Day 21: 40-Minute Loving-Kindness (Metta)

39:43

39:43

Day 21: 40-Minute Loving-Kindness (Metta)

by Anisha Maheshwari

Rated

5

Type

guided

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

47

This Mindfulness Meditation Challenge is designed to help you build a meditation habit and incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine. You can access this whole challenge through the playlist at the bottom of my profile on Insight Timer. In this track, I am going to guide you through Loving Kindness (Metta) meditation. This practice increases positive emotions and life satisfaction, enhances social connection, and promotes self-compassion. For best results, practice this meditation once a day for at least a week. This meditation was recorded during one of the live events on Insight Timer. So, if you find this meditation helpful, you can support my work through a small donation. Image Credit: By Leolo212 via Pixabay

Meet your Teacher

Anisha Maheshwari

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

Meet your Teacher

Anisha Maheshwari

Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

Transcript

Hello everyone. Welcome to this mindfulness meditation challenge. So congratulations on joining in. Congratulations for showing up and I hope that this practice benefits you. Today we are going to practice a heart based mindfulness meditation. So this is the final day of this challenge. We have done four practices and this one is fifth. So we have done mindfulness of breath, Body scan. We have done focused attention and open awareness. We have done just like me meditation and today the practice that we are going to do is loving kindness or metta. It is also known as metta. Yeah. So yesterday's practice and today's practice is more like heart based and to cultivate that feeling of love. Moreover, Unconditional love and compassion, Care, Kindness and today's practice especially for, You know, Self-compassion. So the title or the practice for today is loving kindness or metta meditation. And in this practice, Basically I'm going to repeat phrases or you may say affirmations or wishes, You know, Kind, Loving wishes for the well-being of others as well as ourselves. And like I would repeat the phrase and then I would give you space to repeat it, To visualize it or to just feel that energy. So whatever, You know, Connects with you and it's okay if you know some part of it feels difficult. So I did one more practice yesterday, Which was just like me. So it was just setting the base for this practice. So the essence for those who are joining for the first time, The essence of that practice is that everyone here, You know, Attending this live online or every single person, You know, We have that same basic humanity. We have those same needs. We all feel sad, Hurt, Angry, Or we all feel, You know, Happy, Peaceful, And we all have desires. We all have faced failures. So at some basic level, We all humans are the same. And that's what we are going to connect with more in this meditation. That's what I would like to remind you that at the essence, We all are the same. Yeah, We all are struggling at different point of time. Every single person in this room on this live session has struggled. And every single person has also felt joy or little pockets of joy. Maybe when we hug a loved one or when we soak in nature. So yeah, There is some basic humanness that connects all of us. So in this meditation, When you feel that difficult feeling arise, Then you can remind yourself of this basic humanness and then wish other person, You know, Some well-being. I would like say the specific phrases. And I would also invite you to make some of your own, You know, Add your own creativity or what resonates with you. Okay, So this was just a brief and don't worry, I would be guiding you throughout the practice. Okay. Okay, Let's take comfortable seats. So for this one, Any practice, You can either sit, Stand or lie down, Whatever feels like most comfortable or relaxed for you. Okay. So find a quiet and comfortable space. Take an alert and relaxed position. Keeping your spine straight. You can even imagine a string pulling you upwards. Your head is in line with the spine. So if you are standing or sitting, You are looking forward. Rest your hands either in your lap or on your knees. Whatever feels more natural to you. You can roll your shoulders back. Relax your facial muscles. Letting go of any tension that these muscles might be holding on to. If you feel comfortable, Gently close your eyes or lower your gaze. Notice where is your attention right now. Continue to stay with it for a few moments. Now, Bring your attention to your body. Noticing how does it feels like to be in this body right now. Now, Bring your attention to your breath. Noticing it flow in and out. If at any moment during this practice, You start to feel overwhelmed, Then you can take refuge in your breath. Just observing the breath flowing in and out. Now, Bring to your mind a person that you love. Maybe the person that you love the most in this world. Someone who also cares about you and loves you. It can be a person in your present life or maybe from your past. If you cannot think of anyone that you are in touch with, Then you can also consider a person that you have never met, But you feel inspired by them. They make you feel safe and calm. And you want them to be happy, To be fulfilled in their life. Once you are able to choose a person, Then imagine or feel their presence with you. Their warm and cozy presence besides you. Now, Imagine sending them these wishes. May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you be happy. May you live with ease. Visualize them receiving these wishes and maybe even smiling. One more time, Repeat any more wish that you want for them. For example, May you be loved. May you feel valued. So, Wish them anything that you think they need. Now, Bring your attention to your body as you visualize them receiving these beautiful wishes. How do you feel wishing them all this? Now, Visualize them wishing you the same. So, Imagine them saying to you, May you be safe. Letting these wishes sink inside. So, They continue. May you be healthy. May you be happy. May you live with ease. Notice how does it feel like to receive these wishes from this lovely person. Visualize them saying