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LovingkindnessA guided meditation (To be read to yourself or shared aloud with a friend. Please pause at each space between lines. The word "Pause" requests a longer pause.) Aaron: I am Aaron. Traditionally this meditation begins with the self. I find that in your culture it is very difficult for many people to offer loving wishes to themselves so we begin with one to whom it is easier to offer such thoughts and then come around to the self. This is not forgiveness, which is a further step, but only opening your heart to the pain, the pain of all beings, and wishing them well. There is no wrong or right way to do this practice. If resistance arises, simply note it and re-enter the meditation in whatever way you are able. You are not requested to dive all the way in but only to enter as deeply as is comfortable. As you work with this practice, please modify it and make it your own. Find a comfortable position, body relaxed, back erect, eyes closed softly. Bring to the heart and mind the image of one who for whom there is loving respect. This may be a dear friend, parent, teacher or any being with whom the primary relationship is one in which you have been nurtured. Look deeply at that being, deeper than you ever have before, and see that he or she has suffered. He has felt pain of the body or the heart. She has known grief, loss and fear. He has felt loneliness and disconnection. She has been lost and confused. See the ways this dear one has suffered. Speaking silently from the heart, note this one's pain, offering first the name:
What loving thoughts can you offer this dear one? Let the thoughts come with the breath, arising and moving out.
Please continue silently, repeating these phrases for several minutes. Go slowly. Allow your heart to connect with this dear one, to open to his/her pain and offer these wishes, prompted by the loving heart. I will be quiet. (Pause) Now, let this loved one move aside and in his/her place invite in your own self. It is sometimes so hard to open our hearts to ourselves. What blocks that love? Just for experiment sake, please follow the practice and see how it feels, even if it is difficult. Look deeply at the self and observe that, just as with the loved one, you have suffered. You have felt pain of the body or the heart. You have known grief, loss and fear. You have felt loneliness and disconnection, felt lost and confused. See the ways you have suffered. Without engaging in maudlin self-pity, simply observe the wounds you have borne. Speaking silently from the heart, this time to your own self: Offer your name:
What do you wish for yourself?
Please continue silently, repeating these phrases for several minutes. Go slowly. Allow your heart to connect with your deepest self, to open to your pain and longing and offer these wishes, prompted by the loving heart. I will be quiet. (Pause) Now let the self move aside and in its place invite in one with whom there has been hard feeling. Best not to choose the heaviest relationship at first but allow practice with less difficult pain and move slowly to the heavier emotions. It is so painful to maintain that separation. A wise teacher has said, "Never put anyone out of your heart." What blocks opening? Letting go … Just for experiment sake, please follow the practice and see how it feels, even if it is difficult. Please express your own pain too, as you speak to this one. Can you feel the space where your pain is one? Give this one's name. Speak from your heart.
Please continue silently, repeating these phrases for several minutes. Go slowly. Allow your heart to connect with this one, to open to his/her pain and offer these wishes, prompted by the loving heart. I will be quiet. (Pause) Throughout the world, beings suffer. Not only humans but plants, insects, animals, even the earth herself.
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