Loving kindness meditation.
Become comfortable in your chair or cushion.
Sitting with a relaxed but straight posture.
Your shoulders relaxed.
Allow your hands to rest comfortably in your lap.
Gently close your eyes.
Settling into awareness of the body and a breath.
Feeling into our body right now.
Noticing what is there.
Open to whatever is to be experienced in your body in this very moment.
Connected to your breath.
Noticing the wave-like movements of the belly.
In this practice we will be cultivating loving kindness.
We all have within us a natural capacity for loving kindness or friendship that is unconditional and open,
Fully supportive.
Loving kindness is the natural opening of a compassionate heart to ourselves and to others.
It is a wish that everyone would be happy.
We will begin with developing loving kindness towards yourselves.
Allowing our hearts to open.
Allow yourself to remember and open up to your basic goodness.
Maybe you remember times where you have been kind or generous.
You might recall your natural desire to be happy and to not suffer.
If acknowledging your own goodness is difficult for you,
Look at yourself through the eyes of someone who loves you.
What best does that person love about you?
Or you may recall the unconditional love you felt from a beloved.
Or maybe even a pet.
It may help to use the imagination and to picture yourself as a young child standing before you.
And as you experience this love,
Notice how you feel in your body.
Maybe you feel some warmth.
Maybe you feel some heat in your face.
A smile or a sense of expansiveness.
This is loving kindness.
A natural feeling that is accessible to all of us.
Always.
Resting with this feeling of open,
Unconditional love for a few minutes.
Letting yourself bask in the energy of loving kindness.
Breathing it in.
Breathing it out.
Inviting in those feelings of peace,
Of acceptance.
And breathe.
We will now begin to wish yourself well by extending words of loving kindness to yourself.
Repeating your mind.
May I be happy.
May I be safe.
May I be healthy,
Peaceful and strong.
May I accept myself as I am.
May I give and receive loving kindness today.
Sit with those feelings of warmth and self-compassion.
If your attention wanders,
Gently redirect it back to these feelings of loving kindness.
May I be happy.
May I be safe.
May I be healthy,
Peaceful and strong.
May I accept myself as I am.
May I give and receive loving kindness today.
You can now open the circle of loving kindness by bringing to mind someone who is dear to you.
Someone whom you care about.
Reflect on this person's goodness.
Sensing what it is in particular that you love about this person.
In your heart feel the appreciation for this dear person and begin your offering of loving kindness.
By repeating in your mind,
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy,
Peaceful and strong.
May you accept yourself as you are.
May you give and receive loving kindness today.
Visualizing that person in your mind directing these thoughts of loving kindness towards them.
Then bring to mind a neutral person.
This is someone you might see regularly but don't know very well.
Maybe a neighbor,
Someone from the grocery store,
Someone at school or at work.
Bring this person to mind and repeat the words of loving kindness.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy,
Peaceful and strong.
May you accept yourself as you are.
May you give and receive loving kindness today.
And now if it's possible for you,
Bring to mind someone with whom you've had a difficult relationship.
Perhaps it's someone you don't really like to feel sympathy or compassion for.
Seeing if it's possible to let go of feelings of resentment and dislike for this person.
Reminding yourself to see this person as a whole being and as someone who also wants to be loved and wants to be happy and at peace.
Someone who deserves all those things.
As someone who feels pain and anxiety.
As someone who sometimes suffers.
And seeing if it's possible to extend to this person the words of loving kindness in your mind.
May you be happy.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy,
Peaceful and strong.
May you accept yourself as you are.
May you give and receive loving kindness today.
And then allow your awareness to open in all directions.
Yourself,
A dear one,
A neutral person and a difficult person.
And of all beings,
Humans and animals,
Living everywhere.
Living in richness,
Poverty,
War,
Peace,
Hunger,
Abundance.
Aware of all the joys and sorrows that all beings experience.
And then repeat in your mind,
May all beings be happy.
May they all be safe.
May all beings be healthy,
Peaceful and strong.
May all beings accept themselves as they are.
May all beings give and receive loving kindness today.
Breathing in and out,
Deeply into your belly,
Basking in this feeling of loving kindness extended all around the earth.
Allowing your meditation to come to completion.
When you feel you are done,
Gently open your eyes and remember that you can always revisit these wonderful feelings you generated.
You can visit them throughout your day.
Internalize how loving kindness feels and return to these feelings by shifting your focus and taking a few deep breaths.
Thank you so much for taking the time to extend loving kindness to yourself and to the people around you and all over the world.
Namaste.
