So go ahead and check in with your body and see if you're as physically comfortable as you can be right now.
We'll hope that you can also still be upright that facilitates attentiveness,
Having a straight spine,
But that also helps your whole body relax because your spine can hold you up and then everything else can relax around your spine.
See if you can slow down your breathing a little bit.
In this moment,
We just don't need to be alarmed.
We don't need to be on edge right now,
Maybe later,
But not right now.
So we can breathe slowly.
Let our arms and legs relax.
Let your face relax.
So I'm going to offer you some classic loving kindness phrases and we'll start with ourselves.
And if it's comfortable for you,
I invite you to place your hands on yourself too.
I usually put one hand over my heart and the other hand over my belly.
And I'll say a phrase and then I'd like you to repeat it to yourself in your mind or out loud if there's no one listening to you.
May I be safe?
May I be healthy?
May I be happy?
May I be at ease?
We'll do this directed at ourselves a couple more times.
And as we do,
See if you can feel into your heart and your own body to relax and allow some of this loving kindness to sink in.
May I be safe?
May I be healthy?
May I be happy?
May I be at ease?
You may also be able to facilitate more of a sense of this nurturing coming in if you take a deep inhale with each phrase.
And it's kind of,
This is metaphorical,
But it's like breathing in that intention from that phrase.
You're kind of combining the natural good sensation of inhaling with the kind words you're telling yourself.
So try that this time.
May I be safe?
May I be healthy?
May I be happy?
May I be at ease?
So now go ahead and select one person that you care about.
Just one for now.
Don't worry if you have lots of people you can spread it around later.
But maybe you have someone you're concerned about,
Your spouse or a child or,
You know,
Maybe someone who's in an at risk population.
And feel free to hold an image of that person in your mind where you might see something in your imagination.
And direct these positive phrases to that person.
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
And now you can stay with that person or switch to another if you had trouble choosing.
But just hold one person for all four phrases.
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
So now let's try kind of an interesting one that I think will be really,
Really quite soothing and connecting and wonderful,
Which is select somebody that there's been something kind of rough with lately.
Maybe you have a friend who posted something on social media that triggered you,
Or maybe you had a conflict with a family member,
Or maybe there's just,
You know,
Somebody you don't know in the news who's gotten under your skin because you don't agree with their stance.
What would it be like if we opened our hearts right now and flooded that person with our support and our offering of loving kindness?
So go ahead and choose one.
It doesn't have to be perfect,
And it doesn't have to be really hard.
It's just whatever you feel you're up to today.
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
Now if you feel like that's getting somewhere for you,
You can stay with that person or select another.
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
Now we're going to try a really expansive flavor of this practice.
If you can kind of imagine your whole body just opening up like a flower so that this loving kindness that you're generating can just be released into your home,
Into your community,
And let this be the contagion that goes around the world supporting our global community with loving kindness.
You may want to visualize the earth or focus on the phrases or the sense of openness,
Reaching out with your loving kindness as we open and just extend support and kindness to the world.
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
Now as we offer this to the world one more time,
See if you can also kind of imagine that this,
All this space between you and everyone else that's really porous,
So this loving kindness can go both ways.
Here's this much that I know that is a fact is all over the world there are places where people do this practice daily throughout the day so you can be assured that anytime you're doing a loving kindness practice like right now there are people at this moment all over the world sending loving kindness to you.
So see if you can tune in a little bit even if it's just suspension of disbelief to the idea that this is a freely flowing exchange of kindness and support compassion among all people.
May you be safe?
May you be healthy?
May you be happy?
May you be at ease?
