Welcome to this befriending meditation.
The intention in this meditation is to extend kindness and care and friendliness out to the people around you,
Those you know,
Those you don't know,
Those that you find difficult and yourself.
Beginning now by feeling where your body is touching the floor.
Perhaps you're seated and can feel the feet touching the floor or perhaps the legs touching the floor.
Just checking in with your posture,
Ensuring that the spine is tall,
Upright,
But the shoulders relaxed and the chest open,
Head balanced.
Crown of the head reaching high,
Maybe a very slight tuck of the chin to lengthen through the back of the neck.
You can also do this meditation laid down if that's more suitable for your body today.
But as best you can,
Finding a posture that embodies a sense of wakefulness and ease.
So reconnecting with all the points where your body is making contact with the floor.
Perhaps feeling where your bum is connecting with what you're sat on.
Meaning the pressure here.
Sense of your body moving down into the support of what you're sat upon or laid upon.
And then exploring the sensations in your hands.
Some tingles.
Or a sense of temperature,
Coolness or warmth.
And you might like to bring your awareness to the breath.
Maybe sensing the breath at the tummy.
Or at the chest or at the nostrils.
Feeling the breath wherever it's clearest for you in this moment.
You can stay with the breath or maybe come back to feeling the sensations of your hands or contact with the floor.
Wherever offers itself to you as an anchor for your awareness,
A grounding place to rest your attention again and again when the mind drifts away.
As best you can,
Allowing yourself to be as you are during this meditation,
Noticing any sense of needing to do it a certain way or worrying about getting it wrong or wishing things were different from how they are right now.
Simply noticing those tendencies of the mind and coming back to the meditation again and again.
Right now,
Feeling your anchor place.
Breath or contact with the floor or the hands.
Now inviting you to expand your awareness to take in a sense of your whole body.
Aware of the sensations arising in your body from the tips of your toes up through your legs.
Through the hips,
Area of the pelvis.
Up through lower torso,
Upper torso,
The shoulders.
Sensing your arms and your hands.
Right up through the neck.
Sensing the face and all around the head.
Awareness of the whole body sat here breathing.
And as we move into this next part of the practice,
Where we're going to gently repeat phrases of care and friendliness to ourselves and others.
We can keep a sense of our body in this moment and any sensations arising in the body in response to the phrases,
But not needing to try and force anything,
Just noticing if anything does come up,
Not worrying if it doesn't.
And if the practice becomes overwhelming or intense in any way emotionally or physically,
You can come back to an anchor place to re-center yourself,
Re-ground yourself in the present moment.
So inviting you to bring to mind someone you care for deeply.
Someone that you find it really easy to cultivate a sense of friendliness towards.
This might be a person or it might be a pet,
An animal in your life.
And with them in your heart and mind,
Gently repeating these phrases to yourself,
Offering them out to this person or animal.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease.
Imagine you're dropping these phrases into the body as if you're dropping them into a deep well.
Listening for the echo as the stone touches the water.
As you're listening for any response from your body,
Your heart and mind as you drop these phrases into your being.
Thoughts,
Body sensations,
Emotions bubbling up,
Echoing back.
And simply noticing these without needing to judge them in any way.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease.
And coming home to the body once again.
Noticing what's here for you right now.
And now inviting you to offer that same sense of kindness and care that you did to that person or animal you care for.
See if we can offer that same sense of care and friendship to ourselves.
Or maybe just a little bit of it.
May I.
Be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful.
May I live with ease.
Aware of the body and what's here.
Motions,
Thoughts,
Seeing them passing in and out.
Letting go of judgements.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful.
May I live with ease.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful.
May I live with ease.
Aware of the whole body sat here,
Remembering your anchor is here to recenter yourself if needed.
Now we're going to start widening out our circle of care and friendship.
To strangers,
Those we find difficult,
And then all beings.
Inviting you to Take into consideration that all people have fears and hopes just as you do.
Everyone wishes to be happy and well.
Just as you do.
So inviting you now to bring to mind a stranger or someone you don't know that well,
What we might call a neutral person.
Maybe someone we see in the supermarket or working in a shop or the postman or a neighbor that we don't know the name of,
But we see from time to time or someone we saw over the last few days,
But might not have paid a lot of attention to.
Someone we,
We feel neutral about.
Inviting you to bring them into your heart and mind.
And wishing them well.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
How you live with ease.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease.
Inviting you to expand your awareness to the whole body once again.
Noticing what's arising for you now.
What can you feel?
I'm now inviting you,
If it feels okay for you,
Remembering everything is optional,
Everything's a choice.
To bring to mind someone that you find difficult doesn't have to be the most difficult person,
Maybe someone you feel a little bit distant from.
Or someone you've had a small disagreement with lately.
I'm inviting you to bring them into your heart and mind as best you can,
Remembering that they too wish to be happy and healthy.
Day 2 have fears and feel lonely and scared sometimes.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be peaceful.
May you live with ease.
Aware of what arises in the body and there's no way you're supposed to feel.
I invite you to come back to an anchor place,
Re-gathering your attention in woods.
Maybe the breath.
Or feet touching floor.
Now for this last part of the practice inviting you to extend kindness and care out to all beings.
Your loved ones,
Strangers.
Those you find difficult,
And yourself.
You might extend loving kindness to all beings on the planet.
May all beings be safe and protected.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all of us.
Live with ease.
May all beings be safe and protected.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings live with ease.
Sensing the whole body.
Sat or laid here.
Perhaps resting with the breath or where the body meets floor.
The last minute or so.
Remembering that you can repeat these phrases at any time in your day maybe in the midst of a pause to wish others well Maybe gently repeating the phrase in your mind as you pass.
People on the street.
Perhaps offering care to yourself in moments of difficulty.
Or in quiet moments to help support cultivating a sense of care and friendliness in your life.
To bring greater well-being to both you and others.
