Loving Kindness

I started doing the Loving Kindness meditation with Amy in July 2018. These are the basic sentiments expressed in it.

May I be kind and patient with myself
May I love and accept myself for what I am
May I forgive myself my mistakes
May I be safe and free from suffering
May I feel happy and healthy
May I find peace, joy and ease of well-being

These feelings start in the heart, spread throughout the body, limbs and head, throughout the house and reach out to other people and beings, to family, friends, neighbours, the whole world, the solar system and all corners of the universe and then all the way back into the heart once more. This meditation also includes breath awareness, slow and calm, and a body scan.

The Loving Kindness meditation is used to help treat sufferers of PTSD. I have found it particularly helpful.

Music Therapy

Sometimes I forget how healing and relaxing music can be. I have taught the piano to adults and children since the late 1980s, most intensively from 2008 to 2018. Sometimes when something you love becomes more of a business, the fun can be zapped out of it. Dealing with the pushy parents of my young piano pupils was the worst thing. However I have learnt to get the most out of listening to and playing music once more. Music I find most relaxing to play and to listen to is Einaudi, Debussy, movie music, jazz and pop music from my teenage past.