Loving Kindness Meditation

Prepare your body,

Your mind and your heart for the beautiful practice of metta-bhavana,

Loving-kindness meditation.

Whereas in many meditations the aim is to focus and harness your mind and remove yourself from the tendency to think excessively.

In the practice of metta-bhavana our aim is to generate beautiful feelings within our self and to offer these out for the benefit of all beings.

And we start by creating in our self this simple intention for all beings to be happy.

And from this intention you begin to rewire and re-sculpt your mind,

Your brain,

Your consciousness.

That through this practice your life begins to become a testament to this intent and that your actions,

Thoughts,

Words and deeds are filled with this flavor of loving-kindness.

So take a comfortable position and sit nice and tall with a spacious,

Relaxed,

Open chest.

Allow a few longer breaths to settle your mind into your body.

Feel like you simply invite your consciousness to come home,

To this moment and more importantly to the feeling tone of this body.

Relax all the walls and the boundaries.

Soften any external discomforts or tensions as best as you can so that your mind is not reacting or uncomfortable throughout this practice.

There are a number of stages to metta bhavana.

The first and most important step is simply to check in with how you're going,

How you're feeling.

And we're not always expected to feel wonderful and beautiful and loving and open and warm.

So spend a first moment and just check in how you're feeling on the inside today.

And ask that question in your mind to yourself,

How am I feeling?

How am I feeling?

And if,

As may often be the case,

You're feeling a little flat or a little emotional,

A little down,

A little tired,

A little stirred up,

That's fine.

We can start this practice by simply just acknowledging your present feeling,

Your present state,

Not trying to change that necessarily,

Just staying with that.

But then I would ask you to just think about one thing,

One positive thing you can say about yourself to yourself right now.

Like a little short statement,

An affirmation,

Something good you can find to say about yourself,

Anything at all.

Think about that and maybe even repeat that to yourself once or twice.

And then when we practice metta,

Before we can truly generate metta bhavanah,

Loving kindness for other beings,

We need to learn how to generate that specifically for ourself.

And one of the best ways to start that is to simply think about someone that you love dearly and this may be a mother,

Might be a partner,

A child.

For some people it's their pet.

Rest your attention right into the heart,

The place where you feel love and tenderness and kindness and warmth.

Just think about this person you love,

Think about how beautiful they are,

Why you love them,

How special they are to your love.

And as you do that,

Start to take a few longer breaths as though you're breathing into and out of the heart itself.

Thinking about your loved one,

Taking a few breaths into the heart,

Do this until you can actually feel a tangible emotion,

A tangible sensation in the heart,

Like a feeling of loving warmth.

You just love this person so much,

They've been precious in your life,

You thank them so much.

And whenever you start to feel that first hint of loving warmth filling your own heart,

Breathing into the heart,

As soon as you feel that,

Let that resonance,

That tone,

That sensation of love and kindness in your heart,

Offer it to your whole body,

Your whole being,

Your whole self.

Breathe into the heart,

Let that feeling expand through the heart,

And as you exhale,

Imagine taking that feeling of loving kindness and warmth and sending it out into every part of your body.

As you do that,

Quietly,

Silently say the words to yourself,

May I be happy,

And feel the loving kindness.

I wish for your own happiness,

May I have happiness.

May I be happy,

May I be truly happy,

In every aspect,

In every respect,

May my life be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I have wonderful health.

May I be healthy,

Generate feelings of good health throughout your body.

Feel it as though it's real,

Feel as though it's happening in this moment,

That good health,

And light,

Is rushing in to fill every cell of your body.

Continue with this feeling of loving warmth in your own heart,

In your own being,

Stay with the sensation of that,

And then bring to mind someone special.

It might be the person you thought about before,

Or it might be someone else in your life that you deeply care about,

And you'd like to offer some loving warmth to today.

Take a moment,

Think who that might be for you,

And try and see them in your mind,

Sitting here in front of you,

Or where they might be in their normal affairs of life.

