Cultivating Well-being, Embracing Suffering

A brief body scan – followed by cultivating freshness, solidity, spaciousness, and freedom – based on Thich Nhat Hanh's pebble meditation. It will then invite you to turn toward something difficult in our lives to recognize, embracing and understanding it more deeply so we can heal it and transform it.

Transcript

And so this meditation will be a practice of connecting with the good wholesome qualities that are in us,

That are sometimes asleep,

But that only need to be awakened in order to experience them and to benefit from them.

And we'll also,

In the second part of the meditation,

Practice to care for a seed of suffering that may need our attention.

So if there's maybe a medium to mild difficulty that you're aware of in your life that you'd like to bring into this meditation,

It could also be a big difficulty,

But I would probably discourage you from choosing the most difficult thing,

Just to build up the muscle with something easier first,

If it's not something you've practiced to meditate with,

Just so you don't get overwhelmed.

So something that's in the relative zone of difficulty could be an irritation or difficulty with someone,

Or a challenge at work,

Or something you're struggling with in yourself.

So the first part will be connecting with our strength,

Our clarity,

Our tranquility,

Our equanimity,

Our freshness,

Bringing up these qualities that we all have.

And then the second part of the practice will be drawing on this beauty,

This clarity in us to help us to hold and massage and care for and embrace something that needs our attention and needs our care.

So thank you everyone for being here today and for your bodhicitta,

Your mind of love,

Your aspiration to practice,

Because that is what we need to nourish ourselves and really make the breakthroughs that are possible in our consciousness.

So just beginning by appreciating ourselves being here and letting ourselves settle in to find a comfortable position.

We'll be meditating for 30 minutes in this guided way.

The whole time we're together is a meditation,

But the formal practice will be 30 minutes.

So choose a position that's going to be supportive for you.

Sitting,

You could also choose lying,

You could also be standing.

And if your body needs to move,

Like rocking or swaying,

You know,

Whatever will really take care of your body and whatever is up for your body today.

So once you've chosen your position,

Allowing the body to settle,

So feeling where your body is making touch with the floor,

With another surface,

Maybe a chair or your bed or a couch or a cushion or wall.

So noticing the places of contact.

And as you breathe in,

Feeling these places of contact,

And as you breathe out,

Releasing the weight of your body up to the support of the earth.

So with every exhale,

Letting your body rest and sink a little bit deeper into the support that's underneath you around you.

You can bring awareness to your forehead.

And as you exhale,

Let the muscles of the forehead soften,

Release tension.

And then to the mouth and the jaw,

The tongue,

As you inhale and exhaling,

Letting go,

Letting the jaw release and the tongue be soft in the mouth.

And inhaling into the shoulders and exhaling,

Allowing the shoulders to release,

Get a little heavier as they flow down further down from the ears.

And breathing in,

Being aware of your arms and hands,

Breathing out,

Letting them rest on your lap or on the floor.

Breathing in,

Being aware of your chest and your belly.

And breathing out,

Letting your chest and belly open and soften,

Releasing tightness,

Tension.

And breathing into your pelvis,

The hips,

The buttocks.

And breathing out,

Letting this part of the body give itself over to the earth,

Releasing tightness,

Tension.

And breathing into the legs and the feet.

And breathing out,

Allowing the legs and feet to rest and let go.

And being aware of your whole body,

Letting your whole body settle,

Come into stillness and rest.

Now I invite you to bring to mind,

Bring into your heart something that you feel grateful for,

Something that is nourishing you in your life,

Bringing you happiness at this moment in time.

Something small,

Something really big,

Important.

Something as small as gratitude for the ability to have an internet connection to be able to be on this call.

Or something as vast as that there's air to breathe and that we can breathe in and breathe out.

Whatever it is that's arising for you right now,

What are you grateful for?

Allowing that to fill your yourself,

Fill your body,

Fill your mind,

A sense of gratitude.

Gratitude can help our hearts to open like a flower,

Opening to the sun of wisdom,

Of wisdom.

So allowing the flower in our heart to open,

To radiate.

So getting in touch with the energy of freshness in our lives,

Touching the quality we each have to look at life with fresh eyes,

With a beginner's mind.

Perhaps even visualizing a flower if that's helpful for you.

Or seeing yourself as a flower,

Rooted in the earth and this beautiful,

Colorful blossom opening up to the sky.

And bringing to mind something that creates this feeling of energy,

Aliveness,

Freshness for you in your life.

Maybe it's something you like to do like swimming or horse riding or taking a shower or walking along the ocean or holding hands with someone you love,

Laughing with children,

Gardening,

Petting your dog or cat,

Playing a sport,

Whatever it is that gets you in touch with this feeling of vitality,

Of interest,

Curiosity,

Being in the flow of life,

Offering yourself,

Being engaged,

Having a sense of freshness.

So seeing yourself in that situation and allowing yourself to feel all the things you would feel in that moment of aliveness and freshness and curiosity and interest.

If it is particularly perceptible in a particular part of your body,

Then allowing your attention to rest in that part of your body where you notice freshness and energy.

Breathing that in and out,

Letting yourself bask and bathe in this quality of freshness,

Of being a flower,

Sharing yourself with the world,

Offering your beauty,

Your strength,

Your beauty,

Taking a few breaths quietly as we just enjoy being human flowers.

Now I invite you to bring to mind the image of a man.

So we are going to see ourselves as mountains as well.

So a mountain is solid and stable and immovable.

And so are we.

The same quality exists in each of us,

The stability,

The steadiness.

