Lovingkindness Meditation (MBSR) | 20"

Welcome to this loving kindness meditation.

Come into a comfortable seated position and see if you still need to move a little bit,

Adjusting your seat,

Knowing that finding a good seat is also an act of self-care.

Make sure you're in a relaxed yet upright posture,

With a long tall spine and neck,

The chest open.

And on an inhale,

Maybe moving the shoulders up and using the exhale to relax them back down.

Now as a way of collecting or gathering yourself in this moment,

Take a moment to scan the body,

Noticing what is here now,

Sensations,

Tingles,

Feeling the body as a whole.

Also noticing if there is any areas of tension that you can further relax,

Scanning the body starting at the top of the head,

Relaxing any muscle in the face,

The eyes in their socket,

The jaws,

Moving your awareness down,

Scanning the upper body,

The shoulders,

The arms,

The hands,

The belly.

And then shifting to the lower body,

The legs,

The thighs,

The calves,

The feet,

Relaxing any muscle that you don't need in this moment.

And from there,

Gently move your attention towards the belly and the chest,

Noticing the breath moving the body here.

Now if this is comfortable for you,

You may choose to place one hand on the belly and the other on the heart,

Feeling the touch of the hands on the piece of clothing,

Noticing the temperature of the hands,

And maybe also even noticing the effect of this temperature on the body,

Warming or cooling,

Feeling the hands moving one by one on the rhythm of the breath,

And gillating through the body.

The belly and chest rising on the inhale,

Allowing the body to expand,

And then again falling on the exhale.

You can keep the hands here for the duration of this meditation,

Connecting to the heart and your centre,

But also knowing that you may always choose to bring the hands back down,

When that feels more comfortable.

For now,

With one hand on the heart and the other on the belly,

See if you can bring the following wishes of wellbeing to yourself,

Repeating the phrases in your mind,

See if you can connect to the meaning of them,

Imagining the words,

Feeling the words.

May I be happy.

May I be happy.

Maybe even bringing a small smile to the face.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be free from worry and suffering.

As you say the words,

Really feeling the words inside you,

May I be free from worry and suffering.

May I experience love,

Warmth and affection.

May I experience aliveness,

Lightness and joy.

Imagining,

Feeling,

Sensing this aliveness,

This lightness and joy in your step.

May I experience inner peace and ease.

Taking a moment to come back to the breath and see if there is any other wish you would like to send yourself,

Seeing what comes to mind,

What comes to your awareness.

May I be or may I experience whatever comes to mind.

Repeating that in your mind.

Allowing the words to ripple through your body.

Noticing what it feels like to send these wishes for yourself.

Noticing any thoughts,

Emotions or sensations in the body.

Without judgement,

Just noticing.

Now bring to mind the person that you are grateful for in your life,

That you love dearly and care about.

A person that evokes feelings of warmth inside you.

This can be a family member,

A partner,

A good friend or a mentor.

Taking a moment to bring this person to mind.

Now see if you can send these wishes of wellbeing to them.

May you be happy,

Healthy and whole.

May you be free from worry and suffering.

May you experience love,

Warmth and affection.

May you experience aliveness,

Lightness and joy in your step.

May you experience inner peace and ease.

Now taking a few minutes to feel how it is to wish these things for them.

Something emanating from you to them,

Connecting you to them.

Maybe there is something else you still would like to wish to them.

May you be or may you experience whatever comes to mind.

No need to think about it for a long time,

Just feeling whatever it is and repeating that in your mind.

Now let go of this person,

Bringing your awareness back to the breath.

Seeing the belly and chest rising as the breath moves through the body.

Now you may try to extend these wishes even further,

Bringing to mind someone more neutral to you,

An individual around you that you don't have a personal relationship with,

Someone such as the barista at your local coffee place,

The postman,

The person at the checkout of the supermarket.

Just see who comes to mind.

And even if these wishes may not be infused with the same warmth and love as for the other one close to you,

See if you can extend these wishes also to them,

Without having the expectation that it should make you or them feel in a particular way,

Connecting with what these wishes represent,

Keeping this person in your awareness as you send these good wishes to them.

May you be happy,

Healthy and whole.

May you be free from worry and suffering.

May you experience love,

Warmth and affection.

May you experience aliveness,

Lightness and joy.

May you experience inner peace and ease.

Softly returning your awareness back to the own breath,

Re-anchoring in yourself,

Noticing yourself sitting here.

And if you're comfortable with this,

You may try to extend these wishes to someone who's difficult for you right now.

Maybe not necessarily the most difficult person in your life,

But just someone with whom there has been some sort of misunderstanding,

A challenge,

A frustration or irritation.

Understanding that also they,

Just like you,

They are just a person wanting to be loved,

Doing his or her best.

So bringing to mind this person,

And then extending the wishes to them.

May also you be happy,

Healthy and whole.

May you be free from worry and suffering.

May you experience love,

Warmth and affection.

May also you experience aliveness,

Lightness and joy.

And may you experience inner peace and ease.

Taking a moment to notice whatever kind of sensations of thought,

Emotions or bodily feelings arise.

Maybe any kind of not wanting or pushing away.

Or maybe being surprisingly good doing this,

At ease.

Knowing that even if this is difficult,

There is value in noticing what it's like to extend these wishes also to them,

Not only condoning them and their actions,

But seeing them as a human being with the same needs as you,

To be loved,

Safe and living in peace.

Now letting go of this person and again take a moment to notice the breath in the body.

Noticing any changes that have occurred,

Bodily,

Mentally.

Letting the body breathing.

Now go back to yourself and the people close to you,

Just like at the beginning.

Imagine all people close to you,

Your family,

Friends,

Possible partner.

Extending these wishes to them with just one phrase,

May you all be happy,

Loved and free.

Allowing them to pass by in your mind,

One by one.

May you all be happy,

Loved and free.

Now expanding even further to all people you don't know,

Even the people who may live further away in other countries and cultures,

Saying may you all be happy and healthy.

May you all live with peace and ease and have love and warmth in your life.

You could even imagine extending these wishes to include the animals and plants all alive on our planet.

May we all be safe and protected.

May we all live together in peace,

At ease and in happiness.

Breathing with this for several more minutes,

Taking some time to feel this practice,

What it has generated.

Taking some time to be grateful for connecting to yourself and these individuals.

Connecting through warmth and compassion and sending wishes of wellbeing.

Breathing here,

Breathing.

Inhaling warmth,

Love and affection.

And exhaling as you just relax and release.

Repeating in your mind until you hear the sound of the bell,

Inhale love,

Warmth and affection.

And exhaling,

Releasing.

And exhaling,

Releasing.

And exhaling,

Releasing.