---
ai_generation_date: '2026-09-18'
ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview
audiodharma:
  talks:
    - date: '2020-09-07'
      mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/12066/20200907-Nikki_Mirghafori-IMC-happy_hour_embodied_receptive_metta.mp3
      speakers:
        - speaker_name: Nikki Mirghafori
          speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/229
      talk_start_time_seconds: 0
      title: 'Happy Hour: Embodied Receptive Metta'
      url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12066
      video_unavailable: false
location_city: Redwood City, CA
video_unavailable: false
youtube:
  id: YxhhOvsyCE0
  imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04'
  title: 'Happy Hour: Embodied Receptive Metta'
  upload_date: null
  uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center
  uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter
youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxhhOvsyCE0
---

# Happy Hour: Embodied Receptive Metta - [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: Embodied Receptive Metta](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12066)

## Introduction: The Importance of Embodiment

Oh, great. Welcome, warm welcome—or a hot welcome from Northern California—from all of you. I am very, very glad you're joining us, joining each other for this period of practice.

For today's practice together, I'd like us to bring more attention to embodiment. How important embodiment is: feeling the body, receiving the body, being in the body. Receiving the metta[^1] in the body. The idea of embodiment is so important. We don't do this practice in our head, and if we try to think about it too much, if it gets too heady, it becomes disconnected. It's really a body-based practice.

In fact, I regret that _sati_[^2] has often been translated as "mindfulness." When you think of "mind" in the West—actually around the world—we think of the mind as the head. I wish it had been translated as "body-fullness." It is an embodied presence.

What I'd like to emphasize today in the guided meditation, just to give you a heads-up, is this sense of embodiment. Being in the body while we cultivate goodwill and friendliness. While we receive a sense of friendliness and goodwill, both the receiving and also the giving are really embodied. I bring that into our practices every single time, but today I want to really highlight it for you to get a sense of how rich, how deeply healing we can feel when we are embodied. Not in our thoughts, not in our head, not disconnected.

So with that, I'm going to actually invite you right now, before we get into our meditation postures, to feel your body as you are watching. Feel the bottom of your feet on the floor if you're sitting in a chair, connecting to the earth. Feel your sit bones, your bottom contacting the cushion. Feel your belly while you have your eyes open. In a moment we'll close our eyes, but while you have your eyes open, can you still feel these parts of your body? Be embodied. Feel your abdomen receiving the breath. And still, as you were looking at me a minute ago, still look, still listen, still receive, and feel your body. Maybe feel your hands.

It's not very hard, is it? It takes a little bit of attention, but it's not very complicated. You can feel your body and still receive. You can still feel your body, breathe, and listen. It's not very complicated, it just takes practice and remembering. I'm trying to demonstrate that it doesn't take too much effort to be embodied. It's not, "Oh, I'm going to feel my belly while I listen to Nikki." There is a sense of ease. Yes, you can feel your belly and still listen. It's well within our human capacity to do this. Just feel your feet, feel your hands, and listen.

Embodiment is not difficult; just remembering to be embodied is like _sati_, awareness or mindfulness. It is not very difficult, just remembering to be aware. Awareness of the body is the basis. It is really the first foundation of mindfulness in the Satipatthana Sutta[^3]. These are very basic and important teachings of the Buddha. The first foundation, the first establishment, is the body. The body is so important. It's not as if you have advanced and now we're going to go back to the body. No, it's so important that I continue to practice mindfulness of the body. It is the basis of everything else. You can never have enough mindfulness of the body.

Today we'll do this wonderful, nourishing, advanced practice of mindfulness of the body. We will bring more awareness to it while we cultivate goodness, goodwill, and friendliness.

## Guided Meditation

With that, I would like to invite you, if you wish, to move, shift, and get into your meditation posture. You may need to sit up more straight, or you might need to lie down. See what your body needs in this moment in time.

Landing and settling. Landing. Feeling. Receiving the sensations of the body. Starting to land, arrive, as if you were opening up. As if every cell of your body is opening up. I have this image of gentle flowers opening up.

