I began practicing metta (aka lovingkindness) meditation during a time of personal crisis. I’d been struggling with intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, fear, and disassociation for months after experiencing a great loss. With the support of friends, sangha, and therapy, I was feeling more steady, but unable to practice Buddhist visualization techniques or even simple mindfulness of breath meditation. Then I attended a Metta Retreat at IMS with Sharon Salzberg and other teachers, and to my great relief, after just a few days of silent lovingkindness practice, I began to discern an abiding sense of calm beneath my struggles, and by week’s end, understood the strength of metta practice to steady the mind and cultivate the healing power of compassion.

This is why my teaching is focused on lovingkindness and compassion meditations. I know from experience that these practices can help all of us rediscover our natural wisdom and develop our unique potential to live with ourselves and each other in harmony.