By: Bob Zeglovitch
At our last session, we began a practice period on metta (loving kindness, or good will). During our first guided meditation, we practiced metta toward ourselves using the “phrases approach.” The phrases we used were: (1) May I be free from harm; (2) May I be happy and peaceful; (3) May I be healthy and strong; and (4) May I live my life with ease.
In my experience, it can be very helpful to be flexible and creative when it comes to practicing with metta phrases. For example, during the meditation on Friday, I realized that repeating the wish “may I be healthy” when one is dealing with a chronic or serious health condition may not be the most skillful way to proceed—so i suggested an alternative along the lines of “May i live with my current condition of bodily and mental health as best I can.” Obviously there could be many different ways to modify a phrase like this.
Some of the phrases may just not suit you well, and you could play with them so that the practice feels like it flows and lands, and that it opens your heart. In order to remember the phrases and keep the practice simple, you can try just landing on the key words—e.g., without harm, peaceful, healthy, ease.
Here are some variants of the certain phrases: (1) In place of “May I be free from harm” you can say, “May I be safe and protected”; you could also say “May I be free from outer and inner danger”; (2) May I be strong and healthy in mind and body, and if that’s not possible, may I still experience moments of well-being and joy in the body I have. (3) May I care for myself with ease and joy, and if that’s not possible, may I be cared for with ease and joy; (4) May I be happy, truly, truly happy. Nos. 2-4 above are taken from Arisika Razak, a teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center.
As you play with this practice, one option might be to just stay close to one phrase for an extended period, perhaps the entire meditation, or until you feel ready to move onto another phrase (as opposed to cycling through the sequence of phrases again and again).
There may also be special circumstances in which we wish to offer metta for ourselves and others, such as caregiving, dying, or grieving. The “standard” phrases may not fit well here, so modifications are again in order. I’ll visit this in future posts.
Working with the phrases requires (and develops) concentration and persistence. As with the practice of following the breath, we will lose our focus and forget which phrase we are on (or the practice entirely!) and then need to return. We don’t need to worry about being perfect with this, but can simply pick up with whatever phrase comes readily, or perhaps by just going back to the first phrase in the sequence.
One potential that comes from working with phrases is that one or more of them may become reflexive, so that it is readily available to you during the day and in moments of need, as opposed to just during a formal meditation practice.
May you all be happy and peaceful, living your lives with ease and joy!