This audio offers a simple overview of the practice of Metta. It includes discussion of the intention of the practice, guidance on how to practice, and describes the categories of beings that can be offered Metta.
Meet your Teacher
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Transcript
Hello. My name is Monique. Welcome to my channel here on Insight Timer. I'm making this recording in February of 2026 and I'm new here. Although you might be hearing this introduction at any point in time. So again, Welcome whenever you hear this message. I'm beginning this channel with the intention to focus on the practice of Metta loving kindness for the entire year of 2026. I've been practicing Metta loving kindness for more than 20 years. And when I was first learning the practice, One of my teachers encouraged me to spend one whole year practicing Metta for myself. On this channel, We will explore Metta through a variety of lenses. We won't only focus on Metta for the self, But I have found tremendous benefit and staying with one practice for an extended period of time. I want to spend more time in my Metta practice and I hope that this channel will serve other people who are cultivating a new practice or fortifying their ongoing practice. I hope that we will all grow together by practicing together. Let me give just a little bit of background and some overall guidance on how to practice Metta loving kindness for anyone who is new to this meditation. And I hope that sharing my perspective and giving a little context into how I approach Metta will be useful to those people who have had their own relationship to Metta for some time. So to begin with a translation or interpretation of the word Metta itself, This is a word from the Pali language, Which has been translated many different ways. It can mean gentleness, Friendliness, Warmth, Benevolence, Peace, And of course, Love and kindness. Other forms of meditation can help us to cultivate focus and clarity and develop one pointed awareness. With Metta loving kindness, We're engaged with a practice that works to develop our ability to generate feelings of friendliness, Warmth, Love, And kindness, And to offer those peaceful vibrations to ourselves and the world. With Metta loving kindness, It becomes possible to use both the natural inclination of our mind to make thoughts and the organic loving energy of our heart to generate thoughts and feelings of love and kindness. This meditation is based on the use of simple phrases that direct and cultivate the feelings of gentleness, Friendliness, And warmth we are seeking to explore with this practice. On the one hand, We can practice Metta without being attached to a specific outcome. And on the other hand, The practice does affirm an innate desire to experience less suffering and more happiness. To practice Metta is to make an effort to plant seeds of peace in our own hearts and minds, As well as aspiring to do our part to make the world a more peaceful place. So how we practice. Typically, The practice is based on offering simple phrases that describe the experiences and qualities we want to cultivate. If you read 10 books on Metta, You will find 10 different variations on these phrases. I'm going to begin with the phrases that I was taught by my teacher. And over the course of this year, I will expand the vocabulary of phrases that we use. But to begin, Here are four common statements that are used in the practice of Metta loving kindness. May I be happy and peaceful. May I be healthy and strong. May I be safe and protected. May I live my life with ease and well being. These phrases encapsulate the fundamental ingredients that all living beings need to live well. But if you feel that any of these phrases don't ring true for you, If they're not precise enough or expansive enough, You are empowered and even encouraged to adapt, Rewrite, Remix the phrase so that when you say it, You resonate deeply with the idea expressed in the statement. You want to be able to feel a yes from inside that affirms yes, I want to live into this aspiration. I want to express and embody this ideal with my thoughts, My words, My actions. Once you have found phrases that work for you, And of course, You're invited to practice along with me. While we are meditating, These statements are offered, Directed to five different categories of beings. Typically, The person guiding the meditation, If it's a group process, Will say the phrase out loud, And then everyone else will repeat them silently internally. And if you're practicing on your own, You guide yourself. We repeat the phrases, Each time continuing to offer our positive intentions and well wishes. So the categories of beings that we offer it to, First we begin with ourselves. Then we offer these phrases to people that we're close to, That we love dearly. Then we progress to offering the phrases to someone that we have no emotional connection to. You could consider this a neutral person or a stranger. Moving on, We can offer the phrases to someone we have experienced as challenging or difficult or unfriendly is another way to think of it. And the fifth and final category for Metta is to offer these phrases to all beings everywhere without exception. And that includes all the beings that live on planet Earth and call planet Earth home. And it can also include beings that live in the galaxy in the universe. So this is only limited by your capacity maybe to imagine or sense the fullness of life and sentience. When we are moving through different categories of people, It's likely we will experience different opportunities or even challenges with the practice. When we're practicing for ourselves, There's an opportunity to develop a friendly, Loving relationship to ourselves or to deepen the friendly, Loving relationship we already have with ourselves. This can be a place to practice self-acceptance. This can be a place where we affirm our own goodness, Where we bolster and fortify a deep practice of caring about how we feel. When we offer Metta loving kindness to people that are close to us, People we love, People we count as friends, Teachers, There is an element of ease to that perhaps. It might deepen the connections that we have with those people, Strengthen our relationships. It can be a way to offer support in the case that someone you love is going through hard times. It can be one other way that we offer them our support and our care. When we offer Metta loving kindness to a stranger, To a neutral person, That is a place where we are just practicing generosity. It underscores that we don't always need to get a result from this practice, That there is benefit just in doing the practice all on its own. And when we offer Metta loving kindness to someone that we have experienced as difficult or challenging, We are affirming our shared humanity. We are understanding that just like us, They want happiness, Health, Peace, A good life. And it might be important to say, Although I'll say more when we get to that series of meditations, To practice Metta for someone who's difficult does not mean that we're condoning their behavior, It may not lead to a reconciliation. It does affirm our shared humanity and it gives us a sense to expand our capacity to see the way we are alike and to offer Metta loving kindness without exception, Without expectation. And I already mentioned a little bit about what's possible offering it to all beings everywhere without exception. And what I also love about the vastness of this final category is that it includes everyone we already mentioned, It includes you and me, And all the people you love and count as friends and family and dear ones. It includes, Of course, All the strangers that we don't know haven't met yet. And it includes difficult people as well. It includes all sentient life forms on planet Earth. And so can be a really wonderful way to expand our heart to grow our awareness to deepen our sense of connection to all life. So I hope that this introduction gives you a place to start the practice. And of course, I will make more of these explainer audios as time goes by. And I look forward to practicing with you.
4.5 (2)
Judy
March 9, 2026
Thank you. Metta and loving kindness has been on my mind a lot this past week and I am drawn to the idea of focusing on the one practice for an extended period of time.
