Loving Kindness Meditation~ From Yoga for Grief & Loss
Metta Meditation is a Buddhist practice which helps us move into a state of self-love and compassion, and then further into love and compassion toward others. I am a firm believer that we cannot give away what we don’t have. It will not be possible to give or practice genuine love and compassion toward others if we cannot give first to ourselves. This meditation ends with the chant Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu. This is a Vedic prayer for the welfare and Oneness of all beings and creation, including animals, the earth, and space (Pramad, 2016; Guruprasad, 2014).
It is the closing prayer chanted in many schools of yoga and in Hindu and Buddhist traditions that means:
May all beings be fulfilled; may all beings be as One; may all beings have their needs met (Guruprasad, 2014)
and also translates as:
“May all beings everywhere be content and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that contentment and to that freedom for all.”
“May all beings be content. May all my thoughts, words and actions contribute in some way to the happiness of all beings.”
“May all beings everywhere be free from suffering.”
When I chant it, I say this:
"May all beings everywhere know peace and compassion and be free from suffering."
Word Meanings:
Lokah=location, realm Samastah: all beings sharing that same location
Sukha=well-being Bhav: Feeling/state of being
Antu: May it be so
This meditation is from my book Yoga for Grief & Loss and can be found in the Bhakti Chapter of the book.
t is also part of the Bearing the Unbearable course through Wisdom Publications with Dr. Joanne Cacciatore.
It is the closing prayer chanted in many schools of yoga and in Hindu and Buddhist traditions that means:
May all beings be fulfilled; may all beings be as One; may all beings have their needs met (Guruprasad, 2014)
and also translates as:
“May all beings everywhere be content and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that contentment and to that freedom for all.”
“May all beings be content. May all my thoughts, words and actions contribute in some way to the happiness of all beings.”
“May all beings everywhere be free from suffering.”
When I chant it, I say this:
"May all beings everywhere know peace and compassion and be free from suffering."
Word Meanings:
Lokah=location, realm Samastah: all beings sharing that same location
Sukha=well-being Bhav: Feeling/state of being
Antu: May it be so
This meditation is from my book Yoga for Grief & Loss and can be found in the Bhakti Chapter of the book.
t is also part of the Bearing the Unbearable course through Wisdom Publications with Dr. Joanne Cacciatore.