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Introduction

Welcome everyone. I'm joining you from South Africa. My name is Nolitha. To be specific, I'm joining you from Johannesburg, and it is evening here. So, good morning, good day, good evening wherever you're joining us from. I really appreciate your presence here. It gives me an opportunity to reflect on this practice and these teachings aimed for our liberation.

Guided Meditation: Reflecting on Goodwill

We are starting with a guided practice. You can find the posture that best supports you. Just take your time to find that posture. The intention is to be alert, awake, and yet relaxed.

Bringing the attention to the body, noticing how the body is. Welcoming this body as it is. Noticing the solidity of the body on the chair or the cushion. The spine is straight, the neck is long. The head is balanced at the top of the neck. It's helpful to tilt your chin towards the chest. It allows for an opening where the top of the neck meets with the skull, allowing for an easy flow of energy.

The hands rest on the lap. If you move your lower back just a little bit towards the belly, you will notice the lifting of the upper body and an opening of the chest area, and the shoulders easily relax. Without movement of the lower back towards the belly, softening the face and dropping the jaw allows for the release of tension, enhancing a sense of relaxation.

Aware of the whole body, release the body weight into the chair or the cushion, and notice the pressure where the body meets with the chair or the cushion. If you are on a chair, notice the sensations in the soles of your feet where your feet meet with the earth.

Noticing the movement of the breath. Resting your attention with the breath. Taking your time to find a good posture—upright and yet relaxed, awake and alert. It can be helpful at the beginning of your sitting to take a few long, deep breaths in.

We are allowing the breath to return to its normal rhythm. We will use the breath as a place of anchoring our attention. Whenever the mind goes away or gets lost in thought, when we notice that, we bring back the attention to rest on the breathing.

Noticing where the breath is most felt. It could be at the nostrils; as you breathe in, notice the coolness of the air, and as you breathe out, warm air is experienced. Or it could be with the expansion of the chest and the contraction of the chest as you breathe in and breathe out. Or it's the rise and the fall of the belly. Just take your time and see, of those three places, where is the breath most experienced? Then let your attention rest there.

The mind will go away to the past or to the future. We don't make a problem out of that. This practice is about returning. Bring back the attention to the body. Resting the attention on the breathing. It can be helpful to make a soft mental note that goes, "breathing in, breathing out." Breathing in, breathing out. As the mind settles here with the breath, we can release the mental note.

We continue throughout the rest of this sitting to bring the mind back. Allow the mind to rest on the breathing.

Noticing how the breath is. Maybe long, maybe short. Maybe smooth, or maybe staggered. Whichever way it is, that's just fine.

As the mind settles, we open our awareness to any predominant experience that is there. Maybe sounds, maybe sensations, thoughts. And notice what is here. One can always return the attention to rest on the breathing.

In a moment, I'm going to add another dimension to this kind of practice, where we reflect on the theme of goodwill and generosity. The aim is enhancement for well-being. When we cultivate goodwill, cultivation arises.

So, I invite you to remember how it has felt for someone to be generous to you. Someone may have supported you in a way that just clicks in a positive way for you. Just allowing the mind to linger on the actual feelings. How it has felt to receive generosity from another. Taking your time to be with that experience. Staying with how it feels. Allowing the body to relax with these feelings.

To support this experience, I invite you to bring to mind someone who gladdens your heart. Someone you're grateful to. Maybe you respect them, and that sense of respect brings joy to the heart. Getting the feel of that glad feeling. Joyful, glad because of this person.

Adding to this experience, I invite you to bring an image of a good friend or a beloved pet. Imagine this person or this pet giving you full attention. Get a sense of how it feels to be in a space like that. Maybe there's a feeling of warmth. A welcoming space, a friendly space, a caring space. Allowing yourself to be with these feelings.

Now I invite you to imagine opening up the space and sharing it with other people. Notice how it feels to open this space of warmth, a space of friendliness, a space that's welcoming to as many people as you can imagine. Just noticing how it feels to do this.

Now you can release the images and focus by bringing attention to how the body is just now. Attentive to the body. Aware of the body at ease, maybe relaxed, refreshed.

As we come towards the end of our sitting practice, I'd like to invite you to pause and think about what is here now that you can appreciate that wasn't there at the beginning of our sitting. And just notice, to round off.