Hi,
This is Alexis and this is the Loving Kindness Meditation.
To set yourself up for success,
You want to find a quiet and comfortable space to do this meditation.
This can be coming into a seat.
Maybe you want to sit down on a chair or a cushion.
You could also lie down on the couch or on your bed.
Just place your body in a special way.
It is important that the spine is long,
That your body is relaxed and your mind alert.
Bring awareness to your breath for a few moments.
Pay attention to each inhale and exhale.
Notice the feeling of the breath as it moves in and out through your nose.
Just taking a moment to connect with your breathing.
You may want to place one hand on top of your chest to feel the warm sensation of connecting to yourself.
Just connecting to the center,
Your heart center.
This is a practice all about connecting to our own innate abilities to feel love and kindness towards another.
And so we begin with mindfulness.
Bring to mind an uncomplicated relationship.
This might be a child or a pet.
This is someone with whom it is easy to connect with feelings of love and appreciation.
See them in your mind's eye as clearly as possible and take into consideration their struggles,
Inadequacies,
Mistakes.
Take into consideration any fears or failures they may have experienced,
Any painful life situations.
As you bring these things to mind,
Start to offer them care and concern,
Just a general warmth towards them.
And we do this by offering them metta during this meditation.
Metta means loving kindness.
And so you'll present this offering of warmth,
Care,
And concern by gently repeating to yourself,
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe.
May you be free from pain and suffering.
May you be well,
Happy,
And at ease.
May you be at peace in your heart.
Just repeating one or all of these offerings as you focus on the image of your loved one.
And sending them words of goodwill,
Words of peace,
Words of care.
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe.
May you be free from pain and suffering.
May you be well,
Happy,
And at ease.
If your mind starts to wander while you are meditating on these phrases,
Remind yourself that it's okay.
Give yourself grace and compassion.
Know that your mind is doing what your mind does best.
It loves to think.
So distractions are going to be inevitable.
When you notice them,
Gently bring your attention back in a firm but kind way to your breath and and then begin to repeat the statements again.
As you continue to visualize this someone whom you deeply care for,
You may begin to realize that this someone has been a source of unconditional love and support to you.
You may begin to realize that this someone has been a source of unconditional love and support to you.
And now in your mind's eye,
I want you to see if you can allow yourself to look at yourself from their point of view.
Stepping into their eyes,
They see you clearly for who you are,
Just as you were able to see them for who they are.
As you see yourself from the eyes of unconditional love and support,
You might begin to realize just how very important it is to give yourself loving kindness too.
Take into consideration your own struggles,
Inadequacies,
Your own mistakes,
Any fears you have,
Failures you have made in the past,
Painful life situations.
All of these things deserve your warmth,
Care and concern too.
Being present with yourself now and whatever is arising,
Holding yourself in grace,
Love and compassion and offering yourself the phrases of metta.
May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be safe.
May I be free from pain and suffering.
May I be well,
Happy and at ease.
May I be at peace in my heart.
Repeat these statements gently,
Kindly,
But firmly to yourself.
Just staying present with the statements,
Staying present with your breath.
Staying present with yourself.
At times while practicing self-compassion,
We are met with resistance.
Resistance comes in the form of thoughts or emotions.
The thoughts might be along the lines of,
I don't deserve this kind of love and care.
This doesn't feel good to be giving myself this kind of love and care or warmth and concern.
Or maybe an emotion or a sensation in the body,
Like wanting to close off or shut down.
When you notice any feelings or thoughts like this,
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
And you can tell yourself that whatever is there is perfectly fine just the way it is.
But if it still feels too challenging to offer yourself love and kindness today,
Then you can let go of the metta and instead set the intention to be loving and kind to yourself by stating it is my intention to be loving and kind to myself.
And perhaps just repeating this intention to yourself a couple of times and then gently bring your attention back to your breath.
Now you can let that go and just take a couple of breaths in and out.
Just noticing how in touch you are with your own innate abilities to feel into the space of the heart.
Notice your own abilities and capabilities to cultivate love and kindness.
And I'd like to invite you now to widen the space of love in yourself and imagine sharing the love and kindness created in this bond with others.
Maybe these are family members,
Community members,
Neighbors,
Work buddies,
Bringing them to mind and visualizing yourself sending loving kindness.
You might also consider sending this love and kindness to neighboring cities and just slowly and progressively widening your vision of sending love to neighboring states,
Countries,
Continents,
And the whole world,
Including all sentient beings,
Animals,
Plants,
Trees,
Insects,
And more.
And bring as many of them to mind as you'd like.
Repeating these same statements as we did before.
May we be filled with love and kindness.
May we be safe.
May we be free from pain and suffering.
May we be well,
Happy,
And at ease.
May we be at peace in the heart.
Letting this love be all encompassing for this group of people.
Considering how we all tend to have inadequacies.
We all tend to have failures.
We all tend to struggle.
Suffering is inevitable.
May we all be filled with love and kindness.
May we all be at peace.
As our meditation comes to an end,
I'd like you to let go of the repetition of metta.
Bring your attention back to your breathing for a moment and stay with the breath.
Be present with any emotions that are bubbling up within you.
Be present with any sensations in the body.
Acknowledging and greeting all that has arisen for you during this meditation.
It may have been love and joy and curiosity.
It may have been sadness,
Grief,
Warmth,
Fear.
Whatever it is,
Welcoming it with an open and tender heart.
One that has the spirit of compassion.
Open your eyes when you are ready.
Thank you so much for your meditation.
It truly does make a difference in our world as a whole.
Namaste.
