Can compassion serve as an antidote to the judgmental messages in our hyper-capitalist society?

Told we must justify our worth, we begin clinging to self-righteousness and perceive the world through only our physical senses. Metta practice disrupts this energy that keeps us emotionally stuck. It allows us to see the interconnectedness of all conditioned things and realize that we can’t truly take credit for our accomplishments that depend on so many others around us.

In this talk, Kevin explores the benefits of engaging in metta practice, including:

• Addressing negative internal voices and judgment
• Developing more capacity for seeing things as they are
• Bringing comfort and humility from the cushion out into the world

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Kevin Martin, aka Thando, is a Vipassana meditation teacher with a decade of experience. He learned metta practice from his teacher’s insight and cherishes witnessing life’s aspects others fear experiencing. Thando’s teaching philosophy is that life is our best teacher, and we should continually transform through cycles of death and life. His teaching style is practical and adapts to the student’s understanding.

Thando means Love in Xhosa, a South African culture and language. While studying abroad in South Africa as a college student in 2009, Thando received his name from a Xhosa elder who identified ‘love’ as a virtue that would be his lifelong call to action. Since the passing of his elder, Thando has taken this name as a lifelong commitment.