Hello and welcome to today's practice.
I am so looking forward to sharing with you today a beautiful meditation practice called a Metta meditation.
It is also known as a loving-kindness meditation and it is just such a powerful practice that involves cultivating feelings of goodwill,
Kindness,
And compassion towards oneself and for others.
So in this type of meditation we will silently repeat phrases of well wishes and we'll extend those wishes to ourselves but also to loved ones,
Acquaintances,
And even those people that we feel really difficult to be around.
The goal is really to develop a heart full of unconditional love and compassion which ultimately creates a sense of connection and peace within ourselves and then filters into the world around us.
So in today's practice I do want to take a little bit of a different spin on the Metta meditation.
I want us today to sit with our multifaceted selves and what I mean by that is that we are going to witness and then embody these multifaceted versions of our being while not tying ourselves to one particular one.
So in this practice we will create harmony between these different versions of ourselves and in each moment we will be sending loving kindness wishes to each part of that being.
So with that said I invite you to make your way into a comfortable seated position or alternatively you can lie down if this feels right for you.
Take this moment to settle into the position that feels best for you.
If you are seated I just ask that your spine is upright and tall and if you are laying down see if you can take your shoulders away from your ears and in each position start to soften into your body with your breath.
Relax your jaw,
Relax your shoulders and just start to get the sense of your body.
Notice the parts of your body that are making contact with the earth and witness any sensations that show up.
If you witness any sensations just be present with them without judgment while you inhale and exhale.
Now I'd love for you to bring some gentle awareness to your breath and a beautiful and simple technique for this is to breathe and to simply just notice that you are breathing.
Breathing has become a part of our being that we so often miss the beauty of a single breath and the power that it has.
So in this moment I just ask you to witness your breath and say in your mind's eye as I inhale I am aware of my breath and as I exhale I am aware of my breath.
We'll take another moment to witness our breath in this moment and as we take a deep inhale I will say as I inhale I am aware that I am inhaling and as I exhale I am aware that I am exhaling.
As I inhale I am aware that I am inhaling and as I exhale I am aware that I am exhaling and I'd like to invite you in this moment to bring forth a version of yourself.
A version of yourself that you truly feel aligned with.
A version of yourself that you really really like and hold this image of yourself as we move through sending it some loving kindness words.
Hold this image and mentally repeat to yourself,
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I be peaceful.
We're going to do this again and just a little bit slower and after each message of well-being just notice how it lands for you.
Hold this image of yourself the one that you feel truly aligned with and say may I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I be peaceful.
Next I invite you to bring to mind a version of yourself one that you normally don't look at.
Maybe it's a version of you that you don't like as much or feel misaligned with.
Whichever resonates and I want you to hold in your mind an image of this version.
Once you have that image of this misaligned version or this version that you don't quite like,
Offer it these wishes.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I be peaceful and continue to hold and witness this version of yourself with deep compassion and love.
Once again we will offer my sweet friends these wishes.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I be peaceful.
Releasing this image and this version and getting a sense of your body again one more time.
Let's take a deep inhale here.
Exhale release let it all go.
With one more deep inhale through your nose get a sense of your body and as you get this sense of your whole body I ask that you deeply feel the wholeness of who you are.
This wholeness that holds both of these versions that we just met.
The version you like,
The version you don't like,
The version you don't know very well,
And the parts of you that you have a hard time with.
Into this entire wholeness of yourself let us send these wishes.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
And may I be peaceful.
May I be happy,
May I be healthy,
May I be safe,
May I be peaceful.
My sweet friends please sit with these sweet offerings that you've just offered yourself in the last few minutes.
Feel as you breathe into your body each wish that you sent to your wholeness.
As our practice starts to come to its completion I invite you to take three cleansing cycle breaths.
Take a deep inhale through your nose and exhale release sigh it out of your mouth.
Another deep inhale through your nose.
Big long exhale through the mouth.
Last deep inhale here through your nose.
Exhale release and sigh it all out.
In your own time and only when it feels right for you,
Start to gently bring your awareness back to your body with some gentle movements.
If you had your eyes closed you can start to open them now.
Before you get carried into the rest of your day I invite you one last time to take this moment to notice how you feel and to honor the beautiful gifts you were able to give yourself in this practice.
My wish for you is to hold an intention to carry with you any sense of love and compassion you developed during this practice with you and hold it closely throughout your day.
We are such multifaceted humans and each version of us is deserving of love and kindness.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
