Loving Kindness Meditation - Relationships (30 Mins) 7.25.22

Hello and welcome.

Thank you so much for joining me here today.

My name is Abby and I'm a yogi,

Salesforce engineer,

And creator of Consider Volunteering,

My personal brand of community empowerment.

I'm happy to have you with me here today as we are doing a loving kindness meditation.

So this has been my Monday ritual where we come together and do a loving kindness or meta meditation because this is the kind of meditation that has been really beneficial for me and I want to spread more of it into the world.

So I'm hoping you can help me in gladdening our minds,

Combating those negative thoughts that are too often in my life.

And so with our positive affirmations,

We will work to make the world a better place.

So thank you again for joining me and we are going to jump into our meditation.

I will explain everything along the way,

Hopefully the best I can.

If you get lost,

Simply find your comfortable seat,

Repeat your phrases,

And the rest is done for you.

So that is our first step.

We will come to a seated posture,

Somewhere that is comfortable for you for the next 30 minutes.

I do often lie down in my meditation so I found that very relaxing.

Settling into our posture today,

How do we do our loving kindness meditation?

So our loving kindness meditation is a repeating of phrases within our minds while sending these phrases to certain groups of people.

So the phrases I'm going to be using today as my example are,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you be safe,

May you live with ease.

Please feel free to select the phrases that fit best for you.

But these are the ones that I'm going to be using.

So we repeat these phrases.

The song of the phrases kind of comes with time.

No worries.

And we will send these phrases to different groups of people.

So there are five groups of people we will be sending our phrases to during today's practice.

The first group is ourselves.

So we'll start by sending these loving kindness phrases to myself.

May I be happy.

The next group is our loving relationship.

So second,

We will send our loving kindness phrases to a loving relationship in our life.

Often this is a mentor,

A dog,

A close family member,

A friend,

Somebody you love and you want to cherish that relationship.

The third group of individuals will be a neutral person.

So somebody we don't feel strongly about.

For me,

It is a member of the public.

Somebody driving along in the car next to me.

You know,

Earlier on in the train car at the train car at the grocery store.

Just that kind of person you interact with but don't have a relationship in one type of way.

We send our loving kindness phrases then to our fourth group of people,

Which is to me the most difficult,

But just part of the balance of life,

Our difficult relationships.

We will send our loving kindness phrases to a difficult relationship in our life.

We don't always have to pick the hardest one to tackle first,

But in due time with very regular sessions,

I found that even the largest of difficult relationships,

You can find a new perspective through our loving kindness meditation practice.

Last but not least,

We open up our intention of our loving kindness phrases by sending them to all beings everywhere.

So we encompass everybody in our communities on this planet,

Every species around us as we are all connected,

Living on this beautiful planet in our wondrous universe.

So that is our practice,

Sending loving kindness phrases to these different groups of people,

Matching them together,

Gladdening our minds.

Hopefully,

You'll get that light,

Uplifted feeling that carries on,

Right?

We practice on our mats or,

You know,

On my meditation cushion today,

And it's easier to practice off the mat.

And so we will jump into sending our loving kindness phrases to ourselves.

Taking a moment to appreciate this time coming here for myself today.

And I start with my phrases.

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.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

Continue on your own.

Today I find myself leaning into my breath as an extra layer on top of my practice.

Breathing in on one phrase,

Breathing out on the next.

The ebb and the flow of the breath,

The waves in which our lives ride the journey through.

I just want to embrace those waves more.

I want to let them not overturn me and find that balance between confidence and humility.

Finding that balance,

That inner peace.

So with that I send my phrases.

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.

Deep gratitude.

I'm so happy you are here today sending these loving kindness phrases to yourself.

And with that dear friends,

We move to our second group.

We transition our intention to that loving relationship in our life that we would like to cherish and hold and enrich with our loving kindness phrases today.

That could be my loving relationship,

A beautiful little doggy.

And so I cherish that relationship and I send my loving kindness phrases to it.

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.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

Relationships are not all good or bad.

Relationships come with a mix of everything,

Ups and downs.

But I find that we must cherish the sweetness and the sourness as they come to their fullest extent.

Because that's the only way in my mind up until this point that I can see the balance coexisting between all.

So today I choose this moment to savor the love in our relationships.

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.

To me,

The warmth of love comes in shades of gold.

Very shiny,

Very warm,

Inspirational.

We can channel these colors,

These feelings,

In all aspects of our lives.

And I hope after today you give it a try.

And with that we transition to our third group of individuals,

Which is our neutral relationship.

In my eyes,

The member of the public,

The person you see regularly,

But maybe don't interact or have a relationship to.

But to find our balance,

Our equanimity,

We send our loving kindness phrases to them because we are all connected.

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.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

Cherishing this neutral relationship is so beneficial.

These small acts of kindness,

Add together in a tidal wave,

Extending your patience when dealing with service agents,

Picking out that piece of litter.

These small changes truly make the world a better place.

I'm so glad we get this opportunity to bring and manifest more of that.

So you 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.

With ease.

I hope one day you may not find this section of our loving kindness practice as dreadful as I do.

I put it off as much as I can,

But I know we must work and find that discipline to bring out the sweetness in our discomfort.

To be able to sit with our emotions and allow them to pass without penting them up.

Having a healthy relationship to those spicy feelings that come up every day and are so natural and so normal.

And so I set this intention,

My difficult relationship,

The difficult relationship in my life,

A difficult relationship in my life.

And I'm happy to send my loving kindness 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.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you be healthy.

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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.

Excellent work,

Dear friend,

Pushing through the discomfort,

Finding a new relationship and perspective.

And with that,

We wash away,

We let go of that tension,

And we shift our thoughts to all beings everywhere.

All beings,

The beautiful ecosystem we live in,

Bright,

Fresh,

Wholeness.

And so we send our loving kindness phrases to all beings everywhere.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be healthy.

May all beings be safe.

May all beings May all beings 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.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

As I repeat my loving kindness phrases,

Today I can't help imagine a balloon getting a little bigger and bigger,

Probably heart-shaped,

Probably made out of bubble gum.

Sticky,

Loving goodness that is grown with my loving kindness phrases,

With the compassion that grows in my heart.

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.

And the beat goes going and the beat goes on.

And the beat goes on.

Thank you so much for practicing with me here today.

Please take your time coming out of your position.

I know my legs always fall asleep,

But you really have made the world a better place today by taking this time for yourself,

But for all beings everywhere.

So grateful for you.

I hope you feel the love,

The connection between us all,

Or if not,

We work each and every week to find that compassion,

That space,

The peace of mind that I know I am truly seeking.

So I hope to see you next time.

A loving kindness meditation.

It's done us well.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

With love.

Namaste.