The Loving-Kindness meditation is a rigorous practice based in Buddhist teachings. This practice draws upon deep wells within that may bring unprocessed emotional responses to the surface. For this reason, it can be one of the more challenging but equally fulfilling meditation styles you can experience. Welcoming these emotions to the surface is a radical act of self-love, that permeates through your life experience, and truly brings you side by side to that which is already here…deep Love and deep Kindness. This practice allows Love and Kindness to rise and lead, instead of being covered up in active negative emotions. By watching your own emotional responses through this practice, you can begin to see emotions are like touching a soap bubble. You observe the emotion like a bubble that floats by, and can even reach out and touch it…and poof, it can be gone. Developing emotional awareness attunes your natural emotional guidance system, your internal navigator, helping steer your thoughts and actions from the reactive state to the inspired state.
To prepare
Pranayama - Belly Breath awareness. 5 mins.
Phosphenes visualization - isolating space by focusing on the naturally occurring small pin pricks of lights that can be observed when closing your eyes, or gently applying pressure from your fingertips to the eye lids. 5 mins.
Loving-Kindness Internal Script
Bring to mind someone that loves you.
May you be safe
May you be strong
May you be happy
Bring to mind a person for which you have great affection.
May you be safe
May you be strong
May you be happy
Bring to mind a stranger.
May you be safe
May you be strong
May you be happy
Bring to mind a difficult person. This is not an act of forgiveness, just an acknowledge that they too desire to be safe and happy.
May you be safe
May you be strong
May you be happy
Bring to mind yourself.
May I be safe
May I be strong
May I be happy
Bring to mind all beings.
May we be safe
May we be strong
May we be happy
May We All Be This Way