Hello,
This is Chris.
And today the sounds you can hear behind me are the nature sounds at Dogshambera,
The Buddhist retreat down in County Cork in Ireland.
I'm sat having just watched the beautiful sunrise,
The start of a new day,
Looking out on the Atlantic coast,
Meeting the beautiful cliffs and coastline of the Barrow Peninsula.
And yesterday I attended a retreat here on self-compassion with John Douglas.
It was a beautiful retreat.
I wanted to share one of the meditations that we practiced together called Self Tonglen,
Considering ourselves with two aspects.
Are we ringing a bell at the beginning and the end of this meditation?
So before we start,
Find a comfortable seated position,
Ideally trying to keep your back straight so that you keep awake.
For this meditation I'd ask that you close your eyes as it involves a visualization.
First,
Take a moment to center ourselves,
To be present.
Feel the sensations of our body on our seat,
The rise and fall of our chest as we breathe in and as we breathe out.
Next,
We take a moment to reflect on our intention for practicing Self Tonglen.
Maybe we just remember the deep inner wish that we all have to be happy and free from suffering.
To start the practice,
We turn our attention inwards to how we're feeling at this moment.
How am I?
How is my mood?
If we become aware of any tension or tightness in our body or our mind,
Then as we breathe in,
We accept and embrace this tension.
As we breathe out,
Have a sense of just releasing and letting go.
As we breathe in,
We embrace our tension with tenderness and compassion.
As we breathe out,
We release with warmth and love.
As we sit,
We can consider that we have two aspects to our being.
One aspect is like a true friend,
Always kind,
Wise,
Loving.
This true friend part is always there for us.
It never judges.
No matter what mistakes we make,
No matter what our shortcomings,
It understands us fully.
It knows every aspect of our being,
All our secret hopes and fears,
And its only wish is that we be happy.
The other part of ourselves is the one that's been hurt and wounded by life.
The part of us that suffers,
Feels frustrated,
Mistreated,
Angry,
Or who feels unloved,
Alone,
Misunderstood.
We can imagine now that both aspects of our being meet,
And that this kind,
Loving,
True friend aspect becomes aware of the pain and the hurt that the suffering part of our being has carried for so long.
Now as we breathe in,
Imagine that our true friend aspect opens his or her heart completely,
And breathes in all the pain and suffering of the hurt and wounded part.
Then as we breathe out,
Our true friend sends out a stream of love,
Compassion,
Warmth,
And ease to that part of us that is hurt.
As we breathe in,
Our breath expands to meet and embrace all aspects of our hurt and woundedness,
And with our out-breath,
We relax,
Responding to our own pain with warmth,
Kindness,
Love.
We breathe in with compassion,
We breathe out with love.
When we breathe in,
Our true inner friend takes on all our fear and anxiety and transforms it,
Breathing out safety,
Calm,
And ease.
We breathe in our smallness,
Our loneliness.
We breathe out openness and friendliness.
We breathe in our fear.
We breathe out our safety.
We breathe in our despair.
We breathe out hope.
We breathe in being overwhelmed,
And we breathe out inner strength.
We breathe into our difficulties,
And we breathe out ease.
We breathe in our loneliness,
And we breathe out connection.
We breathe in our guilt,
And we breathe out forgiveness.
We breathe in a sense of poverty.
We breathe out wealth and abundance.
We breathe in lack of meaning,
And we breathe out a connection with something spiritual,
Something greater and vaster than ourselves.
We breathe in,
We breathe out.
As we bring the practice to a close,
We consider that the hurt and wounded aspect of ourselves has received all of that warmth,
Trust,
Confidence,
Comfort that it needs.
It feels fully accepted and understood.
The two aspects of ourselves come together in a deep sense of ease and wellbeing,
And we just rest in that atmosphere,
Letting all thoughts and concepts just drift away.
Lastly then,
We dedicate this practice of self-compassion,
Of self-tongue-lun towards the benefit of all beings.
May they all experience warmth,
Love and acceptance at the deepest level.
Thank you so much for listening.
Have a wonderful day.
May you be happy.
May you be well.
