One thing I’ve noticed as a chakra dance meditation teacher is that so many of us struggle to accept love. We can give and give and give but when it comes to actually receiving it ourselves? It’s incredibly difficult. 

One way to change this is through loving kindness or metta meditation. Practising this on a regular basis has been shown to increase self-compassion, decrease stress, anxiety and negative self-talk, reduce physical pain, and enhance your relationship with others. 

If you’re not used to showing love towards yourself, this can be a surprisingly challenging exercise, so start small. Just a few minutes of meditation has been shown to confer great benefits, so don’t worry about doing this for a long time. And while traditional loving kindness meditation involves sending love to everyone, including those with whom we’re currently in conflict, this can be difficult, so for this first metta meditation we’re going to keep things nice and simple and just send love to ourselves and love to someone who has been a positive influence in our life. We’ll come back to it in later weeks to gradually expand the practice. 

Find somewhere quiet where you will be free from distractions for a few minutes and make yourself comfortable. Turn your attention to your breath. Notice how it flows in and out without trying to control or change it in any way. Simply observe the movement of the breath for a moment as you begin to relax.

When you are ready, with your next inhalation, start to feel yourself filling with love and gratitude. With every exhalation, breathe out any stress or tension, becoming more and more relaxed. With every inhalation, breathe in more and more love and gratitude until you are filled with loving kindness and peace.

As you enjoy this wonderful feeling of loving kindness, say to yourself, may I be happy, may I be healthy, may I always be at peace. May I be happy, may I be healthy, may I always be be at peace. May I be happy, may I be healthy, may I always be at peace.  Stay here for a moment, repeating those words to yourself.

Now think of a person who is important to you, someone you care about who has impacted on your life in a positive way. Hold them in your heart as you send loving kindness towards them, feeling gratitude for their presence in your life. Say to yourself, may they be happy, may they be healthy, may they always be at peace. May they be happy, may they be healthy, may they always be at peace. May they be happy, may they be healthy, may they always be peace.

Stay here for a moment, sending them loving kindness and gratitude as you continue to repeat those words to yourself.

Know that someone somewhere in the world is doing this meditation right now with you. Send loving kindness to them as you receive the loving kindness they are sending to you. Say to yourself, may they be happy, may they be healthy, may they always be at peace. May they be happy, may they be healthy, may they always be at peace. May they be happy, may they be healthy, may they always be peace.

Stay here for a moment, sending them loving kindness and gratitude as you continue to repeat those words to yourself.

When you are ready, start to move your fingers, wriggle your toes, stretch and open your eyes. 

If you would like to expand on this some more, we’ll be doing some work on this with the heart chakra at the next chakra dance meditation online class. Come join us!