Hello,
Welcome to the session,
I invite you to take a seat,
Or lie down and get yourself comfortable.
You can close down the eyes if you wish,
And just begin taking some slow,
Deep,
Sighing breaths in through the nose,
Placing your hand upon your heart space,
Taking another slow deep sighing breath,
Just allowing whatever tensions and thoughts to drop away,
To drop Maintaining those slow deep breaths,
And settling in for the session,
Today we're going to be practicing a meta meditation,
Or a loving kindness,
In most every mindfulness practice,
Vipassana practice,
In most every tradition,
They'll have at the end of their books and their techniques and their seminars and their retreats,
A session or a day on loving kindness,
We go deep,
We do the work,
We introspect,
We release,
We heal,
But this is a little bit of a balm,
A refresher,
A reconnection to the beautiful aspects of the self,
And the world,
Just taking a moment to connect to the heart space,
To the self,
To the part of you that is connected to the divine,
Or your intuition,
The observer,
You at your core,
I like to visualize this space as the heart space,
As a glowing ball of energy,
Or light,
Or a flame,
With every breath,
This space grows stronger and brighter,
We embody,
Embrace and become that space,
We're going to offer some words,
Or at least the intention behind the words,
May I be free of ill will,
May I be free of suffering,
May I be full of loving kindness,
May I be happy,
Once again it doesn't matter if you fully agree with the words,
Or even really feel it just yet,
This is a practice,
And over time you'll find a softening and an opening and releasing that comes,
May I be free of ill will,
May I be free of suffering,
May I be full of loving kindness,
May I be happy,
If you struggle with self worth,
With actions or things that make you feel a certain way about yourself,
Imagine you as a baby,
Young,
Innocent,
Deserving of all of the love in the world,
Offer that part of yourself love,
May I be free of ill will,
May I be free of suffering,
May I be full of loving kindness,
May I be happy,
Now taking a moment to picture a person,
Pet,
Plant or place that is easy to offer love to,
Picturing them in your mind and offering them the words or the intention behind the words,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
You can use just the words with this,
If you're a visualising sort of person you can imagine a connection between you and them,
Heart space to heart space,
You might have a colour,
Rather visualised symbols,
But just sitting in this space,
Holding them in your mind is enough,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
This practice works whether or not you believe you're sending anything to them,
You can practice this almost as a prayer,
Like your thoughts and intentions manifest in the real world,
Or this can be an internal practice,
You impacting your own thoughts and your own feelings,
Because even if all that is true is the latter,
Your own softening,
Your own connection to these intentions will change your own behaviours,
And therefore move the world ever so subtly towards a more loving and kind place,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
And now picking someone to whom you are just an acquaintance,
That you barely know,
A stranger,
Someone who you may have interacted with just once,
Or perhaps they're a shopkeeper,
Or someone that you see regularly but don't really know,
Neutral feelings,
To that person,
Hold them in your heart space,
And offering them these words or the intention behind the words,
Or a visualised form of loving kindness,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
May you be free of ill will,
Free of suffering,
Full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
And now if you like,
You can choose to extend this practice to someone who has in the past,
Or is currently causing you harm,
This does not feel accessible at the moment,
Feel free to choose anyone else,
But if you can offer loving kindness,
To someone who has caused you harm,
Or is causing you harm,
There can be a tremendous release,
A letting go,
And a moving on,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
Truth is,
If they were all of those things,
They would not be harming,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
If you're struggling to offer these feelings to that person,
Once again imagine them as a young child or a baby,
Before it all,
That young child,
That baby,
If they were offered loving kindness,
May well have turned out differently,
May you be free of ill will,
May you be free of suffering,
May you be full of loving kindness,
We can extend this practice outwardly,
To the community,
To our countries,
To the world,
To all living beings,
Because yes,
This is life,
Life has its ups and downs,
Its cruelties,
Its harsh realities,
Its inevitabilities,
But there is also love and connection,
So one more time through,
To all living beings,
May all living beings be free of suffering,
May they be free of ill will,
May they be full of loving kindness,
May they be happy,
May all living beings be free of ill will,
May they be free of suffering,
May they be full of loving kindness,
May they be happy,
May all living beings be free of ill will,
May they be free of suffering,
May they be full of loving kindness,
May they be happy,
So this practice of loving kindness can be practiced as its own unique practice,
You could choose to do this as your daily sit,
Offering love,
Offering compassion,
Offering connection,
Or you could choose to do it at the end of a mindfulness session,
It is one that I initially struggled with,
It felt disingenuous,
It felt challenging,
Because these feelings weren't coming naturally,
But the more we sit in a space,
The more we connect,
The more it starts to open up,
The more I started to realize I do indeed wish for all living beings to be free of ill will,
Free of suffering,
And full of loving kindness and happy,
But there was this subtle block within,
Fear,
Selfishness,
Tension,
Tension,
Hurt,
But ever so subtly a loving kindness practice like this helps to unlock that and release it,
And whether or not you believe these intentions are doing something externally or internally,
They're at least changing you,
And if you begin to change and soften and act with love,
The people around you will feel that and it will spread,
So either way this is a practice for the self,
But also for the world,
No matter your worldview,
So thank you for joining me,
And I'll see you in the next session,
But if you like,
We can sit for 10 more minutes,
So if you'd like to maintain the meditation,
You're more than welcome to do so,
And if everyone else is just returning,
Back to the session,
Back to their body,
Back to their day,
Loving kindness meditation will help you to soften,
To release,
To let go,
To reconnect,
During an extended sit,
Like we just did,
If I'm practicing a loving kindness meditation,
I often allow my mind to just wander through the different people in my life,
The good,
The bad,
The strangers,
The people that are present,
The people long gone,
All of them,
And as their faces and energies and our connection comes to mind,
As they come,
I just offer them all in that refrain,
May you be free of ill will,
Free of suffering,
Full of loving kindness,
May you be happy,
And they just sort of roll through the mind,
Roll through the awareness,
And it's like connecting that thought to all of them,
They say that the mind is plastic,
That it can change,
That neurons that wire together,
Fire together,
Wire together,
So what if we built up a space of loving kindness,
Of compassion,
And we connected that to every person in our memory,
Loving kindness and compassion equals people,
People equals loving kindness and compassion,
So to me that sounds like a beautiful space to be in internally,
It's one that I would like to foster,
So thank you for joining me in this session,
And I'll see you next time.
