March 8 - April 6, 2025
Simple Loving Kindness:
Art Inspired by Meditation
Simple Loving Kindness, a community art exhibit at Astoria Visual Arts, brings together local and regional artists who have drawn inspiration from meditation in their creative process. Conceived and organized by Nancy Karacand, with input from a small group of the participating artists, the exhibit is rooted in the teachings of Stephen Levine’s book, Healing Into Life and Death (1984), which offers guided meditation practices centered on hope, healing, compassion, connectedness, and joy.
In his book, Levine introduces the Simple Loving Kindness Meditationby stating:
"As an example of the heart we all share and the healing available to each of us, we begin these practices with a meditation on loving kindness. It is a fundamental practice for opening healing to ourselves, to our loved ones, to this world of suffering and joy in which we live. It is a meditation which, if experimented with for ten or fifteen minutes a day for a few weeks, has the potential for softening our lives and sending healing even to those very far away."
Many of the featured artists participated in guided meditation sessions using the Simple Loving Kindness method as part of their artistic process. The mediation is structured so that the first part is to oneself, the second part is to a love done and the third part is to the world at large. Artists chose one or all three parts to inspire their work.
Nancy Karacand, a semi-retired psychotherapist and jewelry artist who has lived in the Astoria area for 17 years, discovered the Simple Loving Kindness Meditation over four decades ago. The concept for this exhibit was sparked after she attended a Seattle-based art show for sexual assault survivors, where she was deeply moved by the sacred spacethe exhibit created. The experience underscored the power of art not only to process pain but to also facilitate healing. She began envisioning an exhibit that would embody the core themes of the Simple Loving Kindness Meditation.“Like many among us,” shares Nancy,“as my awareness of the polarization and divisiveness in our culture has grown. I’ve pondered how those of us who prefer cooperation and collaboration might cultivate these qualities in our relationships and in our communities.” This exhibit expresses a collective call for hope, connectedness and healing.
Simple Loving Kindness will be on view at Astoria Visual Arts from March 8 through April 6. AVA is located at 1000 Duane Street in Astoria and open Fridays through Sundays from 11:00am to 3:00pm.
The Simple Loving Kindness Phrases
To Oneself:
May I dwell in the heart
May I be free from suffering
May I be healed
May I be at peace
May my heart flower
May I know the joy of my own true nature
May I be healed into this moment
May I be whole
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To A Loved One:
May you dwell in your heart
May you be free from suffering
May you be healed
May you be at peace
May your heart flower
May your heart be ever open
May you be healed into this moment
May you be freed of any suffering
May you be healed wherever healing is called for
May you know the deepest levels of peace
May you dwell in the open heart
May you know your deepest joy, your greatest peace
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To the World:
May all beings be free of suffering
May all beings be at peace
May all beings be healed of their suffering
May all sentient beings, to the most recently born, be free of fear, be free of pain
May all beings heal into their true nature
May all beings know the absolute joy of absolute being
May all beings everywhere be healed and whole
May all beings dwell in their heart
May all beings be healed
May all beings be at peace
May all beings dwell in the heart of healing
A GUIDE FOR THE SIMPLE LOVING KINDNESS MEDITATION
(To be read slowly to a friend or silently to oneself.)
Sitting comfortably, allow the attention to come gradually to the breath. The breath coming and going all by itself deep within the body. Take a few moments to allow the attention to gather within the even rhythm of the breath.
Turning gently within, begin to direct toward yourself feelings of loving kindness, relating to yourself as though you were your only child. Silently in the heart say, “May I dwell in the heart, May I be free from suffering, May I be healed. May I be at peace.”
Just feel the breath breathing into the heart space as we relate to ourselves with mercy and loving kindness. Allow the heart silently to whisper the words of mercy that heal, that open. “May I dwell in the heart. May I be free from suffering. May I be healed. May I be at peace.”
