So the kindly awareness practice.
So gently settling down,
We deliberately adopt an erect and dignified posture.
Breathing a few deeper breaths.
And then breathing normally through the nose if possible.
Closing our eyes if possible.
In stage one,
We're responding kindly to the whole of our experience.
Breathing in and breathing out.
We take a kind,
Gentle awareness onto our breath.
A warm,
Kind breath,
Soothing the body as it flows in and flows out.
If you can't connect with a sense of kindness,
Then simply breathe with the intention of responding kindly to the best of your abilities.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And then once you're settled,
We can gently turn our awareness towards any unpleasant aspect of our current experience.
And on each out-breath,
We soften.
We allow.
We let go.
If the pain or disquiet is mainly mental or emotional,
Then look for its echo in the body.
For example,
If you're anxious,
That might be echoed as tension in the stomach.
So we bring awareness to these physical echoes of our feelings to help us stay grounded in the present moment.
And we can begin to soften any resistance to those unpleasant sensations.
We take the breath to those sensations and we breathe into them and we breathe out of them.
We can treat our uncomfortableness as you would treat a child or someone you really love or who is injured.
A gentle,
Kind awareness.
And then we quite deliberately search for the pleasant.
There is always some aspect of our experience which is agreeable,
Which is pleasant.
So we try to develop an attitude of a seeker who is looking for hidden treasure.
You might become more aware,
Say,
Of the warmth of your hands,
The temperature in the room,
Maybe just a general sense of calmness,
Of peace.
We are simply resting our awareness on anything pleasurable in our experience with an attitude of kindly curiosity.
And now,
Having explored the painful and pleasant sides of your experience,
We broaden our perspective on it and try to have a sense that we are a bigger container,
As it were,
Able to hold both the pleasant and painful aspects of the moment.
And all the time the practice is held by the kindly breath,
Soothing and caressing us moment by moment.
Then in our own time we move on to stage two,
A good friend.
We bring to mind a good friend.
And we reflect on the qualities of that friend,
What makes them a good friend.
And we breathe with them this kind awareness.
Breathing in kindly awareness.
Breathing out kindly awareness.
We reflect on what we share,
This sense of common humanity.
They also feel pleasure and pain.
They also wish to love and be loved.
The stories of our lives are different,
But the basic human experience is similar.
Your friend feels joy and sorrow,
Hope and fear,
And experiences triumphs and regrets,
Just like you.
They experience the same range of emotions that you have,
And they breathe.
Your friend is breathing in and out just as you are.
You may find it helpful to be aware of your friend on the in-breath,
Breathing out kindness and well-wishing towards them on the out-breath.
Coming back time and time again to the anchor to our breath.
Breathing in kindly awareness.
Breathing out kindly awareness.
And then moving on to stage three,
We bring to mind a neutral person.
Someone for whom you have no feelings of liking or disliking.
Maybe you don't know them that well.
So this person represents the vast mass of humanity about whom we usually don't think,
And towards whom we have no strong feelings.
So we bring them to mind as best we can,
And then reflect on your shared humanity with its pleasures and pains.
And then to the best of our abilities,
We may reflect on the shared humanity with this person,
Its pleasures and pains,
Hopes and fears,
And the fact that,
Like you,
They are breathing.
Breathing in kindly awareness.
Breathing out kindly awareness.
On the in-breath,
Be aware of this person and their humanity.
Even on the out-breath,
Breathe out kindness and well-wishing towards them.
And if we get lost in thought,
Take a moment to realize where you've been.
And then with more awareness comes choice.
And you might choose to come back with this attitude of kind,
Kindly awareness.
On the in-breath,
Be aware of the neutral person and their humanity.
Even on the out-breath,
Kindness and well-wishing towards them.
And then in the fourth stage,
We bring to mind a person with whom we find difficulty.
To begin with,
Try not to choose someone too difficult.
We can move towards that person,
But for the moment,
Choose someone with whom the difficulty is fairly mild,
Or with whom you experience some irritation.
And we breathe.
We let go of any bodily tensions.
And we try to connect with this idea of common humanity.
They also have their pain and pleasure.
They're good days.
They're not so good days.
Some other people,
They're not difficult.
They have friends.
They have family.
So to the best of our abilities,
We try to reach over the barrier that separates you and connecting with what you share.
Although they might be difficult for you to be with,
In fact,
They have the same tendency as avoiding the unpleasant and grasping the pleasant,
With all the behavioral consequences that follow.
On the in-breath,
Become aware of this person,
And on the out-breath,
Breathe out kindness and well-wishing.
Remembering that we're not trying to change this other person,
We can never make others change.
We only take responsibility for our own responses and behavior.
So gently coming back to our breath,
And gently coming back to this attitude of kindly awareness.
Breathing in,
Kindly awareness.
Breathing out,
Kindly awareness.
And then moving on to the last stage,
Spreading kindness universally.
So first of all,
We bring to mind the four people you've already thought of,
Yourself,
The good friend,
The neutral person,
And the person you find difficult.
You can imagine that you are sitting in a circle,
Or just have a sense of the four people trying to connect with what you share.
Breathing in with them,
Kindly awareness.
Breathing out with them,
Kindly awareness.
And now we start to broaden out our awareness to include more and more people.
Think of people in all directions,
All of them experiencing a mixture of pleasure and pain.
No matter where they live,
Their age,
Their color,
Their wealth,
All experience pain and pleasure just as you do.
Using our imagination to the best of our abilities,
Including more and more people.
In almost the whole world,
Breathing with us,
Kindly awareness.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
As soon as the hard edges of separation soften,
You may feel that you are letting go into a sense of connection with life itself.
Connecting with common humanity.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
And so to finish up,
Just bringing your attention back to your own breath.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Feeling the floor beneath you,
The contact with the ground.
And just get a sense of the whole of your body sitting here,
Breathing your thoughts,
Your feelings.
And then taking our awareness out into the room,
Noticing sounds and sensations.
And we just gradually,
In our own time,
Bring the practice to a close.
And when you feel ready,
You can open your eyes,
Gently move the body and re-engage with the day.
