We started our weekly Metta Circle on Thursday evening, in Bishop Lloyd's Palace in Chester. If our Scottish friend Jinavamsa has his Red Table , we now have our Red Carpet! - a lovely Persian rug covering the floor in the room we're hiring. The Metta Circle feels like something between an informal Japanese Tea Ceremony and a Sufi Circle, so the Persian rug fits in perfectly! We start by sitting close in a circle, tea pot in the centre, and have tea and talk informally. Then we light a candl...e and have 20 mins guided metta (love) meditation. After that we have a thoughtful discussion, linking to the heart, on some theme of love or interconnectedness in daily life. We end with 10 minutes silent meditation and a little gentle chanting "sabbe satta sukhi hontu" - "may all beings be happy". It's a simple format, not too long, and it seems to work well. I like to finish with a simplified version of the Rose Breath prayer from the Mevlevi tradition:

May this moment be blessed
May goodness be opened and may darkness be dispelled
May our hearts be strengthened with love...