Lovingkindness Meditation (13 min)

The Lovingkindness Meditation, sometimes known as a "Metta Prayer", is traditionally done for successively wider circles of caring, beginning with yourself (see a simple form of the Metta Prayer). Because many of us are so self-critical that it can be difficult to find loving feelings for ourselves, this meditation begins with a person who you know to be loving towards you, and only after this do you bring focus to yourself, then successively widening the circle of good will to those closest to you, then those who you feel neutral toward, then those with whom you have difficulties, and continuing outward until it includes all living beings.

If you are deaf or hard-of-hearing, or English is not your first language, you may want to try the video version with closed captioning (also available: Lovingkindness Meditation Script).

If you would like to access this meditation at times or in places where you don’t have internet access, the easiest way is through Insight Timer. The basic service is free, but downloading the meditations for offline access requires a paid account, which is about $10/month.