So I would like to invite you to find a comfortable position for yourself in meditation.
If you like to close your eyes very gently,
Just settling in with your back and spine in an upright,
Although relaxed,
Posture.
And withdrawing your attention from thinking,
Begin by taking three slow deep breaths.
Inhaling fully and exhaling slowly.
Settling into your breath and body in the most natural possible way.
Just checking to see how you feel right now in this moment.
Just feeling sensations in your body.
Just creating a space for those sensations to arise and letting them be.
Gently bringing your attention to the very top of your head.
Scanning your scalp for sensations.
As you move your awareness down through your face.
Relaxing your eyes and your eyelids.
Loosening up your jaw and relaxing your lips.
Imagine your sense of relaxation flowing down through your neck and around your shoulders.
Softly and slowly moving that sense of relaxation down through your upper arms,
Around your elbows,
Down through your lower arms,
And around your wrists.
Allowing that sense of relaxation to flow through the palms of your hands all the way through your fingers to the very tips of your fingers.
Relaxed.
And then softly shifting your attention into your abdomen and your stomach.
Allowing your attention to move into your chest.
And that sense of relaxation as you can feel your lungs expanding and contracting as you breathe naturally and easily.
In allowing the sense of relaxation from your shoulders to spread down through your upper back,
Through your spine,
Down through your lower back.
Imagining a feeling of relaxation flowing down through your upper legs and relaxing your knees softly.
Moving your attention down through your lower legs and around your ankles.
Relaxing from your heels through the soles of your feet all the way to the tips of your toes.
So you relax your feeling throughout the entire sitting position and for your entire body.
And now imagine that you're sitting in your favorite place in nature and there's no one around you.
Just sitting in this beautiful place where you feel very safe and secure.
You can imagine that it's a beautiful day outside,
The sky is clear and fast and a beautiful blue color.
And you can feel the warmth of the sun on your face and on your body and it feels good.
You can feel a gentle breeze brushing softly against your face and your body.
Leaving you with a sense of contentment and ease.
Setting aside any thoughts that you might be having of the past or the future and instead cherishing these precious moments that we have for meditation.
And create a feeling of happiness and spaciousness in your mind.
Now envision the inside of your body to be completely empty.
Avoid of any muscle,
Tissue or organs.
And imagine joy and happiness floating around in this empty space.
Very gently and very softly bring your attention to the center of your body.
At a point located two fingers width above the level of your navel.
If you're not sure where the center of your body is,
Anywhere in the general area of the stomach will do.
You can envision a bright object such as a sun,
A moon or a star at the center of yourself or at the center of gravity of your body.
And in this meditation tradition often the meditation object at the point of focus is characterized as a crystal ball.
Crystal ball in the mind is a symbol of the spaciousness that we can access.
And however you decide to anchor your awareness,
Even if it's nothing more than a feeling that you have,
That there's an object present at the center of yourself,
Keep your attention steady and evenly at that point.
Remain in touch with that inner object by means of the good feeling which you have from your meditation.
Feel the presence of the object at your center.
If you find thoughts arising but they won't go away when you ignore them,
You can try reciting to yourself the mantra.
Samma arahang,
Samma arahang,
Samma arahang.
Imagine hearing the sound of the mantra resonating from the center of your body while allowing your mind to settle naturally and peacefully at the same point.
In the meantime if your mind wanders then you just bring it back.
If the inner object disappears you can think of a new one.
And if the object transforms then we just follow it in its new form.
As we meditate more we start to become more familiar with the experience of the space between the thoughts.
To access the space between where one thought ends and another one begins.
Where we're able to take a step back from thinking so that we are not so caught up in our thoughts.
And we can start to gain access to that spaciousness in our mind.
When we do experience that clarity of mind,
That resilience,
That stability,
We automatically notice how our stresses melt away.
We experience actually dwelling in this stillness or yet deeper levels of inner peace.
In the meantime we have to work with the wandering mind and thoughts arising.
We need to learn to watch these mental phenomena,
Treating them as nothing more than the manifestation of impermanence in our mind.
We observe how thoughts and emotions arise and pass away naturally without getting caught up in these.
Treating them as nothing more than clouds or turbulence passing through a blue sky that is essentially clear.
And by identifying with the stillness that is the backdrop we learn to access something deeper,
That is the nature of deep peace,
Intuition and wisdom.
When we get our first glimpse of it,
It will further motivate us to continue to develop these skills.
Even if we get an overwhelming feeling of restlessness,
We can learn to watch that restlessness and to disassociate from it,
Allowing us to reconnect with the spaciousness in our mind.
Our mind will become unhooked from the restlessness and angst,
Allowing us to settle the mind more deeply still.
To continue in this way for a few more moments in silence,
Until we come to time for a few moments of loving kindness meditation together.
Thank you.
At this point,
We start with our practice of loving kindness meditation,
Where we practice cultivating and generating feelings of loving kindness for ourselves and all other beings in the world.
And it may help to start with the image of a dear friend or a family member who we care deeply about.
It could even be a pet that you care about.
And imagine that that person or living being is right in front of you.
Connect with the feelings of loving kindness that you have for them.
The feeling of gratitude out there in your life.
Imagine those feelings growing and expanding outward from the center of your body.
Imagine this feeling of loving kindness touching every single cell in your body.
From the top of your head all the way down to the tips of your toes,
Radiating from the center.
And in this way,
We start by extending loving kindness toward ourselves first of all,
With the wish that may I be happy,
May I be healthy in body and mind,
May I face my difficulties with good grace and serenity,
May I take care of myself in happiness.
Take note of these feelings of compassion,
Care and kindness,
Tenderness and openness.
Sending these feelings to yourself.
And from there we imagine these feelings growing and radiating outward from the center of our body to eventually cover our entire body.
Like a perfect protective bubble.
We now imagine sending these feelings further outward from our body to actually touch other people who you care deeply about.
Imagining them being uplifted in body,
Mind and spirit.
As they feel the loving kindness,
The care and gratitude that you have for them.
And in this way we continue cultivating and generating the feelings of loving kindness,
Expanding them to the other living beings in the room where you are located.
Get the feeling of loving kindness outwards from our center so it touches other people.
In this way we send loving kindness to our friends and our family.
We send loving kindness to people in our community,
Even those who you may not know very well.
We send loving kindness to others with whom you may not see eye to eye.
Make the wish that may everyone in my meditation community be safe,
Be happy and be peaceful.
May they be healthy in body and mind.
May they be able to face their difficulties with good grace and serenity.
May they experience peacefulness and contentment in life.
Now imagine these feelings growing and expanding beyond the room,
Throughout the entire neighborhood,
Throughout the entire town you live in and the surrounding suburbs.
Imagining the many different people,
Your fellow townspeople.
Sending them good wishes to every living being including all animals,
Marine life and birds.
Imagine sending your feelings of loving kindness across the entire county,
To the very borders of the country where you live.
Sending these feelings of loving kindness throughout the whole continent.
All the continents of the world and eventually around the entire globe.
Touching people on every continent with whom we share our planet.
And including animals of all species,
All living beings.
We imagine the feelings of loving kindness growing and expanding up into the atmosphere and throughout the entire universe for a few more moments in silence.
