Mountain Range Metta
This brief Metta, or loving-kindness, meditation was done live on Insight Timer starting off with creative visualization and imagination. It was a more experimental form of metta (so please chime in with any feedback positive and/or negative of why it helped, why this shouldn't be done, etc). The rest of the description for the event listing: First, we establish the vast stability, undeniable presence, indomitable strength, and fortress-like resilience of your favorite mountain range. We then use these qualities as a foundation to radiate boundless, unstoppable friendliness aka loving-kindness toward various beings you’ll select as "easy," "neutral," challenging, and ultimately all beings everywhere. We may also reflect on how this remains possible even when there are less desirable qualities of mountains such as their dangers or the heaviness of a hardened, heavy heart
Transcript
So wholeness,
Welcome.
This is Josh Dupold and today's event I've titled Mountain Range Metta.
This brief metta or loving-kindness meditation plans to begin with creative visualization and imagination.
First,
We establish the vast stability,
Undeniable presence,
Indomitable strength,
And fortress-like resilience of your favorite mountain range.
We then use these qualities as a foundation to radiate boundless,
Unstoppable friendliness,
Aka loving-kindness,
Towards various beings you'll select as easy,
Neutral,
Challenging,
And ultimately all beings everywhere.
We may also reflect on how this remains possible even when there's less desirable qualities of mountains,
Such as their dangers or the heaviness of a hardened,
Heavy heart.
Well,
I used heavy there twice and I totally forgot to put ourselves in there.
So yeah,
That'll be some of the changes.
So welcome everyone.
I think we're ready to just jump right in here.
I'm going to ring a bell before and after,
So find a comfortable seat that you can hold for around under 15 minutes now.
And yeah,
Get ready to visualize your favorite mountains and use some loving-kindness.
Cultivate some loving-kindness,
Actually.
Okay.
If you'd like to close your eyes,
Please do so,
And bring your awareness inward.
And let's just take three breaths before we get into the Metta.
Three complete breaths,
Being present from the beginning of the inhalation,
Every moment to the pause at the end of the inhalation,
All the way through the pause to the beginning of the exhalation,
Every moment of the exhalation until its pause,
Completion,
And the full duration of that pause until the body wants to breathe in again.
So just spend a few moments knowing the breath,
Wherever you can notice it.
And one of the ways I've heard other teachers teach this loving-kindness or Metta meditation is to pay attention to the breath of the heart.
So if the breath is really predominant and you want to work with the breath,
Or maybe it's distracting from the other things and you don't know where to place your attention,
You can just focus on the breath.
One option is to place the attention of the breath at the chest or heart area,
Since it goes along with these boundless heart qualities of loving-kindness.
So like I said in the description,
Let's invite you to visualize your favorite mountain range.
So of course,
If you've never been to a mountain,
Then you're just going to have to go by imagination or what you've seen on TV or books or pictures,
Things like this.
But if you've actually been to a mountain and especially hyped in the mountains,
You might want to pick one of your favorites,
Or maybe it's one you'd like to visit.
I mean,
I flew over this year at Nevada's.
I thought it was amazing looking,
But I don't know if anyone will go there.
But for me,
It's going to be the Rocky Mountains in America,
Like Rocky Mountain National Park or Red Rocks.
It's a big mountain and just recall you being there or visualize it and tune into these aspects of mountains that are just there.
They're huge.
They're present.
They're undeniable.
You can't really ignore them.
They're massive.
They're huge presence.
And then the stability of mountains,
How stable they are.
I mean,
More than likely,
Unless something special happens,
It will take eons for them to decline in their stature,
Some mountains.
So,
Their long-lasting durability,
That quality,
And see if you can feel these qualities,
What it feels like to reflect on that.
Also,
How you felt when you were in the mountain range,
On the mountain,
In mountains,
Just reflecting on them.
So,
Their seemingly indestructibility,
Of course,
They will perish like everything else or be worn down,
But it will be a really long time,
More than likely for big mountains.
And their stability,
I mean,
Maybe even earthquakes really won't touch the rock of the mountains that will be stable during all kinds of periods.
So,
One of the criticisms that's labeled at Metta is that it's weak.
Kindness,
It shows weakness,
But I think that's the opposite.
And I won't go into that now,
But let's just say,
Well,
Let's just take this from a perspective of a mountain.
A mountain can be kind,
Very strong,
Very unwavering.
So,
Really feel this strength of the massiveness,
The enormity of mountains,
And especially a mountain range.
