Loving-kindness meditation is a form of Buddhist meditation that spans back ages. It is a practice designed to open your heart and cultivate love and compassion for yourself and others.
The basic idea of sharing loving-kindness is one that touches upon a Universal truth: In order to find peace, we must love all beings as they are. There are threads of this idea in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam.
The problem is that we get caught up in an Us vs Them mentality that has it’s roots in our primitive brain. If “they” take all the food, I won’t survive. Luckily, we’ve (mostly) moved past that with the advent of modern living. Our primitive minds don’t understand that, though, and fall back into Us versus Them thinking. Media and politics certainly don’t help with it, either!
On the other hand, marketing and a consumer based world have us convinced that we aren’t good enough. Buy this lipstick and you’ll be worthy of love. Wear these clothes and you’ll look worthy of attention and affection. Live in this house and you’ll be worth the space you take up… it’s a broken mindset that pervades our own thoughts and causes deep dissatisfaction with our lives and our own selves.
The further we are disconnected from our true state of blissful spirit, the harder it is for us to send love to ourselves and others. Metta (loving-kindness) meditation aims to plant gentle seeds to help fix that problem on a deep, spiritual level.
How to practice loving-kindness meditation
The practice in and of itself is very simple: you are sending wishes or prayers of well-being to yourself and others. It can look any way you like but my favorite is the following:
Think of someone you love deeply, someone who fills you with love. Mentally send them the blessing.
May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you walk this world in joy and peace.
Now, imagine yourself. See yourself in the mirror of your mind’s eye. Mentally send yourself the blessing.
May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I walk this world in joy and peace.
Now, imagine someone who causes you frustration or aggravation. Send them the blessing.
May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you walk this world in joy and peace.
Now, spread your awareness to all of humankind. Imagine all the different people you can, quickly. Old women, young children, people of all colors, from all places, in all stages of life and with all different access to comfort. Send the blessing to every one of them, yourself included.
May we be happy. May we be healthy. May we walk this world in joy and peace.
That’s it. You can expand on the meditation after you’ve been practicing it daily for a few weeks. Try to deepen the blessing by feeling it within yourself:
- Hold an image of the person in your minds eye. Make this image as clear as possible and feel your connection with the person.
- Imagine sending those feelings of love to the person. Let those feelings build up in your chest, right from your heart.
- Imagine transferring those feelings of love to the person you are focusing on. Remember that the love isn’t coming “from” you, but rather from Spirit, the Divine, God, the Universe… from an endless source that can never fall into an us vs them state.
Try practicing for about a week or more every day. You can do this first thing in the morning, it will take you about 10-15 minutes depending on how long you focus on each person. You’ll be amazed at the tiny seeds it plants in your heart and the shifts that begin to happen in your life!
If you prefer to listen to a guided version, there are many great ones available here.