Hello and welcome to this loving kindness meditation.
So find a comfortable position in which to sit for this period and as you allow your eyes to gently close,
Tune into the body and make any minor adjustments.
It can be helpful to remember our intentions of both ease and awareness and sit in a way that feels comfortable but alert.
We'll start with a few minutes of concentration practice just to help our mind settle and arrive in our present time experience.
As you allow the body to resume to natural breathing,
See where in the body you can feel the breath.
It may be in the stomach or abdomen where you can feel the rising and falling as the body breathes.
It might be in the chest where you may notice the expansion and contraction as the body inhales and exhales.
Perhaps it's at the nostrils where you can feel a slight tickle as the air comes in and the subtle warmth as the body exhales.
You can pick one spot to stick with for this meditation practice.
And as you feel the body breathing,
Try to stay with the breath all the way through and stick with it from the beginning of the inhale all the way through the end of the exhale.
You may notice the mind wandering.
When the mind wanders,
It really offers us an opportunity to cultivate mindfulness and concentration.
Each time we notice the mind wandering,
We're strengthening our ability to recognise our experience.
And each time we bring the mind back to the breath,
We're strengthening our ability to focus on an object.
So treat it as an opportunity rather than a problem and just return to the breath.
You can begin the practice by bringing to mind yourself as you sit here right now.
Try to connect with your own deepest intentions for happiness,
Ease and safety.
You don't need to dive into stories of what will make you happy,
But connect with that natural desire you have.
You can cultivate this intention to open the heart to your own wellbeing by silently offering yourself some phrases of loving kindness.
So now in your head,
Slowly offer yourself the phrases,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe and may I be at ease.
And you can offer these phrases silently in your head,
Saying them slowly enough that you can connect with their meaning and the intention behind them.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe and may I be at ease.
You can now bring to mind a good friend.
This may be a loved one,
A friend,
A teacher or mentor or maybe a pet.
And you can connect with your natural desire to see this person happy and at ease.
Just like you,
This person wants to be happy,
To feel safe and to be healthy.
In an effort to cultivate this intention of kindness,
You can offer this person a few phrases of loving kindness.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe and may you be at ease.
And you can let this person go from your mind and bring to mind a neutral person.
This is someone you see,
Maybe often,
But don't know very well.
Maybe someone who works somewhere you go a lot,
A co-worker or maybe a neighbour.
Although you don't know this person well,
You can recognise that this person wants to be happy as well.
You don't need to know what their happiness looks like necessarily.
Again,
Simply offer this person the phrases of loving kindness,
Connecting with the intention to care about their wellbeing.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe and may you be at ease.
And as you let this neutral person go,
You can bring to mind someone who you find difficult.
You may not want to pick the most difficult person in your life,
Instead choose someone who is minorly difficult.
Maybe it's someone you find yourself agitated with or annoyed by.
And you can offer the phrases,
Recognising that this is connecting with our intention to care for this person.
Although we may not mean it wholeheartedly every time we offer a phrase,
We can make an effort with the phrases.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe and may you be at ease.
And this meditation has now come to an end.
You may like to stay still and silent for a few moments longer or you can move on to the next moment,
The rest of your day or evening.
And if you do just desire to keep these feelings and this intention of loving kindness towards yourself and others with you.
