Lovingkindness (Metta in the Pali language)is a deeply transformative practice that I was taught by Sharon Salzberg, an extraordinary teacher who has been practicing and teaching it for fifty years. In the current atmosphere of fear around safety and wellness, this is feels like the perfect practice to share.
This practice involves the silent repetition of traditional phrases first towards ourselves, and then towards several other people.
Salzberg has adapted the traditional Pali phrases as:
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
The phrases are repeated silently to ourselves in our minds, and we can practice letting them emanate from our hearts. Yet even if we don’t feel a heart-felt connection to the phrases, the mental repetition works nevertheless. It creates a new neural pathway in our minds, re-programming our habitual thinking from judgment towards well-wishing, acceptance, compassion and love. Even if we don’t think the practice is doing anything, the benefits reveal themselves over time. (In this recording I’ve adapted the practice slightly for the current time, moving “May I be healthy” up in the order.)