anything else that you might need to hear at this moment. Feeling the sensations that this arouse in your body. Now, Let's expand our circle of compassion from ourselves and our favorite person to someone else that you are familiar with, Someone from your life that you like. Maybe a friend, A colleague, Your partner, Your sibling, Your parent or your child. Anyone that you like. Now, Visualize their presence besides you. Sending them these wishes, May you be safe. May you be healthy. Visualize them receiving these wishes and even smiling. May you be happy. May you live with ease. You can add any other wish that you want to give or maybe something that they need. Wonderful. Notice any emotions or sensations in your body as a result of sending these wishes. Now, Bring to your mind a neutral person. So, Someone that you neither like nor dislike. It can be a cab driver that you met yesterday. A waitress. Your milkman. Cashier or an acquaintance. So, Anyone that you know but you don't know very well. Noticing their presence as they join this circle of compassion. Sending them some kind wishes. May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you be happy. May you live with ease. Noticing how does this makes you feel. It's okay if it doesn't elicit any strong feelings of love or compassion. Just noticing whatever is present in your body as you send them these kind wishes. Now, Bring to your mind a difficult person. Not the most difficult person in your life but just a person who is challenging to be with. Who you might have some minor conflicts or arguments with or maybe a misunderstanding. Bringing this person to your mind might make you feel a little bit uncomfortable. But take a moment to recognize that this is another human being. And just like you, They also have suffered at some point in their life. They also deal with fears and worries. They also have felt misunderstood or hurt or sad. We are not embracing or condoning their bad behavior but instead we are just recognizing the humanness. Recognizing that they have the same needs and feelings that you have. So if possible, Try to send them some kind wishes. Know that a person is more likely to inflict suffering if he or she or them are in fact in suffering. Maybe you can recall a moment from your life when you ended up hurting someone, Maybe unintentionally. But notice that you were yourself in pain and suffering or in a bad mood while you did so. We often inflict suffering when we are in pain, Not when we are at peace. So let's see if we can just open our heart a little bit and send some kind wishes their way. So we can modify the wishes in a way that it makes us possible to wish them that kindness. So maybe instead of saying may you be happy, Let's say may you feel peaceful. May you be protected from the harm. May you be free from suffering. May you feel connected. Become aware of the sensations within your body as you wish them these kind wishes. It's okay if you feel a little bit uncomfortable. Just be with these feelings. And if the intensity of these feelings increase, Then you can also place a hand on your heart to show yourself some self-compassion. Compassion for doing this. Compassion for all the feelings that are here. Wonderful. You did great. Now let's expand our circle even more. So bring to your mind all the human beings. And as you connect with everyone, Wish them kindness. So say may you all be safe. May you all be healthy. May you all be happy. May you all live with ease. You can add on any other wish that you have for this humankind. Recognizing the humanness in everyone. Every single person is trying their best to live this life. Using the knowledge and resources they have. So just wish them whatever comes in your heart. Wonderful. Now let's expand our circle even more. And consider all living beings. The animals, The birds, The aquatic species, The plants and trees. Every living being. And even our mother earth who is sustaining all this life. Sending some compassion to all these living beings. May you all be safe. May you all be healthy. May you all be happy. May you all live with ease. Notice how do you feel in your body and your heart center as you send out all these wonderful wishes. Maybe there is a sense of warmth or expansion. Or maybe a gentle smile on your face. Now place your hand on your heart. And say thank you to yourself for showing up in this practice. Now bring your awareness to the surface beneath you. Noticing how this surface is supporting you. Now become aware of the sounds around you. Noticing the sense of life or this aliveness in these sounds. You can carry the sense of love, Compassion and warmth within you as you come out of this meditation. So whenever you feel ready, You can gently open your eyes. Connecting back with the surroundings around you. I would love to hear about your experience. How are you feeling? How was the meditation for you? And if you found this challenge helpful or if you found this meditation helpful to you in any way. Then I would deeply, Deeply appreciate if you guys consider to support my work with donation. It doesn't have to be a big one. Donate whatever you can. Because it makes me feel truly valued. And it supports my work because I am trying to do this full time. And of course the financial struggle is hard. So yeah, That support means a lot to me. And if you cannot, Then still I would love you guys to please check out my page. Please check my teacher profile, Anisha Maheshwari. And just go through the content and see if something resonates with you. I have content on dealing with negative thoughts. Overcoming limiting beliefs. So I have three courses on this. And I have three courses on mindfulness itself. How to deepen this. How to incorporate this into our life. Also I am doing a series. So I have created a playlist with all the emotion regulation techniques. Because it is hard for all of us sometimes. When we are dealing with all those difficult emotions. So regulation techniques really help us during that time. So if you go to my profile and scroll till the last. Then you will see a playlist titled Nervous System Regulation. Every Sunday I am uploading a new technique. So you can follow me to get notified. Okay, So this session has come to an end. So thank you so much everyone for tuning in. Sending my love and healing to all of you.