Metta bhavana: a loving kindness meditation practice
Self love, self compassion and metta bhavana: a loving kindness meditation practice
Hello friends. Today I’m sharing a metta bhavana meditation practice. Metta bhavana is a Buddhist meditation practice and it’s is also known as loving-kindness meditation. It’s a form of mindfulness practice that involves cultivating feelings of love, kindness, and compassion towards oneself and others.
Sharing a metta bhavana practice seems fitting, as it was Valentine’s day earlier in the week. I’ve been reflecting about the idea of love as something we can cultivate, particularly towards ourselves.
One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began - Mary Oliver, The Journey
One of the things I shared this week on Instagram was my favourite poem; The Journey by Mary Oliver. This, for me, is the ultimate treatise on self love;. It describes a process of starting to listen to yourself, to trust yourself, and then to step out into the world with the intention of “saving the only life you can save”. It resonates with me deeply. We have to save ourselves before we can support others. You can’t give from an empty cup.
The Myth of Self Love
In Esther Perel’s post about The Myth of Self Love she talks about our society’s obsession with individualism. She goes on to that that the process of learning to love ourselves is connected not only to our relationships with others, but also to the societal structures that we exist within.
Love is relational and, in many ways that starts with your relationship to yourself. I don’t subscribe to the maxim that ‘you need to love yourself before others can love you’. I think that idea is pretty toxic to be honest. We are all human beings with a host of different experiences and struggles that impact on the way we see ourselves. You can still be a loving partner, relative or friend, even if you don’t always love yourself. And being in healthy loving relationships with friends, relations, or romantic partners can also support you to love yourself if you find it hard.
If you’d like to do a bit of an inventory in terms of your self love, I’ve shared some questions from Esther Perel’s post below.
Metta bhavana: a loving kindness meditation practice to help you to cultivate feelings of love, kindness, and compassion towards yourself and others.
The metta bhavana is a Buddhist practice. The name metta bhavana comes from the Pali language. Metta means "love" (in a non-romantic sense), friendliness, or kindness. It's something you feel in your heart. Bhavana means development or cultivation. This practice is designed to help us to develop acceptance towards ourselves and others, which can increase emotions such as happiness, joy, and gratitude.
If you try this practice I’d love to hear how you get on. I find it a really gentle way to bring myself back into a place of feeling open hearted, especially at times when I’m struggling with the relationships in my life. Let me know if you give it a try.
If you’d like to work with me 121 to develop your meditation or spirituality practices do get in touch. You’ll also find upcoming in person and online events on my events page.
