Love, Practice and the World:
A four week online meditation course

24th June, 1st July, 8th July, 15th July

Loving-kindness (”metta”) meditation is the Buddhist practice of cultivating goodwill and friendliness towards ourselves, others, and the world. Far from being abstract or idealistic, metta practice can have a deeply practical effect: softening self-criticism, changing how we relate to difficulty, and opening new ways of responding to the people and situations we meet in our daily lives. For those drawn to compassionate action in the world, the practice of loving-kindness meditation can offer profound resourcing and nourishment, enabling one’s actions over time to feel more spacious and sustainable.

This four-week online course will explore just some of the ways that we can practise with metta, all within a spirit of gentle experimentation and play. Each session with include a short talk, a guided meditation, and plenty of time for sharing together and asking questions. Between sessions, guided meditation recordings will be available, and 20mins daily practice is encouraged. The course is suitable for all levels of experience.

Mark Ovland began practising meditation in 2008 and spent a number of years living and working in retreat centres and monasteries around the UK and Asia. Appreciating deeply the teachings he received during that time and wishing for them to reach those most in need, in 2013 he co-founded Freely Given Retreats and soon afterwards pioneered taking mindfulness courses into UK prisons. In more recent years Mark has been especially engaged with environmental and social justice issues. He was a close student of the late Rob Burbea.

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Kalyāna Meets 001

Sunday 14 June, 10:00 - 12:30 NZT

Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and a key figure in bringing Buddhism to the West. He has been teaching for more than fifty years and is the author of numerous books including One Dharma, and Mindfulness.

Guided Meditation + talk:

Q & A session:

Poetry shared via mailing list:

Contact us at: info@kalyanamitta.nz