Living with kindness retreat recordings
From the urban retreat January 2025
This page will contain links to recordings of each session as they become available. Check back and refresh this page throughout the retreat to catch up on any sessions you miss.
We'll do our best to get these recordings available as soon as possible after each session, but we're a small team of mostly volunteers so allow us a little grace.
Karaniya metta sutta in Pali by Arthamitra
Saturday 18 January
Begins with an intro to the team members: Ratnavyuha, Vidyamala, Sona and Suvarnadhi.
At 6.14 Sona leads a reflective practice 'Why am I here?'
At 24.35 Vidyamala leads a round of introductions - we hear from everyone why they're doing this retreat
At 50 minutes in, Vidyamala leads a meditation practice themed around kindness, followed by some enquiry.
At 1.48.38 Suvarnadhi explains the programme for the week (in under 10 mins)
Sunday 19 January
Passcode for both videos is: MettaSutta25*
Morning session recording here (Zoom cloud)
- Short talk and mindfulness of breathing meditation led by Ratnavyuha at the start
- Vidyamala introduces us to the sutta at 57 minutes in
Afternoon session recording here (Zoom cloud)
- Body Scan led by Suvarnadhi starts 2 minutes in
- Sutta recitation, mantra and short metta practice led by Suvarnadhi starts 27 minutes in
(In between we were in small group discussions.)
Monday 20 January
Morning meditation led by Ratnavyuha - Passcode: MettaSutta25*
Lunchtime movement and reflection practice with Sona - Passcode: MettaSutta25*
Evening talk from Suvarnadhi on the ethics verses
Tuesday 21 January
Morning meditation - apologies, this session was accidentally not recorded
Lunchtime movement and reflection practice - Passcode: MettaSutta25*
- Sona leads 10 minutes of mindful movement
- Vidyamala talks on metta as an intention as opposed to a feeling. If we imagine we should be experiencing blissful feelings, many of us will feel a sense of failure in the practice. Metta practice can be a real work-out, and the important thing is to orient our minds towards responding more and more kindly.
- Vidyamala leads a reflective metta practice, encouraging us to reflect on the choice points in our day so far and set our intentions for the remainder of the day
- Vidyamala leads a short period of inquiry
Evening talk on the practice verses of the sutta from Sona, followed by a guided practice of the metta bhavana
Wednesday 22 January
Morning meditation - metta bhavana from Sona & we begin with a poem read by Vidyamala - Passcode: MettaSutta25*
Lunchtime movement with Sona and reflection practice with Suvarnadhi - Passcode: MettaSutta25*
Evening talk from Vidyamala on the expansion and mindfulness verses, followed by a short guided practice.
Vidyamala's Powerpoint presentation on the expansion verses
Thursday 23 January
Morning meditation with Sona, beginning with Priya reading her poem on metta - Passcode: MettaSutta25*
Lunchtime mindful movement with Sona, and a guided body scan into metta with Vidyamala
Evening talk from Ratnavyuha on the final wisdom verse, followed by a short guided reflective practice
Friday 24 January
Closing session of the retreat
- mindful movement with Sona, followed by a guided reflection from Vidyamala and a puja led by Suvarnadhi