So go ahead and find your meditation posture.
Sit up straight.
Push the crown of the head up towards the ceiling.
And now let's just follow the rising and falling of the abdomen for a minute or two.
Relation.
Okay,
So now we're going to do a practice to sensitize ourselves to compassion.
So float back to some earlier time in life,
Possibly to childhood.
Sometime when you felt a lot of suffering,
When you were really distressed,
And then someone was there for you,
Someone comforted you,
Someone really understood your suffering.
And then if you can't think of a time like that,
You can imagine them,
Just make one up.
Go ahead and develop that scene now.
Now this is compassion.
So like imagine that this is a seed that's been planted in here,
And that now in this Tomlin practice we're going to further develop.
So now,
Bring to mind some sort of suffering that you've experienced in the past.
See if you can name that.
And now reflect,
Oh this is very common.
So many others have experienced the same thing.
And now see how you understand their experiences,
Not perfectly,
But in a limited and maybe good enough way.
It's like,
Oh yeah,
I understand.
And now feel into this quality of camaraderie.
It's like you're all in it together.
Okay now on the in-breath,
Either you can reflect on the suffering,
Or you can imagine that you're taking in the suffering,
Taking the suffering into your heart,
Metabolizing it in your heart,
And then on the out-breath sending out peace.
I'll reiterate,
On the in-breath you reflect on the suffering,
Or you imagine that you're taking it into your heart,
Kind of burning it up,
And on the out-breath sending peace.
Let's go ahead and do that for a minute,
And then I'll reiterate the instructions.
Make sure everything's going well.
So you and I think it is helpful to keep this particular suffering in mind that you know so well.
And then on both the in-breath and the out-breath,
We get this sense of really making contact with real being,
Either animals or people.
Again on the in-breath reflecting on the suffering,
Or taking in the suffering.
And then on the out-breath sending peace,
Well-being,
Comfort,
Attunement,
Soothing,
To all beings that suffer in this way.
So keep going with the practice.
So you can also kind of develop a mantra.
So on the in-breath I say taking in all the suffering,
And on the out-breath I say sending or giving away all my peace,
However you do it is fine.
So you so we keep going reflecting on the suffering of all beings that are suffering the same way that you know so well.
And on the out-breath sending peace,
Well-wishing,
Sukha,
Understanding,
Attunement.
And also this is confusing.
It's you know sometimes it gets jumbled up.
You forget if you're on the in-breath,
The out-breath.
But what matters here is just putting forth effort and trying for learning process.
So just be patient.
So and also really understand the suffering on the in-breath.
Like see the anguish.
See what this is like for others.
And also of course you understand.
You've had just the same experiences.
And then also on the out-breath see how you understand what it's like to be comforted,
To be soothed and understood.
See how naturally you've longed for that and others long for that as well.
So that's right.
Keep going.
Really know the suffering of others.
Also you are always one of the others whose suffering you recognize and whose suffering you send support and understanding.
So it's all beings including yourself.
So that's right.
Keep going.
Okay so now in just a minute we'll wrap up with this and then we'll check in the Q&A,
Etc.
But before we come back to class reflect on what this was like.
What did you learn?
What were the insights?
What questions came up?
Take another minute with that.
Okay good.
Now coming back to class.
