Loving Kindness or metta bavana as this Buddhist meditation is called is a wonderful way to start your day. But you can do it anytime you would like to feel love in your heart and more connected to the people around you.
Start by sitting down in a relaxed, but straigth position so that you can stay alert and aware.
This meditation has 5 different stages. All of them have to do with wishing happiness, peace, joy, ease, well-being. You can use these phrases as mantras (repeating it in your mind) or just as reminders to get into this state:
“May … be happy, may … be peaceful, may … be free from suffering, may … be healed.
Now, think of a moment in your life where you felt happy, joyful, at peace with what was going on.
- Then the first stage is: Wish yourself this state of being (you can fill in the “I” – may I be happy etc.)
- Second stage: Wish your loved ones this happiness, joy etc (May they be happy…)
- Third stage: Wish this happiness to the people that you’re feeling neutral with
- Forth stage: Wish this happiness to the people that are difficult for you (annoying, irritating, that you may even hate…)
- Fifth stage: Wish happiness, joy, love etc. to all sentient beings
You can do each stage of this meditation for 1, 2 or 10 minutes, depending on how long you want to meditate! In the audio I do at about one minute for each.
If you’ve got questions or feedback, feel free to contact me, I’d love to hear from you!