Compassion Meditation

Compassion is the ability to feel with another and recognise ur shared experince. It is about allowing the other to know they are seen and that we recognise what they are experiencing. Starting with a self-care practice to meet any difficult emotions with an attitude of kindness so that you start with compassion for yourself the meditation then expands this feeling out to a friend and a neutral person. We then explore how to bring a feeling of compassion to a person we consider to be 'other' and recognise our shared humanity before expanding the feeling out to all beings.

Transcript

Settling now into a comfortable posture,

Whether that's sitting or lying down,

Allowing your eyes to close,

Taking a couple of long,

Slow,

Deep breaths,

Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth,

And allowing the breath to enter and leave through the nostrils,

Breathing into the belly,

Opening the chest,

Lifting the breastbone as if you were shining a light up towards the ceiling,

So the chest opens,

The shoulders fall back,

Down,

Bringing your attention into the heart chakra,

Here in the area of the breastbone,

Noticing how it feels in your heart chakra,

This area can sometimes feel warm,

Open,

Blissful,

Sometimes it can feel numb or neutral,

And sometimes there can be a feeling of pain here,

So simply working with however your heart chakra is today,

Breathing into and through this area,

Starting with some self-care for yourself,

With these practices of loving-kindness,

Compassion,

We start with a foundation of having our heart open and full,

The Buddha said that with Metta,

We need a handful of gold coins so that we have plenty to share with others,

We can't give from an empty hand,

So in this first stage we look at bringing kindness to ourselves,

Noticing how your body is at the moment,

Maybe it's enough to simply sit here and breathe,

And fill your body with a sense of light radiating from your heart,

Illuminating your body all the way to your fingertips and toes,

Or perhaps you might enjoy some physical touch to express this kindness,

And as you breathe in,

Bringing your fingers to the crown of your head and as you breathe out,

Gently stroking down the sides of the face,

The cheeks,

Neck,

Chest,

Belly,

Taking a few of these long strokes down your body,

Breathing in,

Bringing your hands to the crown of your head,

Breathing out,

Stroking and caressing down your body,

Saying thank you to your body for being this home for consciousness,

Seeing how it is to stroke your fingertips down the front of your face,

Across your eyes,

Nose,

Mouth,

Brushing down the front of your body,

And giving yourself a hug,

Feeling that kindness of your embrace,

A gentle squee,

Holding,

Letting whatever is in your experience right now that might feel sad,

Or difficult,

Letting that be held.

You might continue holding yourself for a few more breaths,

Or whenever you're ready,

Letting your arms come to rest on your legs or in your lap,

Noticing if there are any areas of challenge within your experience right now,

And if there is a feeling of sadness,

Worry,

Loneliness,

Any of the challenging emotions that can arise within us,

Very gently turning the light of your awareness to this emotion,

Rather than trying to fight it as a thought,

Or trying to stop the thoughts around this emotion,

Cultivating this attitude of welcoming and allowing,

Asking yourself where do I feel this emotion right now as a sensation in my body,

Maybe my body feels blank or numb,

And I hold that awareness of the numbness of my body,

Maybe it's a knot in my stomach,

A tightness in my chest,

Or a sensation somewhere else in my body,

And I tune into it and become curious about what this sensation is like,

Noticing if it has a temperature,

Weight,

Whether it's moving or still,

Is there a colour,

And is there a hard edge,

Does it feel the same on the surface and all the way through,

Or does it somehow change as you explore more deeply into it.

So underneath most emotions is a physical sensation,

When you explore your body,

Even if that's your body feeling numb,

Shifting away from thinking about the emotion,

And instead holding this felt sense in your body,

With this attitude of openness and curiosity,

Gently breathing in to this emotion,

Breathing into the sensation in your body,

Breathing into and through this sensation,

And breathing out,

Having a sense of holding this sensation in a wide open space,

And if it needs to get larger,

You allow it to get larger,

If it dissolves or shifts in some way,

Allowing it to have its own process.

Having this attitude in your heart,

Let me meet this moment with kindness,

So having a few minutes as we sit in silence to be with any of these difficult emotions that might be here,

And if right now you have a sense of ease,

Happiness,

Then breathing into the feeling of ease and happiness.

If you are being present to a difficult emotion,

You can also explore how other parts of your body may be giving you a message of pleasure,

Ease,

Relaxation,

And you can notice how it is to move between this centre where you are holding the difficult emotion,

And the sensations in your body where there is a feeling of ease,

Holding the difficult emotion in this open space of boundless awareness,

Motivating this attitude of heart where you sit with the difficulty without feeling the need to fix it or find a solution,

Acknowledging it,

Breathing into it,

Creating space for it.

If you're working with something that feels as if it needs more time,

Continuing with this process for yourself before moving on to others,

If it feels as if your heart is ready now to expand its attention to others,

Then looking at a friend that is experiencing suffering of some degree,

Gently turning your heart's attention towards this friend and recognising that,

Who are you?

I see your suffering.

Having this attitude of sitting with your friend,

Letting them know that their suffering is seen,

No need to find solutions or fix it right now,

Simply letting them know they're not alone in their suffering,

In your heart wishing them well.

