Hi there.
Welcome to this meditation on suffering and compassion.
Take a moment to find a comfortable seat.
By seat,
You could be laying down,
You could be seated in a chair,
Or you could be seated cross-legged on your yoga mat.
However your body is oriented,
Take a moment to soften through the muscular system of the body.
And if it feels comfortable for you,
Close your eyes,
And if not,
Leave your eyelids slightly open.
And if your eyelids are open,
Soften the little muscles around your eyes,
And let your eyes,
Your focus,
Get a little soft and hazy and blurry.
Find your breath.
Wherever it is,
Find your breath.
And notice and observe where you're feeling your breath most dominantly at this moment.
Is it in your chest?
Is it in your head?
Is it in your belly?
Notice and observe without any judgment at all.
And then begin to sense a deepening of your breath.
Let your breath come down a little deeper into the body.
And feel your body become broad with breath.
And observe your awareness,
Noticing the breath,
Maybe spilling into the front body.
Sense if you can expand your attention to your back body and your side bodies.
So the breath is moving out 360 degrees,
Out in all directions.
And become aware to of your exhale.
Let your exhale slow down.
Almost as though your whole entire body was emptying out on the exhalation and feeling up on the inhalation.
And now sense the word,
The Pali word,
Dukkha.
Dukkha is the Pali word for suffering,
Dissatisfaction.
And sense where in your body or your mind or your life where you have recently or are experiencing some suffering.
And you might experience it in the viscera of the body,
In a limb,
In an organ.
You might notice some pain,
Some disquiet.
And take this Dukkha,
This suffering towards the heart and lay it at the door of the heart.
Lay that suffering down as it comes to you,
As a visual,
As a sensation,
As a word.
Lay your pain down at the doorway of your heart and now receive the word,
Karuna,
Karuna,
Compassion.
And feel those two words come together with your breath.
Feeling the inhale,
The Dukkha,
The felt sensation,
The acknowledgement of pain.
And then sense the out breath,
The doorway of the heart opening to receive the Dukkha with great compassion.
Inhaling Dukkha,
Exhaling Karuna.
Sensing pain and suffering as part of a normal human experience.
And sensing Karuna,
Compassion as part of that same experience.
And hold these two close,
Let them come together.
Let them almost embrace one another and heal one another.
And maybe even remember a time when your Dukkha brought you closer to feeling for yourself and other beings.
And take a nice deep,
Smooth breath in through both nostrils and exhale softly out of your mouth.
And then take a moment to receive these words that may be imperfectly said by me but were perfectly said by the Buddha.
There is Dukkha and there is also the end of Dukkha.
Sitting in your own duality.
Having great thanks for this human experience.
If you'd like to sit a little longer,
Feel free to turn this recording off.
And if you're ready to move on with the rest of your day,
Take a moment to wriggle your fingers and your hands.
They are after all an extension of the heart.
Deepen your breath and flutter your eyelids open and feel compassion beaming out of you in all directions.
Wishing you a wonderful day or night wherever you are in the world.
Namaste.
