Loving-Kindness Practice In The Time Of Coronavirus

Hello and welcome.

Today we're going to do a metta meditation,

Or loving kindness meditation.

And this one is rooted in the current time that we're living in,

Which is the time of many people quarantining and staying at home and doing our best in relationship to the spread of the coronavirus of COVID-19.

So just make sure that you're in a comfortable seated position.

So you could be on a cushion,

Cross-legged,

Making sure that your hips are above your knees.

You could be also kneeling on a cushion.

You could be seated in a chair with your,

Just make sure that your back is upright and make sure that your posture sort of stacks your body and that it allows you to maintain calm while also feeling alert.

And what I'd like for you to do now is place one hand on your heart.

So connect with your yourself,

Connect with your breathing,

And we're going to connect to that part of ourself that is Buddha nature,

That wise,

Radiant,

Knowing part of ourself.

So I'd like for you to imagine at the center of your chest,

At your heart,

A radiant light that's a part of ourselves that never goes away,

That deep,

Knowing,

Wise Buddha nature.

And we can call on it to help us navigate difficult times.

So I want you to imagine that part of yourself,

That light inside of you communicating with that part of yourself that might be feeling scared or lonely or isolated.

That might be feeling helpless or hopeless in some way that might be feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty.

And as we send out to that part of ourself,

That scared and small part of ourself from that wise and all encompassing part of ourself,

We'll say to ourselves,

May I be happy?

May I be healthy?

May I be free from suffering?

And may I be free from inner and outer harm?

May I feel love,

Support,

And comfort?

May I experience joy and ease in living?

Take another moment and breathe in.

You can repeat some of those phrases again to yourself or other ones that you want to offer from this wise part of yourself to the part that might be feeling a little bit more fearful.

And now you're going to think about a benefactor,

A loved one,

Someone who when you think of you immediately feel connected to,

You immediately feel gratitude for.

So I'd like for you to envision that person in your mind's eye and then say,

May you be happy?

May you be healthy?

May you be free from suffering?

May you be safe from inner and outer harm?

May you feel love,

Support,

And comfort?

May you have joy and ease in living?

Now I want you to think about a community that you're a part of.

So that might be your extended family,

That could be a circle of friends or chosen family,

That could be your town,

Your city that you live in,

That could also be a sangha community or a spiritual community,

A community of artists,

Really any community that you feel deeply fed and nourished by and that you would like to send some additional support to.

And same thing we're going to repeat to ourselves.

May you be happy?

May you be healthy?

May you be free from suffering?

May you be safe from inner and outer harm?

May you feel love,

Support,

And comfort?

May you have joy and ease in living?

So as we're sending these messages out,

We're connecting with that light that we talked about,

That light that is always inside of us,

That is radiating out from us,

That wise and compassionate and kind part of ourselves.

So what I want you to imagine is that we've created this web of light from our heart to the hearts of the people that we've just sent that metta out to.

And then I want you to imagine now that we're connecting again with that light and we're sending that out as we send out these messages to all of the people that are keeping us sustained now to all of the people that are working very,

Very hard.

And if this is you,

Then you're included in this message of loving kindness.

So we're going to send this loving kindness out to all of the people that are medical professionals,

All of the doctors and nurses,

All of the physicians assistants,

All of the people that are working within the healthcare system right now.

And we're also going to send it out to all of the people that are helping to keep us sustained.

So that's people that are working in the food industry.

That's people that are working in grocery stores,

People that are working in delivery,

People that are really keeping it possible for so many of us to try to self-quarantine and isolate.

And also all of the people that are having,

In addition to these people,

Are having to go out and work and maybe feel fearful.

But that's the only option at this moment.

So all of the people that are working and that are trying to keep our communities sustained in the midst of this moment,

We're going to connect with that light and we're going to send that light and this message out to them as we say,

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be safe from inner and outer harm.

May you feel love,

Support,

And comfort.

May you have joy and ease in living.

So now our web of light is going to extend out to all of the people that are currently suffering from this illness,

To all of the people who have contracted the illness but are not yet aware of that,

To all of the people who are currently mourning the loss of loved ones,

And to all of the people who are in supportive roles for the people in their lives who are suffering with this illness.

And we're going to send out our love and our support and our light as we say,

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be safe from inner and outer harm.

May you feel love,

Support,

And comfort.

May you have joy and ease in living.

Now we're going to imagine that that web of light that we have been working with is extended not only to all of the people that we already mentioned,

But to everyone,

To all sentient beings throughout the world.

And I want you to feel the radiation of that light from your own heart to the hearts of everyone.

Imagine that web of connectedness we're going to send out loving kindness to us all.

May we be happy.

May we be healthy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be safe from inner and outer harm.

May we feel love,

Support,

And comfort.

May we have joy and ease in living.

Allow yourself to experience one more time the feeling of connectedness through our humanity,

Through our being on this planet,

To all sentient beings,

All of our light shining from the respective places where we are.

And I encourage you to take time throughout your day to remind yourself of that connectedness.

You don't have to do the entire meditation.

You don't have to take a long time,

But maybe place your hand on your heart and feel that connectedness and send out that message of comfort and support.

And when you're ready,

Can draw your hands together in prayer pose and bow.

Thank you so much for sharing in this practice.

Wishing you all good things,

Wishing you comfort and love and support in this hard time.