Reflections on nature as our teacher of metta, karuna, mudita, and upekkha.

Introduction to Metta (lovingkindness) - Week Four Homework: Daily meditation: Offer kindness/goodwill to an easy being (or benefactor) & self, then someone or some part of you that you find difficult. Please practice 20 minutes or more a day. Remember, it is always okay to return to a being that is easy. It can also be very skillful to switch to mindfulness. Integrating mindfulness into metta practice can increase wisdom. This can be done by noticing what is and isn’t metta, without judging –or buying into–other emotions or experiences. In daily life, notice when Metta is present and when it isn’t. What are conditions that help it arise? Decrease? Appreciating the wish for metta, being interested in it, attending to it, helps to strengthen it.

Teachings on the Queen Mallika sutta and how doing metta for ourselves naturally translates to metta for everybody.

Guided Meditation; Instructions; Talk

Metta, Samadhi, and the perception of anatta, are all in service of letting go.

Short reflection on metta and the human condition, inspired by Jane Hirshfield's poetry.

Introduction to Brahma Vihara practices and Guided Metta practice.

This is a Guided body scan meditation infused with metta.

Homework for this class is: Daily meditation: 15-20 minutes per day if new, normal amount if experienced. --At least 2/3 metta for easy being/benefactor & self. (start with easy being if it’s helpful). --Up to 1/3 mindfulness (or end with a bit of mindfulness). --If it gets challenging, return to where it’s easy. 2. Micro-practice: Stop, notice, appreciate, kindness/positive regard for self or others: Appreciation, gratitude, or inspiration as a form of mindfulness. If you don’t notice in daily life, recall/write down a few in the evening. Due to a recording error, the second mini lecture was not recorded. The topic was the Buddhist and Scientific rationales for cultivating lovingkindness for oneself. The scientific study referenced is entitled "Open Hearts Build Lives," by Barbara Fredrickson, et al. https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=-0XLchUAAAAJ&citation_for_view=-0XLchUAAAAJ:geHnlv5EZngC

Guided Meditation; Instructions; Talk

Renunciation and Refuge - Metta and the path of letting be, of loving. Our ground of liberation is love.

Instructions and guided meditation on how to practice metta for those with whom we have conflict, difficulty, or struggle.

Exploration of Metta and our relationship to safety, protection and care.

With mettā, we try to see others as living beings not different from me. Beings, like me, who want to be happy and do not want to suffer.

This talk introduces formal instructions for metta practice in the traditional form of phrases and categories. After sharing about the spirit and principles behind the practice, we engage in a guided meditation first receiving metta from a benefactor, then offering metta to a benefactor, and finally offering metta to oneself.

This is a meditation will help you connect, regulate, repair, and soothe parts of yourself during difficult times. It includes principles from Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Metta (lovingkindness).

This talk explores core questions of lovingkindness practice: What is "metta"? What is its relevance in our lives and our world? How does it function to transform our hearts and world? And how do we strengthen metta?

Three true stories illustrating the unexpected, amazing, or surprising results of mettā practice

Forgiveness is a way of letting go of the past. We forgive ourselves and others for our own sake so that we can live without the burden of resentment or holding a grudge.

Mettā is a living quality that we embody in actions of body, speech, and mind towards all living beings