reading crustacean stopped reading The Places That Scare You by Pema Chödrön
oh after this description i finally understood what i'm supposed to do in metta meditation. i'll put this aside and practice what i understood for now, to pick it up later.
Karsten W. replied to reading crustacean's status
@unsuspicious how does your practice look like now?
reading crustacean replied to Karsten W.'s status
Content warning long description of meditation practice
@karstengweinert hi and thanks for asking. do you practice as well? :)
so, i alternate "metta" and "breathing" days. "breathing" days are just 18 minutes of breath awareness. on a "metta" day i will do 6 mins of breathing - 6 mins of metta - 6 mins of breathing. in the 6 mins of metta, i start with the easiest person to love. i adapted the metta aspirations to "may X be happy, may X be healthy, may X be safe". that felt right for me and i felt free to adapt since everybody seems to do it with slightly different words. i mentally repeat them while breathing into the warm "lovingkindness feeling" in my chest. but generally being open to all emotions that might arise. right now, i only do the first two steps (benefactor and myself), because i am just starting.
Karsten W. replied to reading crustacean's status
Content warning long description of meditation practice
@unsuspicious Interesting, thanks for sharing. I also practice (just started to put verses — Gathas — on the breath) and was curious when I read your toot.
reading crustacean replied to Karsten W.'s status
Content warning long description of meditation practice
@karstengweinert oh, that is interesting too ^^