9/11 Lovingkindness meditation (text)
A lovingkindness meditation in response to the 9/11 disasters at the WTC, Washington, and Pennsylvania
Welcome to this special version of the metta Bhavana meditation practice – the Development of Lovingkindness — which I’ve made in response to the recent attacks on New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
A PDF version of this meditation text is available to download.
You might wish to read this meditation aloud at a church or meditation group. Take your time with the reading, relaxing as you do so and leaving a pause after each sentence so that people have time to process what you have said. The original recording lasts for just under 17 minutes.
“Metta” is the Buddhist word for love – a love that transcends national, religious, and cultural barriers. And “Metta Bhavana” means the cultivation of metta; the cultivation of this kind of love. It’s a practice that promotes healing and promotes wholeness, and I hope that you will find this practice useful in dealing with the aftermath of these disasters.
Posture and relaxation
So, first of all, you can set up for your meditation practice by getting yourself into a comfortable, relaxed posture; preferably sitting upright so that you’re able to maintain some awareness, maintain some sense of energy and vitality. And we’re all a little tense just now, so take your awareness into your body, and relax your muscles. Letting go in the shoulders and your arms, and in the legs. Relaxing the muscles in the back of your neck, relaxing your jaw, and your eyes, and your forehead.
And as you breath out, you can imagine a wave of relaxation sweeping downwards through your body, washing all of your tensions down, out of your body, into the earth. And as you breath in, you can imagine a wave of energy flowing upwards from the earth into your body, filling every fiber of your being.
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