So,
We'll do a loving kindness meditation.
A loving kindness meditation allows us to practice our compassion towards ourselves,
Our compassion towards other humans.
It allows us to be more understanding.
It allows us to be more patient.
We'll start the meditation by finding a comfortable position to be seated in,
Bringing our awareness to where we are.
And to begin,
We'll start with our deep cleansing breaths in through the nostrils,
A nice,
Slow,
Deep breath in,
Followed by a nice,
Slow exhalation on the out breath.
We'll do this three times.
And by doing these breaths,
It allows us to lower our heart rate,
Lower our blood pressure.
It allows the oxygen,
Which is life,
To enter our bodies.
And the deep breath allows our diaphragm to be soft,
Relaxed.
And now we'll bring to mind someone in your life that you care very deeply for,
Someone that you love.
And this could be a husband,
A wife,
A child.
As you get that vision of that person in your mind,
Recite the statements of,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May you live in peace.
And as we move on,
Keep in mind that there's no need to control the breath.
The breath will come naturally.
Just allow your breathing to be soft and natural.
And now bring to mind someone that you care for deeply,
A very close friend,
An old acquaintance,
Someone that you respect and admire.
And we're going to recite the statements,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May you live in peace.
And now bring to mind someone who is neutral to you,
Someone that you may not know.
Perhaps it's the clerk at the grocery store,
Or the person crossing the street in front of you.
You don't know them.
You want them to be well.
We're going to recite those following statements.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
And may you live in peace.
And now bring to mind a person who perhaps you've had some sort of a disagreement with.
Perhaps you don't like this person.
Perhaps you feel they have wronged you in some way.
But we want them to be well.
We pray for them.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
And may you live in peace.
And now if you can,
Bring to mind all the beings on the planet,
All the people.
We have a universal compassion for all humans,
All beings.
And we say,
May you all be happy.
May you all be healthy.
May everyone be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May we all live in peace.
And by practicing this loving kindness meditation,
We show empathy and compassion for ourselves,
For our fellow humans.
We're able to release any resentments that we hold.
Now on your own time,
You can bring yourself back.
Open your eyes if they're closed.
You can wiggle your toes and your fingers.
Stretch.
You can take this feeling of loving kindness and compassion with you and carry it throughout your day.
And at any time with any person,
You can say those words.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May you live in peace.
