Meditation of love and compassion (metta). Loving Kindness Meditation Guide (Metta)
(If you missed the first two posts on how meditation can transform your life and the THREE main reasons why you can't use meditation to its full potential, read these two posts first: and )
Opening the heart and awakening unconditional love and compassion is one of the important themes of Mind Detox 21: Source of Transformation. Unconditional love is a state of consciousness that has touched its true nature. When you love not someone or something, not for something and for some reason ... When love is just a necessity, like breathing and heartbeat.
Divine love fills you through open heart and you yourself become love and share it with everyone who meets you on the way. Christ and Buddha spoke about such love, they gave the world such love. The development of unconditional love and compassion is the highest stage of human evolution and a return to one's true nature.
But first you need to open your heart, love and accept yourself and let this energy of love into yourself.. How can we love if our hearts are closed and full of resentment? And what is the difference between pity and compassion?
During the three days of the course we will work with anahata - the heart center. We will practice my favorite meditation - metta.
Metta is a powerful and inexpressibly pleasant meditation technique that aims to develop unconditional love and compassion.
I want you to try this meditation right now and feel the taste and energy of the new course. Mind Detox 21: Source of Transformation.
WHY I DECIDED TO START TEACHING PEOPLE TO MEDITATION AND WHO AM I?
I don't shave my head, I don't live in a cave or a monastery, I don't eat prana, I'm not a guru or an enlightened master of one of the many traditions - in short, I don't look like a "proper" meditation teacher at all.
I am an ordinary person, just like you. I know well what challenges and temptations the modern world throws at us.
I've seen enough to know firsthand:
- how easy it is to lose yourself in the turmoil of affairs how uncontrolled stress destroys the psyche and health, and then all life how to run after a carrot and achieve other people's goals, forgetting about your true purpose, about the main task of your soul how self-compromising leads to antidepressants how to chase money while sacrificing joy and peace of mind in what hell and quiet despair do people "achieve everything" live
But I also know that we always have the opportunity to change things! The opportunity to live this life brightly and holistically, in harmony with your soul and the Universe. An opportunity to become the master of your life and awaken your light!
To be honest - if not for meditation, I would not have survived in this crazy world:
- In the endless cycle of deadlines, task lists and office bustle, meditation helped me to be myself and hear myself
- Meditation gave me immunity against stress, thus saving health and mental balance
- Through meditation my mind was collected, calm and clear which allowed me be productive at work and in life
- Meditation has taught me deal with pain and discomfort see every situation as an opportunity to grow and search for answers within yourself
- Meditation helped hear my inner voice to recognize your passion, your calling, find your way
- Meditation gave me internal forces and the courage to go your own way making a choice in favor of real life
- Through meditation I find answers to your deepest questions, gaining deep peace and joy
Once I felt the powerful potential of meditation, I decided to devote myself to development in this direction. I studied various meditation techniques in monasteries and ashrams in Asia, continued to practice yoga, attended seminars and lectures… I went through many necessary and not very necessary life experiences.
I know that all true change starts with yourself. Each of us is the creator of our own reality, and together we create this world. I want you to feel and realize your natural power and start using it. So together we will create a world of happiness, harmony and love!
This is what fills me with joy and what my heart and soul responds to - to support people on the way to their nature, to light and love. Explore yourself and this world and provoke a transformation inside and out.
I know Mind Detox 21: Source of Transformation I open myself to my world and invite you to open yourself to your world.
P.S. In my next post, I will introduce you to the topics of the new course by week.
>>>If you like metta, don't regret your love - share this meditation with your acquaintances and friends! To do this, just click on one of the social buttons. networks below.
Let there be more happy and friendly people in our world!
P.P.S. Dozens of detailed and sincere reviews from participants who have already completed the Mind Detox 21 course, you can read:
May all beings be happy and unharmed,
And let their hearts be filled with inner joy.
From the Buddha's sermon on friendliness.
Punishment mettu sutta
(Trans. Ayya Khema, Being Nobody, Going Nowhere, London: Wisdom, 1987, p. 96).
