To begin the meditation, imagine a golden, warm glow of light in your heart center, understanding that this light is effortlessly present and limitless.
Once the golden light is established in your heart, imagine it expanding to fill your entire body, from head to toe, with warmth, light, and a feeling of contentment.
Enlarge the golden light to include someone for whom it’s easy to feel love, such as a family member, friend, or pet, avoiding complicated relationships initially.
Gradually expand the circle of warm light to include one, two, or three other people or beings in your life for whom you can easily extend loving kindness.
Further expand the warm light to include teachers, mentors, parents, or anyone who has been a benefactor or helped you in your life, with gratitude.
Include “neutral people” – those you encounter daily but don’t have strong feelings for, like a store clerk or colleague – in your expanding field of warm light.
Gradually extend the warm light to people with whom you have “a little friction” in your life, avoiding the most challenging relationships or public figures initially.
Imagine the light radiating out to encompass all people and beings in your immediate physical environment, such as your town, city, or building.
Conclude the practice by expanding the light universally to include all beings – people you’ll never meet, animals you’ll never see – making it a general wish of loving kindness for everyone.
Close the meditation by imagining yourself within the universal field of light, receiving it as you have created it, feeling contained and supported by it.
If you find a practice like loving kindness meditation challenging or “barf-tastic” at first, just “fake it until you make it” because the practice can still work even if you’re skeptical.
Before starting a meditation practice, close your eyes and ground yourself by feeling your body in stillness, noticing its weight and the sensation of your breath.
If thoughts arise about the visualization itself during practice, acknowledge them and then let them go, focusing instead on experiencing the warm glow.
Recognize that the loving kindness light is abundant; it doesn’t diminish but rather increases and strengthens the more you spread it.
When extending loving kindness to difficult relationships, understand that the light is not about judgment, forgiveness, or condoning actions, but simply wishing well-being.
Recognize that you can wish happiness and safety for others, even those with whom you have difficult relationships, while still maintaining protective boundaries.
Periodically re-center your attention on the heart’s light source before expanding it outward again to new groups or areas.
Shift your perception from actively generating the light to existing within a widely available field of loving kindness, where you are no longer the sole center.
If traditional loving kindness meditation with verbal phrases feels “heady” or leads to overthinking, try a version with fewer words or a somatic element for a quieter experience.
Allow yourself to smile during the meditation if it feels natural, as it can enhance the feeling of well-being and contentment.
After the guided meditation concludes, you are welcome to stay in the meditative state for a while before opening your eyes, if you wish.