Loving Kindness Meditation

 

Massage therapists can also use meditation techniques for cultivating and nourishing loving kindness. These metta mediations were taught by the Buddha as a way of easing fear, loneliness, despair, and sense isolation from other people and the world. A simple Loving Kindness meditation which anyone can perform anywhere is to recite the following silently:

 

May I be filled with loving kindness.
May I be happy.
May I be at peace.
May I be free from harm.

Loving Kindness Meditation for Others

 

It is common to meditate on past words and actions that have involved loving kindness.  As described in the mindfulness meditation take a seated posture in a comfortable setting.  Center yourself by focusing on your breath.

 

When you are ready, think of someone in your life who makes it easy to feel loving kindness towards.  This can be someone in your present life or someone from your past, a parent or a child would be a great place to start.  Allow yourself to hold them in your awareness trying to visualize their face in your mind’s eye or sensing them in your heart. After a you are able to firmly hold that love in your mind, focus on sending them wishes of loving kindness.  Silently repeat these words in your mind:

 

May you be filled with loving kindness.
May you be happy.
May you be at peace.
May you be free from harm.

 

Over time practice this mantra toward a a teacher or mentor.  Then toward a close friend, toward an acquaintance or stranger (This would be ideal for a client), and eventually learn to practice this meditation toward someone with whom you are not so friendly. In the Buddhist view, by practicing this disciplined way of thinking, you can transform yourself from a massage technician into a genuine healer. 

 

Difficult clients challenge the therapist's ability to manifest loving kindness, because these clients often are filled with anger, hatred, hostility, fear, anxiety, and sadness.  Clients sometimes project these emotions onto the very person charged with helping them feel better. This makes it difficult for caregivers to relate to them and to appreciate their fundamental worth.  Therapists interested in learning from their difficult clients can use the following metta meditation, written by a Tibetan Buddhist monk 1000 years ago:

 

I will learn to cherish being...

Pressed by strong...

sufferings...

As if I had found a precious...

Treasure very difficult to find.