Welcome to this practice inspired by Ayurkema and it's called the Flower Garden of Loving Kindness.
Taking a moment to connect with the breath,
Settle the mind and body.
In this practice there are visualizations and staying with the visualization as best you can.
So for some this is easier,
For others the visualization may be a felt sense.
See if you can go through this practice without any expectations of feeling anything.
And if it feels helpful you can bring your hand to your heart as a reminder to bring loving kindness or metta into your practice.
Relaxing through the body,
Aware of the heart,
The energetic heart,
The movement of the breath in the heart.
Making an intention to bring the transformative energy of loving kindness to meet any difficulties or disturbances you may encounter in this practice including fear,
Sadness,
Grief,
Anger,
Pain,
Physical pain in the body.
When the energy of loving kindness meets our deepest challenges,
It's an alchemy that results in compassion.
It's like transforming the compost in the garden of our heart.
And just as flowers need the richness of compost to grow beautiful fragrant blooms,
Our hearts are like a beautiful garden.
Compassion's the immeasurable energy transformed when pain and suffering connect with loving kindness.
Sensing into the richness of all the challenges we've faced in our lives,
All these conditioned experiences and sensing the boundless transformational possibilities of the heart.
Imagine now that we have a beautiful garden of flowers growing in our heart.
They're the most exquisite blooms,
Emanating a divine fragrance.
These flowers are growing and being tended and cared for by love and compassion.
We can enjoy this garden and all the lovely flowers in it,
Feeling and sensing well-being within the flower garden of the heart.
And from your beautiful flower garden of the heart,
Picking a beautiful bouquet of flowers,
The loveliest ones we can find,
And offering this bouquet to a person who's close to you.
Expressing love and care to this person that you may not know well.
Now bringing to mind a parent or a caregiver or someone who's nurtured you in your life.
Whether they're still alive or not doesn't matter,
But making the most beautiful bouquet of flowers in your heart.
And offering these flowers to them with love and gratitude and devotion.
Noticing if any joy arises in your heart.
Now bringing to mind people near and dear to you.
Picking a bunch of flowers and offering the beautiful bouquets to each of them.
Beautiful bouquets from the garden of the heart.
Noticing colours and fragrances,
Offering each person this gift from the heart.
Noticing this sense of giving and not receiving or expecting anything in return.
Sense what it's like to give from the heart.
And now think of all your good friends,
Relatives,
Acquaintances,
Anyone who comes to mind.
And for each of them,
Creating a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the expansive,
Boundless garden of the heart.
This beautiful garden of the heart that we've nourished through our practice on retreat.
Cultivating and tending mindfulness and compassion in this fertile garden.
Offering this gift to each of them.
Showing that you care.
And now bringing to mind other people who we come into contact with.
Could be people who we work with,
Our neighbours,
Students,
Teachers,
Patients,
Clients.
People in the street.
Anyone who comes to mind who's part of our life.
People we meet in everyday activity.
Then seeing that the more flowers you give away,
The more flowers that grow and bloom in this vast space of the heart.
Making a beautiful bouquet for each of these people that come to mind.
Choosing the loveliest blooms.
Offering this gift of generosity which comes straight from the heart.
Offering this gift of tenderness.
And now,
If it feels right for you,
Bringing to mind a difficult person.
Or if you don't have one,
You might imagine picking a beautiful bunch of flowers for someone who's lost in delusion and hatred.
Bring this person to mind and sense that,
Like all people,
This person has a wish to be happy.
Collecting the flowers from the garden of the heart and offering them with love,
Respect and deep understanding.
When we open our boundless heart as wide as possible and extend the fragrant flower garden to be expansive and limitless,
We allow people to enter.
Sense the joy in the beautiful flowers.
Inviting all beings into your heart to share in the energy and refuge of this exquisite flower garden.
Noticing the expansion of the garden as the blooms are shared and new ones grow as the garden is nurtured with love and care.
Inviting all the beings that we've met anywhere,
At any time,
In any way and invite them into the garden of the heart.
Sensing the expansion of the garden as we do this.
We connect with all the living beings.
Connecting with all beings.
Offering the healing energy of kindness,
Compassion,
Generosity.
Being grateful for these moments to share the blooms of our hearts.
And remembering this gift that lies at our heart centre.
Expansive,
Boundless,
Exquisite flowing energy of love and compassion.
Noticing if there is a sense of joy.
Connecting with fragrance.
Connecting with beauty.
Connecting with compassion.
Sensing the shared energy of connectedness in our hearts.
Remembering that with mindfulness and compassion we can find our way back and immerse ourselves in the healing qualities of the flower garden in our hearts at any time.
Thank you.
