Hello everyone,
It's a privilege to run this next session for you.
This session we're going to explore compassion.
There's a few things I just wanted to mention.
We might contemplate and then we'll do a meditation.
Meister Eckhart quote truly,
It is in the darkness that one finds the light.
So when we are in sorrow,
Then this light is nearest of all to us.
This opportunity to just to explore the fact that if you are human,
You are at some stage going to encounter obstacles of some form.
And that these obstacles can be a pathway into deeper seeing,
Healing,
And perhaps into a greater sense of sacred presence.
That is a really innate quality of presence is compassion.
That when we are truly present,
We can just naturally feel with another,
Or even our own experience.
That doorway,
You know,
The sense of separation can fall away and we can almost merge with the challenge or the other so that we really do literally feel what's being experienced.
We're sensing what's there.
And that does take courage.
It's not easy.
It takes courage and those other qualities of presence,
Patience and love and understanding.
You know,
These are all innate to presence and presence is innate to us.
But of course,
It's not always easy to feel that compassion.
I know I certainly feel like I've been working on being more compassionate because I don't always feel like I have easy access to it.
So it's interesting to ask the question,
You know,
What gets in the way?
What blocks that?
And for me,
I think the sense of presence of being,
You know,
The ability to observe or to sense,
To notice without the layer of evaluation that can naturally occur,
You know,
The sense of I'm judging what I'm observing.
It's good or bad.
I like it or I don't like it,
Which is very much an activity of our survival brain.
You know,
That happens because it's our survival brain is trying to keep us safe and trying to keep us protected.
You know,
I don't like that.
I don't want that.
That's bad.
You know,
It's a protection mechanism.
And yet we also have the capacity with our our higher brain function,
Our neocortex to soothe that survival brain.
And I love in in the Aboriginal people of the Adelaide Plains,
The Kaurna people,
I understand,
In their language,
They don't have a word for welcome.
And so instead,
When they greet someone,
They say,
Ninamani or something similar to that,
Which translates as it's good that you came.
And I find that so inspiring as a way to engage the compassion that is naturally here to help to soothe my where I judge or where I think something's bad.
I try and push it away or I avoid pain or suffering.
And so we move into a meditation as it might be something to play with.
So this sense of like,
It's good that you're here or if that's too much of a stretch,
Even it's OK that you're here.
You know,
In the sense of really turning towards our experience and kind of welcoming it.
And I think even if we have to fake it till we make it,
It can become something that gets easier with practice,
Like everything,
Right?
And we'll try this in the meditation.
It's interesting to see what happens when we notice something,
Say,
Within ourselves that we really want to get rid of.
We don't like it.
What happens if we actually turn towards it and lean into those obstacles or those challenges and say to it as sincerely as we can,
It's OK that you're here.
It's good that you're here.
And when we do that,
We're not doing that with an agenda.
We're not trying to change it or get rid of it or fix it.
It's just this compassionate presence that is just the nature just to be with anything without any separation.
One more thing that I find helps me is this notion of dropping my mind into my heart.
So this not being like a cognitive process I'm trying to think my way through,
I understand,
But to let your heart lead you.
And again,
That vulnerability,
That courage to feel,
To be with,
To be present with whatever is there.
All these wonderful teachers of compassion,
You know,
They point to what we probably all know that the way out is through.
And there is so much wisdom and light and healing to be gained from from kindly and lovingly and compassionately facing our challenges and obstacles.
One more quality I think curiosity helps.
Bringing that sense of curious curiosity.
What is this?
I think that's maybe enough to say.
And let's,
Let's move into a practice.
Now that the beautiful rain is here,
We can ground with the sound of rain.
So feel free to lie down if you prefer to get really comfortable.
Taking your time to find a comfortable position.
Let it be a nurturing position,
Supporting your body.
While also finding a dignified posture.
Allowing your spine to be relatively straight.
Your limbs and body balanced.
Of course,
Knowing you can move and adjust your,
Yourself,
Your clothing,
Your blankets,
Your posture at any stage.
And just as you're settling in,
Beginning to really feel the contact your body is making with the support beneath you.
That's really noticing the weight of your head if it rests on the floor or on a pillow.
The sense of pressure down your back.
The top of your back,
Your shoulders,
Your middle back,
If that's resting on something.
Your lower back,
Hips,
Your buttocks,
Your legs.
Feel the weight of your legs on whatever they rest.
All the way down to your feet.
Notice the parts of your feet that are resting on the floor.
Just feeling the whole of your body with gravity,
Just resting here on the solid and stable floor.
And allow your body to relax into the floor.
And you might sense your connection to the earth beneath the floor.
Sensing this great earth.
And perhaps just pausing to just appreciate the earth that sustains you and houses you.
Provides this cleansing rain.
The beauty of nature.
Perhaps sending a sincere thank you if that feels right for you down to the earth.
And drawing up anything if you wish,
Receiving anything from the earth you feel you need right now.
