---
ai_generation_date: '2026-09-25'
ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview
audiodharma:
  talks:
    - date: '2020-06-25'
      mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/11595/20200625-Nikki_Mirghafori-IMC-happy_hour_metta_as_mother_earth.mp3
      speakers:
        - speaker_name: Nikki Mirghafori
          speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/229
      talk_start_time_seconds: 0
      title: 'Happy Hour: Metta as Mother Earth'
      url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11595
      video_unavailable: false
location_city: Redwood City, CA
video_unavailable: false
youtube:
  id: VTLRW_WaN0s
  imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04'
  title: 'Happy Hour: Metta as Mother Earth (Nikki Mirghafori)'
  upload_date: null
  uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center
  uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTLRW_WaN0s
---

# Happy Hour: Metta as Mother Earth - [Nikki Mirghafori](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/229)

_This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._

## [Happy Hour: Metta as Mother Earth](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11595)

## Introduction

Okay, all right, great. So the theme for tonight's guided meditation is _metta_[^1] as the earth element. For those of you who dropped in over the past few days[^2] or last week, we started and—or have listened, I know some of you have listened on Audiodharma[^3]—emailed me especially about _metta_ as fire, as holy fire. With the fire alarm in my building, it's an unforgettable one!

So we've been exploring the elements. _Metta_, a sense of friendliness and care, as holy fire. As healing waters, as the water element. And last time we explored _metta_ as air, as the air we breathe. So tonight, this evening, we'll explore _metta_ as the earth element: the sense of support, solidity, stability, and groundedness of care that is offered. Bringing those metaphors to see what different ways of relating to care, support, safety, health, happiness, and ease—how the earth element, this earthiness, what that evokes. Each of the elements have evoked a different feeling, they have opened up different doorways for different folks. So this is all an exploration.

As I've mentioned before, cultivating goodwill, _metta_, is really a skillful means. What I mean by that is we're using whatever is skillful. We're using these means, we're making it up as we go, as skillfully making it up to see what is supportive for us to feel a sense of support and care, and cultivate both _metta_ and kindness for ourselves and to share it with others.

There are a lot of different skillful means, a lot of different tools that we can creatively use together. So with that as the precursor for what to perhaps expect tonight: "Expect the unexpected," Heraclitus says, "or else you won't find it." So let us all expect the unexpected and see what comes up this moment.

## Guided Meditation

So with that, I would like to invite you to get into your meditation posture. Whatever might be supportive for you. If you need to move in this moment, sit in a chair, or be on a cushion. Maybe you're going to roll your shoulders back and forth a little bit. See what your body needs in this moment. Maybe move your neck. Maybe even if you're cold or firm, you stand up for a moment and stretch.

And landing. Landing, arriving, landing in this body. Landing in the solidity of this moment. Landing in the sense of stability. Bringing some attention, if you would, to this body sitting. Bringing some attention to the firmness, to the support of the cushion under your bottom, the support it's providing you, meeting you. The sense of solidity. If you're sitting on a chair, maybe also feeling the back of the chair. And letting go. Letting go of any tightness or holding into your bottom, into the back of the chair, into the cushion and the backing. Let them hold you. Let yourself be held.

And then let go some more of any tension. Really let yourself be held as if you were a baby and you're being held supportively. You're being cradled. And the contact points with the cushion, the chair are in lieu of the earth, in lieu of Mother Earth. It's the earth element. Let yourself feel held. Feeling the contact points of your feet on the floor if you're sitting in a chair, or the underside of your legs and the floor if you're sitting on a cushion, or your knees. Sitting in a stable posture, however you're contacting the earth. Offering up, feeling connection with the earth. How supportive the earth is here for you.

Gravity. Just the right amount of gravity. Not too much so you can't move at all and you're crushed under the weight of it, and not too little so that you float aimlessly. Just the right amount for you to land. Friendliness offered to you by gravity, by the earth. Letting go, offering up any tension, any holding in your muscles. And spending time with each breath, as the breath moves through you, feeling yourself landing more deeply with each out-breath. Feeling connection: the feet, legs, the bottom, your back. Feeling cradled and supported in your own time. Relishing being supported.

