Mudita Meditation - Practice at Home

— Jay Shetty 

Mudita 101

Mudita meditation practice is a powerhouse. It is one of the four main aspects of meditative focus from the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. I wish to explore these concepts more on my blog another time.

For now I will share that I have been practicing this meditation deeply for the past 3 years and it has drastically improved my relationships and communication mindset with others.

However, I realized that I have pretty much coveted the practice and kept it secret when it reality, it needs to be widely spread and people should be able to practice it - even if they cannot attend my weekly meditation class. So here is me, paying it forward.

How to Start

Find a comfortable and relatively quiet place to sit. There is no such thing as a true quiet surrounding, as you practice you learn how to utilize noise, distractions, and mind wandering to your benefit while meditating. Regardless, try to limit distractions to the best of your capacity. 

I like to start my sessions with a body, mind, and heart check in. That is how I am doing emotionally, how I am doing physically, and how I am cognitively in this moment. It takes a few minutes just to get to that point of effort and ease, the sweet spot of benevolent mind state. And some days it's harder than others, depending on the circumstance. 

Mudita Practice - Simple Script Edition

Easy to adapt and make your own.
When I teach live I include way more visualization and interaction.
Connect with me to get started on your mindfulness practice. 

Begin to bring attention to your seat
Visualize yourself rooted into the surface
Like the roots of a tree, reach into the ground below

Next visualize yourself,
Your truest purest version of you
See yourself, happy, filled with joy and tell yourself

I am happy that I am happy
May my happiness last
May my happiness thrive
May my happiness radiate outward

Now call to mind someone, you love dearly.
See them in front of you
Smiling full of joy
From your heart to theirs
Tell them

I am happy that you're happy
May your happiness last
May your happiness thrive
May your happiness radiate outward

Next call to mind the neutral person
Someone you see or pass by daily
The clerk at the local shop, the barista, the mail person
Someone you see very often, but have no strong feelings for, one way or the other

See them in front of you
Smiling full of joy
From your heart to theirs
Tell them

I am happy that you're happy
May your happiness last
May your happiness thrive
May your happiness radiate outward

And now, to whatever capacity you have think of a difficult person
If it's too painful choose someone else, there's always someone else
and sometimes we can even be our own difficult person.

See them in front of you
Smiling full of joy
From your fiercely beautiful heart to theirs
Tell them

I am happy that you're happy
May your happiness last
May your happiness thrive
May your happiness radiate outward

Finally, bring in all the people we thought of
Visualize them gathered in front of you and start to notice all the people that they are connected to and all the people that they are connected to, and you see this beautiful gathering of authentically joyful beings.

See them in front of you
Smiling full of joy
From their hearts to yours
They tell you

I am happy that you're happy
May your happiness last
May your happiness thrive
May your happiness radiate outward

Closing

Take a few moments before returning back to the hustle and bustle of the day to really integrate the practice. Take a few cleansing breaths and recall your intention. Dedicate the merit of your practice and slowly allow yourself reentry into your life.

And of course, do not forget to bring your practice to life because life is practice. 

A special note of gratitude for my teacher, Gina de la Chesnaye for honoring these practices and for inspiring my words while guiding.