
Loving-Kindness meditation increases your capacity for compassion, and it does this by increasing your focus of attention on it, for people who you feel differently for.
Loving-Kindness meditation increases your flexibility of your compassion because you can apply it to different kinds of people and different kinds of situations.
Loving-Kindness meditation helps you befriend yourself, making your brain and body a nicer place to live.
Warning! Loving-Kindness meditation may cause:
- Less procrastination.
- Less desire to engage in bad habits/self destructive behaviours.
- More engagement with others.
- A better ability to listen.
- An easier connection with others.
- Better ability to set, stick to, and respect boundaries.
- Better self-care.
How to do it.
Sit in a comfortable spot, with your spine long, so you can breathe into your diaphragm. Close your eyes, or focus softly on something in front of you.
Bring to mind a person or animal, who you care deeply about. Someone who easily brings up feelings of love, warmth, compassion, safety.
Imagine them, imagine looking at them. Being with them. Now repeat to yourself silently, or out loud these words:
May you be well, may you be peaceful, may you be happy, may you be free from suffering.
Now bring to mind someone you do not know as well. Someone who you feel neutral about. This might be an acquaintance, or someone you recently met. Such as the person who served you coffee, or a passer-by who made eye contact with you.
Imagine them, imagine looking at them. Being with them. Now repeat to yourself silently, or out loud these words:
May you be well, may you be peaceful, may you be happy, may you be free from suffering.
Imagine saying this phrase to them three or four times.
Now bring to mind, yourself. Imagine looking at yourself, perhaps in a mirror. Now repeat to yourself silently, or out loud these words:
May I be well, may I be peaceful, may I be happy, may I be free from suffering.
Imagine saying this phrase to yourself three or four times.
Now bring to mind someone who you have difficulty with. This might be someone who you dislike or have had some disagreements with. Being around them can feel difficult or stressful.
Imagine them, imagine looking at them. Being with them. Now repeat to yourself silently, or out loud these words:
May you be well, may you be peaceful, may you be happy, may you be free from suffering.
Imagine saying this phrase to them three or four times.
And that’s it! Please check out other resources, such as YouTube or InsightTimer to try other variations of this meditation. I recommend you do this once a day for at least a week, to notice any benefit.
I have had a lot of feedback with different experiences on this one, and I would love to know how you get on. Please let me know, or reach out if you require any further guidance.
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