Transmutation With Tonglen

Join Rachelle in a Transmutation meditation, based upon the tonglen practice as taught by Pema Chodron. This profound practice reminds us of the innate power within us to transform and transmute difficult emotions and suffering, without a need to discharge them to others, our environment, or the earth. This meditation is helpful for working with very strong emotions that may be resistant to other tools (such as grief, despair, anger, anxiety, and pain), because we cultivate a deep sense of connection and compassion for ourselves and for all others.

Transcript

Welcome to the transmutation meditation practice.

My name is Rochelle,

And I'm from Creative Spirit Collaborative,

And so grateful to have you join us for this practice today.

I will start with a little bit of history and benefits of this practice before we dive in.

So I want to acknowledge that this transmutation practice is adapted from a Tibetan Buddhist practice called Tonglen,

As I know it taught by Pema Chodron.

This practice of transmutation can be done as a more formal meditation,

Or a visualization,

Or a breath practice,

Or all three combined.

And once you know the practice,

It's also a really lovely practice to be used throughout your day on the spot as needed.

I appreciate this practice in particular because it flips the experience of discharging our suffering,

Or challenging emotions,

Or difficulty out into space,

Or down into the earth.

So it gives us the opportunity to see how deeply interconnected we can be to the earth and the cosmos.

And it also empowers us with knowing that we have the capacity of transmutation within us.

I also really like this practice,

Particularly because when I am feeling very strong emotions that may be resistant to other tools,

I find this practice very effective.

So for example,

I will use it with grief,

Or despair,

Or anger,

Or anxiety,

Or hurt,

Or pain,

Or when I'm just feeling particularly stuck in something.

This practice I find to be surprising in that repeatedly,

As I use this practice,

More than the practice changing or eradicating the emotion,

Or the feeling,

Or the circumstance,

It actually transmutes my perception and understanding of the feeling or the associated circumstances.

This practice also is intended to produce a welling up of compassion,

And it works for my own experiences,

As well as for others,

That originally Tonglen was created to help reduce suffering for others.

The last thing that I'll say about this is in this practice,

It's important that we start,

And throughout the practice,

See ourselves as part of the infinite universe.

We acknowledge that as the infinite,

We have the indestructible capacity to assimilate and transmute suffering,

Difficulty,

Or challenging emotions that we might be afflicted with,

And even that may be present for others or in the world in general.

Sometimes the beginning of this practice will bring up a little bit of fear because it's a different orientation to working with emotions,

Or difficulties,

Or suffering.

That's totally normal.

This practice will also help shift that fear.

So before we begin the practice,

We'll start with an invocation,

As I often like to do.

May this practice be dedicated to honoring and stewarding the earth,

Plants,

Animals,

And indwelling spirit within us all.

May this practice offer healing to your body,

Mind,

Heart,

And spirit in whatever way serves you.

May this practice bring awareness and vitality to your breath.

May this practice be offered with reverence and in service to collective healing and evolution.

First,

We will take some time to open the heart to the cosmos,

To the universal heart.

This place where our personal heart is rooted.

We'll start by visualizing,

Expanding your field of energy or the field of your heart out beyond your body,

Perhaps to the room that you're in,

Expanding that field outside of your home,

Maybe including other beings,

Expanding that field to your local community,

Perhaps,

Incorporating humans and nature and animals as well.

And then as you feel comfortable,

Continuing to expand that field of the heart or your energy out to the earth,

Out to the ends of the cosmos.

This is the sense of the awakened heart,

The indestructible capacity that our personal heart is rooted within.

So we'll rest a moment in this space,

This expanded space,

Feeling spaciousness,

Clear emptiness,

Perhaps even feeling the light rays from the sun and other stars.

You may feel the field ebb and flow a little bit with your natural breathing rhythm.

Just resting in this open,

Expanded,

Awakened heart with no bounds.

And just reminding our body,

Our nervous system,

Our mind and our heart that this is also part of us.

We're not practicing from our small self,

But we're practicing from our interconnected universal self.

Practice long enough with this portion to feel a sense of spaciousness in your mind and an easefulness in remembering your expanded sense of self.

You can do this practice as a standalone practice in and of itself.

Or you can move on when you're ready to the next part.

If you'd like more time with this practice,

Just pause the recording.

And then when you're ready to move on,

You can press play again.

This practice alone can help to cultivate a general sense of wellbeing and lightness.

Next,

When you're ready,

I'll have you imagine breathing in through all of your pores,

All of your cells.

Into that expanded sense of self,

That expanded heart field.

Breathing in a general quality or texture or characteristic perhaps of darkness.

Sometimes it's known as gray fog or stuckness or heaviness.

Sometimes it's felt as hot energy or a constriction or a confinement.

So we're not working with a specific circumstance right now but just general quality.

Breathing that in,

In through all the layers of your being,

In through your personal heart,

Down into the root where it's connected to the universal heart.

And once it touches the universal heart,

You can release and breathe out,

Breathing out through all the layers,

Through your personal heart,

Through your cells,

Through your pores,

Breathing out a general quality or sense of brightness or clarity.

Or perhaps breathing out light,

Or cool,

Refreshing energy,

A sense of awe or liberation.

So we'll rest in this portion of the practice,

Breathing through the layers into the root of the heart which is anchored in the universal heart,

Breathing in that darkness and breathing out from the universal heart through your personal heart,

Out through all the layers of your being,

That sense of lightness,

Cool,

Refreshing energy,

Liberation,

Awe.

The breathing through all of those layers,

Breathing them in,

The darkness through the filters,

It refines and that is the transmutation process.

