
An introduction to the course, and what it is about.
Some years ago, after having read the excellent book "lovingkindness" by Sharon Salzberg, I found a distinct lack of meditations based on the ones listed in the book (except lovingkindness, of course).
I made some to use for myself, and have decided to release them with this course, alongside a few short talks giving my own thoughts on each one. Hope you enjoy.
Explore metta and nonviolence in practice, showing how fierceness can coexist with kindness, and how loving one's enemy and facing evil requires inner shadow work.
Define karuna as complete compassion that sits with suffering rather than offering pity or quick fixes, and recognize compassion fatigue and the limits of problem-solving approaches.
Emphasize compassionate presence by sitting with suffering rather than pushing for solutions. Carl Rogers' core conditions: empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard - cultivate an environment that supports growth.
Develop compassion for your enemies by recognizing their unhappiness and choosing compassion over anger, building on personal compassion already practiced for your own unhappiness.
Explore how acceptance expands to make room for your feelings, enabling change without denying them. Apply equanimity (upekkha), premeditation, and the five remembrances to trauma and life’s inevitable changes.
Guide a five-minute karuna meditation that centers breath, visualizes compassion for four people and all beings, and repeats may you find your peace and be free of your pain.
Open awareness after the breath, observe thoughts, feelings, sounds, and sensations dissolve, and watch the arising and passing away of experience from the vast blue sky.
Mindfulness is probably the most popular and ubiquitous kind of meditation out there at the moment, and it's great that it's seeing so much use around the world in schools, therapy and elsewhere.
However, there can be more to meditation!
One aspect of Buddhist teaching is the four heavenly abodes, or brahmaviharas as they are known. These are emotional states that are seen as almost godly, and in buddhism are known as something that can be cultivated through different forms of meditation.
The four brahmaviharas are-
Metta, or loving-kindness.
Karuna, or compassion
Mudita, or sympathetic joy
and upekka, or equanimity.
In this course I will discuss them as I see them (because at the end of the day I am just a layman). These talks are optional. There are some simple guided meditations that are also available for download after. You can skip right to them if you want. There are longer versions of the meditations available for download on bandcamp on a pay-what-you-want basis (suggested donation: £5)
I also talk a little bit about forgiveness, which is not one of the brahmaviharas, but I feel is equally important and can also be cultivated through meditation.
The course is free so you have absolutely nothing to lose.