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<div>Thank you, Karen, for your thoughtful earth rise witness. About that same time, I was at my wonderful chair/floor gentle yoga class and participated in a very timely post-election meditation at the beginning of the class. The classes for seniors are called
OWLS (Older, Wiser, Living Strong). This meditation was powerful and I need to practice It over and over. By popular request, our instructor sent it out to us. She referred us to Metta Meditations for other meditation guides. Thought I would share it
with you and our community. </div>
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<div>Lynda </div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">Loving Kindness Practice (Donald McCown, 2010)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">Taking your usual posture for meditation… feeling your body where it makes contact with the support beneath you, and settling in… perhaps centering yourself by making
the<br>
breath the focus of your attention…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">Feeling the breath moving and the body sitting…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">And when you are ready, bringing to mind someone that it is easy to feel loving kindness towards… someone from the past or present, perhaps a child, or a pet… an
easy,<br>
simple relationship may be best…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">Allowing yourself to hold them in your awareness perhaps seeing them in your mind’s eye or perhaps feeling a sense of them in your heart… can you feel a sense of
loving kindness towards them?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">As you hold them in your awareness, beginning to send wishes of loving kindness to them …. Silently repeating these phrases<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">May you be peaceful and happy<br>
May you be safe from harm<br>
May you be as healthy and strong as you can be<br>
May you live with ease of well-being …<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">When you’re ready, allow the image or felt sense of your chosen one to fade, and seeing how it is for<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#555555;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">you</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">to
be the one who receives loving kindness …<br>
resting here in your own kind regard, sending yourself these well wishes, allowing yourself to take in these phrases, to say them silently for yourself …<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">May I be peaceful and happy<br>
May I be safe from all inner and outer harm<br>
May I be as healthy and strong as I can be<br>
May I live with ease of well-being …<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">Maybe it seems artificial and stilted to say such things to yourself, for yourself… maybe you’re not feeling loving kindness in this moment – and that’s OK<br>
whatever you’re feeling, you can hold the intention of loving kind-ness… offering it from wherever you are… however you are now ….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">So practicing once more… noticing how you may be drawn towards this practice or drawn away from it…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">May I be peaceful and happy<br>
May I be safe from harm<br>
May I be as healthy and strong as I can be<br>
May I live with ease of well-being…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">And now exploring the experience of moving loving kindness outward again, bringing to your heart and mind someone to whom you would like to send loving kindness
and with the same intention you have been directing towards yourself, offering these wishes…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">May you be peaceful and happy<br>
May you be safe from harm<br>
May you be as healthy and strong as you can be<br>
May you live with ease of well-being… (Long pause).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">Holding them in your awareness and sending loving kindness with these phrases… or phrases of your own…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">May you be peaceful and happy<br>
May you be safe from harm<br>
May you be as healthy and strong as you can be<br>
May you live with ease of well-being. .. (Long pause).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<em><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"inherit","serif";color:#555555;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Return to the breath from here, or if you have more time, continue growing the size of the group until you include all sentient beings in
the Universe</span></em><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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