Practices to Support You: Metta Meditation
THE importance of self-care at the moment
We live in a land of polarisation and divisiveness. It’s part of the illusion. What you might of noticed is this energy of polarisation has been amping up lately - and I would pressure it will continue to do so as a condition of us being in physical manifestation. There’s suggestions in astrology that the particular flavour we are experiencing at the moment will start to shift around 2024. It’s important to remember that the more we struggle the harder this energy becomes - the key is to work with it. This is a meditation practice designed to support you through these times. To help you reach beyond the right and wrong to a place of peace within.
Our beyond right and wrong, there is a field. I’ll meet you there - Rumi
What is the Metta Meditation (Aka Loving Kindness Meditation)?
This is a meditation that comes from the Buddhist lineage – though the concept of Metta (or Maitri) is mentioned in Hinduism also. In fact in pre-Buddhist Sanskrit texts (like the Rig Veda from c1500-1000 BCE) where the word means love. Metta also means compassion, benevolence and loving-kindness. According to the core Buddhist text, The Pali Cannon, this meditation helps us: sleep easier, wake easier, dream of no evil…the devas (deities) protect you, and it helps the mind gain concentration quickly.
The Purpose of this Meditation
This meditation is designed to help us move out of polarity, right and wrong – and even hate towards the self or another, by practicing and cultivating within us loving kindness to all life. This isn’t always easy, but the meditation works in such a way that we slowly grow this energy within us, until we are able to spread it to the world around us.
There has never been a better time to practice compassion
If you’re struggling with accepting the world at this time or the differing viewpoints that are at play. If you’re feeling frustrated, angry or unsure of how to move through this energy, this meditation can help you move slowly into a state of acceptance. That doesn’t mean passivity, rather it means moving from a place beyond right and wrong.
Want to know a bit more about the Buddhist + Spiritual significant of Metta?
According to the Pali Canon, Metta is one of the four Brahmaviharas - meaning Divine Virtues or Infinite Minds. The other 3 are compassion (Karuna), empathetic joy (Mudita) and equanimity (Upekkha). According to this spiritual text the cultivation of these 4 states of being lead the practitioner to be reborn in the ‘Brahmaloka’ which is the highest of the celestial worlds.
What is the origination of the Meta Meditation?
According to commentary on the Sutta Nipata (within the Pali Canon), a group of Monks were scared of some nature sprites in the forest where the Buddha has sent them to meditate. They sought the Buddha’s guidance on how to deal with this fear and the Buddha taught them this meditation in order to cure this fear.
Let’s Practice
Click below to download for free.
27 minute guided loving kindness meditation. Metta means love, and this ancient practice described in the Pali Canon (Buddhist Scripture) helps us move from a place of anger and righteousness into a one of peace.