Lovingkindness Meditation

A lovingkindness (metta) meditation in 5 stages.

Transcript

Welcome to the loving-kindness meditation.

Human beings are not hardwired for certain emotional states at the exclusion of others.

When we act with conscious intention,

The mind tends to follow.

The loving-kindness meditation helps us cultivate a positive emotional attitude towards ourselves and others.

Even if you think it's not working,

The practice still has an effect.

Try it out and see for yourself.

Begin this meditation by simply being aware of the physical sensations of your body.

The places where the body makes contact.

The places of pressure,

Heat,

Coolness,

Pulsing,

Tingling.

The places of pleasure and pain that your mind knows as body.

And as you sit with your body,

Begin to pay attention more specifically to your breathing.

Noticing the breath wherever it's easiest.

At the tip of the nose perhaps,

Or in the abdomen,

Or in the whole body.

Just breathing in and knowing that you're breathing in.

And breathing out and knowing that you're breathing out.

And breathing out and knowing that you're breathing out.

Letting the breath be natural and unforced.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing out.

Breathing in and breathing out.

So the practice of loving kindness consists of silently saying phrases of well-wishing over and over again.

You may feel strong heart-opening emotions when you say them.

If that happens,

Just welcome them and keep opening to that experience by repeating the phrases.

If nothing seems to be happening or you feel numb,

That's perfectly fine too.

The phrases of well-wishing are like seeds that are planted and they'll sprout in their own good time.

Sometimes loving kindness brings up the opposite emotions.

So if you experience anger or grief,

Extend loving kindness to those emotions and don't judge them.

Remember this.

To practice loving kindness is to be present for whatever blocks loving kindness.

Above all,

Keep saying the phrases,

Acknowledging whatever else is arising without any judgment at all.

I'll start the phrases,

But feel free to use phrases of well-wishing in your own time.

Words that speak to you.

So to begin,

Wishing yourself well.

May I know the deepest happiness I can.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I am.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I can be.

May my life be filled with ease and joy.

Repeating the phrases to yourself over and over again.

May I know the deepest happiness I can.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I can be.

May my life be filled with ease and joy.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I am.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I am.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I am.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I am.

May I be safe,

Protected and as healthy as I am.

Now extending this well-wishing and friendliness out into the world to other people.

So begin by saying these phrases to a good friend.

Taking a moment to choose one good friend.

Bringing this friend to mind either by having an image or a memory or invoking the sound of your friend's voice.

And repeating the phrases of well-wishing to the good friend.

May you know the deepest happiness you can.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and healthy.

May your life be filled with ease and joy.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

And now extending this well wishing and friendliness to a neutral person.

This is someone you see often but with whom you have no close relationship.

Maybe the person who delivers your mail or someone at the corner grocery or a colleague at work.

See what it's like if you can imagine being inside this person's shoes.

What would the world look like if you could see what the neutral person sees?

And extending the phrases of well wishing to the neutral person.

May you know the deepest happiness you can.

May you be safe,

Protected and healthy.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

May you be safe,

Protected and as healthy as you can be.

And now extending this well wishing and friendliness to a difficult person in your life.

Someone with whom you've had communication problems or a conflict,

Maybe now or in the past.

It could even be someone in your family.

Just bringing this person to mind and extending well wishing without trying to deny the problem you two are having.

Just acknowledging that this difficult person wants to be happy too,

Just like you.

And realizing that the world would be a much better place if all its difficult people were happy.

And extending well wishing to the difficult person.

May you know the deepest happiness you can.

May you be safe,

Protected and healthy.

May your life be filled with ease and joy.

May you be safe,

Protected and healthy.

May you be safe,

Protected and healthy.

May you be safe,

Protected and healthy.

May you be safe,

Protected and healthy.

And now extending this well wishing and friendliness out into the world generally.

So that it encompasses all beings in ever widening circles.

Wishing happiness,

Peace,

Joy,

Good fortune to yourself,

To your good friend,

To the neutral person and to the difficult person.

Sending loving kindness to all four people in equal measure.

And sending the phrases of loving kindness to people you don't even know.

To people everywhere in the world.

And to all the animals and other beings in the world without exception.

May all beings be happy.

Beings of every shape and size and identity.

No matter who or what they are.

No matter where they are.

May all beings be happy.

Beings in every part of the world.

Beings in peaceful places.

And beings trapped in war zones or places of catastrophe.

May all beings be happy and free from suffering.

May all beings awaken to joy,

Wisdom and peace.

Reviews

Dear Bill, grateful for this practice and your guidance. Sending good wishes.

Thank you for your kindness 🙏

Meditation that has the capacity to open your heart, focusing on nurturing strong feelings of compassion, kindness and well wishes to all. Blessings!

A great guided meditation without interruption of thought. Good pauses for you repeat your own well wishes. It goes to my bookmarks.

A really nice metta meditation. The ending was kind of abrupt.

Thank you so much for your loving kindness

it definitely helped my day

Thank you so much!!!! Arrived in a perfect moment, send you love, peace and happiness!

Enriching. I need this daily. So does the world. Thanks much!!

Very helpful & well paced, thank you.

I feel background music turns meditations into just relaxation tapes...This meditations without music and such a wonderful good vibe is officially my favourite. Thank you very much!

Nicely guided. Thank you!

Well done. The only thing that caught my attention during the audio was the break in the white noise in the background a number of times. But the content kept my focus and attention.

Very deep and touching. Namaste 🙏🏻

This may be my favorite loving-kindness meditation; owing mainly to the simplicity it inspired! I re-translated the suggested mind-delivering device into: "May all beings be well, happy, and healthy; living lives full of ease and joy!"

Calm and well paced. I like the spaces, giving room to practice.

Really nice Metta practice. Thank you!

Nice rhythm, the transitions between quite and spoken instructions were a bit abrupt for me. Still will make it a regular metta meditation.

Lovely wishes.💗💕