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Metta meditation

The word “metta” comes from an ancient Indian language, the Pali, and it means positive energy and kindness. Metta meditation helps strengthen our mindset. In most types of meditation,we focus on our breathing or in a specific object. But metta meditation is different. Its goal is to send all our postive energy and thoughts, our kindness and love to other people such as our family and friends but also to ourselves. We can go a step further and visualize ourselves and the people we care about free from concern, pain and discomfort, when our thoughts reach them. Also, in this kind of meditation we can send positive thoughts to the people we don’t we dislike or have neutral emotions about, as well. How it works In metta meditation we begin by following the ritual of any other kind. First, we sit in a comfortable position, take deep breaths and relax. Then we try to think about someone we care about and say phrases like “ May you be safe/healthy/happy/calm.” We can also say these phrases for ourselves or even for people we don’t really like. It is important to stay concentrated, repeat these phrases and mean them. During meditation, strong feelings or thoughts may come to the surface about the people we think about. These thoughts may be positive or negative. It is very important to welcome them either way and observe them without judging. Benefits The practice of metta meditation is beneficial to mental, emotional and physical health. Some of the benefits are:

Fostering compassion and understanding for others

Improving interpersonal relations

Reducing the negative emotions we may have about ourselves

Reducing self-criticism