Allow your body to rest in a comfortable position,
Whatever allows you to feel relaxed while staying alert.
You can close your eyes or keep them open and just let your gaze soften and look downward.
Start with a few deep breaths to settle your mind and body,
Matching your inhale and exhale or letting your exhale be slightly longer.
Check in with your physical body.
Notice if there's any areas of obvious pain or tension that you can allow to soften and relax even just a little bit.
So I invite you to bring to mind a situation where you're being confronted with someone else's suffering.
Maybe you're supporting someone who's going through a hard time.
Maybe you're feeling some responsibility for their experience and you're finding it difficult.
Or it could be a situation where someone else's actions have impacted or hurt you,
But you know their behaviors come from their pain.
Just see if you can connect to that situation in your mind's eye,
Maybe playing out any interactions that have happened,
Or you can just evoke the general sense of what's present here.
As you imagine this person or this situation,
You might put your hands over your heart or on your belly,
Just allowing yourself to feel their warmth and gentle pressure.
Notice the rise and fall of your chest under your hands as you breathe and start to extend your breath,
Deepening it,
Long inhale and long exhale,
Bringing this person or this situation fully into mind.
And as you breathe in,
See if you can start to invite compassion in for yourself for how difficult this is for you with each inhale.
You might experience this as a sensation of warmth,
A feeling of care or concern,
Or maybe something more visual like a light or a color that you're breathing in.
Allow yourself to feel your own experience here,
To recognize that this is hard and it's painful to be present to someone else's pain.
And with each inhale,
Continue to breathe in this compassion toward yourself,
The sense of acknowledgement and kindness.
Continuing to breathe in self-compassion on the inhale,
Start to breathe out compassion for the other person on the exhale.
Sending warmth and care toward them,
Concern for their struggle or their suffering in whatever form that takes.
Breathing in compassion for yourself,
Breathing out compassion for the other person.
Breathing compassion in,
Breathing compassion out.
You can refresh the situation as needed,
Bringing their face or presence back to mind as you continue to send compassion inward and outward with the breath.
Deeply breathing compassion in,
Deeply breathing compassion out.
You can let your breath return to its natural rhythm or keep breathing deeply,
Whatever feels good for you and your body,
But continue to hold the intention on each in-breath to give yourself compassion for the stress and difficulty you're feeling,
And on each out-breath to extend compassion toward the other person.
Now I'm going to repeat some phrases,
And I invite you to see if you can open and connect with these words.
Everyone is on their own life's journey.
I am not the cause of this person's suffering,
Nor is it entirely within my power to make it go away,
No matter how much I wish I could.
This moment is hard to bear,
Yet I will try to be present to the extent that I'm able.
Breathing compassion in and out,
Compassion for yourself in,
Compassion for the other out.
If it feels good to put your hands over your heart if they're not already there,
Allow yourself to receive the compassion you need and deserve while giving the compassion that the other person needs and deserves in and out.
I'm repeating those phrases again.
Everyone is on their own life's journey.
I am not the cause of this person's suffering,
Nor is it entirely within my power to make it go away,
No matter how much I wish I could.
This moment is difficult to bear,
But I will try to be present to the extent that I'm able.
Resting in the breath of compassion for self,
For other,
For self,
For other.
And now,
Letting go of any directed thoughts and just settling your attention on the breath as it moves in,
As it moves out.
Connecting to the rhythm of your breath like the waves of the ocean,
Moving in,
Moving out.
And take note of how your mind and your body are feeling in this moment,
The energy that's present for you.
Inviting in a few full,
Deep breaths,
Maybe releasing the exhale with a sigh or a sound,
And then returning to your space and opening your eyes.