Inviting your sense of awareness first for the center of gravity to be lowered. The center of your awareness to be lowered from your head, down into your chest, down into your abdomen, and into your sit bones. Becoming aware as if there was an elevator shaft—the elevator coming down, awareness coming down. As it comes down, there's a sense of brightness, an alignment in your torso. This verticality that you feel throughout your body. A verticality through your torso. A sense of alignment.

Feeling the sense of alignment in the body from your head, your torso, all the way down to your feet. Now, with this sense of verticality as the awareness is brought down to your abdomen, to your sit bones, landing more deeply into your sit bones. Inviting all parts of your body to relax, soften, and open up. Open up and offer any tension or weight they have.

Relax your face, your forehead, your jaw, your eyes, your chin, your cheeks. Your neck and shoulders, let them relax. Offering up any tension. Melting, relaxing, softening the chest, the abdomen, the sit bones, groin area, upper legs, knees, and feet. Your arms, your hands, your whole body. With every out-breath, softening, relaxing, and turning the gaze inward.

To feel. To receive the breath. As if your abdomen was an organ of perception, an organ of awareness. Not in your head, but your abdomen, your belly, receiving the breath. And every breath that's received in the abdomen, the other sensations become more alive. The whole abdomen becomes enriched with more awareness in the front, the back, the left side, the right side, all around, below, above, within, internally. Coming alive with awareness of all the sensations. Sparkling with awareness of sensations.

Now your chest also, as the breath moves naturally, received through your abdomen and your chest. Coming alive with sensations, awareness back, front, left, right, above, below. Your whole trunk. So much aliveness, so much sensation, vitality.

Now the head also, neck, shoulders, and the head, added to the trunk. As the breath is received in-breath and out-breath, the whole upper body: the abdomen, chest, neck, shoulders, head, arms, and hands. Filled with sensation. The whole upper body receiving the breath, as if the whole upper body is an organ of sensation, an organ of perception. All parts feeling enlivened.

And now receiving the breath sensations in the lower part of the body. Your sit bones, your legs, your feet added to the whole body. Your whole body: your feet, your abdomen, your sit bones, your head, your shoulders, your hands, and arms, receiving the breath. The whole body an organ of perception.

Now let the breath be just as it is. You don't need to breathe any harder, any deeper. Just as it is. Let the breath be natural, the body simply aware of whatever is arising. The sensitive organ of perception receiving, sparkling with sensation, with awareness throughout.

Spending a few moments with this relaxed, soft body, just enjoying, taking delight, and receiving the breath. Receiving each in-breath and out-breath, this nourishing gift, this life-giving gift, every moment. Receiving it with every cell of your body with appreciation, a delight, with gratitude. As if you're a newborn whose umbilical cord was just cut and you were taking your very first breaths for the first time. This entire body receiving this organ of perception. Each breath life-giving, calming, soothing.

Each breath received by every cell of your body. Receiving it with your abdomen, receiving it with your hands, with your forehead. This gift. As if each breath being received is a smile from the universe. As if each breath is a message of goodwill that's received by every cell of your body. Your forehead receiving the goodwill, receiving it gratefully. As if the universe threw this breath wishing you well. Receiving the benevolence, the goodwill, the metta.

If thoughts arise—a lot of thinking—it's okay, it happens. It's part of this practice. Without any judgment, inviting the thoughts without getting entangled in them. Inviting the thinking to also receive, to be part of this receiving of metta. As if you were all held: you, the thoughts, every cell of your body, whatever is arising, all held in goodwill and benevolence. Goodwill, benevolence all around you, all through you.

Just receiving it with every cell of your body, not getting in your own way. There are so many perspectives and thoughts you can have. Choosing for this moment, only for this moment as an experiment to take on, choosing to consider benevolence all around. The gift given to you freely, for you to receive. There's nothing you have to do to deserve it, just because you exist. You're a human being on this earth, in this life, in this mystery which we don't quite understand. It's offered to you freely. Receive the gift. This life-giving breath. Every cell, appreciation.

See what happens if you hang in here, receiving with appreciation for a little while. See how things can shift and open up.

