You can do the love and kindness practice sitting down or if you prefer you can lie down.
Begin to notice the sensation of your breath and gently close your eyes.
Feel the rising and falling motion of the breath and imagine that this breath is originating at your heart center.
Rest your awareness at your heart center and experience the in-breath as an expansion of your heart.
Each in-breath opening and expanding your heart and experience each out-breath as a letting go.
Letting go of anything that doesn't serve you,
Any pain or grief or sorrow at your heart center.
Breathing in,
Opening and expanding your heart and breathing out letting go of anything that doesn't serve you.
Feel the breath here at the heart center and as you rest your awareness in the sensation of the breath just take a moment and notice how you feel.
Notice the emotional quality at your heart center.
What's present for you here?
Feel the emotions and just allow them to flow through you.
We can open and soften at the heart center by just allowing whatever's there to flow.
Continuing to breathe at the heart center call to mind an image of yourself as a young child,
A child of about five or six years old and picture them as if they're standing before you.
See them in all their perfection.
They don't need to do anything to be loved,
They just are love.
Picture your younger self standing before you and imagine that you can invite them into the space that you've created at your heart center.
Invite this younger version of yourself into the space and surround them with love and light and surround them with all the wishes that you have for yourself to be happy,
To be at peace,
To be free from suffering,
To be safe,
Surrounding them with this intention of loving kindness,
Of compassion and love.
And as you visualize this younger version of yourself at your heart center mentally repeat the words,
May you be filled with love and kindness,
May you be at peace,
May you be happy,
May you be free from suffering.
These words or other words that you wish for yourself.
Breathing in at your heart center,
Feeling the sense of love and compassion expanding with each and every breath and mentally repeating those words to yourself.
And now call to mind an image of your present day self and invite them into the space that you've created at your heart center.
Surround them with the same love and compassion that you did for your younger self and repeating the words,
May I be filled with love and kindness,
May I be happy,
May I be at peace,
May I be safe,
May I be free from suffering.
All of the things that you wish for yourself.
Sometimes it's hard for us to extend love and compassion to ourselves but in this practice we're just opening to the experience of love.
Repeating the words even if they feel difficult.
Just knowing that you deserve love,
That you deserve compassion and kindness from yourself.
And now call to mind someone who has helped you in some way,
Someone who when you think about this person you smile,
Someone who's been kind and imagine that you can invite them into the space that you've created at your heart center,
Surrounding them too with this love and compassion.
Repeating the words to them,
May you be filled with love and kindness,
May you be happy,
May you be at peace,
May you be free from suffering.
Surrounding them with the spirit of love and compassion.
Surrounding them with love and light.
Feel your own heart growing with each and every breath and feel this connection to this other person.
This light that you're extending out to this other person who's helped you.
And now call to mind somebody who it's difficult to extend love and compassion to.
Someone who is a challenge to you,
Someone who you are experiencing some difficulty,
Perhaps someone you haven't forgiven.
Picture them as if they're standing before you and invite them into the space that you've created.
Know that they too want the same things that you do.
To be loved,
To be cared for,
To be safe and happy.
And as you experience your breath at your heart center,
Feel your own heart growing and expanding.
Expanding to the point that it can include them in this practice of love and compassion.
Surrounding them with love and light and extending to them the words,
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be at peace.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be happy.
Having an openness to experience them differently than you have before.
A willingness perhaps to forgive.
If it still feels too difficult to extend this compassion to them,
You may want to hold them at your heart center and say the words,
May we be filled with love and kindness.
May we be at peace.
May we be free from suffering and happy.
Continuing to repeat those words to all of the beings at your heart center.
Feeling your own heart growing and growing with each and every breath.
And now imagine that you can invite others into the space that you've created.
Into the space of love.
Feel the light growing at your heart and touching all the other beings at your heart center.
Your friends,
Your family and others.
Seeing how far you can extend this sense of compassion and love.
Breathing in,
Expanding your love and breathing out,
Letting go of any pain or sorrow.
Slowly letting go of the visualization of others at your heart center and just coming back now fully into yourself.
Just keeping the image of yourself at your heart center.
Coming back to the words,
May I be filled with love and kindness.
May I be at peace.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be happy.
When you're ready,
You can slowly open your eyes.
Acquisitions of the heart center.
You
