Hi,
And welcome to this Mindful Moment practice,
Loving Kindness.
In this exercise,
We're going to be practising cultivating kind feelings towards others,
And we'll begin in a familiar way.
So just notice how you're sitting right now,
Where your body is in contact with whatever is supporting you,
And do what you need to do to let go of any tension and feel a bit more at ease.
And we can begin with a couple of slower breaths,
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
As we let our breathing settle into a natural rhythm,
We can start to let ourselves relax.
The muscles of the face,
The forehead,
The jaw,
Bringing some ease to the neck,
Letting the shoulders drop,
And releasing the belly.
Just enjoying breathing in a natural way.
And as you feel yourself sitting here,
With all that you might be holding,
Just silently wish for yourself,
May I feel safe,
May I feel healthy,
May I feel happy,
May I live with ease.
And now bring to mind someone who is important to you,
Someone you care about and have warm,
Uncomplicated feelings towards.
As you imagine them in front of you,
Focus on that feeling of positive connection as you silently wish for them.
May you feel safe,
May you feel healthy,
May you feel happy,
May you live with ease.
Imagine that they can really feel you wishing this for them.
Now let's turn our mind to someone that's a little more distant,
Perhaps a stranger or neutral person,
Maybe someone that we pass regularly in the street or see at work but don't really know.
Notice how that feels,
To imagine them in front of you,
As you silently wish for them.
May you feel safe,
May you feel healthy,
May you feel happy,
May you live with ease.
And now let's extend out to all the people you are connected to in the world,
All the familiar and unfamiliar strangers,
All those people whose lives have ups and downs like ours,
Who wish to be happy and free from suffering.
Silently wish for them.
May you feel safe,
May you feel healthy,
May you feel happy,
May you live with ease.
As we close this practice,
I want you to remember this feeling of loving kindness for others and think about how it might feel if we were to approach every meeting,
Conversation,
Moment holding this same wish.
May all of us,
Everywhere,
Feel safe and healthy and happy and live with ease.
Thank you.
