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Lovingkindness Meditation

Learning to Love Through Insight Meditation

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A Traditional Meditation for Applying Love As a Healing Force

The Insight Meditation Society is one of North America’s oldest institutions dedicated to bringing the life-changing gifts of mindfulness training to the West. On Lovingkindness Meditation, IMS cofounder and senior instructor Sharon Salzberg guides you through a six-step meditation designed to access the human heart’s own limitless source of supreme energy—the energy of love. Known traditionally as metta (an ancient Buddhist term meaning “lovingkindness”), this timeless practice is an easy-to-learn method for unlocking your greatest internal resource for healing others and yourself. Here is a universal meditation to help you:

• Melt away feelings of isolation
• Awaken true compassion, even for those who have hurt you
• Find freedom from needless, self-created suffering
• Learn to trust your own loving, intelligent heart

Among the world’s contemplative traditions, the meditation on how to love is perhaps the most basic—and most powerful. Lovingkindness Meditation is the perfect introduction to this enriching practice.

 Buddhism Spirituality Learning Buddhism
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I wouldn't often say this about a book, but this is a life-changer. For those of us plagued by feelings of unhappiness, self-doubt, anger or similarly destructive feelings, this book helps open out new pattern of being kinder to yourself and more compassionate towards others. So it can change you! But it doesn't pull any punches. Sharon Salzberg takes the listener through different kinds of loving-kindness before expanding upon a way of developing it used by many Buddhists, which involves openness, honesty and meditation. She explores all the mixture of critical stuff that makes up anger, or vindictiveness or hatred etc., skillfully linking personal feelings to wider cultural trends. Then she shows the benefits of loosening up, letting go of all those energetically negative but self-damaging feelings we hold towards others. This book gets right down into the nitty-gritty of spiritual practice and shows, whatever faith you hold or none, how to get some more space round those feelings. It then describes why its important that we let them go. You are given greater insight into why its important to change as well as ways of becoming more open and spacious. It's a challenging, accessible and worthwhile book that yields more and more at every repeated listening.

A Life-Changing Book

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an amazing book. helpful in every way with regard to suffering in the modern materialistic age. I would highly recommend it.

amazing

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Everything by Sharon Salzberg is amazing. She has a gorgeous voice, which helps, and radiates a profound compassion.

To be truthful, some of the illustrations of principles from her life didn't help me, since they were based on a life experience that was surprisingly alien (that wouldn't be a problem for everyone. It was possibly just a clash of Irish vs. American backgrounds and outlooks) but the occasional moments of culture shock don't really matter. (Though I can't help wondering how many people really have those kinds of holidays in America? Apparently Hollywood isn't completely faking it.)

What makes this an amazing volume though is the genuine, profound loveliness of the author, the prose, and the warm, intimate delivery.

I love Sharon Salzberg. If you want to explore Metta meditation or Loving Kindness then I would recommend her first. I listen to her podcast, and on the mediation app Ten Percent. She is in a league of her own. Wonderful work. Enjoy.

Beautifully done.

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