This is a loving kindness meditation.
The original name for this meditation in the Pali language is metta bhavana.
Metta meaning love or kindness and bhavana meaning development or cultivation.
So this meditation is all about cultivating feelings of love and kindness.
First for ourselves,
Then for people in our lives and finally for the wider world.
So in this guided meditation I will guide you through a series of mantras or phrases that you repeat silently to yourself.
So start by finding a comfortable seated or lying down position and then close your eyes.
And take a few moments to arrive in the space that you're in.
So notice your body as it sits in the room.
Notice the feeling of your feet against the floor or your legs against your seat.
Notice the feeling of air in your skin or your clothes against your skin.
And notice the sounds that are in the room allowing them to just float into your awareness and then out again.
And then just dropping down into your breath.
So taking some deep breaths into your body.
Breathing in and out.
Breathing in and out.
And we'll start this practice of loving kindness by directing it towards ourselves.
So I invite you to bring to your mind's eye an image of yourself.
It can be an image of yourself as you sit here in the room.
Or if you're someone who finds it particularly hard to be kind towards yourself.
Perhaps bringing an image of yourself when you were a child to your mind's eye.
And taking a few moments just to really see yourself.
And as you see yourself in your mind's eye.
Repeating these loving kindness phrases to yourself.
May I be loved.
May I be free from inner and outer harm.
May I be well in body and in mind.
And may I be happy and at ease.
Allowing those phrases to sink deep within you.
And sitting for a few moments of stillness in this space of love and kindness that you've created for yourself.
Breathing in and breathing out.
On your next breath you can allow the image of yourself to drop away from your mind.
And in place of the image of yourself I invite you to bring to mind someone in your life who you love.
Someone who when you think about you naturally feel affection.
And bring this person or perhaps it's a pet to the centre of your mind's eye.
And take some moments to really see them.
And we'll repeat the same phrases of loving kindness towards this person.
So repeating to yourself with me.
May you be loved.
May you be free from inner and outer harm.
May you be well in body and in mind.
And may you be happy and at ease.
And taking some moments to allow those phrases to sink in.
And allow yourself to sit in this space of love and kindness that you've created for this person in your life who you love.
And breathing in and breathing out.
And on your next breath you can allow this person to drop away from your mind.
And in place of them I invite you to bring to your mind's eye the image of someone in your life who you're having some difficulty with.
So this could be a colleague or a family member or perhaps it's someone in public life who you don't know personally.
But who when you bring to mind causes you some discomfort,
Some upset or some anger.
And bringing this person to the centre of your mind's eye.
And as we direct the same phrases of love and kindness to this person,
Remembering that when we direct loving kindness towards someone we're having difficulty with,
We're also directing it towards ourselves by freeing ourselves of the hold they have over us.
So with that in mind,
Repeating the same phrases towards this person.
May you be loved.
May you be free from inner and outer harm.
May you be well in body and in mind.
And may you be happy and at ease.
Notice now if directing loving kindness towards this person that you're having difficulty with brings up any challenging emotions or thoughts or sensations in your body or mind.
And if it does,
Not trying to push those away or tell yourself you shouldn't have them,
But allow yourself to turn towards them.
If it's an emotion,
Where do you feel it in your body?
If it's a thought,
Can you allow it to just be there without judging yourself?
And as you allow just using your breath to be with whatever is arising,
Just breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And on your next breath,
You can allow this person to drop away from your mind.
And in place of them,
I invite you to bring into your mind a sense of the whole world,
All beings.
Everyone that you know,
Everyone that you don't know,
Animals,
Plants,
The entire universe.
And as you hold this sense of everythingness in your awareness will direct the same sense of love and kindness towards all beings.
So repeating to yourself.
May we all be loved.
May we all be free from inner and outer harm.
May we,
Where possible,
Be well in body and in mind.
And may we all be happy and at ease.
Taking some moments to allow these phrases to sink in and sitting in this space of love and kindness and intention of care that you've created for all beings.
May we be loved.
May we be free from inner and outer harm.
May we be well in body and in mind.
And may we be happy and at ease.
And you can allow now this sense of all beings to drop away and take some final moments just to sit in stillness in this space of loving kindness.
And before we close this meditation,
Taking a final moment to thank yourself for taking this time out of your day to not only cultivate space for love and kindness for yourself,
But also to have the intention to send love and kindness to others.
Knowing that even just the intention to have love and kindness to others makes a difference.
So whenever you feel ready,
You can start to bring some movement back into your body.
You can gently open your eyes.
And as you go into your day,
My wish for you is that you move through the day with love and kindness for yourself.
For all those you meet and for all beings.
Thank you.
