Date/Time
Date(s): Apr. 5 - Apr. 19
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm (Wednesdays)

**This is a Zoom class **

In this class, we will explore the practice of lovingkindness meditation (also known as metta).  Lovingkindness meditation involves connecting to the intention to wish ourselves and/or others happiness and well-being.  When we practice lovingkindness, we focus on developing feelings of goodwill, warmth, and kindness towards ourselves and others.  Research shows that the cultivation of these feelings can benefit us in a variety of ways – from promoting healing and positive emotions to improving our emotional intelligence and felt sense of connection.  

In this class, we’ll explore lovingkindness meditation by first extending it to ourselves, then outward into the world in ever-widening circles of care. 

Teacher bio:

Allyson Pimentel, Ed.D., Co-Director of Mindful USC 

Allyson Pimentel is a psychologist and long-time insight meditation practitioner and teacher who works at the intersections of mindfulness, mental health, education, and social justice. Dr. Pimentel has been teaching mindfulness in university, medical, secular and spiritual settings, as well as in private clinical psychology practice for nearly twenty years. Formerly, she was the training director of the Mind-Body Psychiatry Clinic at NYU-Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City, Associate Director of UCLA Campus & Student Resilience, and Program Director of Mindful UCLA. 

Dr. Pimentel holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. She has completed numerous professional mindfulness training programs in the Vipassana/Insight meditation tradition and also is a registered yoga teacher. 

In addition to her work with Mindful USC, Dr. Pimentel teaches at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) and at Insight LA, where she serves on the Board of Directors. She loves sharing the practice of mindfulness meditation as a tool for transformation, connection, well-being, wisdom, and individual and collective liberation.