Manifest Positivity And Compassion

In this peaceful, compassion-focused meditation, Lou will guide you to plant the seed of intention, for creating a deeper sense of inner peace and bringing forth favorable experiences. By sending out healing energy towards yourself and others, you are offered a new, positive lens to view the world. The initial part of this practice is classically known as "Tonglen" or "Taking & Sending," while the latter part, involves Lou helping you manifest a future goal you may wish to achieve or experience in life.

Transcript

We're going to begin today's practice by starting with a scan up the body.

So beginning to feel the connection of where your feet are touching the ground.

Maybe it's bottom of your feet if you're sitting on a chair.

Or maybe it's the tops of your feet relaxing on your cushion.

And then moving up through your ankles.

Moving up through your calf and the front of your leg and your shin.

And as we move up,

See if you can bring a little sense of ease to each body part.

Moving up through your knees,

Through your thighs,

The back of the thighs.

Maybe with the thighs you can feel the connection of where your hands are placed.

And then moving into the hip bones.

And moving up into the belly.

And as you find the belly,

Notice now the breath starting to move in and out of the body.

Notice the belly on each inhale as it expands and on each exhale as it contracts.

It's following the sensation in the stomach.

And beginning to move that up into the ribs.

Feeling what the air expands,

Maybe a little bit more sideways,

Then front and back.

Maybe you can feel it in your back body.

Then following the rhythm of your breath,

Not trying to change it.

And then moving finally to the upper chest.

Finding its rise and finding its fall.

Maybe with this intention you find a little bit of a broadening through your chest.

And as you do that,

Notice how naturally the shoulders just want to move back.

Setting your posture up to connect you.

To bring you the energy and to send out the energy that we are going to work with today.

So today's meditation is about planting seeds in our mind.

Planting seeds with our thoughts.

Planting seeds of good,

Compassionate altruism so that we may see things in our future with good and with compassion.

We may notice that life has a more rich filter to view it out of.

The practice classically is known as Tonglen.

And it may seem a little bit different than some of the compassion exercises that we work on.

Because in this practice we are actually taking in the pain of others that are suffering.

And we are giving them and really ourselves the relief.

So start to just follow the natural rhythm of your breath.

Maybe you start to bring it into the focus that you like.

So maybe it's just in and out through the nose.

If you wanted to use the belly,

The ribs,

The chest,

You can use one of those.

And we are going to start with not a person in mind but with just a sensation.

And so we are going to breathe in the feelings of heat,

Of darkness,

Of heaviness.

And we are going to breathe out the feelings of coolness,

Of light,

And of brightness.

Notice if you have any resistance in bringing in these heavy or dark feelings.

Sometimes that could sometimes trigger us.

But know that in this very safe space of our meditation,

Cushion,

Or chair,

That our power and our capabilities to bring in and handle more than we think we can are really deep.

And what we send out is going to be so much greater.

So for the next minute or so,

Following that intention,

Breathing in feelings of heat,

Of darkness,

Heaviness.

And breathing out feelings of coolness and brightness and light and expansion.

And if it ever becomes a little too much for you as we move forward,

Always take a moment And one more breath here.

We are going to move now into our own situation.

Any pain that you might be going through in your own life.

Any negativity that you might feel towards life or maybe towards yourself.

Maybe it's an inadequacy that you feel about yourself.

So our intention is going to be able to breathe in the suffering and the pain that you face as well as to breathe in the pain and the suffering of other people that face exactly what you're going through.

Because you are not alone in this.

There are so many others out there that go through exactly what you go through internally.

So we are going to breathe in that feeling of stress,

Pain or inadequacy.

And I'd like you to breathe out whatever the relief to your situation is.

To breathe out peace,

To breathe out confidence,

To breathe out joy.

Using this intention to again bring in your pain and bring in the pain of those facing exactly what you are going through and giving yourself and giving them the relief that they deserve.

Taking each breath in and out.

Taking in all of the people just like you and sending out the love that you and them deserve.

A few more rounds.

And beginning to let go of our situation.

And I'd like you to think about a person that you love or a friend that you care for that is in pain in some way.

That they are suffering.

Maybe it's a mental disorder,

A depression.

Maybe it's an addiction.

Maybe it's a sadness.

Pick someone that you care for and start to breathe in their pain,

Taking their pain away from them.

