Begin your practice by congratulating yourself that you are dedicating some precious time to meditation.
May you know that this is an act of love.
As you begin to stop and become present,
Become aware of the body and mind in whatever state they are right now.
Perhaps you are noticing feelings or thoughts from previous days or whatever that has been going on with you recently.
Simply allow and acknowledge whatever is within and let it be present without any evaluation,
Judgment or any form of analysis.
And gradually,
When you feel ready,
Shift your focus of awareness to your breath.
Breathing normally and naturally.
Maybe you can repeat to yourself.
As I breathe in,
I am aware I am breathing in.
And as I breathe out,
I am aware I am breathing out.
And simply noticing the breath calming and going.
Just living your life one breath at a time.
Moment by moment.
Bringing your awareness to your chest and heart area and noticing any sensations within.
Allowing any waves of sensation to come and go.
Maybe you can notice the beating of your heart.
And maybe you can appreciate the precious life you have.
And today we are going to practice loving kindness meditation.
For some of us,
It may be difficult sometimes to be kind towards ourselves.
And maybe it is easier to think of someone else.
So to begin the practice,
I would like to invite you to think of someone,
A person,
A family member,
A friend,
Or maybe even someone you met on the street.
Someone that is still here with us or not anymore.
It could even be a pet,
A cat,
Or a dog that you can really appreciate and share love and kindness.
And I want you to really have this person or this pet in your mind visualize as much as possible every single detail.
They are sitting in front of you.
You can feel and sense their presence.
And whenever you feel ready,
Maybe try to follow and repeat the next phrases.
Allowing them to sink into your being.
Feeling the loving kindness in yourself.
So repeating these to this person or pet.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
And allowing this love into your own heart,
Skin,
Flesh,
Organs,
Bones,
Cells,
And into your whole being.
Sharing this loving kindness and compassion to whoever you wish.
And whenever you feel ready,
Maybe thinking about another person or another pet.
Someone else.
That you can share more loving kindness.
No condition.
No judgment.
Just pure love.
And whenever you can visualize their face,
Their whole being in front of you.
You can start repeating.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
And just feeling again any sensation in your body.
How does it feel to open your heart like this?
To share these feelings to someone else.
Simply noticing how it feels in your body.
And we're going to expand the field of loving kindness to one more person.
It doesn't matter who.
It doesn't matter if they're here or not anymore.
If you still have a relationship or not.
It could simply be a person that was good to you maybe just one time.
And whenever you're ready,
When you can visualize their face and feel their presence in front of you.
You can repeat after me.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
And just allowing the sensations to be present.
Whatever it is you're feeling.
Just noticing.
Maybe you notice your heart area expanding.
Opening up as you share loving kindness.
And will expand it to one more person.
Or another pet.
And whenever you have a visual,
An image of them in front of you.
Repeating.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
Maybe it feels nice to place your hands on your chest and feel your heart.
Your heart beating.
This area of your body opening up.
Just sharing unconditional loving kindness.
And if it feels right for you.
Maybe you can imagine these people holding hands or making a circle around you.
Maybe you can sense,
You can feel their hearts are also open for you.
Now all the loving kindness that you have shared to them is bouncing back to you.
They are telling you,
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
May you be safe and protected from evil.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you have ease of body and mind.
May you be at peace and find loving kindness.
And just noticing how it feels to have that loving kindness bounce back to you.
Receiving these kind wishes.
Receiving this compassion.
Recognizing and accepting it.
Discovering what it feels like to have an experience of loving kindness towards yourself.
And it may be a struggle to feel loving towards yourself.
Maybe you can work this by acknowledging the challenges.
Just continue being open to discover what it feels like.
Just let it sink into your being.
These people still around you.
Opening their hearts to you.
And if it feels right,
Maybe you can repeat it to yourself.
Maybe you can say something different.
You don't have to repeat the same things.
Whatever feels right for you.
Whichever phrase feels right for you.
Now you can say,
May I be safe and protected from evil.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I have ease of body and mind.
May I be at peace and find loving kindness.
May I be safe and protected from evil.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I have ease of body and mind.
May I be at peace and find loving kindness.
Notice how it feels like to repeat this to yourself and to have other people saying this to you.
Do you find it easy to accept this loving kindness?
And if not,
Can you stay open to the experience?
And maybe before finishing this meditation,
Looking at each person or pet that's around you.
And just sharing a nice gesture.
Whichever feels right for you.
And whenever you're ready,
Gently opening your eyes and coming back to this room where you find yourself still experiencing the beauty of loving kindness.
