Loving Kindness Meditation - Relationships(30 Mins) 5.1.23

Hello and welcome.

Thank you so much for joining me here today.

My name is Abbey and I'm a yogi,

Salesforce engineer,

And creator of Consider Volunteering,

My personal brand of community empowerment.

And it is Monday and so we are back with a Monday loving kindness meditation.

We start our weeks with this kind of reset towards the whole,

Maybe reminding us that we are more than just this experience as I know I've definitely just opened up my can of worms for the week at work.

And so I'm reminding myself that I'm here for a purpose and maybe just maybe you need this reminder too.

And so I greatly appreciate you joining me here this week for our session of loving kindness meditation.

I'm so excited to jump in and see what comes up for us today.

And so the first step in our meditation here is to find our way into a comfortable seat.

So I'm sitting on my little recliner chair,

Floor chair kind of thing.

This part of my Japanese desk here in my yoga office room,

But do feel free to select whatever position feels best for your body today.

As we do need to sustain this particular position for 30 minutes.

So whatever position you pick,

Do make sure it is comfortable enough to sit in for 30 minutes.

So,

You know,

A couch chair,

It's kind of nice too.

So as you find your way to your comfortable seat,

I will describe the two pieces to our loving kindness practice.

So our loving kindness practice has two main parts.

The first being the set of phrases that we repeat silently to ourselves in our head.

You could definitely say these phrases out loud,

But you might get some funny looks.

Luckily,

The dogs don't care around here,

But I do like to take my practice off the mat.

So trying to say them silently in our heads allows us to call on these phrases whenever we need them.

They're always in our back pockets.

And so the phrases I will be using as examples today are,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you be safe,

May you live with ease.

Please do feel free to select your own phrases.

I promise the rhythm does come in time.

These are just my example phrases that I got from my teacher,

Sharon Salzberg.

Do go to the source and listen to her meditations and her explanations.

I find them quite eye opening,

Leading me partially to this particular moment in time today.

How fun.

How the journey evolves.

And so once we've selected our phrases and gotten comfortable saying them silently to ourselves in our heads,

The second part to our practice is then we send,

Or we use these phrases to set our intention towards five different groups of people.

So five different groups of people will receive our set of phrases today.

We start with we start with the self,

Filling up our cup before we go and spend all week running our rat race,

So to speak.

And so first we fill up our own cup.

Second is a loving relationship.

So we spend five minutes on each group.

And so second,

We send our phrases to a loving relationship in order to hopefully call back those lights and just loving those beautiful connections that we have in this life,

I believe,

Give us meaning to life.

And so we send our phrases to a loving relationship.

Second.

Third is a neutral relationship.

I often describe this as a member of the public.

Please do it for free to select anybody or take that as you may,

Or neutral relationship.

But we go on this journey to find balance in all parts of our life.

And so third is a neutral relationship.

As in fourth is a difficult relationship.

So fourth,

We send our phrases to a difficult relationship,

Right?

Really ebbing and flowing and trying to find more compassion,

No matter how uncomfortable we may be feeling.

As in fifth,

We open up to all beings everywhere.

So all beings everywhere will receive our phrases last,

Fifth,

In our practice today,

Reminding us of the connection to all in this rock that floats in the middle of our universe.

How many possibilities there can't be,

Maybe on a metaphysical level,

How this energy may manifest into all of its probabilities.

And so with that,

We start into our practice today with our first group of the self.

So bring yourself to mind.

How much effort did you have to put in to find your way here today?

I know mine wasn't small.

Lots going on in this noggin of mine.

And so as we send our phrases to the self,

We combat those negative thoughts around the self.

And we instill more positive,

More compassionate viewpoints,

Because if only we could get out of our own ways and allow the true light to shine through,

Making the world a better place.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

And continue on your own.

I was never taught to trust in the self.

I was guided that the reactions of others should be what manipulates my decisions.

I strategically use manipulate there.

As it was more important to fit in and be nice,

Right,

To feel respected from the outside outside.

And so I'm reclaiming that today,

My own viewpoint,

My own trust in my intuition and my willpower and efforts that I've put into my life.

And so may I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

And with that,

Dear friends,

It is time to take a notice of how you feel after our section on the self.

How have you shifted in the last five minutes?

