Metta for The New Year

Metta Meditation for the New Year. Please note this was recorded live in class, so there is occasional background noise.

Transcript

And then coming to a comfortable cross-legged seat,

Place your hands on the knees.

Find a posture that is both alert and at ease.

Close the eyes.

Begin to drop your awareness down into the breath and then the breath down into the hips.

Notice any body sensations,

Any tension.

See if you can soften either with your mind or your breath.

Again trying to maintain that stillness in the posture.

Inviting in experience,

Whether it's sound,

Physical sensations,

Emotions,

Mind states,

Just allowing whatever is coming into your awareness to be held.

Maybe the body's temperature is changing,

Noticing the warmth or the cooling sensations.

Maybe you find some sensations pleasant or unpleasant,

Noting that.

Not avoiding the unpleasant or attaching to the pleasant,

Just being an impartial witness.

As the mind starts to settle,

Once again just coming into the breath and see if you notice the breath more dominantly in the nostrils or the chest or the belly.

So wherever you're feeling that,

That's a good place for you to anchor down.

And if the breath doesn't feel like a neutral sensation for you,

You can focus on the contact of the hands and the knees as a point of attention.

All right고요 And if you notice the mind wandering into a story of past or future,

Just notice the thinking,

Noticing the thinking mind and invite the attention gently with a kind voice back to the breath.

Make your gently taking a child's hand back to safety.

And from here,

Bring your attention into the heart space.

Notice what the heart is feeling at the moment without censorship,

Without curation.

Just what is the heart feeling right now?

Joy,

Sadness,

Fear,

Confusion,

Nothing,

Just whatever.

Really allow the heart to be seen by your awareness in its full rawness.

There's a resistance against this,

This transparency.

Just notice that without judgment.

Notice the resistance.

Feel where the resistance resonates in the body.

Maybe it resonates in the heart.

Notice that.

Maybe in the belly.

And then ask yourself,

What is the heart most need right now?

So as we sit at the end of this year,

We refine our aspiration for the next year.

The aspiration is the heart's desire.

We know our heart's desire just from seeing the heart and what it's feeling and its rawness and what it most needs.

So without embarrassment or shame or insecurity,

Without making your desire small,

Just name to yourself with full courage and agency what it is your heart desires.

Name that to yourself.

And then bring to mind a person or a spiritual figure or an animal that you feel the most love and safety with.

Imagine them shining the light of that aspiration all over you.

Maybe it's your higher self.

Imagine the self that shows up for your friends,

Loved ones.

Visualize how you show up for them,

That strength,

That compassion,

That unconditional acceptance.

Feel how that is in your awareness.

And then shine that aspiration of your heart from that point.

So sourcing and integrating this loving awareness from the inside out.

Sourcing in a deep way that the seed of our desire is our greatest gift to ourselves and to the world.

Taking time to nurture and fertilize the seed with our own loving kind awareness,

Whether it's sourced from our higher selves or bringing in others into our awareness of love and provide a loving feeling for us.

We're all connected to ourselves and to others.

Love is an abundance.

You just need to root into it.

Friedகளä And so as you feel this loving energy beginning to move through your body,

We'll practice some metta together.

So I'll say a few phrases,

You know,

Repeat them to yourself inside.

If you have other phrases that you'd like to say,

You can replace mine with your own.

We'll guide you through the practice.

To bring to your mind's awareness yourself.

Bring in the self that's right here at this moment.

May I experience genuine happiness.

May I forgive myself and others.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I be free from suffering.

Bring to mind someone really close to you,

Someone that you can love really easily.

And bring their face and their energy to your mind's attention.

May they experience genuine happiness.

May they forgive themselves and others.

May they be healthy.

May they be safe.

May they be free from suffering.

Just feel how offering that metta,

That loving kindness practice resonates with you.

And bringing to your mind's eye a neutral person,

Somebody that you might know from work or someone that you don't really have that much of a relationship with.

Someone that you know and acquaintance.

And feel their energy in your awareness.

May they experience genuine happiness.

May they forgive themselves and others.

May they be healthy.

May they be safe.

May they be free from suffering.

Feel how that resonates in your body.

Name the resonance.

It's neutral.

It's okay.

And then bring to your mind's eye a challenging person in your life.

And feel their energy.

Feel your energy in relation to theirs with honesty,

With interest,

And stay.

Stay with that charge.

As you repeat the phrases,

Feel your body and stay.

May they experience genuine happiness.

May they forgive themselves and others.

May they be healthy.

May they be safe.

May they be free from suffering.

Noticing how you feel in your body.

Maybe there's been a transformation of energy.

Name that as pleasant or unpleasant,

Neutral.

And then bring to your mind's eye the entire world,

All the diversity,

Just the whole collection of living beings.

All sentient beings.

May we experience genuine happiness.

May we forgive ourselves and others.

May we be healthy.

May we be safe.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be free from suffering.

I'm going to read a poem by Jennifer Welwood called Unconditional.

Willing to experience aloneness,

I discover connection everywhere.

Turning to face my fear,

I meet the warrior who lives within.

Opening to my loss,

I gain the embrace of the universe.

Surrendering into emptiness,

I find fullness without end.

Each condition I flee from pursues me.

Each condition I welcome transforms me and becomes itself transformed into its radiant,

Jewel-like essence.

I bow to the one who has made it so,

Who has crafted this master game.

To play it is purest delight.

I bow to the one who has made it so,

Who has crafted this master game.

I bow to the one who has made it so,

Who has crafted this master game.

Reviews

I loved this! Thank you so much and happy new year! 🙏🏼

Wonderful!!! Tears ran over my face. Perfect to end a quite hard 2018 and look forward to 2019. Thank you so much.

Wonderful way to experience Metta for the first time, and to help start my new year off on the right foot! I wish you peace. ❤

Exactly what I needed. Thank you very much. Background noise not a problem at all. I'll be doing this one a few more times!

Beautiful. I loved feeling like I was there in the class, meditating alongside others. It went by so quickly for me, even though I initially didn't feel like I had enough time for a 27 min meditation today. Thank you ❤️

Wonderful. Bookmarked ❤

This was just right for me, just the amount of space between speaking, gentle and calm. Background noise didn't disturb at all. Thank you Alana!

Went by very quickly. It is much like letting go of a world of worry and giving thanks for 'being'. Background noises don't disturb at all.

I love the poem at the end. Thank you and Metta.

Like poem at end

Excellent ! Thank you. I will use this often. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Oh wow, this is surprisingly good! Just the right pace, combined with silence. I'm fully refreshed.

A little fast paced but very nice🙏

This meditation is profoundly calming. Thank you Alana.
Namaste.