And if your mind wanders,

Gently coming back into your heart,

Looking again at your friend,

Recognising their suffering,

Breathing into that sense of whatever it is that they're experiencing,

Recognising your shared experience with them,

Letting them know that they are not alone,

Allowing yourself to feel with the other,

Then turning your heart's attention to a neutral person.

So this is someone you've noticed,

A neighbour,

A work colleague,

Someone you passed in the street or saw on public transport,

And you simply recognise that this person is suffering in some way,

So you don't know them well,

You may not even know what the cause of their suffering is,

But you recognise that in some way they were experiencing pain.

So now turning your heart's attention to this neutral person,

Being with them in their suffering,

Letting them know that they are seen,

Feeling this as a warmth in the heart chakra,

Or imagining it as a golden light,

Letting your heart's wish for the neutral person be that they may be happy,

And yet witnessing this experience of suffering or pain,

And being with them,

Letting them know that they are not alone.

Now turning your heart's attention to a person that may feel more challenging.

This meditation is the antidote to the poison of cruelty,

Of indifference to the suffering of another.

When people belong to a group that is other,

Is not my group,

As human beings we have the capacity to turn off empathy,

And so there may be someone with a political viewpoint that is different to ours,

Someone who is on the opposite side in a war,

Someone who doesn't hold our values,

And suddenly it's as if they become a non-person to our brain,

They might be suffering but we don't witness it,

We lose empathy.

Having a look in your life and seeing is there anyone like this,

Maybe there's a conflict somewhere in the world that you're following or even involved with,

Noticing how do I feel about the people on the other side,

Politics,

How do I feel about someone who strongly supports a political view that is the opposite of mine,

If I see them suffering,

Do I feel compassion,

Or is there a lack of compassion in my response to these people?

So seeing if you can choose someone,

Noticing if there is this closing down of compassion and empathy when you think of this person who is other,

And without that becoming a narrative that I am a bad person or I need to feel bad about having this lack of response to the other,

We recognise this is simply part of the human condition,

This is how the brain is structured,

But I have a choice,

I have a choice how I respond to people.

So choosing to cultivate a feeling of compassion,

Of recognising your shared experience with this other person,

Recognising that this person just like me and my friend wants to be happy,

Fears pain or suffering just as I do,

Recognising that often people act out of fear,

And when we look at someone who is other to us or behaving in a way that we disapprove of,

Recognising that underneath their behaviour is very likely fear,

And we are simply looking at someone who is scared,

We don't have to agree with the conclusions they've come to and the actions that arise out of their fear,

But we can look at them and recognise here is someone that is scared,

I know what feeling scared is like,

Seeing if you could have that sense of sitting with this person and both of you simply acknowledging yes,

This is what fear feels like,

This is how it is to want to be safe,

And seeing if you can allow your heart to feel for this person who is other,

Recognising this shared humanity with them,

And also if you find it difficult remembering to bring compassion to yourself,

Maybe thinking of this person who is an enemy or other brings up feelings of conflict,

And so breathing into that place in yourself,

Creating space for that difficult emotion,

And then returning to opening your heart to the other,

Knowing that we can return to this practice,

We don't have to have had a result or have fixed anything right now,

Maybe we've noticed how difficult it is to do that,

Maybe you've noticed a releasing or a letting go,

However it is,

Letting this stage of the practice dissolve away now,

And turning your heart's attention out into the world,

If you need to coming back to yourself for a few moments,

Giving yourself a hug,

Or filling your body with this golden light from your heart,

So you have this sense of being resourced,

And from this place of a resourced heart,

Looking out into the world and recognising that all around the world right now,

There are beings suffering and in pain,

Mental pain or physical pain,

And allowing this golden light from your heart to radiate out into the world,

Letting each of these beings know you are not alone,

You are seen,

The suffering in me recognises the suffering in you,

I recognise this shared experience,

And I wish you well,

Letting that golden light from your heart radiate out touching all beings wherever there may be suffering,

Bathing them in this golden light,

Imagining this warmth,

This golden light radiating out around you,

Bathing the world,

Letting all beings know that they are not alone,

That they are seen,

Allowing yourself to feel with the suffering of others,

Not to be overwhelmed by that suffering,

But from an open heart,

Simply feeling with the experience of all these beings around the world,

Recognising that I myself am not alone in my suffering,

My suffering is not some unique failure of myself,

But in fact it unites me to the shared experience of humanity,

Then finishing by giving yourself a hug,

Breathing into this embrace,

Warming your palms by rubbing the hands together,

Resting the palms over your eyes as you take a breath in,

Then gently massaging around the eye sockets,

The nose,

The mouth,

The ears,

The forehead,

The heart,

Tummy,

Letting your hands rest again in your lap,

When you're ready,

Slowly,

Gently,

Blinking your eyes open,

Reviews

Gentle, soothing, lovely meditation. Thanks, Nick 🙏🏼

Really a beautiful, profound meditation. The only small thing was that I would have liked a little more at the end, I felt a little lost. But it was truly wonderful.☺️💖🙏✨🕯️