Here are the basics, but each week we’ll be introducing new ways of keeping them fresh by emphasising aspects of the meditation you can explore.
Stage 1
Feeling metta toward your self. Holding your present experience with metta, including thoughts, feelings, memories etc . Whatever your present experience is, whether pleasant or painful, trying to hold it with metta. You can use the phrases if you find them helpful to anchor your self to the practice and give it some more structure. The phrases you could use are; ‘May I be well and happy’, ‘May I be free from suffering’ , ‘May I find satisfaction and progress in my life’. If you use the phrases make sure you leave space after each one to notice the response you’re having. Like dropping a pebble in a pond and watching the ripples.
Stage 2
Bringing a good friend to mind. It can be helpful in the early stages to pick someone your not sexually attracted to and not family. Notice your response to bringing them to mind and holding that response with Metta. If it’s helpful you could use the phrases ‘May they be well and happy’, ‘ May they be free from suffering’ , ‘May they find satisfaction and progress in their life’.
Stage 3
Bringing a neutral person to mind. Someone you don’t have strong feelings for one way or the other. This accounts for the vast majority of people. Use your imagination to cultivate metta for them. Use the phrases if you find them helpful.
Stage 4
Bringing a difficult person to mind. Someone your having difficulty with at the moment. Try to get underneath the stories you have about them to some feeling of human solidarity which softens the aversion you feel toward them. Use the phrases if you find them helpful.
Stage 5
Bring each person from the different stages together with yourself and see if you can cultivate equal metta toward all of you. Then expand this ‘field’ of metta outward to eventually include all beings. If you find it helpful you can use the phrases ‘May all beings be well and happy’, ‘May they be free from suffering’, ‘ May they find satisfaction and make progress in their lives’.
It’s good to start each meditation with a short body scan of 2-3 minutes. Just noticing and staying with the sensations in different parts of the body, whether they be pleasant feelings or discomfort.