Loving kindness meditation Imagine yourself near a lake river or stream The weather is warm It is the peak of spring.
The Sun is dancing between the freshly formed leaves an extension and gentle reminder that all things rebloom The breeze is brushing along your skin and you hear the trickling song of water moving in front of you You've taken a seat near the bank either on a rock or on a soft patch of grass You feel the texture of your seeds Either smooth as stone or soft as soil No one is around but you as the earth lovingly holds you never asking for anything in return you take a long and deep breath in and Smell the sweet scent of spring You breathe in again noticing some thoughts making their way in You feel grasped from the moment and attempt to push the thoughts aside this time Invite another way in The next time a thought comes up Allow it to be there and say aloud the word thinking You bring your awareness back to the sound of the water birds chirping Squirrels chatting and leaves rustling as if they're all part of one large symphony You are part of that symphony Your breath is music Your heartbeat is a drum The sound of your hair in the breeze are like strings of a quartet You're here to simply be and exist We extend love to the places where suffering rises When worry or anguish or anger pop up like fish jumping out of stream We choose to see it.
They jump and then fall back beneath the silky water Floating on and passing on we continue to breathe Offering our music and feeling it run deeper down into our lungs and expand We feel our chest and shoulders loosen We allow ourselves to melt and move freely with our rhythmic inhales and exhales another thought crosses Thinking we sing to ourselves all the parts of us are welcome here Near this water.
They may all take a seat on this grass or on a nearby stone They are all a part of us and we orchestrate as one We notice that with each breath that passes So do our thoughts nothing is permanent here Our pain is not permanent Just as our excitement is not permanent All of these parts are free to come and go We release restriction or resistance Instead We embrace them like a loved one.
We have missed for so long We choose kindness here.
We choose love Love is a ball of light that lives within us.
We notice love Always lit like some candle in a distant window We allow that light to expand First from our heart then to our belly then to our legs and then to our toes It fills us you allow the light and your breath to fill in the space between thoughts in your mind Breathing in and breathing out you come back to where you're seated Open your eyes if you've closed them and stay here With eyes open for as long as you need Until you feel ready to continue walking your path
