Midday Prayer

Morning meditation is a practice I decided to actively and consistently adopt back in 2015, when undergoing yoga teacher training in Kuala Lumpur. It began as a learned-by-rote, word-for-word Sanskrit chant and then a prayer in English.

About a year and a half into this, I repeated the Sanskrit chant in front of my now-husband Peppe for the first time, and he questioned what it meant to me. After a few days reflecting on this, I realised that, because it wasn’t my first language, I felt as though I was praying with a filter - that it wasn’t coming from a raw place - and I myself started to question my practice. I have full respect for the practice of chanting in Sanskrit, and I have no doubt that it is the most raw and pure practice for innumerable people - but through stripping it back to my native language, I personally feel able to express my meaning most truthfully and easily.

There’s one term I do use a lot in while meditating - Metta Bhavana. Metta Bhavana is a name for the practice of cultivating loving-kindness in Buddhism. I’ve been practising Metta Bhavana on and off since my teenage years, so it’s a term I feel comfortable using.

Since that week of questioning, I’ve been writing continuously. This amounted in my Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and, most recently, this Midday Prayer. These are constantly updated as I learn and read more, and so here is the Midday Prayer as it is now.

With each of the below “somebodies”, I allow somebody to come to mind who fits the correlating description. Give it a go as you read through the prayer.

In the height of the day, I take a moment to slow down my breath and be mindful of today’s journey so far.

I am aware of my ability to harness the power of goodness and that the more I direct that goodness towards others, the more it is directed towards me too, as we are all one and the same.

I am aware that by directing poison towards others, I direct poison towards myself. May the success of others only inspire me to work & create in my own, ethical way, and may I find pure joy in the creation of that which is good.

May the wrongdoings of others remind me of the importance of living in line with my values, and may I sincerely pray for others to cease their wrongdoings and learn to live in line with their conscious values too.

I send my metta, my loving kindness, to somebody that my human side loves and is attached to.

May you be happy, may you be peaceful, may you be free.

II send my metta, my loving kindness, to an acquaintance or stranger. I choose you as we are not familiar.

May you be happy, may you be peaceful, may you be free.

I send my metta, my loving kindness, to somebody my human side feels uncomfortable with, whether through envy, anger or victimhood.

May you be happy, may you be peaceful, may you be free.

And I send my metta towards myself. May I be happy, may I be peaceful, may I be free.

Thank you Consciousness, thank you life force, for giving me this time to reflect, refuel and mindfully continue with my day with as much freedom as I am spiritually capable of today.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.