This heart meditation guides us in how to cultivate a deep quality of friendliness in relating to our inner life and each other. The gift of this practice is a direct sense of belonging – knowing that we can never be alone (retreat meditation).
The hindrances are motifs of mind that can propel us into suffering or freedom. How can we use loving-kindness (Metta) to let them open the door to wisdom and peace?
This talk emphasizes Wise Intention in the context of a long retreat: Wise Intention includes the three aspects of renunciation (letting go of the sense desire), loving kindness and compassion.
This meditation establishes a kind attention by bringing the imagery and felt sense of a smile into the body scan and then, with the breath as a home base, opens the attention to changing experience. We end with a brief loving kindness reflection.
