Try a little loving kindness meditation
Whether you meditate on a regular basis…you’ve never tried it…or you tried it and decided it wasn’t for you, I’ve got a loving kindness meditation that I’d like you try. Pretty please. I promise it’s great for beginners and pros alike.
Getting started
First get comfortable, preferably in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for 10 minutes or so. For this meditation, you can be sitting or lying down. Take a couple of slow deep breaths.
Loving kindness for yourself
Close your eyes and picture yourself as if you were looking at a dear friend and repeat the following several times:
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I feel at ease.
Let that image go. Take a couple of slow deep breaths.
Loving kindness for a loved one
Now picture a loved one…someone that is easy to love…someone that naturally fills you with loving kindness. Now with that person in mind, repeat several times:
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you feel at ease.
Let that image go. Take a couple of slow deep breaths.
Loving kindness for a stranger
Now picture a neutral person…someone you are familiar with, but don’t know well…perhaps a neighbor you’ve seen out walking, but never spoken with, or the person that bagged your groceries…you get the idea. With that person in mind, repeat several times:
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you feel at ease.
Let that image go. Take a couple of slow deep breaths.
Loving kindness for a challenging person
Now picture someone that you struggle with. If this practice is new to you, you may not want to choose someone with whom you have a painful history or a deep friction. Perhaps choose someone you generally care for, but who knows how to push your buttons or who has a habit that you find annoying. With that person in mind repeat again:
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you feel at ease.
Let that image go. Take a couple of deep breaths.
Loving kindness for all beings
And now for the big finish…picture your neighborhood. Expand that to your state…to your country…to the world. Now repeat this phrase several times:
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings feel at ease.
Finish up
Let that image go. Take a couple of final slow deep cleansing breaths to finish the meditation. Slowly open your eyes. Wiggle your fingers. Wiggle your toes. Take an easy stretch. You are done. Don’t you feel better?
Okay, I know…all beings aren’t magically safe, happy, healthy, and ease…but you put some positive energy out into the world, and you filled yourself with feelings of loving kindness towards others. That can’t hurt.
Your turn
- Do you meditate? Every day? Occasionally? Not at all?
- Is there someone you would like to send some loving kindness to?
- Are you in need of a little extra loving kindness right now?
- What else is on your mind? Anything at all. I just love to hear from you.
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Hi Christie – I don’t meditate – it’s not something I’ve ever really been drawn to. I do pray every day and I feel like that is my alternative to meditation. Your words reminded me of a little mantra that caught my ear at the beginning of the pandemic – it was something I used to sing to myself when I went for my morning walk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_95QiVJN-U)
Hello Leanne. I believe that prayer can be a type of meditation, and you can definitely have a prayer that is focused on loving kindness and good will for yourself and others. I love that you had a morning walk mantra. I will check out the YouTube video. Sending you lots of love and wishes for safety, happiness, health, and ease.
I love this meditation idea! I can’t wait to try it. Recently I’ve been trying to incorporate some meditation into my life, but it feels hard to know where to start, and this seems simple enough.
I think with the pandemic and being so isolated/feeling kinda stuck is really taking it’s toll on me. I feel cranky much more often than usual, so that’s what I’m hoping meditation can help me with. Just to take a minute to relax and appreciate being.
You are definitely not alone in feeling that way, Liz. I’m hoping that spring and coming out of the pandemic (hopefully–if we are wise about our approach) will help. In the meantime, I’ve found consistent meditation and mindfulness practices have brought me a sense of calm deep in my core, even when I am feeling ruffled on the surface and certainly a way to tap into that stillness when I need it most. The simplest, most basic meditation is to focus on your breathing and your experience in any given moment. What do you feel in your body? What are your thoughts–acknowledge them, don’t try to suppress them. What emotions are present? Always returning to your breathing. That is my amateur advice anyway. For now, know that I love you and I am sending you wishes for safety, happiness, health, and ease.
What a beautiful meditation, Christie. I look forward to trying it!
I hope you enjoy it, Donna. And today, I will be thinking of you when I say, “may you be safe; may you be happy; may you be healthy; may you feel at ease.”
I tried this, but need more practice. Even during the short mantra other names kept popping in my head, besides the one I chose. ?
I laughed when I read this Cindy, because the same thing happens to me sometimes. It helps me focus if I choose someone who I know could use some extra love right now or maybe it’s someone’s birthday. Other times, I just roll with the chaos of my mind and switch up people with each phrase or bring them together! I guess we just want to love and bless everyone!
One more thing–I hope you feel me this morning when I’m wishing you safety, happiness, health, and a sense of ease. ❤️
I love this idea. I don’t meditate, but I do spend time in dedicated prayer each morning (well, most mornings). Interestingly, my prayers expand much the way your mediations do, in ever widening ripples. I begin with myself then close family then farther family and out to friends and others, the nation, the world.
Your kind and gentle spirit is a refreshing inspiration, Christie.
I love this, Lisa. You are the second one to mention prayer. I believe prayer can be a mindfulness practice as well. And your prayer definitely sounds like a loving kindness meditation. Thank you for the kind words. May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you feel at ease.
A yoga teach taught us this meditation with some arm movements that she said stretched all the muscles in our shoulders. I do the sequence a few mornings a week while I’m waiting for the coffee to brew. I’m pleased to see it here as I’ve never seen it elsewhere.
Combining this mediation with yoga sounds lovely, Ally. I learned the meditation for a mindfulness website a couple of years ago and have practiced it periodically since then. Today I wish you safety, happiness, health, and a feeling of ease.
Hi Christie, I love the phrase “loving kindness” and it is a mantra I often carry with me. “Loving kindness for yourself” is a wonderful and important reminder. I greatly appreciate the four sentences/intentions. They say a great deal in few words. A wonderful and meaningful post, as always. Thank you.?
Thank you for your kind words, Erica. Today I wish you safety, happiness, health, and a sense of ease.