Mettā Meditation: A Clear & Accessible Practice

An introduction to a creative way of doing mettā practice that is supportive of deep insights and profound well-being. Mettā practice can be very helpful for opening the heart, soothing the whole being, and developing an energised peaceful freedom at this moment.

Transcript

With this period of time for practice I'd like to invite this to be a time for meta practice and just want to say a few words about meta practice before we dive into it just so that we're all okay and well informed about a few ideas at least about what it could be.

I was going to say what it is but let's say that could be an ongoing exploration because one of the qualities that we could say about meta is it's actually illimitable and within that not being able to be set within limits also means that it's kind of undefinable.

It's an exploration to find out really what it means but some of the words which are used to represent it is love and kindness benevolence and in those ways that's describing the the well-being,

The kindness,

The love that's kind of flowing when meta is flowing really well for us.

Yeah but what we also know in our life is that there's meta and those times when it's flowing well and then there's meta practice which is a way of tuning into that quality and we could say that meta practice actually includes all of those times when really meta isn't very evident for us and the practice may be needed and necessary because what we're really experiencing is the real lack of kindness in the way that we're relating or the the lack of connection to love and to appreciation and all of the kind of beautiful openness of the heart.

So we could say you know having meta in our practice is going to be really helpful it's going to aid the the juiciness or we could say you know the the lubrication so we can move through life well or move through practice well because practice meditation practice can also be difficult at times and so it's a flavor we want to be able to bring into being invite into our practice and so it's a skillful quality that's going to be useful for us in the whole of our life not just on the cushion to be able to see is it possible to bring in a little bit more meta right now.

So when we're doing meta practice and we could say these days we talk about meta practice as being often offered towards beings and that's not the only way we could do meta practice and if you're interested in it and go back and read through the Pali texts and you'll see you probably won't find meta practice exactly described in this way and perhaps there's an open invitation for us to discover creatively what's the best way for me to generate the feelings of of love and kindness of welcome of generosity of the heart but the way that many of us are practicing it these days and I think for this retreat we'll expand that boundary is to offer it towards beings so step one in that is to bring the felt sense or image of a being into consciousness and just get really clear and so yeah we're imagining someone.

