The following meditation is led by Tara Brock.

To access more of my meditations or join my email list,

please visit tarabrock.com. The title of this meditation is embodying metta, which is loving kindness, really bringing the felt sense of loving kindness alive in our bodies.

So if you'd like to adjust how you're sitting in any way that allows

you to be comfortable and some of you might choose to be lying down or to be standing whatever

best serves. Closing your eyes. Taking a few full breaths. Let these breaths gather your attention, collect you, bring you right here. Nice

deep, in full, out completely. Filling the lungs with the in-breath, releasing with the out-breath.

And you might begin by visualizing a wide open sky, a very big blue sky, and imagining the curved impression of a smile just

spreading through the skies, the receptivity of a smile, the openness of a smile.

And then imagine your mind. the openness of a smile.

And then imagine your mind can merge with that wide open sky,

so your mind is filled with the curve of a smile.

And with that openness and that receptivity.

And then gently bringing the attention to your eyes and sensing the smile spreading through your eyes,

letting the outer corners of your eyes lift, letting the eyes soften and the brow be smooth.

Your eyes are smiling.

You might feel the smile at the lips, a slight smile, what Tikna-Han calls smile yoga, because it sends

a message to your entire nervous system to relax. It helps you get in touch with a sense of benevolence and ease.

See if you can feel the inside of your mouth smiling.

Eyes are smiling, the mouth is smiling, and letting all the little muscles of the face relax.

You might visualize and feel the sense of a smile at the throat, that curve of a smile there.

And sense the openness it creates.

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