Instructions for Metta and the Practice of the Brahma Viharas which is based on the earliest Buddhist suttas. Bhante Vimalaramsi guides you with detailed instructions during this meditation. He suggest you radiate Lovingkindness (Metta) to yourself for 5-10 minutes and the balance of your sitting to a Spiritual Friend. He gives you a method called the "6R's" to effectively let go of hindrances. Notes Regarding some comments There is no Bell for switching from sending Metta to yourself at the 10min mark. Just try to be close. Then the rest of the 30 min sitting radiate to the spiritual friend. After the instructions there is 15min of silence and then bells at 30min so you can practice on your own for 30min total. We only stay with the spiritual friend so as to build collectedness or concentration. If we send metta to other types of beings at this point we become unfocused and cannot attain that first powerful state of collectedness. There are more instructions once you attain that and you can if you practice for a month or two. Then send us a message and we will guide your practice. Or come and do a retreat or an online retreat with us. For over 40 years Bhante Vimalaramsi researched and practiced many methods in Asia without finding any real satisfaction. He sat for 6-8 hrs in a typical sitting while studying under U Pandita and U Janaka in Rangoon. He stayed in Malaysia with K. Sri Dhammananda and Ven Punnaji. He went to the end of Vipassana and still did not find satisfaction. Finally he took a copy of the Majjhima Nikaya by Bhikkhu Bodhi to a cave in Thailand and spent 3 months practicing what was written there and broke through to what he believes to be what the Buddha really taught. The suttas are considered the earliest Buddhist teachings. He found what he was seeking. It was the practice of Metta or Lovingkindness as included as part of the Brahmaviharas. He found that as the suttas said, this practice leads you through all the "Divine Abodes" of Metta, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, Equanimity and then to Nibbana itself (Sutta MN 111 Anupada Sutta)! He found Metta is actually not a "side meditation" but the gateway to the Nibbana itself. It says so in the suttas. And it's more effective than Breath because of its pleasant feeling and quick progress. Bhante has refined the practice now and calls it T.W.I.M. or Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation. His students have found it to be effective in eliminating, on a mundane level, depression and anxiety and most unwholesome states, and on a more refined level, it take them deeper in their meditation practice than ever before. Bhante's method of "The 6Rs", based on Right Effort, is the key to the cessation of craving and the elimination of the hindrances to meditation. Bhante Vimalaramsi has been a monk since 1986 and practiced with many of the major Buddhist teachers in Asia like U Pandita and U Janaka of Burma. His retreats were up to 2 years in length. He now teaches all over the world and is the abbot of the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center near St. Louis, Mo, USA. Bhante Vimalaramsi represents the USA at the World Buddhist Summit which meets periodically in Kobe Japan. A detailed instruction guide for Metta Meditation " A Guide to Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation T.W.I.M" has just been released and can be obtained through our website or on Amazon.