Here we are at week 2 of our Meditation/Mindfulness Journey. This week’s practice is Loving Kindness Meditation or Metta Meditation. Typically with Loving Kindness Meditation we start with offering loving kindness to ourselves followed by our loved ones and then, to persons that are neutral, for example, the grocery store clerk a stranger on the street, finally, we offer loving kindness to people we find it difficult to be around. You could spend a month or more offering loving kindness to yourself if you feel the need or desire. After all, we need to love and accept ourselves truly before we can love others.
How: Find a comfortable position and settle in. Becoming aware of sensations in the body and then noticing your breath. Bring your awareness into your heart, maybe placing your hands on your heart. Silently repeating these phrases or, any that feel more comfortable to you, 2-3 times. As you are ready you can progress to loved ones and so on:
May I be healthy in body and mind
May I be happy
May I live with ease and in peace
According to Jack Kornfield in Meditation for Beginners, Mahatma Gandhi said, “I believe in the essential unity of all beings, and so I understand deeply that if one person gains spiritually, the whole world gains. If one person falls, the whole world falls to that extent.” Kornfield contines, “thus to wish others well or to send loving thoughts and prayers to another is not simply a rote or automatic activity. The practice is based on the effect our thoughts and feelings and actions have on the world around us.”
“When you plant lovingkindess in the garden of your heart and continue to regularly nourish and fertilize it, it will begin to spread and grow.” Jack Kornfield
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