As we transition into our loving relationship for this week,

What loving relationship would we like to fill the self up with?

Or really feel for these short five minutes together today?

Something that we can hopefully call on when times are tough,

Right?

We always have these phrases whenever we need them.

For me,

It's normally fast breath,

Fast heartbeat that lets me know that I need to call on them.

So I hope our loving relationship feels this connection we have with them as we send our phrases.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

I find my internal reaction to the 90s and early 2000s trends to be interesting at best.

How this trend of when I grew up,

Right,

I grew up in the 90s and early 2000s,

Reminds me of the good times and the bad.

How interesting of the next generation's interpretations and how it's developed its own unique effects on their lives.

I'll be interested to see the feedback that's shared with me regarding the developments with similar aesthetics,

Maybe.

How culture develops and how I play a part in that culture.

And with these phrases,

Hopefully it will be a more compassionate place.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

And with that,

Dear friends,

We take one final notice of how we have shifted in our bodies after thinking about our loving relationship this week.

And we transition into our neutral relationship.

Which neutral relationship would you like to ponder,

Send our phrases,

Our member of the public,

Maybe our community around us?

How I hope that my impact on the community may be a more positive one.

As I do really try to read those newsletters they've been sending me about the compost acceptable list.

I'm doing my best.

No more pizza boxes.

Guidelines have changed.

And so how can we make our community a better place?

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

I very much like to try new things.

It's kind of a mission of mine now on my birthday to try something entirely new.

And for me,

Currently,

It's exploring my local area,

As I have not been able to in the last few years,

As I normally would have.

And so now it is my time to kind of dive back in,

Discover those beautiful gems in my local area.

Spring is opening up.

We just have an artist's exhibit,

Even one on my street.

How fun has that evolved into those many things in which we can connect with the community around us.

Maybe just maybe you might get more involved too.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

And with that,

Dear friends,

We take one last notice of how our body feels after our neutral relationship this week.

How has our energy shifted?

Or maybe we notice it's stagnant in some way.

And so we breathe and let go as I myself muscure up for my least favorite part of the practice,

Our difficult relationship.

Which difficult relationship would you like to tackle today?

I know mine is pretty obvious at the moment.

It changes and shifts and some people are just so much easier to interact with than others.

And I'm on a stickler at the moment.

So together we will practice even through the discomfort.

Together we can do anything in our difficult relationship.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

Unfortunately,

I have to keep thinking of myself in these difficult relationships.

How I make the dynamics harder.

Because I cannot change other people.

Right?

What if we lived in a world in which we could not force everybody to do anything?

And so I'm the factor in these relationships in which I can manipulate.

And so it is me in which I look at my resistance to this uncomfortable feeling when people are more difficult to interact with.

How can't I just love them anyway?

Simply being present to allow the natural relationship that is within all things to come forth to allow this interaction to not be so difficult.

May I cultivate that deepest faith.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

And with that dear friends,

We take one moment to notice how our body feels after this difficult relationship.

My goodness,

Maybe one day we'll be able to communicate clearly exactly what we feel.

Until then,

We continue to practice together.

I appreciate your companionship in this journey.

And with that,

We release to all beings everywhere.

We shift into the many possibilities,

The unlimited possibilities that we have within this universe.

Maybe now I told ourselves back into thinking we're constrained more than we are.

There's always a new perspective that is the art in this thing called life.

How can we make art out of our life?

Or at least that's in one way I'd like to think about it.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May all beings.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

Nothing is a waste of space,

A waste of time.

I'd like to think maybe it's just a way in which energy is not destroyed.

It's just transferred.

It's transformed.

As in,

We are not wasting money.

We are simply transferring,

Transitioning its value.

And so how couldn't we apply these principles to ourselves when we think so often we are deficient,

Not enough?

We are simply transforming into something new,

Something beautiful within its own right.

It has its own value within the eye of the beholder.

And within this beholder,

I'm thinking I'm looking pretty good,

Making a good effort at least.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

And with that,

Dear friends,

We take this last breath to notice how we are a new,

Reborn person since the beginning of our practice.

What a beautiful job.

Thank you for being this partner in life with me.

I'm so glad you chose me to be on this journey with you.

Until next time,

Be gentle with yourself as you get up in your practice.

I know my legs are always asleep.

And I wish you best until next time.

With love,

Namaste.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.