(2024-01-08) Metta Meditation A Complete Guide To Lovingkindness

Lion’s Roar: Metta Meditation: A Complete Guide to Loving-Kindness. Increased compassion for ourselves and others, better relationships, and decreased stress and anxiety are just some of the benefits of metta meditation, or loving-kindness practice. In this step-by-step guide, we lead you through the how and why of compassion practice with written, audio, and video instruction.

What is Metta?

a Buddhist practice for cultivating compassion for ourselves and others through directing loving, friendly phrases and goodwill. The word “metta” is a Pali word, most often translated as loving-kindness, but has also been translated as universal goodwill or loving-friendliness. The practice originates from the historical Buddha’s early discourse on immeasurable friendliness, the Metta Sutta.

“In metta, we work to develop feelings of ease and love as boundless as the oceans that nourish and sustain our world,” writes Buddhist teacher Josh Korda. It’s a big challenge with a bigger reward.

Why Practice Loving-Kindness?

In metta meditation, we wish happiness, safety, and ease toward ourselves and others. In the most common version of metta practice, we offer these feelings of goodwill through the use of simple phrases first to ourselves, and in succession to someone we love, someone we’re indifferent towards, someone we consider a “difficult person,” and finally to all beings, everywhere. This allows us to begin our loving-kindness practice with feelings most accessible to us, and work up to more difficult feelings, such as sending love to someone you have a negative relationship with.

Some examples of the phrases you might use in metta practice are:
“May I be safe, healthy, and happy.”
“May you be filled with loving-kindness.”
“May all beings be peaceful and filled with joy.”

Therefore, we begin the practice of metta incrementally, starting with ourselves, a being we consider beloved — such as a mentor, child, or pet — and when we’re ready, we work up to a more difficult person. With practice, the benefits of metta can be transformative.

Benefits of Compassion Practice

• Improved social and familial relationships
• Increased self-love, self-compassion, and self-worth
• Transformation of emotional pain
• Enhanced sense of connection and belonging to the world
• Better mental and emotional health
• Decreased stress and anxiety

How to Do Metta

To begin, find a quiet, uplifting place where you can do your loving-kindness practice, setting aside 15-20 minutes to complete the meditation. You can do this practice with your eyes open or closed.

Begin to offer loving-kindness to yourself by repeating these phrases, allowing ample space between each one:

• May I be safe
• May I be healthy
• May I be happy
• May I be at ease
• May I be filled with loving-kindness
• May I be peaceful

Next, think of someone you love and care about. This can be a family member, friend, a pet, or someone helpful in your life.

• May you be safe
• May you be healthy
• May you be happy
• May you be at ease

Next, call to mind a person you consider difficult.