Comment from Galen Gilchrist
Time: April 17, 2009, 3:10 pm

I am very interested in lovingkindness meditation and have read and listened to much about it. My question is what if you cannot achieve the physical pose for meditation? I have physical limitations that prevent the proper posture.

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: April 17, 2009, 8:37 pm

Hi Galen,

Have you checked out our posture workshop? I think you’ll find answers there. If not, get back to me.

Comment from Glenn Spencer
Time: May 21, 2009, 4:53 am

These guided meditations are the fastest route to meditative clarity I have encountered. Your way of meditating infuses the listener, so that one can leave the meditation with new tools in the toolkit , so to speak.
I never realized how harsh and judgemental my inner voice was! I think maybe, if you can go that easy on me, maybe I can too.

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: May 22, 2009, 2:07 am

Thanks for your kind comments, Glenn. Finding a more compassionate inner voice takes time, but it’s worth putting in the effort.

Comment from Nityabandhu
Time: February 17, 2010, 11:07 am

I find your site a great refreshing and helpful source for teaching these meditations in Poland. Thanks and really well done Bodhipaksa! Nityabandhu

Comment from sangos
Time: March 4, 2010, 6:27 pm

For me i guess Stage 1 would be towards a person I like…that would be easier than me :)

Comment from Sam
Time: September 15, 2010, 4:15 am

Hi Bodhipaksa,
I remember reading somewhere on here that if you have trouble creating metta towards yourself then you can do the different stages of metta towards different parts of yourself. the first stage, instead of towards a friend, was towards a part of you that you liked, the next stage instead of a negative person was towards something about yourself that you wanted more of, the next stage, instead of towards a difficult person was towards a difficult part of yourself and so on. I would like to read this section again to clarify the stages, but I can’t seem to find it. Can you point me in the right direction please?

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: September 15, 2010, 7:45 am

Hi Sam,

The page you’re thinking of is this this one: http://www.wildmind.org/metta/metta-four/self-hatred

All the best,
Bodhipaksa

Pingback from Health and self-metta « Urocyon's Meanderings
Time: October 20, 2010, 1:09 pm

[...] More on self-metta (decent translation: loving-kindness), from Pema Chödrön: Unlimited Friendliness Rather good introduction: How Insight and Loving-kindness Free Us from Mental Parasites. (Also good, linked from that one: Taming Elephants-How To Transform Negative Habit Energies: “Negative habit energies are like ticking time bombs. These powerful imprints lie dormant in consciousness until triggered by our own or others words or actions.” A little different approach to PTSD-type stuff.) Wildmind.org offers some observations on practice: Stage 1 – Cultivating metta toward yourself. [...]

Comment from Denise Bird
Time: December 1, 2010, 1:15 pm

Dear Bodhipaksa,
I have only just discoverd your website but woudl like to thank you for it. I have been practicing meditation for a year now, with varied results but I was really shocked at my emotional response during the self metta audio meditation. As I started saying the 3 well wishing phrases to myself all of a sudden was crying and feeling ..well, I am not sure what really! Just very emotional! It was very poweful. Not sure I can describe it as just sadness – it felt more complex than that.
I will continue to practice the self-metta to try and investigate further!
Thank you again.

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: December 1, 2010, 4:37 pm

Hi Denise,

Thanks for your appreciation, and for sharing what’s going on in your practice. I look forward to hearing more!

All the best,
Bodhipaksa

Pingback from Links | Family Publication
Time: December 7, 2010, 2:13 am

[...] metta guided real audio: http://www.wildmind.org/metta/one [...]

Comment from Rus
Time: December 21, 2010, 6:03 am

I just practiced what i believe to be metta meditation for the first time and it felt a bit amazing, although im not sure if i was doing it “right”. but i usually practice breathing-mindfulness daily and was wondering how should i incorporate metta into my routine. should i stop one and adopt the other or practice both 20 minutes each or what?

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: December 23, 2010, 11:40 pm

Hi, Rus.

I’m glad to hear that your lovingkindness meditation took off. One thing to watch for is the expectation that a particular experience that we enjoyed is going to be repeated. The expectation, in general, just leads to disappointment.

Usually I suggest to people that they alternate mindfulness of breathing and metta meditation, unless there’s some really good reason for choosing one practice over another (e.g. you’re in a bad mood and need to cultivate metta, or you’re especially distracted and need to calm the mind with the breath).

Comment from Emo
Time: June 15, 2011, 11:43 am

I’ve noticed that when I practice Metta vs when I practice Mindfulness of breathing, I tend to be less focused. In Metta, I often find myself getting lost in thought, whereas in Mindfulness I can control my thoughts much better. In trying to refine my practice, I’ve noticed some things that seem contradictory about Metta.