In the early biographies of the Buddha, it is said that he taught a wide variety of spiritual practices. He introduced the practice of meditation to many of his students and followers, as well as thousands of other people who met on his path. While teaching people, he always gave instructions according to the temperament and spiritual needs of each student. But of the variety of methods he taught, two he emphasized were: the practice of mindful breathing and meditation, known as metta bhavana - "the development of friendliness." (Metta (Pali) or maitri (Skt.) means kindness or friendliness. Bhavana means “becoming”, “development”, and even “meditation”. Pali is the language of one of the main sources of Buddhist literature, and in this book most of the technical terms are given in him).
Friendliness is a quality no less important for our spiritual development than the practice of concentration. For many of us, it may even be more important. In taking his first step towards Enlightenment, the Buddha himself undoubtedly acted in a spirit of friendliness: he wished that people would find true happiness. Probably fruitful spiritual development man is impossible without the spirit of friendliness.
We certainly hope to find happiness and friendliness in the wisdom of the Buddha, and not the opposite of malevolence and hatred. A man filled with hatred will never attain great wisdom. From personal experience we know that when we are angry or irritated, our ability to understand something is narrowed and limited to the limit. We also know that it is easier to be friendly to others when we ourselves are in a state of peace of mind.
By focusing on friendliness (metta), we can come to more harmonious, healthy states of consciousness as we wish.
The origins of friendliness
People are often struck by the first stage of this meditation: first of all, the practitioner generates friendliness towards himself. The idea behind this can be formulated as follows: "If you really want to be friends with others, first learn to be a friend to yourself." There is deep and very powerful wisdom in this simple thought.
But here a difficulty may arise: after all, many people find that it is unusually difficult to love themselves, they do not know how to appreciate own virtues. This is quite common. It will be very interesting if you ask your friends what they think good qualities they possess. At the same time, some people feel strangely uncomfortable. I have many friends who appreciate good qualities in others, but are very reluctant to admit that there is something good in themselves.
No doubt, sometimes such an attitude towards oneself is due to politeness or modesty - true or ostentatious, but probably most often it comes from a complete lack of self-confidence. And, unfortunately, this tendency seems to be ingrained in our Christian-based culture: it's like we shouldn't love ourselves. Therefore, these days many people have a very unimportant opinion of themselves. Some even feel the need to maintain a semblance of self-confidence so that they are not rejected by others, and this can make life extremely difficult for them.
Self-confidence is essential for spiritual growth
This state of affairs is regrettable, since self-confidence is extremely important for spiritual growth: you cannot improve if you are not sure that you can achieve the goal, or at least have at least some faith in yourself. It is clear that most people should value themselves much more. The practice of metta bhavana is especially valuable in moments of mental distress: it allows you to appreciate yourself, your opportunities and your world more. Value human life
Metta bhavana begins with building self-confidence, but this does not involve the growth of pride or selfish self-confidence. It's about about the ability to appreciate one's life in a wider context - as part of human life, taking into account all the perspectives that this life gives. We see that human life is something amazing and precious, and although most people face great difficulties in life, each of us has many reasons to rejoice.
The human birth is said to be precious, for it is like the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: it is just as difficult to obtain, and it brings just as great benefits...
Being born human, we have the ability to reject evil and do good, we can cross the ocean of samsara, follow the path of Enlightenment and attain the state of the all-perfect Buddha. Therefore, the human birth is superior to other kinds of existence, such as the birth in the world of gods or nagas, it surpasses even the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel. It is called precious because human birth is difficult to obtain and is of great benefit.
And yet, although human rebirth is so difficult to obtain, and its benefits are enormous, it is short-lived, since there are many causes of death, and we immediately go to the future ...
Therefore, considering the difficulty of gaining human rebirth, its fragility and great benefits, one should look at the human body as a boat and with its help escape from the ocean of samsara.
Gampopa (Tibet, 1079 - 1153) (The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, trans. H.V. Guenther, London: Rider, 1970, pp. 16 - 19).
By samsara or “conditioned being,” Gampopa means all those states of mind that limit us and cause cyclic, repetitive actions that form a habitual way of life. The meaning of his words is that life gives us the opportunity to develop healthy, creative states of mind, and this The best way its application. Such an assessment of human capabilities inspires us to spiritual search. If we cultivated such an understanding of the importance of human life, it would be much easier for us to please ourselves. There is no doubt that we would feel more fully true value other people's lives, and as a result experienced more sincere friendships with them.
