Metta Meditation For Cultivating Compassion

Metta translates from Pali as non-romantic love: compassion / loving-kindness / goodwill or just having an active interest in the welfare of others. This practice gives us an opportunity to not only befriend ourselves, but those in our thoughts.

Transcript

Finding a comfortable position,

So taking your seat,

Whether that be on a chair,

With your feet flat on the floor,

Your back away from the backrest of the chair,

And sitting up tall and dignified,

With your hands resting on your knees.

Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable in a crossed leg position on a cushion on the floor,

Making sure that you've propped your hips up well enough to alleviate any pressure and create a tripod mountain-like dignified posture where you will be comfortable for the next 30 minutes.

This meditation can also be practiced lying down,

Preferably on the floor,

With a cushion under your head and a bolster under your knees,

Should you normally receive any lower back pain.

You are more than welcome to practice lying down on your bed if you are sure that you won't fall asleep,

As the nature of this practice is for us to fall awake rather than to fall asleep.

So,

Finding your seat.

This is my invitation to you to step out of clock time and rest in an awareness of open mind and heart,

Following along with the instructions as best you can,

But keeping in mind that what's important is not what I am saying,

But your awareness of what you are experiencing in any and every moment,

Even in moments when difficult thoughts,

Sensations,

And emotions arise.

I'm not saying that this is going to be easy,

But what we are doing here is cultivating the heart of being.

Letting go of the tendency of wanting things to be different to how they are right now and allowing things to be exactly as you find them.

Allow yourself to be exactly as you are in this moment.

This is a time set aside entirely for you.

Please see if it can be a time of nourishing.

Using the guidance of my instructions as best you can,

Watching the activity of your mind as we go.

Doing what the practice asks,

But remembering that there is no right way to feel as you are doing this.

The way you are feeling is the way you are feeling.

Just accepting it and giving yourself permission to feel what you are already feeling,

Whatever it is,

And seeing that this is okay.

As we go along,

See if it's possible for you to stay in your own experience of what is unfolding moment by moment in your body,

Heart,

And mind as we follow along the directions.

But if at any time you wish to tune out my voice to find a deeper silence underneath what I am saying,

Then by all means do so.

And coming back to the guidance when it feels appropriate.

Now,

Let's begin by bringing your attention to the body as a whole.

Sitting,

Lying here,

However it is in this moment.

Keeping in mind that from the perspective of mindfulness practice,

As long as you are breathing,

There is more right with you than wrong with you,

No matter what the condition of your body or whatever you are feeling in this moment.

Now,

Drawing your attention to the body as a whole,

Perhaps taking note of where gravity is holding you into your chosen position,

Feeling the weight and its downward motion,

The soles of your feet,

Or the buttocks on the cushion,

The seat,

Or the surface of the floor that you are lying on.

If you are lying down,

The back of your head being caressed by the cushion,

And if you are in a chair,

The weight of your head as it balances easily and naturally on the top of your spine.

Perhaps taking note if there are any sounds around you.

Not going out and hunting for the sounds,

But just allowing them to fall upon your ears.

Drawing your attention to the weight of your clothes or the blankets as you lie here.

Noting any texture that you can experience of the fabric as it brushes against the hairs or the softness of your skin.

Perhaps feeling the quality of the air as you breathe or as it touches your skin.

And when you are ready,

Just drawing your attention to the natural rhythm of your breath.

Not trying to change the breath in any way,

But allowing the breath to be exactly as it is in this moment.

We are not trying to achieve any particular goal by being here,

Doing this mindfulness practice.

Perhaps relaxation is a by-product of the practice as a whole.

And allowing your awareness to ride the inhale and the exhale.

Perhaps the breath is more available to you in a particular part of your body.

For example,

The rise and the fall of your belly.

Allowing your hands to come and rest on your belly if you wish and it helps you to feel the inhale and the exhale in this part of your body.

Or perhaps for you,

The breath feels more naturally occurring in the chest as it expands and contracts with your natural breath cycle.

Or maybe you feel the cool air being drawn in through your nostrils above your top lip and noting the quality of the temperature of the air as it changes into warm as you exhale.

Just allowing your breath to take center stage from the theater of your awareness.

And now if you will,

Allowing sensations that are available to you in the body to take center stage in the field of your awareness.

What sensations are available to you in your body at the moment?

Perhaps you have a sense of tingling in your extremities or a tightness in your chest or a warmth.

Is there a particular temperature available to you right now that you can observe through your senses in this particular moment?

Perhaps there are no sensations available to you at all and that is okay.

Perhaps your experience is that there is no experience of sensation.

And as the mind wanders as it naturally will,

Take a moment to acknowledge where the mind has wandered to.

And then when you're ready,

Just gently escorting your attention back to the particular sensation that you're observing.

Maybe if there's no sensation in your body,

You feel more at ease by following the natural breath cycle.

Whatever it is in this moment that you would like to use as an anchor point.

Perhaps you may be experiencing some pain at this moment.

Perhaps you have a stiff joint or a persistent pain.

There are two things that we can do when we are experiencing a discomfort and practicing mindfulness.

