The Buddha said,
Love is a gift of one's innermost soul to another,
So both can be whole.
Hi,
It's Justin Francisco.
Welcome to this Metta Meditation.
In Pali,
A language that's closely related to Sanskrit,
Metta means positive energy and kindness toward others.
The Metta practice is also known as Loving-Kindness Meditation.
This is my favorite meditation to practice and has personally had a profound effect on my life to cultivate more compassion and love for myself and others.
So I thank you from the deepest levels of my heart for joining me today in this beautiful,
Guided Metta Meditation.
You're going to be using four phrases throughout this practice today.
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be safe,
May you be peaceful and at ease.
These four phrases are specifically intended to evoke inside of you a kind of boundless,
Warm-hearted feeling.
During this meditation,
You may experience feelings of warmth,
Tenderness,
Or love arise in the body or the mind.
I'd like to invite you to surrender to those feelings,
Allowing them to grow as you repeat the phrases.
Okay.
Begin by getting comfortable,
Sitting up straight or lying down.
Gently close your eyes.
Relax your shoulders by gently and slowly rolling them up and back.
Become aware of your physical body being grounded to the floor beneath you.
Together let's take three slow,
Deep breaths in and make our exhales even slower and longer than our inhales.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
As you bring your breath back to your normal rhythm,
You can feel yourself getting calmer and more relaxed.
See if you can channel your inhales and exhales in and out through your heart.
First,
Picture yourself in a place that brings you pure joy and peace.
See yourself entirely resting there with joy and peacefulness.
While you picture yourself,
While you're breathing through your heart center with intention,
Truth and love,
Silently repeat the phrases.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be safe.
May I be safe.
If you find yourself getting lost in a thought or a sound during this,
It's okay.
Gently let it be and bring yourself back to the awareness of the phrases.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
Next,
Bring to mind someone you care about,
Someone that you know cares about you.
This person may be a friend,
Family member,
Coworker,
Spouse.
I'd like to invite you to picture this person in your mind's eye,
Smiling,
Looking relaxed in their happy place.
Continue breathing in and out through your heart center.
And as you picture them,
Really feel yourself wholeheartedly sending them love and kindness by repeating the phrases.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
As you say these phrases,
Again,
Sink into their intention or heartfelt meaning.
And if any feelings of warmth or love or any others arise,
Connect them together with the phrases so that the feelings may become stronger as you repeat the words.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
Next,
Bring to mind a person who you don't know that well.
This may be someone you recently met,
Maybe a neighbor,
Or the cashier at your local grocery store.
Picture them relaxed and smiling and with absolute warmth and generosity.
See how it feels to direct loving kindness to them as if there was a long string connecting your heart to theirs.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be peaceful.
May you be safe.
Now bring a person to mind whom you have a difficult time with.
If this is your first meta experience as a suggestion,
It may be easier or better to start out with somebody where there's mild irritation rather than the person who has hurt you the most in your life.
This is completely up to you.
As we direct loving kindness towards this person,
You may experience some difficult or different feelings.
Know that this is okay.
Just allow space for compassion towards these feelings and if they come up,
Just gently bring yourself back to picturing this person relaxed and happy and directing unconditional love and kindness towards this person.
Resting your mind in the phrases.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
May you be peaceful.
Let's now direct all this love.
All this kindness out to all beings,
Out to all atoms in the entire planet,
In the entire boundless universe.
Picture beings of a radiant light energy from your heart out to all the plants,
Insects,
Animals,
People everywhere,
Just you sending all of your love and positivity to every possible being that you know exists and don't know exists.
May you all be happy.
May you all be healthy.
May you all be safe.
May you all be peaceful and at ease.
May you be peaceful.
When you are ready,
Open your eyes and become aware of the environment around you.
Take note of how you feel in this moment.
Ask yourself how might this loving kindness translate into the rest of my day with the people I interact with and the actions I take.
Remember,
Always know you are loved and perfect just the way you are.