Someone mentioned in the group today the importance of the imagination in our practice and particularly here the importance of the imagination or the felt sense of a being that's relatively easy for us to feel a connection where we would say meta is quite clear so a friend someone who we find it easy to receive love and kindness from someone we find it easy to give love and kindness to and we hold the image of them in our minds and then we begin to feel that condition of the heart towards them which is meta and getting a felt sense for that and we allow certain phrases usually all that general vibration of meta to flow between us and the phrases kind of carry that feeling of meta between us so we've got two objects of of attention there the felt sense or image of this being and the phrases you know flowing back and forth and I would just add within that and it'll be clear as we do the meditation I think a really important thing is actually the meaning of the phrases so a phrase might be may you be happy and I find it's really powerful for me to still remember like what's it feel like to be happy you know that kind of feeling of not demanding anything on life or feeling of the bubbling up of of joy and happiness so yes that's the thing that I want to offer when I say may you be happy that's what I'm imagining for you right an interesting thing happens then is I'm kind of feeling a bit of a happiness as I'm sharing it across right and so we kind of share in that happiness as it kind of traverses across to the other being get a little taste of that as we go get a little taste of that as we go so the primary thing there is is there's the image of the being there's the phrase is being used but the kind of primary thing is that felt sense of the meta being offered that characteristic of meta being offered to another yeah now at any time it can be challenging to be doing this practice yeah can bring things up for us so we can use the practices like we've used today just remember we can open the space a little bit around the experience we can open the body energy open the awareness you can also step away from the meta at any time you know come back to the breath come back to the sounds and then maybe re-engage after a bit of time but just seeing for yourself right not needing to force ourselves in this and particularly if it gets difficult feeling feeling invited to take it easy so in tonight's session we're primarily going to work with just getting to know the feeling of meta but a lot of it would just be working with someone who we feel a sense of friendship and connection towards so I'm going to invite you to bring a friend or a loving being in your life to mind and it doesn't have to be human I'm just bringing to mind a sense of them there's no urgency with this just see slowly letting the felt sense of them become a little more vivid more clear a little more alive you could say we're inviting them into the heart space or the image of them into the mind's eye or into the awareness that's here now maybe where they can feel at home maybe it's even a place any being could feel at home feel at rest invite you just to get a sense as you do this practice how does it feel to hold a being in the heart or in the mind or in the awareness like this what does it require stay with this and you may notice in relationship to this being you would be quite happy if they were well healthy in body quite clear in the mind it just arises quite naturally for you to wish them well and if you wish as you hold this being in your attention just wish them well they even want to say internally towards this image or felt sense may you be well or you want to radiate it out in their direction into the world may you be well I really hope that you're well the phrase is just embodying that feeling of friendliness we're not trying to control the universe but just be clear about our intention and wish you to be well so maybe we can feel for ourselves it's actually being well feel like that healthiness and that vitality in the body perhaps remember recently or in the past when you've just gotten over an illness and there's suddenly this whole feeling of oh back to health that vitality aliveness that potential in the body and whether it feels near or far if we can just remember that wish that let that flavor the phrases may you be well I also want to tune into the mental aspect of wellness where there's that clarity in the mind and I want to be able to see that there's a sense of clarity in the mind aspect of wellness where there's that clarity in the mind able to see quite well think quite clearly brightness in the being tuning to that and also offering that may you be well may you feel well so maybe a combination of that vitality in the body and that clarity in the mind that wholeness of wellness and just pour from us to them to the image of them to the felt sense maybe the phrases help if phrases are getting in the way we can drop the phrases just radiate that that wellness really clear about what we wish to offer and just offering that you can see how how much you want to really go with this it can be quite reckless really just offering it all it might be a gentle breeze of wellness that you wish to offer across so so so so the intensity of the meta changes over time but also the intensity and the clarity of the image of this dear being you can play with that a little bit does that need a little more effort to get a little more clear or is it clear enough maybe vague is is really fine actually would you like a little more clarity there and with this being staying with this being and just noticing that being would be good for me good for them good for all of us if this being were to feel safe may you feel safe in this world it might be in reference to these uncertain and challenging times where many of us don't feel quite safe maybe may you feel at home in your body feel at home wherever you are maybe we can imagine or we can feel what it's like to feel at home how that would be like to be really peaceful to feel safe however clearly you feel it or whether it's just an intimation just letting yourself resonate with that frequency and also then share it across may you feel safe may you be safe so so may you be peaceful you feel at home so may you be safe you can repeat these phrases yourself as many times as you wish find your own rhythm you can feel how it is when there's a real felt sense in the phrase and when there is maybe just the words what feels most helpful for you strong sense or just the phrases or no phrases just the sense just the frequency just the vibration just the intention so perhaps as you're doing this maybe the image of them is actually experiencing the effects of your wishes or maybe they're static see for yourself maybe they feel safe maybe they relax so again just staying with this same dear being seeing how much intensity you wish there to be in the image of them and we'll turn to another aspect of metta another phrase and we can see how much intensity we wish to offer through this one what would really be no loss to me would just be a gain if this being were to be happy really quite happy what does happiness feel like it could be the kind of quiet contentment happiness very gentle smile in the being well it could be that joyful bubbling kind of happiness the excitement and enthusiasm whichever form of happiness you resonate with right now just remembering that experience getting a felt sense of it so that we can fill this phrase with that quality may you be happy happy may you feel happy it might be a felt sense we can adjust the intensity of that wish that phrase that felt sense so so may you be happy you have this happiness do you feel happiness feel happy so so so many times over and over the image of this being may fade away it's a long time to keep up this level of attentiveness and seeing okay maybe it's time just for a few breaths for bringing back a felt sense of this being inviting them back into the mind's eye to the heart space or maybe the felt sense of them is still really clear you'll be in different places with this different timings and if you have a clear sense of them again you're just noticing wishing for them to be well wishing for them to be safe wishing for them to be happy we know how the cycles of life unfold there'll be times where they have sickness and a lack of clarity the times when they're in an environment where it's harsh it's difficult there'll be times of sadness of grief but it would be no loss to us if they were able to meet those experiences with ease so this next phrase really meets that quality may you live with ease no matter what is coming and going in life may you live with ease and perhaps this is that feeling of being relaxed open awake flexible adaptable responsive what does it feel like when we're able to meet the challenges of life with ease the comings and goings and maybe that can fill this phrase may you live with ease may you feel free so so may you live with ease so may you live with ease and in that spirit of ease just allowing this image of this being to be released again and coming back to your direct experience of breath of sounds sometimes the metta practice has actually developed quite a steadiness of attention sometimes it's generated conditions of agitation whatever's here can we support ourselves in the steadiness with this breath with these sounds what we wish to do in the metta meditations in the last few minutes of the practice is just to extend and expand wishing these qualities not just to dear beings but eventually to all beings we won't rush into this expansion but just notice if you can stay connected to a felt sense of beings other beings and also to a felt sense of the phrases as we expand as we extend sometimes it can needs different degrees of attentiveness it's kind of the delicate surfing of the of the metta meditation just beginning with bringing to your attention ourselves here practicing with this practicing with this sangha this community it's quite a vast number of beings spread into quite a vast number of locations just gathering a sense it could be just a general sense of maybe a vague sense may you all be well may you all feel safe may we all feel happy contented easily satisfied and may we live with ease may we all be well healthy embody clear in our minds may we all feel safe peaceful at home in our bodies at home in the world and then we all feel happy contented joyful satisfied is it possible to see that as not selfish for in that condition we would really be able to serve the world and serve the beautiful intentions and may we live with ease no matter what's happening that we can be responsive and go beyond our limitations be free now all of us again just connecting again to this breath these sounds this location we find ourselves in still connected to this community starting to expand into our local area may all the beings near to you maybe there are other beings living in your home so that includes the non-human beings insects pets birds in the trees around maybe the other animals waking or sleeping may all the beings nearby be well be safe be contented be free letting the if it's even the heart that expands to include more beings in this field of friendship maybe spreading to neighboring buildings and the roads that all the beings that are nearby living on the ground and in the being in the building and under the ground those that borrow those that fly or live in the water may all the living beings nearby be well feel safe content they all be free and gently allowing this radius of kindness again to expand the circle of friendship to include more quite a lot more wider the neighborhood the town or the city find yourself starting to spread across different terrains maybe rivers maybe hills and valleys reaching towards the boundaries expanding crossing different territories borders oceans including all the beings as we expand and spread allowing that heart space to keep expanding stretching across the earth including going deep into the oceans all the creatures of the oceans included large and small microscopic the deepest ocean valleys and also across the lands right up into the high mountains right down into the lowest valleys cold areas the hot areas and everywhere in between the rich forests the more bare and empty deserts may all the living beings of this living planet be well may all the living beings of this living planet be safe may all the living beings of this living planet live in harmony and peace may all of life live with ease may all living beings be free may all living beings be free thank you for your practice as I said this can be a challenging kind of practice stir up things can be delightful can be everywhere in between and so you know going gently with it but if it supports you you can really let this be part of the focus of your retreat the development of these qualities and we'll say a bit more about it through the retreat how that can take that form just feel that open invitation.