Jasmine Palker

Austin, TX, USA

David Calder

Merrett

Canada

Kim Desmoulin

Orillia, ON

Esra Esra

Priscilla Dwyer

Isabel Estes

Nadine Gardiner

Melbourne VIC, Australia

Juliana Liu

Panama City, Panama

Anna Leese

Asheville, NC, USA

Markus

Berlin, Germany

Gordon

Cork City, County Cork, Ireland

Nikki Hunt

Lori

Charlotte Newell

Fiona

West Lothian, UK

Denise Cook

Steve Haines Counsellor

Staffordshire, UK

Leah

Connecticut, USA

Kathryn Montgomery

Boise, ID, USA

Cultivate compassion by sending phrases of loving-kindness to yourself, others, and the entire world.

Loving-Kindness (Metta)

Relationships

Buddhism

Traditions

Compassion

Visualization

English

Open your heart with this short, guided loving-kindness practice, based on the four phrases of traditional Buddhist metta. We will send compassion to ourselves, others, and all beings everywhere. A beautiful practice when you're feeling disconnected, or when dealing with relationship challenges.

Loving Kindness (Metta) Meditation

Welcome, friend. I'm glad you're here. This will be a short guided metta or loving-kindness meditation. You can do this meditation sitting or lying down, whatever is most comfortable for you. Metta is a traditional Buddhist meditation that brings us into our heart of compassion. We'll begin by taking a few nice deep breaths, coming into your body, into this present moment. Metta is based on four phrases of compassion, which we will start by sharing with ourselves. You may wish to place a hand on your heart, or simply envision giving yourself a big hug, and silently or out loud repeating these phrases together. May I be happy. May I be well. May I be peaceful. May I be free from suffering. You can envision yourself wrapped in this golden, warm light. Next, we will call to mind somebody that we have a very positive relationship with. Someone, when we think of them, makes us happy. This can be a friend, or a family member, or even a pet. Bring them into your mind's eye now, and we will share these phrases of compassion with them. May you be happy. May you be well. May you be peaceful. May you be free from suffering. You can visualize them being wrapped in this warm, golden light. Next, we will call to mind a neutral person. This is somebody that you have neither strong positive or negative feelings towards. I like to call to mind the grocery store clerk, or perhaps a mail carrier. Think of this person now, and extend these phrases of compassion towards them. May you be happy. May you be well. May you be peaceful. May you be free from suffering. And again, seeing them surrounded by this warm, golden light. Now we will call to mind somebody that we've had perhaps a difficult relationship with. Somebody that we maybe have conflict with, or someone that hurt us. Bring this person to mind now, and with as much love and compassion as you can, we will share these phrases with this person as well. May you be happy. May you be well. May you be peaceful. May you be free from suffering. And again, seeing this person surrounded with this warm, golden light. The last step of the Metta, or loving kindness practice, calls us to open our hearts, to include the entire world, or the entire universe. You can imagine sending out your heart energy, getting bigger and bigger until it envelops the entire world. Bringing to mind all of the people everywhere, all of the animals, all of the trees, and the birds. And we can collectively send our compassion. As we say together, may we all be happy. May we all be well. May we all be peaceful. May we all be free from suffering. Seeing the whole world, the entire universe, filled with this golden light. You may stay here for as long as you like, but when you are ready to end the meditation, take a couple of nice deep breaths, coming back into your body, and into the space around you.