Mettā, loving-kindness

Introduction
Two and a half year ago a friend of mine sent me a song saying: "here, I have the feeling this will be good for you."
The first time we met, we went for a coffee, with also another friend of mine. When he walked in he gave me a big hug and I was stunned by his inner peace, happiness and love. The whole time I couldn't say a word as his energy was so overwhelming to me. My friend talked with him normally, but I couldn't, I just felt like crying. His energy was so strong and so loving that it 'attacked' my heart chakra and 'messed' with blocks I had in this (and other) chakra(s). To make things 'worse', he once in a while gave me a big hug or stroke my leg.
As I got to know him better, I started to get used to his energy and to know how to handle it, but it kept having a big effect on me. Of course he had noticed this from the first day on, and that is why he sent me that song.


When I listened to it, I felt tears coming up and at the same time it made me so happy. I felt light, as if a burden had fallen from my shoulders. The sounds and the voice were so pure and loving.
I've listened to the music over and over again. When I felt sad or when I wanted peace and quiet within myself I listened to this music. I felt how this music was healing my heart chakra, which now is one of my most developed chakras.


Mettā, loving-kindness
The song I'm referring to is called 'Mettā', sang by Imee Ooi. I wanted to share this song with you, for you to use it to heal your heart chakra. To meditate on it, to learn how to love yourself and, from there, how to give and receive love. And, finally, to be able to love unconditionally.
As sure as I was that this song belonged to the heart chakra, in fact I didn't knew what the song was about. So that is why I did a little research.


Imee Ooi is a Malaysian composer and singer, who makes music out of traditional Buddhist chants, mantras and dharanis. The lyrics are written in Pali, which is the language used to write down most of the earliest Buddhist scriptures, to be found in the Pali Canon. This language has never been a spoken language, yet only the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism.


One of her songs is called 'Mettā'. 
Mettā (Pāli; Devanagari: मेत्ता) is loving-kindness, friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, love, sympathy, close mental union (on same mental wavelength), and active interest in others. It is one of the ten pāramīs of the Theravāda school of Buddhism, and the first of the four sublime states (Brahmavihāras). This is love without clinging (upādāna). The cultivation of loving-kindness (mettā bhāvanā) is a popular form of meditation in Buddhism. In the Theravadin Buddhist tradition, this practice begins with the meditator cultivating loving-kindness towards himself, then his loved ones, friends, teachers, strangers, enemies, and finally towards all sentient beings. [1]


The last phrase of the paragraph above mentions exactly that what I have been feeling every time I listened to this music, even without knowing what the song actually meant. For me, this means that this music is more then just a song and has real powering energy. It is a music that brings healing to our hearts even if we don't realize it. 
So, now, for all of us to cultivate our loving-kindness towards ourself and then to others, below you'll find the music, with lyrics and translation.


Namasté


Meditation for the heart

[1]: extract from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā