Loving Kindness (Metta) Meditation
If you practise this meditation it can help you stay positive towards yourself and others. It can also help to keep you calm and kind in difficult situations and reduce irritation and anger. Kindness is an antidote for anger and irritation. I have personally used this meditation very frequently and found wonderous changes in my emotional well being.
- Sit quietly and comfortably. Breathing naturally. Keep focusing on your breathing for a while.
- Putting your attention on the area in the middle of your chest and around your heart,
repeat to yourself gently and softly, feeling what these words mean:
"Love, love, love, may my heart be filled with love..."
As you are saying this, if you like, bring up an image of something that you feel caring and loving towards, it may be an image of a soft, lovable dog, or the serene look on someone's face, or it might be a baby, or the feeling of the soft fur as you stroke a kitten...
- Experience this feeling of warmth and love through your whole body: caring, healing, soothing. Let it wash over you and through you, gently repeating to yourself:
May I be well, healthy and strong
May I be happy
May I abide in peace
May I feel safe and secure
May I feel loved and cared for.
- Bring into your mind someone who is important to you, someone you like and respect.
Engulf them with this warmth and caring. See them happy and smiling:
May you be well
May you be happy
May you abide in peace
May you feel safe and secure
May you feel loved and cared for.
- Do this with someone else who is equally important, that you like and respect.
- Do this with someone who is sick or upset or not coping very well.
- Do this with someone you barely know.
- Do this with someone you got irritated/upset with today.
- Do this with someone who has hurt you/you are concerned about meeting in the future.
- Radiate the warmth and love to people around you
... to everyone in your suburb, in your city, in the nation, in the world: May we all be well, May we all be happy, May we all abide in peace, May we all feel safe and secure, May we all feel loved and cared for.
- Bring your attention back to yourself, so the feeling fills your whole being, breathing in peacefully, breathing out peacefully, at peace with yourself and the world.
Further information
For details on the value of Loving Kindness (Metta) Meditation to reduce irritation and anger:
Click here for Newsletter 58
For links to other meditations and where you can learn them, click here
I have recorded this meditation so you can be guided by it in your own home. It is on the CD: "Happy NOT Hassled: Using meditation to manage your emotions and find contentment". Click here for more details or to order Happy not Hassled.
I have used this loving kindness meditation extensively and particularly to dissolve anger and bitterness from the past. I talk about how I did this and all the benefits it brought to me in the book "Midlife and Happiness." Click here for more details or to order Midlife and Happiness.
I take no credit for this Loving Kindness Meditation. It has been learnt from numerous meditation teachers and particularly a Buddhist monk called Ahjan Jagaro. My thanks. I simply pass on this information as a community service.
May you be happy and well,
Best wishes,
Rachel Green
E-mail:
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