Metta / Loving Kindness Meditation

Read by Austin Austin, Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator at Enfold (enfold.org).
Lovingkindness Meditation is a traditional practice for cultivating love, and applying it is life-changing for many. Dating back 2,600 years, metta (an ancient Buddhist meditation practice on lovingkindness) is a timeless method for unlocking your heart’s immense healing resources.
Metta meditation is not a technique for repressing your awareness of life’s pain. Rather, it is a way to break down the artificial mental barriers that separate you from others.
The goal is to generate genuine warmth, kindness and care, both for ourselves and others. Some people are instinctively drawn to the power of this practice, and others may find resistance to it at first. The intention is not to search for whether we naturally have these feelings in our minds and hearts, but rather to cultivate them, through repetition and intention. You may be surprised at how much this simple meditation can do.
Start by assuming a comfortable position as you would with another formal meditation practice. Whether you are seated or lying down, you may wish for this practice to put your hands on your chest, or one resting on your heart and the other on your belly.
The practice will unfold by reciting a series of aspirations directed at various individuals, starting with you. You can say these lines out loud, or recite them in your mind, but either way see if you can keep your earnest concentration on every word as it proceeds and feel them in your body.
Copyright Enfold Institute Inc.