So just settling into your erect,
Relaxed,
Dignified posture.
Kind of letting your spine rise up from the root of the pelvis.
Perhaps drawing your chin in a little to lengthen the back of your neck.
Allowing the energy to flow.
You can start by just doing kind of a body scan.
Just sensing into the areas of the body that might feel some tension or holding in this moment.
Just recognizing that here is the place that's perhaps holding stress from the day or the week.
Just bringing awareness to it,
Not trying to get rid of it or change it in any way.
But perhaps also noticing how just that light touch of awareness perhaps shifts,
Softens the tension on its own without you having to strive or do this.
Just kind of going through the head area,
Place where we often hold tension,
The forehead,
The jaw.
The jaw is an area where we sometimes don't notice tension and stress being held there.
The eyes and the area around the eyes,
The neck,
The shoulders.
Sensing into what's present there.
Sensing the back,
The lower back and the middle back.
Sensing into those areas.
And the chest and the belly and seeing what's present there.
The arms and the legs.
Noticing the body in relation to gravity.
So perhaps feeling the sensation of the feet touching the floor or the cushion in the buttocks on the chair or the cushion.
Your hands being held on your thighs or your lap with gravity.
Sensing into those touch points as a result of gravity.
It's becoming imagining.
It's becoming imagining an inner smile in your belly,
In the deepest part of your belly.
It's a smile down there as you breathe in to that area.
Sense into an inner smile in your belly.
Breathing in,
Feeling the sensation in the lower part of the belly and imagining the inner smile.
And breathing out,
Feeling the sensation of the breath at the nostrils.
Just repeating this sequence with a few breaths.
The two breaths societallyinations.
Moving this imaginary inner smile up to the chest area,
To the heart space,
Envisioning a smile in your heart space.
Noticing your breath expanding the smile in your heart as you breathe in.
Awakening compassionate love and self-love.
This kind of smile meditation is not meant to cover anything over,
But rather to create a space that can hold anything.
We begin by bringing to mind a being that it feels easy to extend love towards.
This could be a friend,
A parent,
A teacher,
A pet,
Sensing that being's goodness.
What makes that person dear to you?
Might be their caring nature,
Their humor,
Their compassion.
Feel as if they're close to you right now,
Imagining their face and their eyes,
Taking in their love and kindness.
Feeling deeply into how you experience love for this being.
As we sense into this sense of love for this special being,
We can really touch into the felt sense of love and kindness.
As we experience it for another being.
As we experience it for another being.
Now,
Bringing attention to yourself and opening to your basic goodness.
Recalling acts of kindness,
The longing of wisdom for wisdom to benefit all beings.
If you find it difficult to imagine your or connect with your basic goodness,
Imagine how a person that loves you sees you.
Once you've connected with your basic goodness,
Just dwelling in this feeling,
This feeling of self-love.
Just noticing where you sense in the body,
This sense of self-love.
Is it a spaciousness in the chest?
Expansion in the belly,
The head area.
Understanding how it manifests in the body.
And as we dwell in this sense of self-love,
Quietly,
Internally recite phrases of loving kindness.
Sensing into the deeper meanings of the phrases and words.
May I be filled with loving kindness and realize loving kindness as my essence.
May I be happy.
May I love myself just the way I am.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May my heart and mind awaken and be free.
If you sense any resistance or feelings of not being worthy,
Just feel into your intention,
Your deepest intention to be loving and kind.
If you have your own phrases of loving kindness that you'd like to silently recite,
That's fine as well.
The phrases aren't so much what's important as the sensing into the feeling,
The feeling of self-love.
May I be filled with loving kindness and realize loving kindness as my essence.
May I be happy.
May I love myself just the way I am.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May my heart and mind awaken and be free.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May I be filled with loving kindness and realize loving kindness.
May I be happy.
May I love myself just the way I am.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May my heart and mind awaken and be free.
We just continue to recite these phrases about our essence.
What helps us connect with our true nature?
Now,
Allowing awareness to open in all directions infinitely.
In this vast space,
Sense that your loving presence is holding all beings,
Your boundless heart holding all beings.
May all beings be filled with loving kindness and realize loving kindness as their essence.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings love themselves just the way they are.
May all beings be peaceful and safe.
May their heart and mind awaken and be free.
Just extending these phrases of loving kindness in all directions to all beings everywhere.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May I be peaceful and safe.
May I be peaceful and safe.
