Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - An Intro to Loving-Kindness | Bonus Meditation with Sharon Salzberg

Episode Date: October 15, 2023

Loving-kindness can sound incredibly sappy, but it's really just a way of paying attention. Sharon makes it simple.About Sharon Salzberg:A towering figure in the meditation world, Sharon Salzberg is a prominent teacher & New York Times best-selling author. She has played a crucial role bringing mindfulness and lovingkindness practices to the West.Sharon co-founded the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) alongside Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield and is the author of nine books, including Lovingkindness, Real Happiness, and the most recent Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life. Sharon lives in New York City and teaches around the world.To find this meditation in the Ten Percent Happier app, you can search for “An Intro to Loving-Kindness.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Today we're celebrating the release of a new book by one of my favorite humans, the great meditation teacher Sharon Salzburg. It's called Finding Your Way. It's a little gift book with pithy entries and colorful illustrations, but don't let that fool you into thinking it doesn't have substance. It is loaded with wisdom bombs and to commemorate Sharon's new book, we're making one of her courses over on the 10% happier app free until October 23. 10% nicer is a starter course on loving kindness meditation. And today we're dropping the first meditation in that series,

which is an intro to loving kindness. So here we go now with Sharon Salzburg. Hi, this is Sharon. The first thing we say about loving kindness practice is, be comfortable. See if you can relax physically and also relax emotionally. This isn't a practice where we're striving to make something special happen or seeking to fabricate a state or manufacture anything, but instead, we're getting in touch with a more natural space within us.

The practice of loving kindness is done by resting our attention on the silent repetition of certain phrases. The phrases are the way that we guide our attention. It's the conduit for paying attention differently. We silently repeat the phrases with enough space, enough silence to have a rhythm that's pleasing to us. The phrases themselves need to be very general, because this is like gift giving, this is a practice of generosity. We're offering these phrases to ourselves and then to others, ultimately to all forms of life. Common phrases are things like, may I be safe, be happy, be healthy, live with ease. You don't need to use these phrases, but something that is big enough that you can make this offering to yourself and then to others.

Today, we're going to begin this practice with offering loving kindness to ourselves. So as we begin this meditation, you can sit comfortably. In sitting, we talk about having our back be straight without being strained or over-arached. You want to have some energy in your body? You also want to be relaxed and it is. So you feel your way into what feels like a balanced posture for you. You can close your eyes or not. Heraview feel most of these. Take a few deep breaths, relax your body. So choose three or four phrases that seem to work for you, something like, may I Be safe. Be happy. Be healthy. Live with ease.

And begin repeating them over and over again with enough space and enough silence so that you feel completely present, one phrase at a time. You don't have to try to force anything to happen or make up anything. The power of the practice isn't that complete wholehearted gathering. You're fully there behind one phrase and then the next. May I be safe. Be happy. Be healthy. Live with ease.

Or whatever phrase you may be using. If you find your attention wandering, truly don't worry about it. Can actively practice kindness toward yourself in that moment when you realize you've been distracted. See if you can let go and come back. It's just one phrase at a time. May I be safe. Be happy. Be healthy. Live with ease. You don't have to worry about what you might be feeling or not feeling. See if you can gather your attention fully behind one phrase and then the next. Yn yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw And you can play as well in this practice.

Imagine yourself at different ages. Younger. Currently. Older. And see what happens as you offer the phrases of loving kindness to yourself. Yn yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw Some people may be quite familiar with meditating, but this particular type, loving kindness, may not be so familiar to them. It's understandable that this would feel somewhat different, but I'd encourage you to make the experiment.

This particular practice works in a way in what I call a stretch. We find that we're accustomed to paying attention to ourselves and to others through a particular lens, often very critical. And in doing this practice, we stretch. We look at ourselves from a different angle. We look at others from a different angle. And that takes intentionality. It's purposeful.

It's experimental. it's creative, and even though challenging, it can be a lot of fun. When you feel ready, you can open your eyes or lift your gaze and reconnect to the world around you. We've come to the end of today's session. We'll continue our practice tomorrow. Thank you to Sharon, you can find more meditations like that one over on the 10% happier app, just download the app wherever you get your apps

to get started. And remember that the 10% happier app, just download the app, wherever you get your apps to get started, and remember that the 10% nicer course is free in the app until October 23rd. We'll see you right back here on Monday for a brand new episode with Shane Parrish. He's got a new book about clear thinking. Hey, hey, prime members. You can listen to 10% happier early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery

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