And if you find your mind resting on a thought, memory, plan, or wandering, let's notice without any judgment. A sense of expansiveness. Offering your awareness back to the groundedness of the body. Feeling held by the body, by the earth. Body held by the earth contact points. Feeling the stability, the solidity, and how supportive it is to be held again, just as a newborn is held by its mother. And just the same way a newborn is cradled, that sense of support that it feels, feeling held calms it. It's an expression of care to the nervous system. Feeling yourself held by your connection to the earth, feeling cradled, held. See how this invitation can support your nervous system to relax. Feeling held, feeling safe.

Allowing your connection to the earth, by your feet, your legs, your bottom, your heart, to the solidity, the stability, groundedness of the earth element, as if you were a well-rooted tree. A sense of stability, well-rooted, stable Mother Earth holding your roots. As if you had invisible roots growing into the earth. Soft, moist, nutrient earth. Mother Earth, just like a well-rooted tree. A sense of stability, groundedness, so the rest of you could sit tall, could feel well-rooted and tethered. Not easily moved, turned over, or flipped over by the wind. Feeling more and more grounded. Feeling a sense of care being held in the groundedness, as if Mother Earth was loving its own child. You are the child of Mother Earth, connected to it, held by, supported, cradled by it. Letting this feeling of calming and soothing be felt throughout your body. The groundedness calming and soothing any anxiety perhaps there might have been, any fluttering of thoughts or emotions. Grounded with stability, well-rooted.

And now I invite you to feel the aspect of the earth element that you have been exploring through the connection, feeling solidity, feeling stability of your body. The earth element in your own body, in your bones. Sense of solidity, stability, firmness offering you support. Feeling it as much as that is supportive for us. Feeling the sense of touch, connection, solidity, the hands where the hands are touching each other or your lap. The earth element: solid, firm, capable.

And seeing wherever a sense of stability, groundedness, solidity of this body feels supportive to feel: throughout your legs, the bottom, abdomen, your chest and arms, your neck, shoulder, face. Not too tight in your body, just to relax into feeling how supported you are by the structure. Just the right amount of solidity. Not too hard, not too rigid[^4], not too soft[^5]. A sense of gratitude, satisfaction, delight for the stability, solidity of this whole body, as there as the breath moves. Quite a miracle to feel all the solidity[^6], all the sensations, the firmness in this body.

And now I like to invite you, if you wish, for us to explore the _metta_ phrases with respect to the earth element. The wish for safety. May you be safe. May I be safe. Connecting the sense of safety, Mother Earth holding you, supporting you. Connected sense of safety in your own body, in your own bones. Declaring it to be so, as the Buddha touched the earth sitting under the Bodhi tree. "May Earth be my witness." I have the right to be here. A sense of declaring, claiming your right to be on this earth. Your right to take space on this earth. Feel safe. Being understood, the earth be your witness. You have the right. Dropping that in, a sense of safety, connecting with a sense of safety. The earth being my witness.

Now I want you to explore and connect with the second _metta_ phrase, the wish for happiness, joy. Feeling held in the wishes for happiness. And perhaps with this phrase, perhaps you can see yourself, if you wish, lying on the grass on the earth. Green Mother is supported. The sense of happiness. Or maybe you're a younger version of yourself, running on the earth, enjoying the hardness, the support the earth offers you, and you happily running around or rolling in the grass, jumping up and down. The sense of support that the earth offers in your happiness. A sense of joy, conjuring up a memory, a felt sense, or imagining yourself, which is just as good, says neuroscience. Supported by the earth. Sense of happiness in your heart. Maybe just as you're sitting where you are, feeling supported by the earth, all the gifts that the earth offers you. Feeling happy, grateful, sensing the joy in all that is offered from Mother Earth: all the crops, all the fruits, all the walking trails in nature. May you be happy. May I be happy.

Now connecting with the third _metta_ phrase, wishes for health. May you be healthy and strong. May I be healthy and strong. Letting yourself feel this, the earth element throughout your body, the sturdiness as much as you can feel into it. A sense of health, solidity, vigor, as much as it's available right now. The opposite of infirmity in the English language. A sense of solidity, earth-gripping stability, strength. How Mother Earth is supporting you right now, rooting you well-rooted, and you can sit strong, sit up straight. The sense of vigor, vitality. Getting in touch with a sense of vitality, accepting the connection of the sense of vitality as much as or as little as there is.