And then when you're ready,
Letting your attention just gently rise back up into your body and then just gently scanning through your body and all the way to the top of your head.
And just pausing for a moment to attend to your connection upwards to the air and weather and the sun,
The stars and the universe.
Perhaps a sense of a sincere thank you for the air you breathe,
The sun that provides life and light on the planet,
The cleansing rain for your place in the solar system.
And then when you're ready,
Just gently letting your attention fall back down into your body and perhaps if you like this sense of dropping your mind all the way down into your heart,
Into your heart space and just sensing your presence here,
Sensing your body breathing,
Just feeling the inflow and the outflow of your breath.
And perhaps just resting back in this spacious presence that you are,
Knowing you can always just gently return back to your breath and and back to that sense of your presence,
Aware of your breath any time you find you get lost or distracted.
And just opening to your senses when you're ready,
Your sense of hearing,
Noticing the gentle sound of the rain,
Noticing what is hearing the rain,
Your presence,
And perhaps noticing that that presence and the sound of the rain are intimately one.
And opening to notice any other sounds,
And noticing any aromas in the air,
Any tastes in your mouth,
Staying open to the sounds and the smells and the tastes as you also feel your skin,
The touch of your clothing,
The air on your skin,
Your blankets or anything else that you're touching.
Noticing the aliveness here,
The vibrancy,
The vibration,
The sensations of temperature and pressure,
Subtle movement,
And including your inner body in your meditation,
Beginning to notice the sensations you feel inside your body,
Noticing thoughts and emotional feelings too.
And perhaps just taking a slightly finer look as you narrow your focus and just really feel the top of your head from the inside out,
And just letting everything be just as it is,
Like the spacious presence allows equally for all experience,
Just noticing and allowing whatever sensations or thoughts or feelings to be just as they are,
As you let this courageous,
Curious,
And kind attention just gently flow down through your head,
Just lovingly noticing whatever sensations or thoughts or feelings arise as you just gently scan down through your neck,
Becoming aware of how your shoulders are feeling,
Sensing the aliveness in your arms,
Upper and lower arms,
And all the way down into your hands,
And feeling the life inside your fingers,
And bringing this gentle,
Kind attention into your torso,
And gently moving through your torso from the top down through your chest,
Feeling your heart beating,
Your body breathing,
As you take your time to scan down through your stomach area,
Your hip and pelvis,
Feeling the tingling,
Pulsing vibrations in your legs,
Your upper legs,
Knees and lower legs,
Your feet,
Your toes,
And just pausing to feel the sensations along the soles of your feet,
Perhaps noticing that this same spacious presence is aware of the sensation at the soles of your feet and the sound of the rain on the roof,
At the same time,
All held and observed in the one spacious presence,
And taking in your whole body,
Your whole body alive,
Pulsing,
Tingling,
Life,
Energy,
Surging,
All held in this still,
Silent,
Spacious presence,
This presence doesn't resist anything,
It has no preference,
It remains equally open to all experience.
And if you like,
You might just like to turn towards your experience,
To gently move towards any subtle resistance or any subtle sense of I don't like this,
I want to get rid of this or fix this,
And perhaps turn to that experience and say to it,
It's okay that you're here,
Perhaps exploring either your outer perceptions or your inner thoughts or feelings or sensations,
Just allowing whatever arises from this place of presence,
And turning,
Leaning into it,
Turning towards it,
And saying to it,
It's okay that you're here,
It's good that you're here,
And see how that unfolds.
There's no need to force anything,
Just relaxing into it and being kind and gentle with yourself,
Exploring your experience and noticing any subtle resistance or sense of avoidance or wish to get rid of anything,
Or change or fix anything,
And instead welcome it,
Greet it,
Say yes to it,
It's good that you're here.
Whatever is here,
Pain or tension in the body,
Unpleasant thoughts or uncomfortable emotions,
Notice the very natural instinct to try to get rid of these things,
To push them away or to avoid them,
And instead gently move towards the experience and the resistance to both of them,
Let them know it's okay that they're here,
Allowing the natural courage and compassion of that presence to arise.
And if there's anything you would like to do,
Release,
To let this cleansing rain gently wash away for you,
Returning it to the earth for recycling and regeneration,
You might like to sense that that too is possible,
Letting this rain help you release and wash away anything that no longer serves you,
Anything you wish to let go of,
Perhaps following the flow of your breath again whenever you're ready,
Just feeling the inflow and the outflow,
And then just noticing how you are feeling now,
There's any shifts or changes that you feel mentally,
Physically,
Emotionally,
Feeling yourself as that spacious presence,
And just re-grounding yourself again,
Feeling the floor beneath you and sensing the earth beneath the floor,
Holding you up.
And at this stage,
If you would like to stay here where you are for a time longer,
Please do,
If you would like to perhaps remind yourself of where you are,
The room that you are in,
And very gently reawaken to the room,
And perhaps grab your journal if you wish to do some journaling,
Or you might like to just mindfully and gently move around,
Really honoring whatever it is you feel is right for you right now.
