The following wisdom of Donna Farhi that I shared in class this week (from her book Bringing Yoga to Life) deeply resonates with my metta meditation and Yoga practices:
“What we discipline, then, is this movement of awareness, training ourselves to stay with rather than run from all that we experience.
When we choose to stay with our practice despite the inevitable highs and lows in our lives, we are actively choosing to focus our awareness on the part of us that is unchanging. With each practice session, we start to identify with this steady part of ourselves. When we’re feeling sad, we practice anyway. When we’re happy and excited, we practice anyway. When we’re in the depths of grief, we practice anyway. When we have a thousand things to do, we practice anyway. We do not practice to rid ourselves of these feelings or to suppress them. Neither do we practice out of stoic denial. When we practice through thick and thin, happy and unhappy times, we are saying: “Sadness is moving through me, but sadness is not who I am; excitement is moving through me, but excitement is not who I am; grief is moving through me, but grief is not who I am.” When we practice anyway, we make room to fully experience all our feelings while at the same time not allowing those feelings to paralyze or solidify into our identity.”
I was also reminded of my experience practicing metta meditation by the Mad River in Waterville Valley a couple of months ago. The river supported a deeper and more palpable connection to an infinite ‘force of kindness.’ This loving force persists beneath our mad world of attachments, ignorance, and fluctuations of thoughts and emotional states.
This abiding force is easily forgotten, however, readily available. The discipline of practicing yoga and meditation helps to illuminate this connection. Simply grounding my awareness in my breath, and consciously breathing can also center me in the present moment.
Specifically practicing Metta meditation throughout the day can readily anchor me when I catch myself adrift in separation, anxiety, shame and/or self-loathing.
Midweek Metta
I am happy to offer a free guided Midweek Metta Meditation practice on Wednesday nights from 7:30-8p. The offering will include a quick check-in, guided metta meditation practice and some time for check-in and questions after. To join, please message me for the link with your email address and I will send it before the session begins.
May you be safe and healthy and filled with much love, peace and courage.