Hello,
Welcome back.
I'm Sarah,
A somatic facilitator and coach,
Here to help you build nervous system resilience so you can live up to your fullest potential with ease and confidence.
I'll be guiding you through meditation,
Breath work,
Visualization,
And deep rest so that you can explore the pause between where you've been and where you're going.
Welcome to liminal space.
Take a moment to physically land in your body and on the surface beneath you.
You can be seated or lay,
Your choice.
Wherever you are,
However you're feeling,
Know that you don't need to change anything.
Just meet yourself exactly where you are,
Here and present.
If it feels comfortable,
Observe your eyelids growing heavier.
They might close or maybe your gaze just softens.
As you start to gently scan your body for spaciousness or map the body for any tension,
Let the external world dissolve and then your awareness is drawn to your breath.
Not controlling it,
Not shaping it,
Just observing.
The inhale arriving on its own and the exhale leaving without effort.
Witness it's simple happening and then take the slowest breath you've taken today into your lower ribs and then as if you're blowing out of a straw,
Slowly extend your exhale.
We'll take two more,
Breathing in nice and slow and let it go.
Final time,
Slow expansion and soft release as you breathe out.
Now your awareness slowly floats to the space in and around your heart.
Not needing to feel anything specific here,
Just noticing.
What do you feel here?
Maybe there's warmth or perhaps it's a little difficult to pinpoint anything at all.
Both are completely okay.
There is no right or wrong.
In today's meditation we are going to focus our awareness on the heart space.
Loving kindness meditation is a practice of cultivating warmth,
Care,
Expansion and connection.
If we close off our heart to one emotion we often numb the ability to feel all of the other emotions,
Whether labeled positive or negative.
We can only grow as far as we are rooted and the same applies to loving kindness.
This practice isn't about forcing yourself to feel love or positivity but more about intentionally practicing the direction of it as we guide the mind with affirmations to help slowly soften the body.
Let your experience be what it is without expectation or striving for a particular outcome.
If it feels warm then great,
If it feels neutral that's also okay and if it feels uncomfortable that's also totally normal.
There's no right or wrong.
Just try to notice how it feels each time you come back to this practice and witness whether it shifts how you feel about yourself and others over time.
It's less about changing who you are and more about remembering what's already there beneath the noise and the surface.
So as your body settles we're going to begin by offering kindness to ourselves.
If it feels unfamiliar and the words don't fully land that's okay.
Just stay open to the possibility of them settling eventually.
So gently repeating either silently or softly to yourself.
May I be safe.
May I feel loved.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
Let the words drop in at their own pace,
No forcing or striving,
Just keep planting the seeds.
May I be safe.
May I feel loved.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
May I be safe.
May I feel loved.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
Allow those affirmations to yourself slowly fade and then gradually bring to mind someone who feels easy to love.
Someone who naturally brings warmth into your body and you feel safe.
You feel safe and at home with them.
Maybe it's a family member,
A friend,
A teacher,
Pet,
Picture them in your mind.
Before offering any affirmations just notice what happens to your inner landscape as they come to the forefront of your mind's eye.
Does your body sink into the surface beneath you a little further,
Feeling a sense of relaxation?
Maybe a sense of expansion and radiance,
Harmony within the body.
And now offer those same affirmations to that somebody who feels easy to love.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
Let it feel simple,
Like a quiet offering.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
And let those affirmations energetically make their way to that person.
Now we'll start to expand these affirmations a little further afield.
Bring to mind somebody neutral.
Someone you don't know very well,
Maybe someone you pass often,
A store assistant,
A neighbour,
A colleague.
No strong feelings towards them.
Just a shared humanity.
Someone else who's also part of this wider collective.
And then again,
Offer them these affirmations.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
And after offering the loving kindness to somebody neutral,
Notice what shifts,
Or what doesn't.
Know that both are okay,
There is no right or wrong.
Just simply observe anything that's moved in the body,
Where any sensations land.
Now if it feels available for you today,
Bring to mind somebody you find a little difficult.
This doesn't have to be the hardest person in your life.
Just someone where there's a little friction,
Maybe you don't see eye to eye,
Or energetically you just don't align.
And before offering any affirmations,
Notice what arises or changes in your body.
You don't need to suppress any feelings or override your experience.
We're not forcing this loving kindness.
But just simply witness anything that comes up.
And then only if it feels possible,
Gently offer up the affirmations.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
And may you live with ease.
And if that feels like too much right now,
You can return to the neutral person.
Offer up those affirmations again.
So whoever you're offering this to,
Repeat that silently and softly.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
And may you live with ease.
May you be safe.
May you feel loved.
May you be healthy.
And may you live with ease.
And then releasing any visualization of a specific person.
And give your awareness permission to expand.
Imagine this sense of loving kindness radiating outward into the space around you,
Further into your surroundings,
The street outside,
The community,
To all beings everywhere.
This energy,
This loving kindness is boundless.
And then gently and silently offering,
May we be safe.
May we feel loved.
May we be healthy.
May we live with ease.
May we be safe.
May we feel loved.
May we be healthy.
May we live with ease.
May we be safe.
May we feel loved.
May we be healthy.
May we live with ease.
Feeling this ripple outward without effort.
Release all offerings and visualizations of anybody that you're offering to.
And gradually allow your energy to draw back to your heart space.
Come home to yourself.
Back to your breath.
Back to your body.
Back to your body.
And then take a moment here to recognize your inner landscape right now.
At this very moment as you are here.
No need to analyze.
No need to hold onto anything.
Just observe.
Just observe.
Release any expectations to feel a shift.
And when you're ready,
Notice your external senses come alive.
Maybe you start with feeling the surface beneath your body.
Any subtle smells or tastes that linger.
Maybe a gentle pulse of the heart.
Or maybe the deepening of your breath.
And you notice you feel the urge to move again.
Your fingers want to twinkle.
Your toes want to wiggle.
The body starts to awaken.
Allow your eyes to flutter open.
And you are here.
Knowing that you've shared this loving kindness and the energy of these affirmations with yourself and the world around you.
Rest well.
And I will see you next time.
