Greetings.
This is Travis Elliott,
Yoga instructor,
Meditation teacher and author.
The following is a special meditation practice presented by The Be Ultimate Podcast.
For more information,
Inspiring talks and meditations,
Please visit thebeultimatepodcast.
Com.
Welcome to loving kindness meditation.
Helen Keller said that kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and that the blind can see.
And this practice will cultivate this energy of kindness and compassion.
Let's begin in seated.
Find your comfortable seat.
Allow your spine to be tall like a staff of bamboo.
Upright,
But also relaxed.
Quality of effortlessness within your body,
Within your mind as you close the eyes.
We'll begin our loving kindness meditation by first calling within our mind an image of a loved one.
Somebody that represents good vibes and good energy,
Support within your life.
Perhaps a loved one,
A family member,
A friend or even a teacher.
It's been a guiding force within your life,
Within your path.
Hold this image of this loved one within your mind.
See this person as clearly and as detailed as you can.
And continuing to hold this image,
Silently begin to repeat the following three phrases.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
And may you be at peace.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
And may you be at peace.
On your own,
Just continuing to repeat.
As you offer this compassion and this kindness from the very depths of your heart.
As you continue to offer up these phrases,
It's possible that it's sometimes we feel resistance or we feel a lack of sincerity or doubt.
And if this is your experience at any point,
It's actually very normal.
But just continue to stay with the phrases.
Coming back to the repetition of the practice.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
From here,
Allow the phrases to fade away momentarily.
And then now for the next stage of this meditation.
Imagine that you are inside of this person that you just repeated your phrases towards.
And as you sit inside of this person now,
Beginning to look out through their eyes at an image of yourself as you are right here,
Right now in this very moment.
Now see yourself as clearly and specifically as possible.
And then begin to repeat those same phrases to yourself.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Offering these waves of compassion to yourself that the circle of compassion includes not just other people,
But especially our own selves.
Because very often we can be our own worst judge and critic.
Very often,
We can abuse ourselves with our own thoughts.
But in this practice in this moment,
Nothing but good vibes and deep compassion for your own self.
Continue to repeat.
And then nice and easily allow the repetition and the phrases to fade away.
Allow the image of yourself to also fade away.
Just taking a moment to be in that gap.
That space,
That sacred pause of just being.
Now,
I'd like to invite you to bring an image into your mind of a neutral person.
This could be a clerk at a grocery store.
An employee at a post office.
Perhaps somebody that you see going in and out of a parking garage.
Or maybe a distant neighbor.
As you hone into this neutral person,
Also begin to see them as clearly as possible.
And holding that image,
We now send those loving kindness phrases.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
So go on and repeat.
As we continue to allow our hearts to expand,
To open,
To widen.
With that beautiful benevolent quality of kindness.
I offer up these phrases without any expectation at all in return.
From a pure deep place within.
If you notice the mind drifting away.
Wondering off to other thoughts,
Fantasies,
Tangents of thinking,
Just like the other meditations.
And then we come back to the practice,
To the anchor of the phrases,
The anchor of feeling that sensation of your heart space.
Softly,
Easily letting the repetition.
Letting the image go.
Coming back to your sacred.
Moment of stillness.
A moment of awareness.
Deep sense.
Presence.
For the next stage of the meditation now.
Bringing to your mind an image of a slightly challenging person in your life,
Not the most challenging person,
But slightly challenging.
And ultimately within this loving kindness practice,
We want to be able to tap in to being able to bring these qualities to people that we might find challenging and difficult,
Which isn't always easy.
So we include this slightly challenging person also within our circle of compassion.
Letting the person clearly,
Vividly.
And then begin repeating the phrases.
And as you repeat again,
If you notice any resistance arising,
Or perhaps working with somebody that's slightly challenging,
A contraction that begins to happen within the heart.
Notice that,
Be aware of that.
You don't necessarily need to change it,
Or to fix it,
But to just see it.
And repeat.
Beautiful.
Let the phrases go.
Let the image disappear.
Coming back to that clarity of the mind.
That kindness of the heart.
The language the deaf can hear,
The blind can see.
So deep,
So profound.
And finally bring that power into the last stage of this meditation.
As we visualize an image of the entire world.
As if you were on a space shuttle in outer space,
Looking down upon this beautiful,
Wonderful planet Earth.
And all the people that inhabit the planet.
All the animals on the planet.
All of nature.
All of life.
All of it.
As we widen that circle as broad as possible.
You see the planet.
And you offer those same phrases.
May you be safe.
May you be at peace.
Continue to repeat.
Sometimes these practices can invoke certain emotions.
And if those emotions do arise.
Just let it be there.
Nothing to push away.
But also nothing to cling to.
Just focus on the phrases.
Take a deep breath in through the nose.
And then out the mouth,
Let it go.
As you're ready,
Slowly opening up the eyes.
So the love and kindness practice,
It trains us to take our attention off of ourselves.
To put it on to other people.
And you can bring this into your daily life.
You're on an airplane and you send these phrases to everybody on the airplane.
You're in traffic.
You send these phrases to everybody out in traffic.
And this can be a beautiful way to continue to open up the heart.
And to feel that connection to all beings everywhere.
Thank you for practicing.
And we look forward to seeing you next time.
Thank you.
