A metta mediation, chakra-style

You may or may not have heard of metta prayer or metta mediation. It’s also known as loving-kindness meditation. The gist of it is, you repeat three or four positive phrases either in your mind or out loud.

First, you apply the phrases to yourself. For example: May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I be free of suffering.

Next, you apply the phrases to someone you deeply care about. This might be your beloved, your bestie, a dear family member, your dog, and so on. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be free of suffering.

Then, think of someone in your life who is neutral to you. Your UPS driver, one of the grocery store checkout clerks, a movie or TV actor, a person from your Internet provider. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be free of suffering.

Okay now, this one might get tricky, and it’s not necessarily a place to jump right to in the beginning. Bring to mind someone in your life who is, um, challenging. Maybe it’s an estranged family member, your soon-to-be ex-spouse, that insufferable employee. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be free of suffering.

So that’s the concept of metta mediation. The specific phrases used aren’t the point, sending and surrendering to positive energy and love is. I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night quite a bit, and I decided to try this as a way to get back to sleep. And a way to swaddle myself in loving energy as well as to expand that out from just me. It’s actually worked very well, except…

One particular phrase I was using was great when applied to myself, someone I love, and someone neutral. But when I tried to apply it to a rather challenging person, I balked. Here are the phrases I had found and was using, and here’s where I stuck myself:

May I/you be safe. (Oh, I like this.) May I/you be peaceful. (Ooo, this is good.) May I/you be kind and compassionate to myself. (Oh my gosh that’s brilliant.) May I/you accept myself/yourself as I am/you are. (Holy wow, I really needed to hear that WAIT A MINUTE. My challenging person? You’re being an ass. You accepting yourself as you are gives yourself a free pass to continue to BE an ass!

Yes. I have issues. Clearly I have some work to do here, right?!?

And I will. But in the meantime, this whole metta thing threw me right out of the positivity field. And I felt fake.

So as I also examine this in-my-face What’s Up With Me, I decided to find some phrases that wouldn’t trigger me. I want to continue this whole metta meditation thing, because it really is making a difference in my life. Using phrases that keep me in the positivity place AND extending that to challenging folks is the choice I make over not yet incorporating said challenging folk. Either way, I have more to learn. And, I’m so excited! I found phrases — for everyone — based on addressing each of the seven chakras in a healthy way!

Give these a try, and see if they might be something of use for you. Start with yourself, today.

That is enough to begin with.

May I be safe. (root)

May I be free. (sacral)

May I be accepted. (solar plexus)

May I be loved. (heart)

May I be true. (throat)

May I see clearly. (third eye)

May I surrender. (crown)

Much love, peace, and blessings to you.

Can you think this to yourself right now? Which loved one will you send this energy to next? Who is neutral in your life that comes to mind? Which challenging person are you avoiding thinking of right now?