We can either use the moment to mindfully move to relieve the pain as we are not here to torture ourselves.

Or use your awareness to let that particular sensation of pain take center stage in your awareness.

Allowing your attention to draw right up close to this particular sensation and developing a curiosity around it.

Perhaps this particular sensation has a texture or it has a colour.

Allowing that sensation to remain objective in your awareness and drawing an inquisitive mind surrounding it.

And when you are ready,

I'd like to invite you to let the breath and the sensations to dissolve from your mind's eye and to draw to your attention someone who you have a lot of friendliness,

Love or kindness for.

Someone who it is easy to be friends with.

Noticing the exchange of feeling that is available between you and this particular someone.

Someone who the waves of love and kindness and friendliness and well wishing flow naturally and easily.

And just noticing how this particular feeling affects your body and the sensations available to you right now.

Perhaps noticing the corners of your mouth turning into a smile.

A warmth,

A warmness surrounding the heart.

Whatever it is,

This particular ease of friendship and love and kindness allows your body to hold in its senses in this particular moment.

Just becoming really curious about those feelings and sensations.

Noticing if it has changed your posture.

Perhaps if you are sitting in a chair your shoulders have dropped.

Just holding these well wishing feelings in your awareness as we sit all our years.

And if your mind has wondered,

As it surely does,

Being friendly also towards the nature of our wandering minds and when you notice that your mind has wandered,

Just catching and acknowledging where it has wandered to and gently and kindly escorting it back to the particular individual that you have this friendly and kind ease with.

Noticing the body sensations that are available to you in this friendly and dynamic relationship.

And when you are ready,

The invitation here if you would like to do so is to offer a few words of kindness towards this individual.

Feel free to use words of your own choosing if you have something that resonates well with you or repeating quietly to yourself in your mind's eye the words that I am using.

May you be well,

May you know peace and may you be free from suffering.

May you be well,

May you know peace and may you be free from suffering.

And when you are ready,

Allowing this particular individual to dissolve from your mind's eye and holding those feelings of well wishing and love and kindness and cultivating them in a way that we can send them to ourselves.

So directing the feelings of friendliness and kindness towards ourselves.

Whether you become one with those feelings or using a visual of yourself to help direct the warmth and the love.

Cultivating the feeling that a mother would with a babe in arms.

A nourishing support,

A kind friendliness and unconditional love.

And if your mind has wondered as it surely will,

Taking a moment to acknowledge where your mind has wondered to and gently escorting it back to the feelings of friendliness and ease and kindness that we are directing towards ourselves.

Taking notes of any body sensation that's available to us in this moment.

How are these feelings of kindly friendliness changing the body sensations available to us in this particular moment?

When you are ready,

Using the same words as before that resonated with you or feeling free to use the words that I am using to direct well wishing towards yourself.

Repeating after me in the stillness and the silence.

May I be well.

May I know peace.

And may I be free from suffering.

May I be well.

May I know peace.

And may I be free from suffering.

And when you are ready,

On an exhale just allowing the visual of yourself to dissolve into your mind's eye and still holding on to the feelings of friendliness and kindness and well wishing.

The next invitation is for you to hold a community or a family or a population of people that you would like to bestow these feelings of friendliness towards in your mind's body.

And really feeling what it's like to be loved unconditionally,

To be supported and to be nourished and allowing these feelings to flow completely through your body and directing them to this particular community or family or population that you have chosen.

Perhaps during these times you've become more neighbourly or you are aware of a particular group of people who may need some extra support.

Or if you would like,

Continuing with the original person or yourself to direct these feelings of friendly kindness towards.

Noticing the sensations in your body that are available to you whilst cultivating this love and kindness and well wishing attitude.

And as the mind wanders a thousand times,

We escort the mind back to the task at hand a thousand times.

And when you are ready,

Using the same words that resonate with you to well wish to this particular community of people,

You're feeling free to use the words that I am using and repeating in the stillness and the silence to yourself in your mind's eye.

May all beings be well.

May all beings know peace.

And may all beings be free from suffering.

May all beings be well.

May all beings know peace.

May all beings be free from suffering.

And when you are ready,

On your next exhalation,

Just allowing this particular community of people to dissolve from your mind's eye and drawing your attention back to your breath and back to this present moment.

Allowing your awareness to rest on this inhale and on this exhale.

Perhaps noticing the space in between the breaths.

And when you are ready,

Letting go of the breath and watching it dissolve into neutral,

Into stillness and into a natural peacefulness.

As we lie here in full body awareness and awareness that we can invite to hold the whole body,

A deep inner silence and wakefulness as we lie here or sit here.

Complete,

Just as we are.

A realm of well-being where our limitations are not confining.

And we are open to things just as they are.

And so as this practice comes to its natural conclusion and we open once again to the world of clock time,

You may want to use this opportunity to congratulate yourself for having made the time to nourish yourself and others in this way.

Perhaps setting an intention to befriend yourself in this way over and over again and let your deep inner resources nourish your life.

And keeping in mind that this awareness is portable and is always as close as this breath and this moment.

And so resting now in silence and stillness until you hear the sound of the bells.