In this section you mention making emotions the focus of our practice. But I don’t understand how to distinguish thoughts from emotions – I feel like every thought comes with emotional content. If I’m focusing on my train of thought, does that even count as meditation? How does this differ from getting lost in thought or daydreaming?

Furthermore, should I be focusing on my emotions or rather on wishing myself and others well? How do all these concepts work together?

Thanks!
Emo

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: June 15, 2011, 9:52 pm

Hi, Emo.

Thoughts and emotions are connected, and as you point out, thoughts have emotional content. But a thought like “He shouldn’t have done that!” is the words passing through your mind, while the emotion of anger is — well — an emotion. It’s something felt.

Focusing on your thoughts is certainly part of lovingkindness practice. We need the thoughts to kick-start our emotions, and to change our attitudes so that we become more loving. Why should focusing on your thoughts not be meditation? It’s something you’re choosing to do mindfully. When you’re daydreaming you are not (generally) mindful. It is possible to have a degree of mindfulness present during daydreaming, but mostly people don’t. The mind simply wanders. We’re not conscious that we’re daydreaming. We’re not aware of the effect that the daydreaming is having on how we feel, so we may well be creating distress, depression, etc. Again, in mindfully focusing on your thoughts you know what you’re doing, you know why you’re doing it, and you’re aware of what it’s doing to you.

To deal with your last question: I see the focus of the lovingkindness practice as being on the emotional relationship you have with yourself or the other person. The thoughts are simply being dropped in so that they have an effect on the quality of the relationship (hopefully making it more metta-ful). So it’s a complex practice, because you have the image of the person you’re cultivating metta towards, your emotional state as it relates to that person, and the thoughts that you’re dropping in to your mind in order to affect that emotional relationship.

Comment from Robert
Time: June 22, 2012, 2:13 pm

It is easy for my mind and heart to be in sync when I am wishing well to those whom I love and those whom I like. However, when I say in my mind I wish you well to someone who has terribly wronged me more than once I feel very insincere and it is difficult to really wish that person well. Is this normal and in time will my emotions follow the words. I’m sure I am not alone in this dilemna as some people have suffered horrendous cruelty at the hands of others.

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: June 22, 2012, 3:07 pm

I find it useful to start my lovingkindness practice by acknowledging that I want to be happy, yet happiness is often hard to find, and that I want not to suffer, yet causing myself suffering is hard to avoid. I acknowledge the truth of this, and then I can ask whether some part of me is prepared to root for me as I do this difficult task of trying to find happiness and escape causing myself suffering. I then do this for the friend, the neutral person, and the person I have difficulty with. You don’t have to like the person you have conflict with. You don’t have to love them. You don’t have to think they’re a nice person. You don’t have to forget bad things they’ve done for you. But you can acknowledge that they want to be happy and find happiness hard to attain, and want not to suffer but cause themselves a lot of pain. And it’s not hard, recognizing that they’re just like us in this regard, to want to support them.

Comment from Ana
Time: October 23, 2012, 6:40 pm

Hi Bodhipaksa
I’d like to thank you for a wonderful website, which I am enjoying very much and I am sure will help me, as it evidently has others. The recording on this page is a great help, your voice and intonation are just right for me!
Thank you
Ana

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: October 24, 2012, 11:31 am

Thanks, Ana. Your kind words are much appreciated!

Comment from Laura
Time: November 20, 2012, 11:10 am

Hello Bodhipaksa,
Thank you very much for your informative and very comprehensive and easy to understand website. It came to me when i really needed it! I have a question on self-metta meditation. I am just beginning with it, but whenever i try it, my heart starts beating very fast. I was just wondering if it’s normal and what could it mean.
Thank you again for your wonderful work, wishing you well :-)

Comment from Bodhipaksa
Time: November 20, 2012, 11:31 am

Hi, Laura.

Thanks for your kind comments.

It’s hard to say what it might mean that your heart races when you cultivate lovingkindness for yourself. It could be that some part of your mind has encoded that it’s bad or dangerous to do this. Sometimes we take on board a lot of guilt. Or maybe you’re excited because on some level you think it’s a good thing?

In any event, I’d suggest regarding the racing heart not as a bad thing but just as a “thing.” Be kind to your heart. Direct lovingkindness to those sensations, not to try to get rid of them but just because they’re a part of you and may be connected with some kind of suffering.

Do feel free to let me know how you get on.

All the best,
Bodhipaksa

Comment from Laura
Time: November 20, 2012, 4:34 pm

Thank you very much for your answer, i guess it is indeed a feeling of guilt. I will keep on meditating and just accepting it as it is.
All the best!

Pingback from Getting started with lovingkindness (Day 1 of 100 Days of Lovingkindness) | Wildmind Buddhist Meditation
Time: April 12, 2013, 12:02 am

[...] We actually have a fairly extensive guide to lovingkindness practice on this site, and you can start with cultivating lovingkindness toward yourself here. [...]