And taking the pain away from people just like them or going through the exact same thing.

And I promise that you are able to take this pain in because the relief that you can send out is so much greater.

So with this person in mind and people just like them,

Breathe in their pain and their suffering and breathe out the relief and the peace right to them with the intention of taking their pain away and healing what they are going through.

A few rounds.

Remembering if you ever get lost,

Just come back to your breath.

And take a good intentional breath in.

And let it out.

Moving now to a person or people that you don't really know all too well.

That maybe are in a far away country.

Maybe they have been struck by a natural disaster,

Maybe in our country from a hurricane or some sort of oppression that is happening in other parts of the world.

And start to bring their suffering or their pain in mind.

And allow yourself to take that pain away from them.

And to send out the healing and the relief that they need.

Further implanting our seeds of compassion.

Of positive intention.

Remember you have so much more capability to handle than taking others pain because your heart and your love and your relief is so much greater to send out.

And it's not by doing this that all of a sudden those people are suddenly saved.

But what it does is it psychologically in our minds starts to shift the way that we are viewing our life situation.

Because the intentions and the thoughts that we think now and the actions that we do now,

They are what shows up perceptually in our future.

So take a good clean breath in and out.

And we're going to add a little bit of a personal visualization of a seed for our life's vision that we would like to plant from this bed of altruism and compassion that we've laid.

And I'd like you to bring to mind something in your future that you are looking to achieve.

Maybe it's a goal of a certain level of meditation or peace or love that you want to feel during your practice.

It might be a more material goal of a job or a level of success or achievement.

I'd like you to bring that into your mind.

Make it big.

Make it palpable.

Go there of what that feels like,

What you think that that feels like.

And start to bring that feeling into you.

Whatever that feeling that you're looking for is of freedom,

Of purpose,

Of love,

Peace.

And with this affirmation,

Planting the seed,

That we can see it now.

And maybe repeat,

I have everything that I need right here and right now to feel happy,

To feel purposeful,

To feel that peace.

Because you're planting the seed and you're making yourself feel it in this moment.

And that is what actually brings your perception of what it might feel like in the future.

I have everything I need right here.

And we have the power to take in so much more than we realize and we really have so much love to give.

And our power to create simply from our meditation pillow is really quite remarkable.

Take another cleansing breath in and out.

I so appreciate your effort through this practice.

It's always my joy to guide you.

I wish you so much love and that all the pain that you've taken in is nothing compared to the love that you have within and what is sending out to the world.

And with that,

Whenever you feel ready,

Maybe beginning to come back to your room,

Back to your legs and gently open your eyes.

Namaste.

Reviews

Many Blessings to All 🙏🏼

Emotional experience for me. Thank you for changing my perspective.

This meditation found me today in perfect timing.
My daughter is anxious about TBI Surgery and so am I ... this meditation is exactly what I needed today, I will revisit this many times as it’s my new favourite.
Powerful + magical = amazing. 🙌✨🙏🏽.
Grateful for this thank you.

He is amazing! One of my favorite props to practice with!

Thank you so very much..
In gratitude,
rain

That was so beautiful! Thank you 🙏🏽

Stirs the emotions. Thank you 🙏🏾 2019

Still powerful. Very fitting for the times. 💚 5/16/20

Wow that was really different & almost challenging. Found myself resisting such an unusual meditation but found it very rewarding. As always, very insightful & helpful on my spiritual journey. So very glad I have found your teachings, meditations & insights. 🙏

Very nice way to start the day. Thanks for the great reminders.

Loved this, Lou! Thank you for a wonderful practice this morning🙏🏼

Wow. That was incredible. So empowered and humbled and filled with love. Namaste.

That was amazing. I truly am so filled with joy and love. Thank you for showing me. ❤️

Tonglen meditations are a special practice that I hold dear. This is an excellent session of that sometimes difficult, but necessary, practice.

Started meditating to Tonglen.. thank you so much for this ✨🌸

Easily one of my best meditation sessions. Thank you

That was very nice, thank you. Namaste🙏

Wonderful tonglen practice Lou. Thank you for this!!
🦋🐾🌺🙏🏼🌹🍁🙏🏽💕💐🌷🌸💖💫✨💜🌹

Delicious & soothing. Uplifting & powerful. Will bookmark. Mind did wander, but kept bringing it back. Kept, Letting go repeatedly. Sweet surrender.