It continues to refine,

To bring it into our heart and then into the root of the universal heart.

There is this sort of eternal wisdom.

It helps present the antidote to the darkness and then we can breathe that back out and as we breathe it out,

It touches our personal heart,

All of our cells,

All of our pores and it can even breathe out into the space around you,

The community,

The beings around you and as it filters and refines and transmutes,

We get the benefit of that.

So I encourage you to continue this portion of the practice until the feelings,

The emotions,

The difficulty,

The suffering can easily be coordinated or are in sync with your natural breathing rhythm.

At first,

It may feel like there's too much material and you have to stretch your breath but after a period of time,

That sinking will happen and it'll feel like the amount that's present is a natural flow with your in-breath and your out-breath.

If you need more time with this portion of the practice,

Again,

You can pause and then hit play when you're ready.

The next part of the practice is where we get a bit more specific and as I had mentioned earlier,

The traditional practice is generally intended to be done for someone you care about or someone who's suffering you want to aid in releasing.

That's the origins of the Tonglen practice.

However,

Over time,

I've found that a lot of people have very strong emotions or often are feeling so stuck that they need this practice for themselves first before they can aid others.

So that's the way we'll start this part of the practice.

This part of the practice can be of great use to yourself and then when you feel some resourcing or some insight,

You'll naturally feel inclined to work your way from the inside out as you transmute the difficulties and it'll just naturally flow out of you into the world around you.

Similarly,

You can continue breathing in maybe now it is a personal dark emotion like anger or challenging situation,

Perhaps what you're angry about or some hurt or some suffering that the anger or the emotion may be in response to.

Breathing that all the way in through the layers of your being,

Into your personal heart,

Through the root in the universal heart.

Once it reaches the universal heart,

Transforms fully and you can start to breathe out the antidote.

You may find that the antidote changes through the practice.

You don't have to have the answers.

It can be a feeling more than a thought at first.

It will transform.

You're breathing that antidote.

So if it were anger,

You're breathing in and maybe peace or kindness or compassion that you're breathing out.

Whatever just intuitively comes forward as the antidote,

That's what you'll work with until it transforms.

So when you're breathing in,

Breathing into your heart,

Rooted in the universal heart and breathing the antidote back out from the universal heart,

Out through your heart,

Out through your mind,

Out through all the layers of your body and ultimately out to the world.

I'll give another example.

Breathing in,

You might breathe in panic or longing,

Despair or inadequacy that you feel personally and if you feel ready,

You can also begin to breathe that in for any others who may feel similarly.

Breathing into the root in the universal heart and then breathing out the antidote.

Breathing it out through your mind,

Your heart,

Your body.

The antidote may be freedom or love or trust or confidence or adequacy or a sense of relief.

Again,

Being open to the antidote,

Changing as you breathe,

Transforming as you do the practice.

You can continue on with this practice,

Not just for yourself but as you gain more spaciousness,

Less intensity of the emotion or the circumstances or perhaps more insight or more understanding,

You can then stretch and breathe in and out for yourself and anyone with a similar emotion,

Suffering or situation.

And continue that practice again until it feels synced with your breath,

Until you feel like the transition,

The transformation of the antidote has come to a resting point and it's easily felt.

Don't have to effort at it.

It's just present for you.

And continue working with this portion of the practice.

Really allow yourself to be surprised by the wisdom within and all around from this practice.

Let it fully fill you.

And as it fills you and infuses you,

You can then just allow it,

Release it,

Relief.

Allow the antidote,

The sense of relief to seep out into the world as a cool,

Clear,

Refreshing light.

Maybe it's even a mist,

Bringing clarity and illumination to the whole earth and the cosmos.

If you'd like more time with this part of the practice,

You can pause here and press play again when you're ready.

We'll take this step,

Practice one step further.

So for an advanced practice to further deepen compassion,

Understanding and transmutation,

We'll expand the practice beyond the self and people you love and care about,

People you want to alleviate their suffering.

We'll expand this practice to include all beings,

Maybe even enemies or people that you have been hurt by or people that have hurt you.

We may extend this practice to those that feel separate from the state that you're experiencing,

Like animals or plants or trees or the earth herself.

So you'd be working with the same emotion or circumstance,

Anger or inadequacy or whatever it is,

The dark emotion.

You would continue with that and just expand it a step further to beings or people where it's a little bit more difficult to feel compassion.

So you would similarly breathe in the dark emotion,

Suffering or difficult circumstances from all beings,

From enemies or people that you have hurt associated with or beings that maybe don't feel resonant with this particular emotion,

Like animals or trees or the earth.

So you breathe that into the breath through the root of your personal heart in the universal heart.

And then again,

Feeling the transformation there,

Breathing out the antidote from the universal heart through the root to your personal heart,

Through your body and your mind and your energy field.

Continue this practice of breathing in the darkness for more difficult situations and breathing out the antidote.

And let this experience,

The antidote,

The transformation,

The understanding that grows from this insight,

Let it fully infuse you.

And when your field feels full,

Once again,

Allowing it to seep out into the world as a cool,

Clear,

Refreshing light or mist that brings clarity and illumination to yourself and to all beings,

Especially those that may be enemies or have hurt you or that you feel different from or disconnected from that aren't humans,

Like animals or trees or plants or the earth herself.

Continue this practice as long as feels good and comfortable for you.

When you feel complete with the practice as a whole,

Return to a natural breathing pattern if you haven't already,

And just rest,

Really deeply rest in the afterglow and resonance and insight,

This practice.