Now I invite us to connect with the fourth _metta_ phrase, connecting with ease. May you have ease. May you happily take care of yourself, your life flow with ease. Connecting with a sense of ease, you're well-supported by the earth. No reason not to feel ease in this moment, offering everything up to the earth, all worries, concerns. Just this moment, letting Mother Earth hold it for you, with you. Just allowing for yourself to be held with the perspective of ease. In this moment, it is possible.

And for the last minute or two of this practice period, I like to invite you to connect with the wish for all beings. The same way that you are feeling held and supported by the earth, the solidity of the element, acknowledging that for all beings. All beings walk this earth, inhabit this earth, are of this earth. As if you were Mother Earth yourself, you were offering them your wish for well-being, safety. All the beings that inhabit you as Mother Earth, may all of them have safety. Feel safe. May all beings feel happy, feel the wish for them. May all beings be healthy as much as possible, and may all beings have ease. As if you were Mother Earth offering everything you could, offering the best you could for your children, loving them, caring for them as best you could. The spirit of life, in some traditions known as Gaia. As if it doesn't just move through you, it moves through you and you offer it back to all beings.

## Reflections and Breakout Rooms

So it'd be lovely if you wanted to share a word or a phrase. You can type it, I can read it out loud, or you can raise your hand. I can imagine what might be coming up for you in this moment, this exploration.

I'll start by sharing lots of different things from this practice tonight. One is the sense of turning this goodwill from the earth and turning it back into the world. The spirit of goodwill, the spirit of Gaia, life. As if you were Mother Earth holding all beings. I think it's a lovely exploration, one which I enjoyed tonight exploring together with you.

Nancy: "Rooted." Thank you. Feeling rooted. Nice, lovely feeling, feeling rooted, well-rooted. Yeah.

Lisa offers: "Balanced equanimity, right effort." Beautiful. Yeah, I love that. A sense of balanced equanimity as earthiness, right effort.

Bhopal offers: "Nourishment." Oh, I like that, being nourished by Mother Earth. Lovely different invocations of what has been coming up for you.

Alexander offers[^7]: "I did also feel a sense that my own physical form was a tool for expressing the compassion the earth can provide." Lovely, thanks so much for sharing that, Alexander. That's beautiful. You're a tool of the earth, a tool of expressing compassion of the earth. I love it. I'm getting chills reading that. Beautiful.

Kim: "Contained." I love this sense of containment, being cradled like a child.

Ralph offers: "Cared for." Oh, it's lovely. Beautiful, thank you.

Wow, what a delight and pleasure to practice together. If there are no other reflections you'd like to share before going into the rooms, you can unmute yourself—oh yes you can if you wanted to. And I'll take one more pause.

Trudy, I see you're unmuted.

_Trudy:_ Well, you unmuted yourself, so I knew I unmuted myself. I could say that I felt so held and cherished and supported, and it's such a good feeling to have that in these days.

_Nikki:_ Beautiful, thank you. Thank you so much for offering that, Trudy, it's lovely. Thank you.

And Kathleen, I see you're unmuted also.

_Kathleen:_ Thank you for the teaching on the earth[^8] that you presented to us. It was...

_Nikki:_ Thank you. Your voice was coming in and out, but I think what I heard, Kathleen, was appreciation and that the earth felt really essential. You may want to turn off your video and the audio will come through. Beautiful, thank you for that.

So thank you all for practicing together. At this time we'll transition to interactive practice, holding each other with the same generosity that Mother Earth holds us. As Alexander beautifully put it, the sense of your physical form being a tool for expressing the compassion that the earth can provide. Can you be that tool in this interaction with each other in the next few minutes to see what that feels like? It'll be short, just for six minutes. If it's not right for you tonight, that's perfectly understandable, this is a good time to bow out. And if you're on the fence, try it. Most people say that even when they're on the fence, they're glad they joined. But whatever works for you tonight, you can decide. I'm going to make the breakout rooms[^9] now. Let's see how they're going to turn out. Hopefully size three.

Okay, here we go. The rooms are ready. And remember, the prompt is: How are you? How was this practice period for you? But really the process—the process of holding each other, holding yourself as if you're held by Mother Earth, and acknowledging everybody else is held in this compassion. See what it feels like. Okay, here we go.

## Q&A and Closing Thoughts

Great, so it'd be lovely to hear from you if you'd like to share reflections about your practice tonight, questions, comments, everything is welcome. The floor is yours. You can either comment or ask questions about the first part, the second part, take it away.