You know,
Not just one mountain you're on,
But perhaps the whole entire Rocky Mountains,
Or maybe it's the Alps,
Or the Himalayas,
Himalayas,
However you want to say it.
If you've been lucky enough to be there,
I haven't.
The ginormity,
If that's a word now,
Of this.
Okay,
From this strength and stability,
We also want to start to bring in the warm,
Soft heart quality of Metta,
Or loving kindness,
Unstoppable friendliness.
Now,
This is a boundless quality.
There is no limits to this.
So,
The way it's taught sometimes,
Maybe traditionally,
Is practicing towards individuals,
And we'll do that here.
So,
Let's,
The easiest one we'll do first off,
Is find someone where it's not a complicated emotional relationship,
Where love and kindness flows easily and naturally.
So,
Usually it's perhaps a small child,
Maybe a pet,
Or even if you don't have access to that,
Maybe some kind of animal you find adorable,
Or loving,
And,
Or even a tree,
You know,
A nature,
Favorite tree,
Anything where it's not emotionally complicated.
And bring that to mind,
Visualize this,
This person,
Hopefully,
And,
And we wish them well,
Loving friendliness.
So,
I'm going to use some phrases,
But you can just let those roll by,
And roll over your ears,
And use your own phrases,
Whatever resonates.
You can just listen to my voice.
And while you're visualizing,
If you can,
Feel what it feels like to wish them well.
And the words are going to support the images,
The image,
Or images in the feeling.
So,
Bringing to mind a loved one where it's easy to show friendliness and love towards.
And may you be safe inside and out.
May you be happy and joyful.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you live with ease.
And may you realize awakening and be free.
May you be safe inside and out.
May you be happy and joyful.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you live knowing peace and ease in your heart.
May you realize awakening and be free.
Third time,
May you be safe inside and out.
May you be happy and joyful,
Contented,
Peaceful,
And at ease.
May you be healthy,
Strong,
And may you realize awakening and be free.
So,
Just let that sink in a little bit,
And just recall the mountain range again.
It's that peace and ease in the heart,
And that nourishing feeling,
Hopefully,
That you're having.
Or then,
Yeah.
And combine that with the strength and stability.
That's a really strong force to be reckoned with,
But in a kind,
Helpful way.
So,
Now let's turn this to ourselves,
Right?
So,
Some of us can feel kindness to ourselves quite easily,
And some of us maybe might be more of a challenge.
So,
Whatever comes up,
It's okay.
It's just what's in the way and what needs to be seen and cleared and to clear out.
And so,
Even if we get the exact opposite sentiment and result that we want,
It's all part of the practice.
It's coming up to be purified,
To be seen and cleared.
So,
Don't think you're doing it wrong or need to stop or anything like that.
So,
It's an opportunity to see what's in the way,
What's kind of opposing friendliness towards ourselves.
So,
Again,
Bring an image of yourself to mind.
For me,
It's easy.
I can look at the computer,
Right?
I can't do that.
And then,
May I be safe inside and out.
May I be happy and joyful.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I live knowing peace and ease in the heart.
And may I realize awakening and be free.
May I be safe internally and externally.
May I be happy and joyful.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I live knowing ease and peace in my heart.
May I realize awakening and be free.
One more time.
May I be safe inside and out.
May I be happy,
Joyful.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I live knowing ease.
May I realize awakening and be free.
Okay.
You can let the image of yourself go by.
And let's bring to mind a neutral person.
So,
This is just anybody you meet walking down the street.
Maybe you just saw a random person that you really never interacted with.
Or maybe there's a barista or a store clerk that you don't really have any emotional feelings for one way or the other.
It's not emotionally complicated.
You don't necessarily like them or dislike them.
You know,
It's just neutral.
So,
Nothing special happens.
So,
You can just bring to mind someone like that and wish them well.
And maybe you can visualize from the mountain,
Doing this practice from the mountain,
And the strength and stability from the mountain you were on visualized at the beginning.
And may you be safe inside and out.
May you be happy and joyful.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you live knowing peace and ease in the heart.
And may you realize awakening and be free.
May you be safe internally and externally.
May you be happy,
Joyful,
Contented.
May you live with peace and ease.
May it be accessible to you.
May you be healthy,
Strong.
May you realize awakening and be free.
One more time,
Visualize the neutral person.
Notice what it feels like in your heart area,
How it feels.
We wish them well,
Safe inside and out.
Happy and joyful.
Healthy and strong.
And may you realize awakening and be free.
Okay,
So we can drop that person now.
This is a challenging one.
Bring to mind a difficult person,
Or maybe you're their difficult person.
