Loving Kindness Meditation

Loving Kindness is a practice where you wish people well using specific phrases directed toward yourself and others. In this meditation, I use the following phrases: May you be happy. May you be free from inner and outer harm. May you be healthy in body and mind. May you live with ease. This practice is especially helpful when feeling overwhelmed by the suffering in the world. It's a powerful tool for enhancing emotional resilience and can open the heart and foster compassion for yourself and others.

Transcript

This is a loving kindness meditation or metta meditation.

In this meditation,

I will be guiding some phrases that will be directed towards yourself,

Towards others.

And notice if these phrases don't resonate with you,

You can create your own phrases,

But I'll lead the ones that resonate with me and hope that they do with you as well.

So finding a comfortable position,

One where you can be alert,

Yet at ease.

This could be laying down,

It could be seated,

Seated,

And allowing yourself to be present in this moment.

Maybe taking a couple of deep breaths,

Breathing in through the nose,

Expanding the belly and exhaling.

Exhaling through the mouth,

Breathing in through the nose.

Exhaling through the mouth.

Maybe do that one more time,

Deep breath in through the mouth.

And exhale.

Allowing your breath to go,

Go to its natural rhythm.

Maybe noticing where you feel the breath most easily in the body.

Maybe it's at the tip of the nose,

Back of the throat,

Or with the rise and fall of the chest,

Rising on the inhale,

Falling on the exhale.

Or it might be lower in the belly,

Expanding on the in-breath,

Contracting on the exhale.

Just allowing yourself to be here in this moment.

You might notice if the brain is really active and that's okay.

It's what the brain does and just gently coming back to the anchor of attention of the breath.

And then as I begin saying the phrases,

Those will be your anchor of attention.

So knowing that the mind will wander,

It's what the mind does,

Noticing it and then coming back to the practice.

And that's the practice,

Going,

Noticing that your mind has wandered,

And then coming back and doing that as many times as necessary.

So making any adjustments to your posture.

And again,

If you're,

You know,

Driving or listening to this while you're walking or doing something else,

You know,

Keep the eyes open and just attention to the surroundings.

But if you're settling in,

Allow yourself to make any adjustments so that you are comfortable.

And again,

You want to be alert,

Yet at ease.

Making any adjustments.

And I'd like you to do just a small scan through the body.

Maybe starting at the head and moving your attention through the body,

The forehead,

The face,

The neck,

The shoulders,

The torso,

The hips and thighs,

Knees,

Calves,

Ankles,

All the knees,

Calves,

Ankles,

All the way down to the toes.

And just scanning your awareness through the body.

Again,

The body will,

You know,

Give you an indication Do you do you need something to,

You know,

Make yourself that a little bit more comfortable,

Or maybe it's a,

You know,

Unfurrowing the brow or lowering the,

You know,

Shoulders away from the ears,

Just noticing where you might be holding tension or tightness.

Taking a breath,

Maybe relaxing the areas or inviting a sense of ease and relax,

Relaxation if that's possible.

So I'd like you to bring to mind someone or something,

Some being that if they were to walk through the door right now,

It would be an uncomplicated feeling of joy,

Maybe,

You know,

Really a warm feeling.

And this can be someone that is alive now,

Or maybe they've passed on.

And just bringing to mind someone that if they were in the room with you right now,

You would have that sense of warmth and joy.

And if a lot of people are coming in,

How wonderful and I'll invite you to just pick one to focus on for this practice.

And as you have that person,

It could be a pet,

A person,

You know,

Whatever brings you joy,

Coming into the room with you.

So as you focus on that,

I'd like you to wish that person or being these phrases.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

And then if any other well wishes that you'd like to send to this person or being come to mind,

You can do that now silently.

And I'd like you to let go of that image or the sense of that being that is so uncomplicated and easy to love,

Or be friendly towards and and notice in the body if there's any shift,

If there's a sense of warmth or kindness.

And then I'd like to invite you to direct that towards your own experience.

Much like that person would want for you,

Right?

Like if it's a mutually uncomplicated and loving relationship,

They would want that for you as well.

So I'm going to invite you to turn your attention now to you and your experience,

Whatever that is right now.

And sending these well wishes to yourself.

May I be happy.

May I be free from inner and outer harm.

May I be healthy in body and mind.

May I live with ease.

May I be happy.

May I be free from inner and outer harm.

May I be healthy in body and mind.

May I live with ease.

And then whatever well wishes or good things you want to wish for yourself.

Come to mind just allowing yourself to send yourself some friendliness if it's possible in this moment.

Now I'd like to invite you to bring to mind someone that is neutral.

So maybe even indifferent,

This could be someone that maybe you see at a coffee shop,

Or perhaps it's in the mail carrier,

Or you know,

Someone that you don't have,

You know,

Really strong relationships,

You might not even know their name.

But what you do know is that you share humanity with this person.

And that even if you've never had an in depth conversation,

You can imagine that they desire to be happy and healthy.

So bringing someone that is neutral to mind.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

And again,

Taking some time to send your own well wishes towards this individual.

Now I'd like to invite you to bring your community to mind.

This could be friends,

Family,

You know,

Inner circle,

Or maybe even rippling out to a larger circle of acquaintances.

And just kind of bringing to mind your community,

People that you interact with,

Maybe more often.

Just invite those people in.

We'll be sending them well wishes.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

Inviting your own words and sending that out to your community,

Rippling out some well wishes.

I'd like you to now expand your awareness from your community or maybe daily interactions to the town or city that you're in.

Maybe even rippling out to,

You know,

The state,

Country that you're in.

Just imagining your attention widening out from wherever you are in this moment,

To community to city,

State,

And country that you're in.

And again,

There will be so many people in this group that you will never ever meet.

Yet they share humanity and you can wish them well knowing that they,

Like you,

Want to be safe and happy and well.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be free from inner and outer harm.

May you be healthy in body and mind.

May you live with ease.

And any other well wishes you'd like to send out to this larger shared community of city,

State,

Country,

With the inhabitants therein.

And now I'd like you to expand even further to the world,

This world that we all share.

All of the countries,

All of the different languages,

All of the different customs and beliefs and everything,

Knowing at the heart of most people,

They want to be happy.

They want to be healthy.

So seeing if you can invite your attention to all beings,

All beings on this planet,

In all the countries,

In all the states,

All beings,

And guess what?

You're included with that,

Right?

Because you're one of those beings.

So including yourself and the inhabitants of this planet.

May we be happy.

May we be free from inner and outer harm.

May we be healthy in body and mind.

May we live with ease.

May we be happy.

May we be free from inner and outer harm.

May we be healthy in body and mind.

May we live with ease.

And taking time now to send out any ripples or well wishes to all beings,

Including yourself.

So I'd like to invite you to let go of the images and to once again,

Bring the attention to the body in whatever position that it's in noticing points of contact.

Maybe noticing any sensations that are in the body.

Maybe the mind is busy once again with what's next or maybe there's a sense of a little more peace and ease.

Whatever's here,

Just acknowledging it.

And then bringing the attention to the breath,

Breathing in,

Knowing you're breathing in.

Breathing out,

Knowing you're breathing out.

Just allowing yourself to pay attention to the body breathing in this moment.

And before opening your eyes,

I'd like to just invite you to maybe bring this practice in throughout the day.

And notice where you might need loving kindness or friendliness towards yourself or towards others.

And when you feel ready,

Start wiggling the toes,

Maybe inviting a stretch or movement and opening the eyes if they've been closed.

Thank you so much for your practice.