– Welcome to Fightmaster
Yoga where it’s not about the pose, and you
don’t have to be perfect. Hi I’m Lesley Fightmaster. Today we have Meditation
Miracle for Loving-Kindness. This is my favorite meditation to do. I love the Loving-Kindness meditations, because when I’m doing them
regularly I really notice a change in my attitude,
and my level of peace. I really do start to feel the connection that I have to everyone, dare I say on the planet. Where the connection is stronger, and I just have more
space not just in my body, but in my mind for others and for myself, and more love. We’ll begin sitting, and
you’re welcome to sit up, and I encourage you to sit up on some sort of cushion,
or pillow, or blanket, so that your hips are
higher than your knees. And again alternately,
you may sit on a chair, but still have your legs uncrossed, your feet flat on the floor,
and sit up nice and tall, so that you don’t end up
sitting against the back of the chair and slouching. So take a few moments to
find your comfortable seat, and then once you do start to feel the heaviness again in the legs and the hips as you ground down through
your sitting bones, and from that heaviness
begin to lift away, from above the waist all
throughout your spine. Lift through your chest,
widen across the collar bones. Reach the crown of your
head toward the sky as you keep your chin
level with the floor. And now bring your
attention to your breath. So as before I will be guiding
you on this meditation. Your job is to keep your
breath nice and steady, and to listen to the sound of my voice. Again if any thoughts
come, or when they come just allow them to easily drift away without any judgment, or any attachment. Continue, steady inhales, steady exhales. As you take your next inhale notice the length through your spine, all the way up through
the crown of your head, and on your exhale notice the heaviness in your lower body, and
then released any tension around your neck, and your face. Check your forehead, and your jaw, and just let it go. This meditation includes
some visualization. For some, visualization comes easily, and for others it doesn’t. It didn’t for me, for a long
time I had to work at it. So again, do the best that you can. There is no judgements. So begin to bring to mind someone that you absolutely love. It might be a child, a baby, a pet. But this someone is an easy relationship, no complications when
you think of this being, you have pure love for them. Once you have this being in your mind do the best that you
can to bring their image in the forefront of your mind so that you can see it clearly from the image of your loved one. And just notice as you bring your full
attention to this being how you feel. The thoughts, the image of this being can affect how you feel in your body, and just noticed anything
that comes up for you. Now imagine that your loved one is seated right in front of you. Your face is directly across from their face, and if they’re able to smile,
and they’re smiling at you. And now in your mind repeat the following to them, may you be happy. May you be as strong, and
healthy as you can be. May you live with ease and comfort. May you be safe, and free from harm, and may you know peace. Now allow the image of your
loved one to gently float away. However allow those feelings of love towards that being
to remain within you. Keeping that feeling, bring to mind as clearly as you can an image of your smiling wonderful face. As clearly as possible imagine that you are sitting right across from yourself, and continue to hold on
to that feeling of love that was created when you imagined your loved one. As you keep this image of yourself in your mind, say the following in your mind to you. May I be happy. May I be as strong and as healthy as I can be. May I live with ease and comfort. May I be safe and free from harm. May I know peace. It may feel a bit uncomfortable saying those things to yourself, but if you decide to continue
practicing this meditation it will become easier and easier. So keeping that same feeling of love let that image fade, and now bring to mind someone
that you may see regularly, but you don’t really know them, maybe at the grocery store, or in a class. Bring an image of this
person clearly to your mind. Imagine that they are sitting
right in front of you smiling, and you are smiling right back with that feeling of love in your heart. And now say the following to this person, may you be happy. May you be as strong and
healthy as you can be. May you live with ease and comfort. May you be safe and free from harm. May you know peace. Allowing that image to fade. Now bring to mind someone
that you really dislike. A person that maybe gets under your skin, or has done something that hurt you. It can be difficult to bring it up, but, think of this person
sitting in front of you with a smile on their face, and try the best you can to keep that feeling of love and
kindness in your hearts as you repeat the
following directly to them. May you be happy. May you be as strong and
as healthy as you can be. May you live with ease and comfort. May you be as safe and free from harm as you can be. May you know peace. Now let that image fade. And now just start to
think of your loved ones, your friends, your relatives, the people in your community, and just allow those faces
to come into your mind as clearly as you can, one at a time, or all at once. Their smiling, you still have that love in your hearts. And then start to think about how all of your friends and
relatives and loved ones in your community they all have friends, and relatives, and
loved ones of their own. And imagine that they are extending their love out to everyone that they know. And just imagine that it continues to extend out, and out throughout the entire world. And it doesn’t even stop there it goes out into the whole universe. Imagine sending love out to all beings everywhere, and repeating the following. May we be happy. May we be as strong and
healthy as we can be. May we live with ease and comfort. May we be safe and free from harm. May we know peace. And now begin to take a
couple of deeper breaths as you sit with this feeling
of love and kindness, within you and radiating out
to all beings everywhere. Our quote today comes from Amma, she’s also known as the Hugging Saint. “The sun shines down,
and it’s image reflects “in a 1000 different
pots filled with water. “The reflections are many, “but they are each
reflecting the same sun. “Similarly when we come
to know who we truly are “We will see ourselves in all people.” Allow your eyes to softly blink open, keeping your focus soft. And now bring your hands together, bring your hands to your forehead, reminding you to have
clear, and loving thoughts. Hands to your heart center reminding you to have clear and loving intentions, and hands to your mouth reminding you to have clear and loving communication. Sending all of this beautiful
loving kindness energy out to all beings everywhere, namaste. If you enjoy that meditation this one is a wonderful mindfulness meditation that I think you’ll love, and did you know that today’s class is
part of my Hatha Yoga Joy. For the whole program click this playlist, and experience more joy in your life. Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90bQBswmmw
