Expansive Compassion

This is a full practice of compassion starting with offering to yourself and expanding to all beings in three different stages. Allow yourself to practice in a safe space and be aware of the feelings that can be overwhelming or take you away from the attention of the practice. Enjoy!

Transcript

So today what we're gonna do,

We're gonna practice compassion.

We're gonna continue adding compassion.

But now this time we're gonna expand the compassion practice to all the living beings.

In this case,

You can always offer compassion to someone else,

To yourself,

But again,

It can be to anything.

Areas,

Communities,

Countries,

The whole world.

This is the beauty about compassion.

There in the practice of meditation,

This is also known as one of the four immeasurables.

Joy,

Compassion,

Loving kindness,

And equanimity.

And all these virtues,

These four virtues are known as the four immeasurables,

Because this is a practice that it doesn't matter how many times you do it.

And it doesn't matter the value,

The virtue,

Like for instance,

Compassion.

You will never run out of compassion.

If you are practicing well with the wisdom,

This is a practice that you will never get sick.

You will never get tired of offering compassion.

This is one of the beauties of these virtues and also is known as immeasurable,

Because this is a practice that you can offer to an immeasurable number of living beings or people.

So again,

It doesn't matter if you need to know the person.

You can always spread this virtue to any person,

Any living being.

Let's begin with the practice.

All right,

We're going to take again our sit-up position.

Feel comfortable,

You want to take any other expression,

Cross-leg position.

Again,

In my case,

My feet are very close.

You can keep it separated.

Hips higher at the level of your knees,

Long spine,

And allow yourself again to maybe adjust.

It's okay if you need to wiggle a little bit the hips,

So you can find yourself sit bones on the ground,

Long spine.

And just take a couple of rounds of breath.

Start noticing your body.

Noticing your breath.

Noticing how you're feeling in this moment.

Maybe how is your body or your dead going through.

Maybe your mind.

Now whatever is happening in this moment,

Just allow yourself to find your space,

Find yourself comfortable,

And just inviting the space for your practice.

I will guide you through a gentle guided meditation,

And then we will continue doing this practice in silence.

So place your attention directly at the tip of your nose or through the experience of breathing in your body.

And I will remind you that at any moment you find yourself distracted,

Wondering,

Or if maybe the sensations of feeling of this practice,

Maybe,

Maybe overwhelming or just the feeling is too big that is taking your attention.

Just kindly,

I will remind you to bring your attention back to your breath.

Do it with compassion.

And with all the patience,

It doesn't matter how many times this happens.

Every single time,

Just do it kindly.

And let's begin.

20 minutes.

So we are going to take a moment for noticing our body.

Let's take a moment for grounding,

Centering.

You find yourself,

You have a hectic or maybe a day involved in many activities.

Maybe your brain is taking its time for slowing down.

So just notice your breath,

Taking a deep breath in,

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

Notice your breath.

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

And use your breath to soften your face,

Softening your eyebrows,

Your cheeks,

Lips,

Relaxing your face.

And continue noticing your body.

You find any discomfort in your body.

Allow yourself to adjust and you can do it softly or mindfully.

If you're moving,

You can always say,

I'm mindfully moving.

And when you're ready,

You can always come back to the practice.

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

So we begin the practice by allowing to experience compassion on our body first.

Once again,

You're holding a feeling in your body.

Ask yourself,

What am I feeling?

How am I feeling?

And also you can ask to yourself,

What do I need now in this moment?

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

You find yourself that your breath starts to shift,

Maybe with some tension,

Heaviness.

Just allow to breathe.

Expanding badly,

Exhaling,

Releasing,

Softening,

Letting it go.

Anything that just happened on your day or about to happen,

Any expectations.

Just come back and you can always settle the intention.

In this moment,

I'm filled with compassion.

In this moment,

I find myself present.

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

Sometimes we might feel ashamed,

Even in our minds,

Of asking what we need.

And it can be anything.

Maybe you want to express yourself.

Maybe you want to be heard.

Maybe you need something else.

Important thing is to just be open and true.

True to yourself.

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

It might happen that there might be elements around you that is going to break the balance,

Your attention,

And even your space,

Sounds,

Elements around you that it can be out of your control.

An important thing is to notice how are you reacting.

Is this with frustration,

Anger,

Validated,

Tension.

Anything that it can come in your experience,

Past experience,

But mostly what happens in your mind.

And it's okay.

You're always free and you're human to feel what you're feeling.

It's okay to feel upset.

It's okay to feel sad sometimes.

But how we react,

How we respond,

Is always in our control.

You can do it through aggression or you can do it through compassion.

Anger fixed by anger is not the answer.

But anger using compassion,

It can be healed.

So let's take this moment for spreading that feeling that you're having in this moment for yourself.

To any person.

Any person that comes to your mind.

Maybe the first person that comes to your mind is going to be a loving being,

A friend,

Family member,

Someone suffering.

So just take this moment for just sending this awareness and intention for releasing that suffering.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be free of suffering.

And may you live in peace.

Through the practice of compassion,

We're able to send intention of liberation,

Releasing suffering.

And sometimes,

We are loving beings,

We want with all our power to release that suffering.

And sometimes that's out of our control.

So if at any moment you have that experience,

You can always come back and offer to yourself compassion.

Just as I'm doing my best.

I'm working with the elements and my power,

My resources to do this a better world.

I am enough.

And now we're going to expand the feeling of compassion,

This virtue,

To a person that you barely know.

Once again,

He can be maybe a neighbor,

A friend,

A friend,

A friend,

A friend,

A friend.

He can be someone that you haven't heard in a while.

He can be someone in the supermarket.

He can be someone as a co-worker.

Any person that comes to your mind that you barely know.

So take this moment for just sending that intention to that person.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy,

Free of illness.

May you be happy,

Free of illness.

May you be healthy,

Free of illness.

May you be free of suffering.

And may you live at peace.

The intention that you send to your loving being or friend,

Send it to that person that you barely know.

Offering kindness,

Offering presence,

Offering compassion for the liberation of their suffering.

And now we're going to continue sending compassion now to a person that is very difficult.

Maybe someone aggressive and it can be a person that you know.

You always have one person there in your mind.

It can be your last experience with someone difficult.

Anything that it just brought you out of balance.

And take a moment for noticing your body.

You find yourself maybe with some resistance,

Some tension.

Just notice your body and take a moment for just taking a couple deep breaths of breath.

Inhaling and exhaling.

And pay attention where is that tension?

Where is that discomfort?

And just soften.

Soften that area.

There is no need for you to hold that.

Just take one last deep breath,

Inhaling.

Exhale,

Releasing.

And when you're ready,

We're going to offer the same compassion with the same intensity as someone that you love.

Because that person is suffering even more.

It can be the personal lives.

It can be in their own minds.

It can be anything else.

And every living being deserves happiness.

Take a deep breath,

Inhaling.

And through your exhalation,

Send that intention to that person.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy,

Free of illness.

May you be free of suffering.

And may you live in peace.

You find yourself with some resistance.

Take a deep breath,

Inhaling.

And once again repeat it,

Make it truthful with intention.

May you be happy.

May you be free of suffering.

May you be healthy.

And may you live in peace.

And continue noticing the experience in your body,

Noticing your breath.

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

Gently,

We're going to start opening our eyes.

Do it softly.

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Gracias Helena ❤️