Loving Kindness (Metta) Meditation
This meditation is based on a traditional Metta (loving-kindness) meditation but follows a different order & format than it would traditionally. In this Metta meditation, you will be sending out loving-kindness to someone you love, to someone neutral, to someone who challenges you, to all beings, to your inner child, and to yourself.
Transcript
Meta meditation.
So taking a moment to find a comfortable position in which to sit for this meditation.
Ideally this meditation is done best sat up so you can be sat in a chair,
You can be sat on the floor,
Just sit in a way that is comfortable for you.
And we'll start with a few minutes of concentration practice to help our mind settle and to start to arrive into the present moment.
So to do this let's start to just allow the body to breathe in its natural way.
I invite you to see where in the body you can feel the breath.
Maybe you can feel it in the stomach,
Maybe you can feel it in the chest,
Maybe you can feel it somewhere else.
Maybe you can feel the expansion and contraction as the body inhales and exhales.
Maybe you can feel the body rising and falling as you breathe in.
Maybe perhaps you can feel the breath at the nostrils where you can feel a slight tickle as the air comes in and the subtle warmth as the air goes out.
So maybe you can pick one spot to notice and that's going to be your anchor point throughout this meditation.
So every time the mind wanders just come back to the spot that you've chose to notice for the breath.
And as we really start to feel into the body breathing try to stay with the breath all the way through.
So can you feel it from the beginning of the inhale all the way to the end of the exhale?
So from the beginning of the inhale all the way through to the end of the exhale.
So you may notice that your mind is wandering or maybe your mind's busy so whenever the mind wanders it just offers an opportunity to cultivate some mindfulness and concentration.
So each and every time you notice the mind wandering off we're strengthening our ability to recognize our experience and then each time we bring the mind back to the breath to that point of reference that we chose before we're strengthening our ability to focus on an object.
So I invite you to treat it as an opportunity rather than a problem and just keep gently returning back to the breath.
So we'll be focusing on the heart space in this metta meditation so you might want to bring your awareness to your chest,
The container for the heart and just be aware of how the breath moves around the heart space.
Maybe noticing the movement in the chest as you breathe.
Maybe noticing any sensations of relaxation and calm in the body in response to the breath.
So traditionally in a metta meditation we start by repeating the words of loving kindness to ourselves but as many people struggle to say kind things to themselves and it's easier to say them to other people we're actually going to start this metta meditation by giving the metta kindness to someone else.
So I invite you to bring to mind a person in your life who you find easy to love,
Someone who it feels effortless to feel loving feelings towards.
I invite you to imagine that this person is sitting across from you and you're gazing at each other face to face.
Imagine that there's a light that emanates and shines from your heart directly into theirs and that this same light is reflected back from their heart into yours and then I invite you to repeat the following words in your mind as though you're saying these words to the person sitting across from you.
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be free from fear,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be joyful and may you love and be loved,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be free from fear,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be joyful and may you love and be loved.
So I invite you to imagine the beautiful human that's sitting across from you beaming with the metta that you've sent to them and then imagine that they're gently shifting and moving to one seat over.
Next I invite you to bring to mind someone who's neutral maybe it's someone from where you work or a neighbor or just someone with whom you have no emotional attachment to and imagine yourself sitting across from this person.
Again the light emanating and shining from your heart into theirs and I invite you to repeat these words in your mind to this person.
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be free from fear,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be joyful,
May you love and be loved.
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be free from fear,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be joyful and may you love and be loved.
So as before imagine that the neutral person is moving along to another chair and now we're going to try and bring to mind somebody who you find difficult.
You may not want to pick the most difficult person in your life maybe instead just choosing someone who is just maybe a little bit difficult.
Maybe it's someone you find yourself agitated with or easily annoyed by and you can offer the phrases recognizing that this is connecting with our intention to care for this person even if you may not mean it wholeheartedly.
Every time we offer a phrase we are opening up the channel for making this a possibility.
So see that person sat in front of you,
See the light emanating from your heart directly into theirs and repeating your mind.
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be free from fear,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be joyful,
May you love and be loved.
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be free from fear,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be joyful,
May you love and be loved.
So as before imagining that that person's now moving over and this time we're just gonna take a moment to imagine all beings,
All creatures on this earth,
All life.
Imagine the whole world in all its glory and magnitude.
Really seeing if you can get a sense of the connection between all of us,
The life and earth and air that binds us all as one.
And now let's offer these words to all beings.
May all beings be happy,
May all beings be peaceful,
May they all be filled with loving kindness,
May all beings be free from fear,
May all beings be free from suffering,
May all beings be joyful,
May they all love and be loved.
May all beings be happy,
May all beings be peaceful,
May they all be filled with loving kindness,
May all beings be free from fear,
May all beings be free from suffering,
May all beings be joyful and may they all love and be loved.
Now start to bring all of your awareness back to yourself knowing that you've just sent loving kindness out to you so many different people and beings.
Take a moment to feel proud of yourself for doing this practice and for offering such beautiful love out to others because now it's time to offer the same words and love and kindness to yourself.
But we're going to do this to you your inner child to start with.
So taking a moment to imagine the part of you that is your inner child,
The little you that is within you.
Do they have a nickname?
How old might they be?
Just taking a moment to see if you can feel them here with you.
Don't worry if this is new and just struggling to connect.
Just know that there is an inner child deep within you and then whether or not you can see them maybe imagine that they're sat across from you in one of the chairs,
Your heart connected to theirs,
The light emanating from your heart space directly into theirs.
And then let's repeat the words in your mind offering them to your inner child and seeing if you can really feel each one of the words being sent by adult you to little you.
May you be happy.
May you be peaceful.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be free from fear.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be joyful.
May you love and be loved.
May you be happy.
May you be peaceful.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be free from fear.
May you be free from suffering.
May you be joyful.
And may you love and be loved.
And letting the words fall away and just let yourself be.
Noticing the breath noticing how you feel and this time I just want you to allow the following words to flow into you and around you.
You do not need to repeat these words.
May you have loving kindness.
May you have peace,
Love and success.
And may you have the strength to overcome all obstacles.
May you have loving kindness.
May you have peace,
Love and success.
And may you have the strength to overcome all obstacles.
May you have loving kindness.
May you have peace,
Love and success.
And may you have the strength to overcome all obstacles.
So just allowing yourself just to be just for a couple of moments.
Sitting in their energy and the peacefulness of the metta meditation.
And then starting to breathe a little deeper,
A little fuller.
Let's take a really deep inhale.
Big sigh out of the mouth.
And if your eyes are closed gently blinking them open.
Just coming back into your surroundings and I wish you a really beautiful day.
4.8 (17)
Recent Reviews
Louise
June 15, 2024
That was soooo beautiful. I had my 3 y.o. LuLu on my lap. Namaste 🙏
Celina
August 29, 2023
Thank you Nikki, that was really beautiful 🙏 Namaste