And for the last few moments of this practice period, letting go of any outcome, of any expectations. You set your aspirations for planting seeds of embodiment and metta, without attachment to outcome. Trusting you have planted seeds, and appreciating yourself for having done so. Deeply appreciating yourself for having shown up, aligning your actions with your intentions to wake up, to be kinder, wiser in this life. Receiving your own appreciation and goodwill, regardless of what happened or did not happen.

Thank you all for your practice.

## Reflections on Receiving Metta

What we did today is both an emphasis on the embodiment—on feeling the body—and receiving with the body. There are always two parts to metta, to this practice of cultivation. There is the receiving, and then there is giving. Many times we don't separate those pieces out, especially for compassion and metta for self. When we're doing, "May I be safe, may I be happy, may I be well," we're both giving and receiving at the same time. They are two different things.

What I've found teaching it for many years is that sometimes actually receiving is harder than giving. It's easier to give, especially when it's to others, but receiving it is harder. So what we emphasized tonight was just receiving. We didn't even try to give so much, except for at the very end—appreciation, metta, goodwill for ourselves—but just receiving with this idea of the benevolent universe.

One more thing I want to say about that is to consider the teachings by Albert Einstein. He said the most important decision we can make in our attitude is whether the universe is a friendly place or not. If we decide that it's an unfriendly place, then we do everything we can to protect ourselves, and essentially we end up destroying it and each other. If we decide that God is throwing dice—so it's neither benevolent nor ill and unsafe—then we just live randomly, and a sense of nihilism arises. But most importantly, he said if we decide that it's a benevolent universe, then the way we relate to it becomes very, very different.

It's a choice we can make. It's an absolute choice that we can make to decide our perspective, how we see the universe. If we see the universe as more friendly, as I was suggesting with the gift of the breath, there's a sense of safety, calmness, and soothing that we feel in our hearts and mind, which we then can offer to others. Other people can feel safe in our presence. The sense of safety, the sense of benevolence, can actually be recycled from our perspective.

## Q&A and Participant Reflections

You are welcome to unmute yourself if you wish or type it in chat if you have comments and questions.

Mary Christine says, "In the face of adversity, this is hard."

It is, it can be challenging. We do this practice in order to wake up, in order to have a wiser perspective. It's so easy to crumble and have an adversarial perspective that doesn't really support the big picture. The big picture doesn't support anyone because we can get stuck in the moment-to-moment adversity that seems to be challenging us in the moment. But with a bigger perspective of what this humanity is about, we practice not getting stuck in the adversity of moment to moment.

Other reflections, questions, comments, please. Anything you'd like to comment on, how was the experience of receiving?

Mary Christine also offers, "I was able to go deeper than usual." Lovely, I'm delighted to hear that.

Kim offers, "Nourishment." Beautiful, thank you.

"Relaxing," Bill offers. Thank you, Bill.

"For me also felt very deeply nourishing and healing with receiving with every cell of the body," Megan offers. "I think that was the first formal meditation I've done that included the word _sparkle_. I loved that. Felt connected to inner light."

Oh, I love it! I don't think I've used that word before, Megan, but there can be a sense of _sparkle_. I lead meditations—if you guys have noticed by now—from my own experience. As I'm getting into these spaces, I'm inviting you to come with me. I was feeling sparkliness throughout the cells of my body receiving this energy, receiving the breath, receiving this aliveness, and it felt really jubilant. So hence, sparkle!

Nav says, "Aspiring to aspire, not expect." I love that. Doing for the sake of doing, not expecting. Thank you, Nav, I appreciate you aspiring to aspire, not expect. Yes, to practice to work with our aspirations versus expectations. Lovely.

We also have comments and appreciations from YouTube. Thank you all for joining us on YouTube. Quite lovely to have folks joining us on YouTube also from different parts of the world.

Yuka offers, "When I was able to receive and give, like insects and animals, I was very relieved to be part of nature. Thank you for the love."

Oh, that's beautiful. I love you sharing your practice, a sense of giving and receiving like insects and animals, part of nature. There's a naturalness in metta that you're describing, being part of nature. This body is nature. We are nature; we're not apart from nature. This body is nature, this mind is nature. It's all nature. Thank you, Yuka, for your beautiful reflection.