Allow a willingness to be healed to converge in your heart. Whispering to yourself, send feeling of well-being to you. “May my heart flower. May I know the joy of my own true nature. May I be healed into this moment. May I be at peace.” Repeating gently with each in-breath into the heart, “May I dwell in the heart. With each out-breath, “May I be free from suffering.” With the next in-breath, “May I be healed.” With the following out-breath, “May I be at peace.”
Repeating these words slowly and gently with each in-breath, with each out-breath. Not as a prayer but as an extending of a loving well-being to yourself. Notice whatever limits this love touching yourself, this mercy, this willingness to be whole, to be healed. “May I dwell in the heart. May I be free from suffering. May I be healed. May I be at peace.”
Continue with the rhythm of this breath, this deepening of merciful joy and loving kindness drawn in with each breath, expanding with each exhalation. “May my heart flower. May I be free from suffering. May I be whole. May I be at peace.” Let the breath continue naturally as mercy for yourself, for this being within, deepens as it expresses itself.
Though at first these may only feel like words echoing from the mind, gently continuing, a feeling of warmth is drawn in with each breath, a sense of patience developing with each exhalation. Drawing in warmth, expanding patience. Room to live, room to heal. “May I dwell in the heart, May I be at peace.”
Each breath deepening the nurturing warmth of relating to oneself with loving kindness and compassion. Each exhalation deepening in peace, expanding into the spaciousness of being, developing the deep patience that does not wait for things to be otherwise but relates with loving kindness to things as they are. “May my heart flower. May I be free from suffering. May I be healed. May I be at peace.”
Allowing the healing in with each breath. Allowing yourself to heal into your true spacious nature. Continuing for a few breaths more this drawing in, this opening to loving kindness. Relating to yourself with great tenderness, sending well-being into your mind and body, embracing yourself in these gentle words of healing.
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Now gently bring to mind someone for whom you have a feeling of warmth and
kindness. Picturing this loved one in your heart, with each in-breath whisper, “May you dwell in your heart. May you be free from suffering. May you be healed. May you be at peace. “
With each in-breath drawing them into your heart, “May you dwell in your heart, may your heart flower.”
With each out-breath filling them with your loving kindness, “May you be free from
suffering.”
With the next inhalation, drawing their heart closer to yours, “May you be healed.”
With the following out-breath extending to them a wish for their well-being, “May you be at peace.”
Continue to breath them into your heart, whispering silently to yourself, to them, “May your heart be ever open. May you be free from suffering. May you be healed into this moment. May you be at peace.”
Continue the gentle breath of connection, the gentle whisper of your wish for their
happiness and wholeness. Let the breath be breathed naturally, softly, lovingly into the heart, coordinated with your words, with your concentrated feelings of loving kindness and care. “May you dwell in your heart. May you be freed of any suffering. May you be healed wherever healing is called for. May you know the deepest levels of peace.” Send them your love, your compassion, your care. Breathing them in through your heart. “May you dwell in the open heart. May you be free from suffering. May you be healed. May you know the deepest joy, your greatest peace.”
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And as you sense them in your heart, sense this whole world that wishes so to be healed, to know it’s true nature, to be at peace. And in your heart with each in-breath, with each out -breath, whisper, “May all beings be free of suffering. May all beings be at peace.”
Let your loving kindness reach out to all beings as it did to your loved one, sensing all beings in need of healing, in need of the peace of their true nature. “May all beings be at peace. May all beings be healed of their suffering.”
“May all sentient beings, to the most recently born, be free of fear, free of pain. May all beings heal into their true nature. May all beings know the absolute joy of absolute being.”
“May all beings everywhere be healed and whole. May all beings be free of suffering.”
The whole world like a bubble floating in your heart embraced by your loving kindness. Each breath drawing in the love that heals the world, that deepens the peace we all seek. Each breath feeding the world with the mercy and compassion, the warmth and patience that quiets the mind and opens the heart. “May all beings dwell in their heart. May all beings be free from suffering. May all beings be healed. May all beings be at peace.
Let the breath come softly. Let the breath go gently. Wishes of well-being and mercy, of care and loving kindness, extended to the world we all share. “May all beings be free of suffering. May all beings dwell in the heart of healing. May all beings be at peace.”