Through Loving One Another

What to expect

Most of us think kind things about people that we never say out loud.

This meditation begins with your eyes on the room. You settle into the breath and set down what you’re carrying. Then you feel the love of someone who was kind to you. You let it show you something sacred in yourself, and you see the same in them. You give the love back, rest, and rise into the day, toward the person you pictured.

The idea it rests on is simple. The divine lives within each of us. Through loving one another, we help each other recognize it. Under it, slow late-night lofi jazz plays with a soft beat. Water laps against a wooden dock on a still lake at night.

How to listen:

• Sitting or lying down. Never while driving.
• No headphones needed.
• Anyone who was kind to you will do, from long ago or from this week.
• At the end, it asks you to let one person know what you see in them.

About

Safety and aftercare. You can stop at any point. Open your eyes, move, and notice the room. If no one comes to mind, that’s all right. Any small kindness will do, from anyone. The person who comes to mind may have died, or remembering them may bring grief. You can stay with that gently, choose someone else, or simply rest.

Written by Lee + Twins. Voice: Lee.

Transcript

Opening

Most of us think kind things about people that we never say out loud.

It seems too obvious to mention, or the moment passes.

So they go on not knowing.

Before anyone else, a little time with yourself.

Here, where you are.

Look at the room around you.

Its light, just as it is.

Whatever is next can wait.

Move until your weight is supported.

Now let your eyes close.

Breathe in slowly.

And out, longer.

Breathe in slowly.

And out, longer.

Let the breath breathe itself.

Lengthen your spine a little.

Stay awake and easy.

Part One: The space around you

Notice the space before your face.

The space behind your head.

Width, on either side.

Sense all of it at once.

Let it reach past the walls.

Up past the roof, into open sky.

Let it be as wide as it is.

Part Two: Setting it down

Set down what comes next in your day.

Loosen the hurry.

Lower your guard a little.

Stop keeping score.

Release the need to earn kindness.

Let your skin soften, all over.

Past your skin, open space.

Part Three: Someone who was kind

The divine lives within each of us.

Through loving one another, we help each other recognize it.

Remember someone kind to you, even in a small way.

Let their kindness reach you.

Breathe in their kindness.

Lay a hand on your chest.

Warmth, under your hand.

Let them see you.

See yourself through their kind eyes.

Something sacred in you, warm under their kind look.

Part Four: Giving it back

Turn toward them now.

Look at them the way they look at you.

Their warmth, the same as yours.

Wish them well.

Let your love reach them.

Breathe in their love.

And out, your love to them.

Breath after breath, their love and yours.

Receiving and giving, one circle.

Now picture one person you could reach today.

Notice the same warmth in them.

Today, let them know what you see.

Back to the warmth in your chest.

Part Five: Resting

Nothing more to do.

Rest here a while.

Part Six: Rising

Leave the warmth in your chest free to rise.

No need to watch for it.

Let it come up through you.

To the top of your head.

The divine lives within each of us.

Loving one another, we help each other recognize it, and recognizing it, we love.

Part Seven: Into the day

Feel the weight of your body.

Move your hands a little.

Hear the room around you.

Breathe in a little deeper.

And out.

Open your eyes on the room.

Its light, just as it is.

Go on into the day, toward the person you pictured.