Metta is the Philosophy and practice of Universal love. It means loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, inoffensiveness and non-violence. True metta is devoid of self-interest. It creates a warm-hearted feeling of sympathy and love, which grows boundless with practice and overcomes all social, religious, racial, political and economic barriers. Metta is a universal, unselfish and all-embracing love.

(Start by laying or sitting in a comfortable position with eyes closed)

1. Begin to invite loving kindness in and let it fill your whole body. Imagine it as a soft pink light entering in through the crown of the head and touching every cell of your being. Feel it’s warmth. See it filling every single inch of your body. Be loving and kind to yourself first.

2. Then, Begin to imagine a creature—a person or animal—who is easy to extend warm and kind feelings towards. Radiate this loving kindness towards them.

3. Then, bring to mind a friends or family member. Visual their faces. Send metta towards them. Imagine it surrounding them and flowing through their entire body.

4. Bring to mind those beings you feel neutral about. Radiate metta towards them.

5. Bring to mind those who are challenging and whom you find difficult to deal with. Radiate this metta towards them. If this is an edge for you and negative feelings arise, go back to bringing loving kindness towards yourself.

6. Finally, bring to mind anyone whom you dislike, find threatening or repulsive. Radiate metta towards them. Again if negative feelings come up bring compassion and loving kindness back to yourself.

7. Bring to mind anyone who is especially in need of this metta and radiate it towards them. Send them this loving kindness. See this metta embracing them, surrounding them.

8. Bring this metta back to yourself as you imagine it flowing through your entire body. With your being filled with metta, radiating towards all beings, sit back and relax into the experience. Imagine the entire planet before you, the whole universe. Radiate this metta towards the entire universe and all beings in it.

9. End with a few moments of gratitude.

Kalesvara Mudra-Practice this mudra for 10-20 mins a day calms the mind & thoughts as well as agitated feelings. This mudra can help you to change character traits that are no longer needed, improve memory & concentration and let go of addictive behavior.

Instructions-Inhale and Exhale 10 breaths, Slowyl. Begin to observe the breath and lengthen the pause at the end of each inhale and exhale. The finger pads of the middle fingers come together. The first two joints of the index fingers come together & the thumbs touch. The other fingers bend inwards. Thumbs point downwards and towards your chest. The elbows come out to the sides.

~Think of the trait you would like to get rid of and ask yourself how it’s benefiting you?

~Then think of the trait you would like to cultivate more of (compassion, patience, acceptance, self-love)

~Ask the Cosmic Consciousness for help with this.

~Begin to describe the new habit or character trait you would like to see more of in yourself in full detail and as precisely as you can.

~Visualize instances and different scenarios where the old trait (the one you want to get rid of) would come up and rear it’s ugly little head.

~Then visualize yourself acting in the new way instead. Imagining yourself using the new character trait you want to cultivate to handle the situation. Continue to imagine yourself in scenarios where you act and react in the new way.

AFFIRMATION:

“I enjoy being {insert new character trait}.”

Sometimes new things, big or small changes and even learning a new thought process is scary and frustrating. I recently came across some great advice……
‘The more you can stay present during uncertainty, the more you can let the change process happen naturally and effectively.’

Being a person who likes to constantly initiate change for the better I’ve recently found myself getting anxious accompanied by some rather intense stomach aches. I haven’t had stomach aches like this in about 7mos. (since becoming serious about a gluten free diet). The more I probed to try and figure out what was going on I came across an article in Yoga Journal on change. It made me realize a few things. I have started many new things in life these past 6mos. I lost my 4th mortgage job and decided to change my entire career course. I’ve immersed myself in the Yoga world and although I’ve practiced Yoga 11yrs…teaching it has truly only been less than 1yr. I came to the conclusion that not only have I not been acknowledging the amount of growth I’ve been going through, I’ve been holding myself to a VERY high standard. Always aiming to be the best at what you do, I believe, is a good quality! But, giving yourself the credit you deserve is even more important. I realized I can’t expect to be somewhere until I’ve taken the appropriate steps to get there! I realized that beginning things that are unfamiliar takes alot of courage and remembering to give myself credit for ALL of my accomplishments, especially the the little ones that tend to get overlooked, takes even more courage and presence. Sometimes we forget to stay present. In doing this I was holding some serious tension in my stomach. Just the realization of it helped me to let it go!

Take the steps toward recognizing yourself today:

1. Find a way to get grounded & present. Exercise. Go for a walk outside. Walk barefoot in the grass. Do some standing Yoga postures! 🙂 Observe your thoughts without judgement and recognize where they come from. Then realize they are just thoughts and you CAN begin to change them.

2. Try not to compare yourself to others. They are them and you are you. Remind yourself that who you are is just is important as who they are. You are perfect exactly the way you are right now!

3. Give yourself credit for who you are and what you’ve done. Notice your successes, no matter how small, and celebrate them! Treat yourself. Do something to reward yourself and feel the accomplishment.

4. Meditate. Try a meditation where you just stare off into the blue sky.

Click on the photo below to take you to a site with meditation ideas!

5. Lastly, don’t try to please everyone else just to make sure they aren’t upset. (this one can be challenging if you are a people pleaser like myself) What is most important is your happiness. Do what feels right for you. Follow YOUR own heart. Worry not about betraying others and more about betraying yourself.

Remember: Abhyasa-Steady effort in the direction you wish to go!