Loving Kindness Meditation

A guided practice for cultivating positive emotions and loving kindness by Diana Winston.

Transcript

To begin this practice,

Let yourself be in a relaxed and comfortable position.

We're going to do the practice of cultivating positive emotion,

In this case,

Loving kindness,

Which is the desire for someone to be happy,

Or yourself to be happy.

It's not dependent on something,

It's not conditional.

It's just a natural opening of the heart to someone else or to yourself.

So you can check into your body and notice how you're feeling right now,

Letting whatever is here be here.

Now let yourself bring to mind someone whom,

The moment you think of them,

You feel happy.

See if you can bring to mind,

It could be a relative,

A close friend,

Someone with not too complicated a relationship,

But just a general sense that when you think of them you feel happy.

You can pick a child or you can always choose a pet,

A dog or cat,

A creature it's fairly easy to feel love for.

So let them come to mind,

Have them have a sense of them being in front of you.

You can feel them,

Sense them,

See them,

And as you imagine them,

Notice how you're feeling inside.

Maybe you feel some warmth or there's some heat to your face,

A smile,

A sense of expansiveness,

This is the loving-kindness,

This is this natural feeling that's accessible to all of us at any moment.

So now having this loved one in front of you,

Begin to wish them well.

May you be safe and protected from danger.

May you be happy and peaceful.

May you be healthy and strong.

May you have ease and well-being.

And as I say these words,

You can use my words or your own words,

But have a sense of letting this loving-kindness come from you and begin to touch this loved one reaching out.

You might think in images,

You might have a sense of color or light,

You might just have a feeling.

The words may continue to bring on more of this feeling and I encourage you to say whatever feels meaningful to you.

May you be free from stress and anxiety.

May you be free from all fear.

And so as you're sending out these words and these feelings of loving-kindness,

Also check into yourself and see how you're feeling inside.

And now imagine that this loved one turns around and begins to send it back to you.

So see if you can receive the loving-kindness,

Take it in.

And they're wishing you well.

May you be happy,

Meaning you.

May you be peaceful and at ease.

May you be safe and protected from all danger.

May you have joy,

Well-being.

Letting yourself take it in.

Now if you're not feeling anything at this point or before in the meditation,

It's not a problem.

This is a practice that plants seeds.

And if you're feeling something else other than loving-kindness,

Just check into that.

What is it I'm feeling?

There may be something to learn here.

Now if it's possible and it's not always easy to do this,

But see if you can send loving-kindness to yourself.

You can imagine it coming down your body from your heart.

Or you can just have a sense of it.

May I be safe and protected from danger.

May I be healthy and strong.

May I be happy and peaceful.

May I accept myself just as I am.

And as you ask yourself the question,

What do I need to be happy?

See what arises and offer that to yourself.

May I have meaningful work,

A joyful life,

Close friends and family.

And now checking into yourself and noticing what it is you feel as you do this.

And now let yourself bring to mind one person or a group of people that you wish to send the loving-kindness to.

Imagine them in front of you.

Sense them,

Feel them.

May you be happy and peaceful.

May you be free from all stress and anxiety and fear,

Worry,

Grief.

May you have joy and happiness,

Well-being.

And now let this loving-kindness expand out,

Spreading,

Touching anyone that you want to touch right now in all directions.

People you know,

People you don't know.

People you have difficulty with,

People you love.

Just imagine expanding and touching in each person or animal,

Whoever is touched by this loving-kindness.

Each person is changed.

You can imagine that.

So may everyone everywhere be happy and peaceful and at ease.

May we all experience great joy.

Reviews

This was amazing. I will definitely have this in my rotation. My only note is that it had an abrupt ending but that doesn’t take away from the lovely experience

I practically know this one by heart! I used to listen to it on a different app. Thank you, diana! Nice to see you here on insight timer.

This was a lovely way to start my day, thank you so much.

Loved this quick loving kindness meditation. I was especially pleased by the invitation to make a pet my potential focus as when I've been socially isolated it can be hard to think of a person

This and sharon Salzburg’s loving kindness meditations are the best on the app

A gentle loving voice to guide the practice. I really appreciated the slight variations on the traditional Metta practice and will definitely return to this.

I loved this simple yet profound practice! Thank you!🙏

What a beautiful loving kindness meditation. Thank you 😊

This helped me a lot in being present and not worrying about the well-being of a loved one but instead to be compassionate and send joy.

I especially loved the chime at the end thank u

thank you so much for this! it is a very beautiful thing to practice to, may you be happy and have countless joy✨

Beautiful loving kindness meditation . Than you so much ! Your peaceful voice was very soothing and calming . 🙏

I like this visualization exercise. It’s clear, concise, and hopefully will be an effective addition to my “loving kindness / forgiveness” meditative practice. I find that it’s a good supplement or entry point to this kind of practice. I appreciate having a 10 minute or less option to use in addition to more in depth guided meditations related to this subject/concept.

Good basic loving kindness, has all the elements including self and others.

Exactly what my heart needed so I can receive love, support and gifts fully without feeling guilty or unworthy. I’m working on receiving. Thank you.

This is my favourite loving kindness meditation of all time. Thank you.

Excellent Méditation. Thank you! Just the end is a little abrupt 😀.

So positive and relaxing, that I almost went to sleep by the end of it ❤️❤️

A lovely example of a loving kindness meditation. A very nice tone of voice to listen to and the bell at the end is not loud at all. Thank you for your gift.

Excellent!
Especially for those in my life who are harder to love ❤️
Very helpful
Thank you