You continue the process of breathing into your own heart,

And as you inhale,

You feel warmth and love and happiness in your own heart.

And then as you exhale now,

You start to generate this feeling and send it out,

And imagine it filling the heart,

The body of this special friend in front of you.

You might visualize this as light,

As white light,

As golden light,

As pink light.

And with it,

Place the words,

May you be happy.

Genuinely wish for this person's happiness,

May you be happy.

Contemplate their life right now as being filled with happiness,

A smile,

A laugh,

Joy,

A lightness.

May you have happiness.

May you be healthy.

May you have wonderful health.

Imagine this person with sparkling health,

Longevity,

Vitality,

Able to do the things they want,

Free from injury,

Illness.

Share all your love right now with this being in front of you.

Just pour it out so you've got so much to give.

May you be happy.

May you share my love.

In the third stage of this practice now,

You choose maybe a more difficult person.

This could be someone who has pushed your buttons a little in the last week or today even,

Someone who has maybe hurt you a little,

Done wrong by you.

Think about a person in your life,

A difficult person.

And simply in your mind,

Sit this person down in front of you or imagine them in the affairs of their life.

Before you do anything,

Just take a moment to notice how you feel about this person,

What thoughts or emotions might be coming up when you do think about this person.

Some resentment,

Some anger,

Some hurt,

Some pain.

In the practice of metta,

We first acknowledge how we do feel,

Our present state,

And that's normal and natural and we don't run away from that.

Probably we don't need to make a story of that,

We just acknowledge how we feel.

And then we choose whether we're ready to actually transform that feeling,

To realize that this being is just a human like yourself,

That they have happiness and sadness,

Thoughts and desires,

Dreams,

Nightmares.

That everyone hurts sometimes.

But wouldn't this person be a better person if they had happiness and lightness and health and joy in their life?

So as you breathe some loving warmth into your own heart once again,

Begin to exhale and offer your happiness and your loving kindness into the heart of this being as well.

As hard as it may be,

Do this for some time until you can actually feel a genuine desire,

A genuine wish for this person's happiness.

As much as you may have hurt me,

May you right now find happiness in your life.

May you be happy.

May you share my warmth and my love.

May you have health.

May you have wonderful health.

May you be healthy.

For all that you have to give.

Now finally,

We send our metta,

Our good wishes,

Our good intentions,

Our loving heart out to all beings,

All sentient beings across all realms.

You can do this by imagining in your mind a green field,

The Buddha field.

And in that field in your mind as much as you can visualize and imagine all the special people in your life firstly.

Populate this field with your family,

Your immediate family,

Your extended family.

See them all sitting around in this park,

Beautiful green lush field with a tall tree in the middle.

All your family and now your friends,

As many as you can feel into,

See in your mind.

See them all populating this green field.

Maybe all your enemies,

All the neutral people that you come across throughout your life,

Your work colleagues,

Anyone at all you can think of.

Imagine animals,

Cows,

Horses,

Dogs,

Cats,

Birds in the sky,

Fish in the sea.

Imagine all beings,

All possible beings,

All human beings across the whole planet,

Past,

Present and future.

And just in your mind imagine a world of happiness.

If the starving children in Africa had food and had smiles on their faces.

If the warring parties laid down their weapons and embraced.

Imagine a world and all beings shining,

Smiling,

Happy,

Safe,

Healthy,

Free.

As you breathe that quality of just self-offering love and happiness in your heart,

Exhale and send this light,

Light and warmth,

A wish,

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be happy.

All your family,

All your friends,

All humans,

All animals,

May you all be happy.

May you all share my love.

Pour yourself into the hearts of all beings.

Give all that you have to give.

May all beings share my good heart.

Share my love.

The conclusion of this metdabhavana practice,

Now sit quietly.

For just a few moments rest into the tranquil nature of your mind.

A thought-free state of good feeling.

Stay here for some time and when you're ready slowly wake yourself up,

Come back to your day.

I wish you a blissful ankle in your hernia,

Prayer for the crown of the worldview.