_Student:_ Nikki, when you said imagine yourself as a child running... to me that was the happiest moment of the happy hour today. Thank you. I just pictured myself running in the countryside or, you know, as a child riding my bike to school. Lovely.

_Nikki:_ Beautiful. Thanks for sharing that. I love that, and you know, again it's about skillful means, because we know how to be happy. We have all these felt memories, felt senses in our bodies. As adults, we lose our connection to happiness, to joy, and when you're a kid running around, you were happy for no reason. You're just running around, you're happy, right? And now remembering those memories, like, "Oh yeah, I can be happy for no reason," it's still accessible. So that is the beauty of it. Thanks for sharing that, it makes me happy to imagine you remembering having been happy as you can, running around, biking around the countryside. Very sweet, thank you.

_Nikki:_ Others? Anything is welcome.

_Michael:_ Hello, this is Michael. So Nina and Mike... I just feel really grateful because I thought the guided meditation was really beautiful, and I felt so calm and open and peaceful. And I must say I really loved the elements you've been bringing in, and the earth element was really grounding and you know, I felt very stable and rooted and full of joy. Lovely. So if you wouldn't mind, would you mind sharing where you got this beautiful elemental meditation?

_Nikki:_ I'm happy to share where I got it from: I totally made it up. It's all made up!

_Michael:_ Well, I find it very pleasant, and I'm even more grateful. I kind of thought it came from your heart. I thought maybe you got it from Mark Coleman or something, he's earthy, you know, all the elements.

_Nikki:_ Yeah, I started with the holy fire inspired by just some other practice... well, actually it's not even a practice, but anyway, I started with the idea of fire, and then when I did fire, it seemed like, "Wow, that was an element. Let's just do the other ones!" I don't think anyone has ever explored the elements with _metta_, so hey, let's just try and see how it goes, and I think it's worked out beautifully, so I might even develop it more.

_Michael:_ Well, thank you. Deep bows.

_Nikki:_ Thank you, Michael, it was really wonderful to have you checking in.

_Ali:_ Nikki, I just wanted to say I felt like my heart got closed—or black is a good way to put it—and then through the meditation and especially in the group sharing, I just felt this sense of safety and like my heart just opening and staying open. Yeah, I just love that feeling, so thank you for making it.

_Nikki:_ Oh, thank you so much for being here, practicing for yourself and for the sake of others, and sharing your beautiful experience of your heart opening through the practice, and through the safety of feeling held by others and holding others. Thank you. And Ali, am I saying your name correctly?

_Ali:_ Yeah.

_Nikki:_ Beautiful. And thank you Lisa, you just offered in chat: "The elemental offerings have been so powerful, each evoking something unique and unexpected." You're welcome, Lisa. Thank you for going for the ride and exploring.

_Neil:_ I just want to, as always, really appreciate the vulnerability and openness of my group, and also holding space. It's just so sweet to have that, and yeah, it means a lot.

_Nikki:_ Thank you, Neil, for naming that. Again, as Ali referred to it, just bringing up really a sense of safety and gratitude in the space that is co-created in these small groups and breakout rooms. How precious really it is to be held and hold oneself in others.

So with all that, may we all feel held, nourished, supported by Mother Earth, and may we all feel that we are an instrument of compassion of Mother Earth and share the goodness with others. May all beings be well. May all beings be free, including ourselves.

Thank you all, be well, take care. I see on Monday, tomorrow, Dan is doing his volume 2 on Monday. Bye. Thank you, bye. Bye Trudy.

---

[^1]: **Metta:** A Pali word commonly translated as "loving-kindness" or "goodwill."

[^2]: Original transcript said "past we career days", corrected to "past few days" based on context.

[^3]: Original transcript said "audio Darwin", corrected to "Audiodharma" (the audio archive for Insight Meditation Center) based on context.

[^4]: Original transcript said "Richard", corrected to "rigid" based on context.

[^5]: Original transcript said "solved", corrected to "soft" based on context.

[^6]: Original transcript said "all the soul it achieves", corrected to "all the solidity" based on context.

[^7]: Original transcript said "exam derocker's", corrected to "Alexander offers" based on Nikki's later reference to Alexander.

[^8]: Original transcript said "Ching Earth", corrected to "teaching on the earth" based on context.

[^9]: Original transcript said "pretty cat rolls", corrected to "breakout rooms" based on the context of moving into small Zoom groups.