Stages of Metta Bhavana Meditation
Now it is time to introduce you to the metta bhavana meditation itself. If you want to try this practice right now, read first. short description its stages, and then check if you are sitting comfortably.
(The nature of this meditation is such that its description is longer than the practice of conscious breathing. Therefore, if you just want to try this practice, you need only read its brief description below).
Brief description of the path stages
To prepare for meditation, sit quietly for about a minute. Take a comfortable position, collect your thoughts, try to realize what you feel in this moment. Then…
Focus on yourself
Feel your body, your emotional state, remember your life as a whole. Now (and this is very important) be aware of how you feel when you do this? Be aware of all the emotional responses that arise in the heart, whether it be joy or sadness. Just feel them - it is not necessary to try to describe them in words. Enter the world of your experiences.
Try to feel a friendly, kind attitude towards yourself, wish yourself happiness. Say, "May I be healthy and happy," if that helps. (Do not repeat these words mechanically - you need to feel their meaning). Try to maintain uninterrupted concentration on this friendship, patiently returning attention to the object of concentration if it dissipates. A few minutes later...
Think of a "neutral" person
Think of a "neutral" person. "Neutral" will be the one for whom you do not feel any special love or dislike. Notice again how you feel when you remember this person. These feelings will probably not be overly colored, but still, focus on these experiences and try to increase the attitude of friendliness and participation towards this “neutral” person. Wish him good luck and pay special attention to your concentration, because in this case it is naturally more difficult to maintain constant attention. So, in a state of concentration, you continue to deepen and strengthen the metta for some time. Then…
Focus on the "difficult" person for you
Switch your attention to the "difficult" person for you. This is someone you don't get along with right now. Any of those who are unsympathetic to you or who do not like you will do. Again, feel what responses are born in your soul when you think about this person. Do not allow discussions about what feelings the image of this person could cause - let emotions manifest themselves freely. Try to respond to the image of this person in a new way, with understanding and goodwill. Do not make false compromises and at the same time let go of any hidden hostility. Focus on the growing feeling of goodwill towards your "difficult" person.
Focus on all four people
Focus on all four people—yourself, your friend, the "neutral" person, and the "difficult" person—and try to develop equal metta towards all four so that you don't feel less friendly towards any of them. If you want, imagine that they are sitting around you. Devote about a minute to this stage (remember that one of the four is yourself). Then…
Let your metta spread out
Let your metta spread outward, let it expand until it covers the whole world. First, spread the feeling of friendliness to those who are close to you, in the same room or in the same house. Then imagine everyone who lives in your area, city, part of the world where you are now. Let the metta come from you, expanding the circle - spreading to all the inhabitants of the country, the continent, other countries, other continents, the Earth, the universe. Think of all these people, how they might be feeling right now as you meditate. Extend the feeling of friendliness to all animals, to all living beings. Try to think of everyone with the same strong love and kindness.
Why do we need meditation? Become kinder, accept yourself and others. Get faster, smarter, stronger. Find meaning in life. Experience higher states of consciousness. Eliminate suffering from life/bring happiness to life. Find out how deep this "rabbit hole" goes. Well, and so on ...
Where does it usually start? Because something doesn't suit us. We feel like gaining something or we want to eliminate something. For example, we want to become better or correct some shortcomings. Further, along with the understanding that we experience dissatisfaction and suffer in life, we begin to look for the causes of non-happiness. First, we look outside, in other people, in the boss, parents, our soul mate, the president, or in circumstances. Over time, we begin to guess that, perhaps, everything that happens to us is somehow connected with ourselves, our ability to control ourselves, control our attention and emotions. What does consciousness look like without the practice of meditation?
- Thoughts. An endless stream of thoughts leading our attention to the future into the past or thinking about ourselves. This flow is very difficult to manage without attention training. Imagine the situation: summer, sun, deep blue sky, we are sitting on wooden footbridges on a river or lake, our feet are touching cool water, a pleasant warm breeze is blowing…. We came here to enjoy nature, but the worries of life, work and other thoughts capture our attention and do not allow us to be with ourselves and the current moment. Everyone is familiar internal dialogue. Is this what we say? Why can't we say to ourselves: "Voice, stop!, I want to rest, be quiet for 10 minutes."
