Hello and welcome to this loving kindness or meta meditation.
Meta meditations are practices that are designed to cultivate a greater sense of compassion for oneself and for others.
For this short five minute meditation we're going to begin with first finding our posture,
Whether that's lying or sitting,
And coming into awareness of the body and of the body breathing itself.
So maybe even starting with a couple of deep breaths and really noticing as you breathe in deeply the expanding,
The filling,
The fullness,
And then as you release noticing the letting go,
The contracting,
And then another deep breath and really noticing the sensations,
Filling,
Expanded,
Full,
And releasing,
And letting go,
And letting go,
And letting go with the out-breath.
And one more deep breath,
Noticing the fullness,
Expansion,
The openness,
And then on the out-breath just letting go,
And letting go more,
And letting go more,
And coming more fully into this present moment and this practice.
And let's begin by bringing loving-kindness to the breath.
So what we're going to do is as we breathe in,
And just letting the breath be easy and natural,
Not forcing it in anyway,
But just as you breathe in,
Just thinking to yourself,
May I be happy?
And then on the next out-breath thinking to yourself,
May others be happy?
And again breathing in,
May I be happy?
And on an out-breath,
May others be happy?
And now on your next in-breath,
And again letting that be a natural easy breath,
No forcing needed,
But just thinking to yourself,
May I be peaceful?
And at your next out-breath,
May others be peaceful?
May I be peaceful?
May others be peaceful?
May I be peaceful?
May others be peaceful?
Just taking a moment to find your own rhythm,
Breathing in that wish for peacefulness,
And really feeling it spread through your body,
Filling you.
And then breathing out the wish that others may have peace,
And really feeling that going outward,
Spreading all over to everyone,
Everywhere,
To all beings.
And with your next in-breath,
Thinking to yourself,
May I be healthy?
And on your next out-breath,
May others be healthy?
May I be healthy?
May others be healthy?
May I be healthy?
And really feeling the depth of that wish spreading cell to cell as you breathe in,
And really feel it spreading outward to all beings as you breathe out.
May I be healthy?
May others be healthy?
And at the next in-breath,
May I be at ease?
And may others be at ease?
May I be at ease?
And really feeling that throughout the body,
And may others be at ease?
And finally as you breathe in,
Thinking to yourself,
May I be filled with loving-kindness?
And at your next out-breath,
May others be filled with loving-kindness?
So breathing in loving-kindness,
And breathing out loving-kindness.
Just taking some time,
As much time as you'd like,
Breathing in loving-kindness,
And allowing that to spread through your own body,
And breathing out loving-kindness,
And allowing that to spread all over the world,
And touching all beings without exception.
And this ends the guided portion of this meditation,
But feel free to continue on your own.