So,
This is maybe a challenging person.
One where things are not so easy.
Don't pick maybe the most complicated,
Challenging person where,
You know,
It's your arch nemesis,
Arch enemy.
Just someone where,
You know,
It's somewhat difficult,
Somewhat challenging.
And bring them to mind,
And wish them well,
And see what happens.
See how the heart feels.
But you can do this from this place of strength,
Presence,
Stability of a mountain.
The tangible vastness that's bigger than ourselves,
Or at least our own bodies anyway.
It's easier to tap into something greater than ourselves when we have a visual image,
Or a sense of something bigger,
That's more tangible,
Right?
If it's easy to visualize.
So,
From that place of our heart,
And maybe the mountain,
To our challenging person,
Visualized and felt,
May you be safe inside and out.
May you be happy and joyful.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you live knowing peace and ease in the heart.
And may you realize awakening and be free.
Again,
The best possible way would be for both the challenging person and myself to be okay with each other.
We would both benefit,
And those around us would benefit too.
So,
Even though it may not be a reality right now,
We can incline the heart-mind towards such a future benefit.
And we can cultivate in our heart this potentiality being more likely.
And then we and everyone else benefit too,
When there's some energetic and psychological,
Perhaps,
Mending or stability towards these challenging people in our lives.
So again,
Visualize.
Challenging person,
May you be safe internally and externally.
May you be happy and joyful.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you live knowing peace and ease in your heart.
May you realize awakening and be free.
And one more time,
Visualizing,
Feeling,
May you be safe inside and out.
May you be happy and joyful.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you know peace and ease.
May you realize awakening and be free.
Okay,
Dropping that.
So now,
If you're standing on this mountain,
And we're now going to up the ante and for all beings everywhere.
So,
We'll radiate this unstoppable friendliness,
This well-wishing,
This kindness,
Loving kindness in all directions.
So,
Beings in the northerly direction,
Southerly direction,
East and westerly directions,
And the four directions in between,
And then above and below,
Around and everywhere,
May all beings everywhere be safe inside and out.
May all beings everywhere be happy and joyful.
May all beings everywhere be healthy and strong.
May all beings everywhere know peace and ease.
And may all beings everywhere realize awakening and be free.
Again,
May all beings be safe.
May all beings everywhere be contented,
Have peace and ease in their hearts,
Have it accessible.
May all beings be healthy and strong.
May all beings everywhere realize awakening and be free.
Radiating out from the heart,
Maybe from the mountain,
May all beings everywhere,
In all directions,
Be safe,
Happy,
Healthy,
And strong.
May they be at ease,
No ease,
Have access to ease.
And may all beings everywhere realize awakening and be free.
And if you haven't already,
Open your eyes,
Bring the awareness back to the room.
Do some movements that feel good right now.
And this one a little bit longer than anticipated,
And that's okay.
I still felt a little bit rushed.
So,
Maybe next time,
Something similar,
A lot,
A little more time.
But I really appreciate you guys being here.
It's open for feedback now for a minute or so,
If you'd like.
Any experiences you'd like to share,
Any questions you have,
Any suggestions you might offer.
Also,
Ask by Insight Timer to elicit donations.
So,
Of course,
The donations help me do things like this.
And yeah,
Help me out.
So,
Gina says,
Thank you so much.
I really needed this.
Yeah,
It's such a great practice.
It really replenishes the heart.
And a lot of times we can feel immediate effects of this.
To me,
This is what the heart naturally feels like when everything else is removed.
And ideally,
This will be operating all the time.
Of course,
It's not an ideal world.
So,
That's why we have practices like this,
Where we can cultivate this.
But I feel this is more of our natural state to meet beings with friendliness,
Meet ourselves with friendliness,
And well-being,
Well-wishing,
And goodness.
And at the base level,
All it is is an absence of ill will,
An absence of hatred.
So,
I mean,
That's the baseline we're looking for.
And we become like a safety for others.
Others can sense that we're of no harm.
This is the antidote to for ill will.
And we offer this gift of safety for others that can sense that we are of no harm and only have their best interest in mind.
Well,
When we have that available to us.
And at the same time,
If we're not there yet,
We don't beat ourselves up.
This is a practice,
Not a success or failure.
So,
I thank you guys for all the hearts.
This is definitely one fitting of that,
As this is one of the beautiful heart qualities we have and can cultivate even more.
So,
May you all be well and may you all practice loving kindness and show all beings everywhere friendliness as much as you can for your benefit,
Theirs,
And all beings everywhere.
