Welcome,
I'm Christina.
Today I will be sharing with you a guided metta meditation practice.
The word metta is a Pali word that roughly translates as loving kindness.
Metta comes from the Buddhist tradition and its practice is meant to cultivate a sense of love and goodwill towards yourself and others.
Metta meditation is a tool towards this end.
Metta meditation is an excellent practice for those who are new to meditation because it creates an object upon which to draw the focus.
To quote empty your thoughts is an unrealistic expectation for someone new to meditation and students often get frustrated and discouraged when they are not able to do so.
Metta meditation offers a tether upon which you can tie your consciousness maintaining its single-pointed focus.
Breath and breath control practices called pranayama in the yogic tradition are another tether students can use to bring the mind to single-pointed focus.
If consciousness is an ocean,
These meditation techniques are your floaties.
Eventually,
You will be able to swim on your own,
But if you are new to swimming,
Floaties can keep your head above water and help you learn the strokes.
Let's begin by preparing the body for this practice.
We will start in a firmly established seat.
Plant your feet flat on the floor if accessible to you.
Shift around in your chair until your weight is evenly distributed between both sitz bones.
Press down through your feet and your seat,
Anchoring yourself in place.
Pick your ribcage up off your hip bones,
Extending the crown of your head upwards,
Growing taller in your seat and creating space in the spine.
Press your shoulders down away from your ears,
Creating even more space along the sides of your neck.
Place your hands on your lap,
On your heart,
One on your chest and one on your belly,
Or on a desk in front of you.
Tuck your chin slightly and you can either close your eyes or keep them open with a gaze low and soft.
Take a moment and notice the contact points between your body and the supports around you,
The ground,
The chair,
The desk,
The lap.
Begin to bring awareness to your breath.
As you inhale,
Fill your body with air,
First feeling your belly puff out like a balloon,
Then the torso expanding in all directions,
Then the collarbones lifting,
The lungs filling up completely.
As you exhale,
Empty your lungs like you're pouring water out of a vase.
Notice how your navel draws in towards your spine,
How your shoulders drop down away from your ears just a little bit more.
And how your body grows heavier as you settle more deeply into your seat.
Release the muscles in your face,
Unclenching your jaw and unfurrowing your brow.
Continue to breathe in and out like this,
Filling and emptying the lungs slowly and fully.
Now we begin our metta meditation.
First,
Bring into your mind's eye a vision of yourself.
You might imagine yourself as a child or maybe a version of yourself several years in the future.
You might imagine yourself in this very moment as if you had a bird's eye view of the world.
A bird's eye view of the room you currently occupy.
I will now say a few phrases aloud.
After I say a phrase aloud,
Silently repeat the phrase to yourself,
Keeping this person in focus,
Directing the intention and energy of these phrases to the version of yourself that exists in your mind's eye.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be fulfilled.
I wish you well.
Take a deep breath in,
And let it go with a sigh.
Now think of someone you love.
This could be a family member,
A friend,
Or a partner.
Think of someone who you can't help but feel the corners of your mouth turn up and down.
Think of someone who you can't help but feel the corners of your mouth turn up and down.
After I say a phrase aloud,
Silently repeat the phrase to yourself,
Keeping this person in focus,
Directing the intention and energy of these phrases to the person in your mind's eye.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be fulfilled.
I wish you well.
Take a deep breath in,
And let it go with a sigh.
Now think of someone you feel neutrally about.
Maybe you think of a co-worker you don't know very well,
Or a stranger you passed on your way to work today.
Think of someone who you doesn't conjure up any strong emotions,
Either positive or negative,
When you think of them.
After I say a phrase aloud,
Silently repeat the phrase to yourself,
Keeping this person in focus,
Directing the intention and energy of these phrases to the person in your mind's eye.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be fulfilled.
I wish you well.
Take a deep breath in,
And let it go with a sigh.
Now think of someone who is challenging for you.
This could be someone in your personal life,
Or this could be someone in the public eye,
Such as a celebrity or politician.
Think of someone who spurs negative emotions,
Someone for whom it is difficult for you to feel loving kindness.
After I say a phrase aloud,
Silently repeat the phrase to yourself,
Keeping this person in focus,
Directing the intention and energy of these phrases to the person in your mind's eye.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be fulfilled.
I wish you well.
Take a deep breath in,
And let it go with a sigh.
Finally,
We return to the self.
Maybe this time you conjure up the same version of yourself as you imagined last time,
Or maybe you think of a different version of yourself.
A version equally as deserving of loving kindness.
After I say a phrase aloud,
Silently repeat the phrase to yourself,
Keeping this person in focus,
Directing the intention and energy of these phrases to the version of yourself that exists in your mind's eye.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be fulfilled.
I wish you well.
Take a deep breath in,
And let it go with a sigh.
Take a moment to bask in the golden glow of loving kindness you have extended towards yourself and others in your life.
Imagine this energy of love and kindness and this energetic feeling of love and compassion expanding out in all directions,
Starting from your heart,
Enveloping the self,
Engulfing this room,
Then expanding out to the entire city and the country,
And in the whole world,
Allowing the loving kindness emanating from your heart to touch all living beings.
Start to invite movement back into the body,
Starting small at first by wiggling your toes or fluttering your fingers,
Maybe rolling your wrists and ankles in circles,
Maybe stretching the neck by creating semi-circles in the air with your nose.
If your eyes are closed,
Slowly open them,
Taking in the light and colors in the room around you.
Welcome back.
