
May these people be happy.
May these people be healthy.
And may these people know peace.
We take a full breath in.
Knowing that on our exhale,
We are giving met loving kindness,
Unconditional compassion,
Goodness and light.
Expecting nothing in return,
Simply giving.
And as we breathe,
Faces begin to fade.
And we come back into ourselves.
Back into our heart space,
The vessel of compassion and unconditional love and the capacity to nurture.
Notice how it feels to give.
Take your time coming out of this beautiful space.
When you return to your day,
You do so mindfully in the heart space of love.
Please join me for yoga as we take a deep look at nurture.
I'll see you soon.
