Hello beautiful souls.
Welcome.
How are your hearts?
Today,
What's been on my heart is healing and compassion.
This word that comes from Pali in Sanskrit,
Karuna.
It's one of the four tenets of true love.
It means compassion and it's about our capacity to expand and hold our suffering well.
I think in our modern society,
We're all getting overwhelmed,
Not just in our familial responsibilities as parents,
Our partners,
Or just adults,
But also with everything that's happening in politics and war and starvation and genocide and so much happening.
And it's easy to feel overwhelmed,
Heartbroken,
And helpless at times.
But these are the times that we should practice greater love,
Greater compassion,
And greater presence,
Right?
It's easy to want to escape or put up boundaries and walls.
But I love this idea of karuna,
Particularly in the way that it's described by Thich Nhat Hanh as an immense river.
And the story that he shares,
Or shared,
Was this.
We often think of our love as a bowl,
Right?
A little bowl full of water.
And this is our little container.
And don't mess with me.
I have my boundaries up hard,
Right?
And don't mess up my love.
But if someone comes in and throws a handful of salt,
Now the water's undrinkable,
Right?
And we're frustrated,
Heartbroken,
And absent from our lives.
But this kind of love,
This karuna,
Compassion,
This expansive love,
Is as vast as a river.
I mean,
Think the Mississippi.
Not just a stream or a creek,
But an immense river where if the same handful of salt was thrown in,
You could hardly taste the difference,
If at all,
Right?
And that's the kind of compassion and love we want.
Releasing that conditions,
The bowl,
The small containers that we often put it in.
And of course,
We all know this when we take time to be present,
Not in the emotional dysregulation of fear,
Anxiety,
Or stress,
But present,
Really present to our lives and present to the meaning of love that we want to embody that doesn't have any conditions.
And when I say conditions on our love,
I mean the connection,
Right?
So we can still have our boundaries on the relationship and how we want to engage.
But the love,
The state of presence,
The state of openness to the heart,
And the wounding of another,
Which is why they're showing up in a certain way,
That we want always to be as vast as the river,
Right?
But for that to happen,
We have to also be in the river state of being,
Right?
Which is flow.
What happened yesterday,
Let it go.
What happens tomorrow is unknown.
So let us stop clinging for this illusion of certainty and stagnation,
Right?
And return to this truth,
Mindfully,
That things are always changing.
Every moment,
Right?
I was focusing recently,
This past week,
And contemplating the conventional designations or labels that we give things,
Right?
So we have designations,
Our names,
My name's Joel,
The names of our partners.
And in our mind's eye,
We might think,
This individual is always going to be this way.
We have this stagnant picture,
But that's just a label for a dynamic process,
Who,
Some decades ago,
Was a young boy,
A newborn,
A teenager,
A young adult.
And in each of those stages,
Trying to figure out something about my life,
A growing edge,
And a shadow that I was exploring.
And you're no different.
Neither are all the beautiful souls in your life and in your world.
But we can forget that when we are clinging to the designation,
When we're holding our bowl very tightly.
This is my energy,
My love,
My little container.
Forgetting that the only reason you feel another person is that we are all one.
And what connects us is the unconditionality of love that is permeating through all of our existence.
Generous,
Kind,
Open,
Free,
Patient,
Available.
And that's what today's practice is all about.
Returning to love and compassion that's as vast,
Free,
And flowing as a river.
So,
I'm going to take you through this practice.
I'm going to play a bit of guitar.
The guitar helps to anchor us.
For those of you who don't know,
I am a musician and a songwriter,
As well as a poet and meditation teacher and coach.
And so,
For me,
The way that love flows most freely is to combine all of my gifts in these sessions.
So,
A little bit different than the traditional practice without music or anything behind it.
And so,
If you're new here,
I hope that you allow yourself to be available to another way to practice and see how it might resonate for you.
And we're going to take some time to just get settled in our seats first,
Then connect to our heart space.
Just tune in to where you are today,
Really.
Right?
No mask,
No have to,
Should,
Could,
Woulds,
Or judgment.
And notice how the body just softens when we recognize we're holding these things.
And then we're going to bring to mind a recent contraction in our love,
Whether it's with the world,
Our partner,
Or something else in your life.
And visualize that contraction as the bowl constricting our love and whatever this thing is as a salt.
Allowing ourselves to be fully present and then visually allowing it to dissolve,
Connecting to the immense infinite power of unconditional real love and compassion.
And finally,
We'll close with a bit of Metta loving-kindness,
Another one of the four tenets of true love.
The Pali word is Maitri.
And I think many of you are also familiar with this.
So if you're ready,
Get comfortable in your seats and we'll begin.
Allow your eyes to gently close.
Savoring a low belly breath in.
Settle into your body.
And as you exhale,
Settle your body into your seat.
And allow this breath to lengthen your spine.
Envision the crown of your head being lifted by a thread of love as your tailbone is rooted by the same love.
Exhaling into a posture of dignity and peace.
And surrender.
Exhale and arrive right here and now.
Take a few breaths here.
Just to be present to the body.
The sensations of the breath moving in and out.
Any places that are tense in the physical body.
The shoulders or neck,
The hips.
Just nurturing compassionate awareness.
And soften.
Visualization.
Encourage you to pick a situation that's moderate to mild.
And as you honor these parts,
May I take care of myself wisely.
May I take care of myself.
Remaining present to your breath and energy.
Allow your eyes to gently open.
Placing the palms of your hands together over heart center.
The love,
Light,
And truth within me honors the love,
Light,
And truth within you.
Namaste.
Thank you all for being present to this practice.
For holding space for your heart and all of our hearts.
I hope this practice helped you to soften and open and be available to all the beauty and love and compassion that's available to us right here and now.
Have a wonderful day,
Beautiful souls,
And we'll see you soon.
Be well.
Much love and light.
Peace.
