Our heart, or Anahata chakra, holds the energy of love and kindness - the ability to receive it, feel it, give it and be it. In today’s episode, we’ll tap into this energy with a guided loving kindness, or metta meditation.
The original name of this is metta bhavana, which comes from the Pali language. Metta means positive energy, love or kindness. Bhavana means development or cultivation.
This practice is designed to open your heart as you cultivate loving kindness for all living things.
It’s also a self-care technique that can boost wellbeing and reduce stress.
So, let’s meditate together.
We’ll repeat the loving kindness mantra as we relax into our breath, cultivating feelings of love and kindness first for ourselves and then for others.
Find a comfortable seat, or lie down, and close your eyes. Take a full breath in and then exhale completely.
Bring your awareness to your heart space, your heart chakra. And the colour of the heart chakra is green so see that colour in your mind’s eye. With each breath, feel your heart opening and softening. Let your inhales expand your heart space - the front and the back, top and bottom, both sides and then as you exhale, let go of anything that isn’t serving you. Relax any tension in your body - your brow, your jaw, shoulders, back, belly and legs.
Really breathe into your heart and feel your breath pouring love and kindness into your body. Keep the radiance, warmth, glow and light of your breath in your heart as you exhale.
Relax into a sense of wellbeing and peace here.
Now we’ll begin the loving kindness mantra.
As you focus your loving energy and attention on yourself, silently or out loud, repeat:
May I be happy, may I be well, may I be safe, may I be peaceful and at ease.
Breathe, and for a few seconds, let those words wrap your body and mind in love.
Now think of someone you hold dearly in your life, someone that you love, cherish and offer it to them. See them standing before you and begin your mantra:
May you be happy, may you be well, may you be safe, may you be peaceful and at ease.
And to the community around you, the world, the universe and all living things:
May you be happy, may you be well, may you be safe, may you be peaceful and at ease.
Take another full, expansive breath and notice how that feels in your body.
Then coming back to yourself, float your hands to your heart and see if you can sense your heart beating. Feeling full of love, kindness and the connection that you’ve cultivated.
Let your hands rest. Inhale that big, expansive breath and exhale completely.
And if there’s anything you want to say to yourself in the peace and safety of your mind - any words of kindness, appreciation or perhaps a simple “I love you”, now is the time.
Take one more big breath in and release. When you’re ready, open your eyes back up to the room.
As you get more familiar with this practice, you can also extend your mantra out to those you feel neutral towards and those you feel negatively towards. But if you’re new, cultivating the energy of loving-kindness towards yourself and those you care about is a great way to start.
While it may feel like nothing’s happening at first, the more you practise, the greater capacity you’ll have for forgiveness, self-acceptance, connection and compassion.
Trust that you’re planting the seeds for love and kindness.
Thanks so much for listening! If you’re ready to go deeper, I have a free mini yoga retreat waiting for you over at pranapatchouli.com/retreat. It’ll help you find emotional ease, fill up your cup and follow the whispers of your soul. *Deep exhale*. All you have to do is head over there now and enter your name and email for instant access.
I’ll be back next week with a brand new episode, so until then, from my heart to yours, Namaste.
