I really enjoyed Sharon Salzburg's introduction to the Buddhist metta practice, Lovingkindness Meditation. This is more of an education/explanation of metta than guided meditation sessions (i.e., she does not have long, substantive, discrete meditation sessions, but works brief examples into her explanation), but I found the explanation so good that it gave me an excellent intro to metta, which I subsequently felt like I could practice on my own. In fact, I had an interesting and symbolic dream about a mentor/benefactor figure the same night I had tried out the metta practice and included him, so it seemed the meditation reached my subconscious too!

Ms. Salzburg's presentation is detailed, conversational in style, and easily accessible to Westerners without seeming like a simplification, sentimentalization, or co-opting of the original practice. Her examples and stories given along the way make metta seem doable and practical and not like some overly idealized level of compassion that is impossible for many of us to reach. The Sounds True website has sound samples of this work (and many of their other authors' CDs and cassettes), something Amazon should be doing as well. Highly recommended.

The Inspirational Sharon Salzberg does a beautiful gentle talk and meditation all about love and living. I noticed a difference in the way I felt about life after listening to it only one time. It is an important tool for meditation and an awakened happy life. You won't be sorry to own this one.