Loving Kindness Meditation

So letting yourself come into a comfortable position,

You can either lower your gaze or soften your vision and just dropping into the present moment,

The here and the now.

And before we really begin,

Just allow yourself to take stock of how you're feeling in this moment.

If there's anything pressing or anything heavy or dense about the day that you wish to release,

I invite you to place that in your container now,

Just acknowledging that this is a time to move into the present moment and let yourself just be and put it off to the side for a moment.

And then just bringing mindful awareness to the body and doing a quick body scan,

Checking any areas or points of tension or discomfort.

If you need to,

You can shift in your seat to make yourself just a little bit more comfortable,

Whatever you have to do to drop in.

And once again,

Coming back to the center of the heart,

Bringing mindful awareness to the space in the chest,

Noticing the rising and falling.

And now I invite you to check in with yourself.

And if there's anything heavier than still hanging on,

Giving yourself just a couple of moments to move that through using the breath to maybe envision yourself exhaling those things out,

Really coming into a place of softening within the body and within this present moment.

And now I invite you to bring to mind someone who makes you smile,

Just the thought of them.

It could be a pet,

It could be a loved one living or departed,

It could be a friend,

But someone who evokes that feeling of love and joy within you with ease and bring them into your mind and feel that energy and that emotion of love that they're evoking within you.

And taking note as you hold their image in your awareness or the feeling of their essence,

Just gently scanning the body,

Noticing how you feel.

And now as you hold them in your awareness and in your mind,

You're going to wish them loving kindness.

You can say in your mind to them,

May you be safe,

May you be healthy,

May you be happy,

May you be filled with loving kindness.

Just feeling the energy of those words and that transmission being sent to them from your heart to their heart.

Now I invite you to bring into your awareness and into your mind someone who evokes a neutral response.

You can feel indifferent about them,

Neither they're good nor bad,

But they're just maybe acquaintance or someone you see as you pass them in the parking lot on the way to work.

Or it could be the person you saw at the grocery store,

The cashier.

Just allow yourself to bring that person into your awareness now that evokes that sense of neutrality.

And as you hold them in your awareness,

I invite you to now extend the mantra of loving kindness to them.

May you be safe,

May you be healthy,

May you be happy,

May you be filled with loving kindness.

And feeling that beam of light moving from your heart to their heart as you wish them loving kindness.

And then once again checking in with the body,

Seeing if there's been any shifts or changes and just noting these things if there has been.

Just bringing mindful awareness to the present moment as you extend this loving kindness to this person,

Recognizing that they have hopes and dreams just like you and they just wish to be happy as well.

And just feeling that flow of energy as you radiate it out.

And now I'd like you to bring to mind someone who may be a little bit more challenging,

May evoke some heavier,

Denser emotions.

It could be someone who we may find irritating or just doesn't always evoke a good feeling.

You can bring them into your awareness now and as they come into this space,

Focusing on the heart center now,

Seeing that beam of light reaching out to them as well,

We're going to begin to extend to them loving kindness.

Repeating the same mantra,

May you be safe,

May you be healthy,

May you be happy,

May you be filled with loving kindness.

And then making a mindful note of how you may feel in your body holding this person in your awareness and recognizing that whatever is there is okay.

Just making a note of any expansion or contraction that may be present and recognizing if it's difficult to hold them in your awareness,

But also remembering and now seeing they are people and they also are just seeking happiness and health.

We hold the compassion in this space.

And now as you breathe,

I invite you to bring the image of yourself into the space now.

It's just you and you and see yourself standing before you and allow yourself to soften into this moment here as you explore yourself with curiosity.

You may see yourself at a certain age,

You may see yourself today,

Whoever you see,

Whatever version of yourself is all right.

All versions,

All timelines of yourself are fully accepted.

And then bringing the awareness to the heart center,

Seeing that beam of light reach out from your heart to your heart,

Wishing yourself loving kindness.

Say to yourself internally,

May you be safe,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

And may you be filled with loving kindness.

Holding yourself in that space of compassion is taking a mental note of how your body feels,

Extending yourself the mantra of loving kindness.

And now I invite you to bring all of the people whom you've extended loving kindness into your awareness with you now in this space.

Once again,

All together,

See them all standing before you.

And one last time extending them the mantra of loving kindness.

And we actually will refer to this in the tense of we.

May we be safe,

May we be healthy,

May we be happy,

May we be filled with loving kindness.

Feeling that white light extending out from your heart to their hearts.

See the connection in the web that that light creates as it moves from one heart to the next.

And then imagine the light pouring out from their hearts into the space around you,

Into the building with which you're in.

See it now extending out to the hearts of everyone that is in the close vicinity to you.

Imagine it now just extending like a web and feeling it extend out that love,

That loving kindness.

Now it's extending out into the neighborhood,

Which you live one heart lighting up and extending out to another,

Filling each heart with loving kindness.

Then see the light from the hearts extend out to everyone in the town,

In the city,

See the entire state begin to light up with the light of each person's heart,

That web that is being weaved and see it move out into the country,

Creating this infinite web of light,

And then all the way extending across continents around the world until every being's heart is connected,

Recognizing the interconnectivity,

The interconnectedness of each and every one of us,

This web of light encircling the globe.

Seeing it extend out into the universe,

You could even imagine in your mind's eye the earth lit up,

Filled with this compassion.

Now sitting in the space of loving kindness,

We can begin to bring the awareness back into the body,

Bringing the light back into the heart space,

Releasing all of those from your awareness and coming back fully into the space,

Becoming aware of the room in which you're residing,

The chair in which you're sitting,

Gently wiggling the fingers and the toes,

And when you're ready you can come back fully into the space and open your eyes.