- Control. The nature of our mind is to protect us and seek to control everything. And above all, control yourself and those close to us. But can we control our mind? Our consciousness does not see what is happening in the unconscious area. How can we control what we are not even aware of? Why is it so hard to form a habit? For example, start meditating, start running, do yoga in the morning, stop smoking or get another good habit? Why is it so hard to just say to yourself, “That’s it! From that moment on, I start doing this and that and after that do that?
- Relationships, emotions, resentment. The world around is what it is. We are constantly confronted with the behavior and actions of people different from our expectations. Someone said a rude word, stepped on his foot, "cut" on the road, deceived, betrayed, etc. How do we respond? Can we control our emotions? How do we react some time later when we remember this event? The offender is gone, the situation is in the past, we have already suffered damage, but we often continue to experience negative emotions. And why do we need it?
- Energy. An unruly flow of thoughts, excessive control, unbridled emotions - all this leads to a significant loss of our precious energy and diverts us from the "now" moment and our affairs.
“Our” thoughts appear when we control this flow and know how to stop it.
Even more surprising research data suggests that there are no patterns of emotions and feelings. There are no such patterns in DNA or anywhere else. Our states are created by our mind from what is in it, from what we thought about in recent times what they encountered, how they reacted. How it happens: the mind “looks” at what is happening around, “looks” into memory and introduces us through the hormonal system into some kind of state, anger, anxiety, joy, and others.
Our consciousness is the operator of the mind, controlling it through attention. If we constantly think about problems, remember offenders, or, what is the most “terrible” thing, we reproach ourselves for something, we put input data into our mind, which subsequently become our states. A perfect machine lives inside us, which we are not even aware of, often do not understand and cannot control.
And the great news is that our states and emotions can be learned to control through attention training and the practice of metta meditation. You can even pull yourself out of deep depressions. Through the practice of metta, we learn to create the most productive, creative, happy states.
What is meditation? Meditation is the conscious control of your attention. Mindfulness is the mindfulness of observing the movement of attention from object to object. That is, a constant reminder to yourself to observe, be aware and manage your attention. Through the management of attention, we gain the ability not to depend on thoughts, not to get involved in them, to "program" our states, to block the sources of waste of energy and to better "see" and understand our own mind. And most importantly - wisely direct it.
The formula has long been known: "Change yourself - the world around will change" or in other words: through the development of awareness in meditation practices, we gain the key to a happy and conscious life!
metta meditation. Metta meditation has stood the test of time in the form of several thousand years and is one of the very first meditations, opened by man. Metta is a very effective tool for opening the heart, developing benevolence and gaining control over one's emotions and states. In this technique, we develop attention and concentration through observing the feeling of metta, the feeling loving kindness.
What else is good about metta? Meditation is also a habit, and there are so many interesting things around, so much more to do. To create a habit, it is important that we like the new action and that there is no internal resistance. Metta meditation is pleasant and natural, and it quickly becomes a desirable habit. By practicing metta, we train our mind to respond positively to the events of life. We begin to feel better and less and less let in emotional storms, fears and anxieties. Our state becomes optimally effective for life, for work, for relationships, for creativity and creation.
The practice of metta is also deep cleaning subconsciousness from childhood traumas, resentment, rejection of oneself and other people. Meditation in itself gives an excellent charge of positive and cheerfulness for a long time. And metta can be practiced almost anywhere and in any quantity. Even short metta meditation sessions of 10-15 minutes throughout the day make our lives much easier and happier. And the deep practice of metta leads to the purification of the subconscious at all levels and a deep transformation of consciousness.
Greetings to all! Today I am going to teach you the Loving-Kindness Meditation, which will unlock your potential for love, compassion, kindness, and empathy. You can direct these qualities not only to other people, but also to yourself.
Through practice, you will learn to love yourself and be sympathetic to your own shortcomings.
Loving Kindness Meditation (Metta Meditation)
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Hello Sergey!!! I read the issue of the newsletter about Humility and a desire to write to you appeared.
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