## Breakout Groups: Embodied Conversation

How about we take this sense of embodiment, so let's come back to our bodies. As you're listening to me, as you're holding yourself, and as you're holding both me and others—you can be in a gallery view to see others if you wish on Zoom. As we get into small groups, have this sense of embodiment in your body, receiving metta, sitting in this field of metta with others.

In a moment as you enter the room with them, if it's appropriate for you to join, feel embodied receiving their words and speaking feeling embodied. That's first and foremost. If you lose the embodiment, just stop talking. Stop talking and get back into your body. Other people will know, and they'll smile, and they'll appreciate it. This is a practice of embodiment with metta. Whatever you say about how your practice was, hold that with metta. It doesn't matter if you say, "I fell asleep," "I didn't like it," or "I loved it." It's about inspiration, not expectation, not results.

So showing up with embodiment, see what that might feel like. You might have to keep stopping after every word to get embodied, but practice that encompasses a conversation. Where else do you get the chance to practice it with other people who know what the heck you're doing? Like, "Okay wait, I lost it. Okay, feeling my belly, feeling my feet. Okay, now I can talk. Oh, lost it again."

Try that. See how fun that might be, and know everybody's holding you with metta anyway, and hold yourself with metta. Let's try that. If you're on the fence still, I suggest you try it on unless you absolutely cannot join because of other obligations, which is completely understandable. I'm creating the breakout rooms, and I'm going to open them here. Here we go, everyone.

## Post-Breakout Reflections

Okay, the rooms are closed and everyone is back. Just as I promised, I have the quote from Albert Einstein. I'll put it in the chat for you to save and read later.

Reflections? What was it like to speak and share with others while you were embodied after this practice? Please unmute yourself, we'd love to hear from you. We have a couple of minutes.

**Bill:** "It's hard to fight the forces of habit. I had to keep reminding myself to be physically present, and didn't always remember."

**Nikki:** And when you did remember, when you were physically present when you talked, what was that like? Did you notice anything about your state of mind?

**Bill:** "Mostly noticing my body. I'm not sure if I have any good answers here."

**Nikki:** It's good, it's a practice. When we cultivate this practice of being embodied, we realize that when we're anxious, when we're nervous, when we're sad, we notice all these things. Not only do we notice what's happening here, but we also resonate much more readily with other people, instead of being in our heads trying to decide what the next thing we're going to say is. Much more receptive.

**Participant:** "That's what I was going to say. I felt a much greater sense of connectedness to the other people in the group than I would have before it started."

**Nikki:** Great, thank you for sharing that. You noticed there was a greater sense of connection that came from the embodiment. Any other observations or questions?

**Claire:** "What is the primary purpose of being receptive this way? You probably already said it and I just didn't get it."

**Nikki:** Being embodied serves many different purposes, but very quickly: when you are embodied, there's a sense that you're holding presence with another person. You're not just in your head. Just try this for a moment. Feel your whole body and feel what it's like to hold presence right now for this being that is speaking with you. You're much more _here_. You're offering a lot. Do you feel it? If you were not present in your body, it would just be thinking.

Your whole body can serve as an antenna. Imagine if you had this huge five-foot or seven-foot antenna versus a tiny little antenna. Your whole body is your tuning fork. You're tuning into yourself, into others.

So wonderful, lovely to practice with you all. We could talk a lot more and explore this later, but it is 7:01, so let's stop. Thank you all for your practice, for joining, for supporting yourself, supporting each other.

May you all be well, safe, happy, and free. May all beings everywhere be happy and free. Thank you everyone. See you next time!

---

[^1]: **Metta:** A Pali word often translated as loving-kindness, goodwill, or friendliness.

[^2]: **Sati:** A Pali word usually translated as mindfulness, awareness, or presence of mind.

[^3]: **Satipatthana Sutta:** The Buddha's foundational discourse on the establishing of mindfulness, focusing on the body, feelings, mind, and dhammas (phenomena).