Hello and welcome to this guided loving kindness meditation.
This particular meditation is a self compassion practice.
One in which we will practice bringing self compassion to ourselves through the life span.
This will involve visualizing yourself,
Remembering yourself,
Or imagining yourself at different ages.
And from where you are now as an adult,
Offering yourself the loving kindness,
The caring,
The compassion that you needed then and you may or may not have gotten.
So to begin lets find a relaxed but upright position.
Or if you'd like you can do this meditation lying down.
Just giving yourself a few moments to settle into whatever position feels right to you right now.
And lets begin by bringing awareness to our feet resting on the earth.
Knowing that wherever we are,
Whatever surface our feet are in direct contact with,
That underneath it all,
Always,
Is the earth holding us,
Supporting us,
There for us.
Giving yourself a moment to really connect with that holding through the sensations at the bottoms of your feet.
And if it would be helpful you can press down first with one foot,
Just pressing down a little bit.
Not enough weight to strain,
But enough where you can really feel the contact and the sensations and the solidity of the ground beneath your feet.
You might even imagine that rather than being in a house or wherever you might be,
That you're actually in direct contact with the earth,
In a forest perhaps,
Or at a beach.
Feeling that contact and whenever you're ready letting the foot relax and release and just be held.
Allowing the foot to be heavy and feeling the gentle tug of gravity.
And then pressing down with the other foot.
And again,
Not with a straining effort,
But just enough so you can really feel that the earth is there.
Maybe even imagining like you did earlier that you're in direct contact with the earth.
Feeling the sensations,
Noting when it feels most right to you to just let go of the pressing down and just allow your foot to rest.
To rest and be held.
Feeling that gentle tug of gravity.
And now directing your attention to your breath.
Just allowing the breath to be easy and natural and allowing your attention to be easy and natural.
And noticing of the sensations of breathing in and of breathing out.
The sensations of filling and fullness.
And the sensations of releasing and letting go on the out breath.
Just taking a few moments to let yourself connect with the rhythm of your breath.
And throughout this meditation,
Of course you'll notice that the mind will wander.
Into thought,
Into planning,
Or remembering,
Worrying.
No problem.
Whenever that happens,
Just note that.
Ah,
Thinking.
Thinking is here.
And without judging it,
Just gently bringing yourself back to wherever we are in the meditation.
Over and over again,
Returning to the present moment.
That is meditation.
So now I'd like you to bring to mind,
To your imagination,
An image of a tiny baby.
Perhaps a brand new born baby.
You might imagine that you're holding this baby.
Or perhaps you're just looking at the baby as it lies in its crib or wherever it is.
Just kind of notice what arises for you as you notice a tiny baby.
What sensations arise in your chest,
In your belly.
Any urges or impulses.
And now imagine that that baby is you.
Maybe you've seen a picture of yourself when you were a wee baby.
And you know what you looked like.
See yourself now.
Perhaps you want to hold this small baby of yourself.
Notice how perfect.
Notice how small.
Perhaps noticing the tiny fingers,
Tiny toes,
A wee little nose.
Notice if you're sleeping or if you're wakeful.
And now offering to this very small version of yourself exactly what she wants and needs to hear.
Does she need to hear,
You're loved,
I love you.
You're cared for.
You have a safe place in my heart.
Are there wishes that you have for her or for him?
May you be happy and healthy.
May you be free from harm.
May you have ease of being.
And may you be held in loving kindness.
May you be surrounded by loving kindness.
And know that loving kindness is your true nature.
Just taking a few moments to offer this small self exactly what she or he needs to hear.
And now bringing to mind yourself as a four or five year old.
And again maybe you've seen pictures of yourself that age,
Visualizing that,
Remembering what you might have looked like at that age.
Seeing the liveliness of this four or five year old.
The playfulness.
And checking in with her.
What is it that she needs to hear from you?
What can you offer her?
Maybe she needs to hear,
I love you.
You were loved and cared for.
You were held in a safe place in my heart.
You were precious.
And what would you wish for her?
May you be happy and healthy.
May you be free from harm.
May you have ease of being.
May you be filled with loving kindness,
Held in loving kindness,
And know loving kindness as your own true nature.
And taking some moments to just be with and offer this young version of yourself,
Whatever she or he needs to hear right now.
And noticing perhaps what the sensations are in your chest,
In your belly,
As you imagine offering loving kindness to yourself.
And this practice can sometimes bring up some very tender feelings.
