Lucy guides us through Loving Kindness Meditation for self-compassion and acceptance
The Loving Kindness Meditation is something that anyone can try, regardless of previous meditation experience or how long you have!
The benefits most often associated with meditation include; stress reduction, relaxation, and concentration. However, meditation practice is also shown to have a significant positive impact on our mental health, especially when it comes to managing anxiety.
My favourite element of Loving Kindness Meditation is the focus on acceptance and self-compassion. It also seems to particularly resonate at a time when we are possibly feeling a little less connected to others, maybe our first step is to connect with ourselves, offering ourselves the hand of friendship before extending this to others.
How to do Loving Kindness Meditation
(2 mins if that’s all you have)
Sit in comfortable position (for some this may be cross legged, a favourite chair or sofa for others, you can even do it lying down as it would also make for a pleasant way to go to sleep if you do nod off!).
Throughout the practice, notice any thoughts or feelings that might come up, do this without judgement or evaluation – maybe greet any thought or feeling with a silent ‘ah yes’ or ‘ok’. This is an important part of accepting all elements of yourself without trying to suppress them, you can then gently return your attention back to where you are in the meditation.
Bring your attention to your breath, just notice the feeling of it passing in and out and maybe see if you can start to slow it down, gently extending the out breath.
Imagine someone or something, either real or imaginary, who loves you entirely and unconditionally. Feel the warmth of this love all around you, making you feel safe and warm.
Then take this loving feeling into yourself and direct it to yourself, offering yourself all of this non-judgemental care and kindness.
We can find this really quite difficult to do sometimes, and that’s ok, it can become easier to feel these loving feelings with practice. The important thing is to not judge our feelings but just continue to focus on the warm feelings we can muster.
Silently repeat this mantra (if these words don’t feel right for you then why not replace them with similar phrases of your choosing):
May I be happy
May I be well
May I be safe
May I be at ease
(if you just have two minutes or want to progress slowly, you can just focus of the first part of the practice, bringing your attention to your breath and warmly repeating the first mantra to yourself)
Think of someone that you care about or that brings about warm feelings in you. Start extending this loving kindness feeling you have been giving to yourself to that person as well.
Repeat this mantra:
May they be happy
May they be well
May they be safe
May they be at ease
Think about someone you are fairly indifferent to at try to extend the loving kindness feeling to them.
Repeating the mantra.
Think about someone who you don’t have very positive feelings about but not strongly so, see if you can extend that loving kindness to them.
Repeating the mantra
You can then continue to extend this feeling as far as you like: your neighbours, your town, all living things, the world!
Remember that there is no right or wrong way to be in this practice, and there is no right or wrong to whatever may come up for you. Just be kind to yourself and maybe even give yourself a gentle hug when you are finished, know that you are loved and connected to the universe.