So you can visualize your head as the peak of the mountain,

Your shoulders,

Your torso as the sides of the mountain and the base of your body as the feet,

The foot of the mountain,

The base.

And feel yourself maybe growing even more erect,

Getting a little taller,

Embodying stability in your posture.

And breathing in this quality of the mountain and breathing out the reality of our stability,

Of our steadiness,

Of our solidity,

Seeing ourselves as a mountain,

Experiencing stability in every cell of our body.

A mountain is stable in the face of storms and very violent weather,

Grave difficulties.

A mountain doesn't shake or move.

We have that same capacity to bear and endure and remain stable in the midst of the storms of life without being pushed over.

We have the capacity to provide stability and strength to others when they need strength.

That's our mountain nature.

So letting yourself rest in the mountain that you are and take refuge in that.

Beautiful?

And now we'll turn to the quality of spaciousness to cultivate that quality in us.

So visualizing yourself like a bird flying in the sky,

Or like the full moon sailing through the night sky with so much space around you and a very deep sense of freedom.

There are no obstacles,

Nothing constraining you,

Vast space surrounding you.

Maybe you're sitting on the top of a high mountain where you can see all around,

Miles and miles in every direction.

It's a sense of unboundedness,

Of limitless space.

Breathing in that sense of space and breathing out with freedom,

Experiencing freedom inside and around us.

Space free.

So the experience of freedom is always available to us.

The wisdom that there is space inside and around us.

It's always there.

Sometimes it's asleep in the depths of our mind and we feel tight and constricted and stressed and under strain.

But even in those moments we can touch that seed in the soil of our mind.

We can remember what it feels like to be completely unrestricted,

Unrestrained,

To have so much space and time and possibility.

So we're practicing that now so that it is available to us when we need it.

Breathing in space,

Breathing out free.

Breathing in freedom.

We can offer this space and freedom to others as well.

That's the meaning of true love is to give someone space,

The freedom to be who they are.

So we learn to offer it to ourselves and to those we love,

To everyone.

So now I'll do a very brief tending to suffering.

So I invite you to bring to mind this situation in your life that is causing you difficulty that's challenging for you.

And noticing as you bring it to mind how it feels in your body as you bring this person or this situation or maybe this aspect of yourself to mind.

So see if you can connect with where you notice this in the body and what the qualities of this challenge,

This difficulty,

This suffering are.

Is it something quite fuzzy?

Kind of something confused or hazy?

Is it something sharp and painful?

Is it cold?

Is it hot?

Is it moving around?

Is it something solid and stuck like a big block?

Is it a tingle?

Is it a groaning?

Is it like sludge?

Like something grimy?

So getting a sense for the quality of this difficulty and where you feel it in your body.

And with all of the resources that we just connected with,

Our freshness,

Our solidity,

Our stability,

Our spaciousness and freedom,

Bringing an embrace to this challenge of allowing it to be here.

Maybe putting it in your heart or allowing it to be surrounded by these strengths that you also know you have.

So not pushing it away,

Not denying it and also not becoming carried away by it and over identifying with it that that's me.

I'm this really difficult thing that I'm experiencing.

That's all I am.

But allowing it to be here,

It's a tender,

Suffering,

Hurting part of ourself.

Maybe it's angry.

Maybe it's feeling despair.

So opening ourselves to really feel it and be with it.

Allowing it space to be here.

We can hold it in our arms like we would an upset child with kindness,

With compassion.

Breathing in with it,

Breathing out with it.

Breathing our breath will help this upset child to calm and to feel some relief.

We can let it know it's okay that you're here and it's okay that you're upset.

You don't have to be in a good mood to suit me.

You can be just the way you are.

A gentle honoring of this painful part of ourselves.

I'm very compassionately embracing holding this painful spot in us.

I'm here for you,

You might say.

I'm taking good care of you,

Just being here with you.

Mindfully staying present,

Offering my attention to allow you to be,

To feel what you need me to feel.

I'm just being here with you,

Not leaving you alone or pushing you away.

Holding you lovingly.

And maybe this painful part of you begins to relax just a little bit or feel more ease.

And if not,

That's okay.

Continuing to honor it and be there with it.

And then asking it,

What does it need from you in this moment?

What would it like?

How would it like to be met right now?

Just listening.

And whatever that is that you might sense this part of you needs from you,

Seeing if you can offer it to this part of yourself now or in the future,

Just affirming that you will try,

You will respond.

And we'll take a few breaths now as we just feel into this experience now,

What's happening in the body,

What might have shifted.

What is this emotion experiencing now or how has it changed?

It might have turned into something else.

So being present to what's alive in the body and the emotional field right now.

Knowing we can return to take good care of this part of ourselves at any point in our meditation or in a quiet moment during the day.

But we'll say goodbye to this part of ourselves for now and let it know that we're going to continue to take good care of it and to listen to what it needs.

So opening to that sense of spaciousness and freedom once again,

Touching back into the quality of the mountain and stability and coming back to the nature of flowerness,

Of freshness,

Of aliveness,

Energy,

Curiosity,

Openness that's always there in us as well.

Putting all of that in,

Knowing that is who we are,

We can always access that.

Breathing that out to share with the world.

And as you're ready you can gently open your eyes if you had them closed and transition back to our group together.

Thank you for your practice.

Reviews

Beautifully structured and delivered. One to return to. Really helpful, thank you. 🙏

Thank you for this practice. The imagery of the flower, mountain, and bird really helped me to connect with those qualities of freshness, stability, and spaciousness. This practice was just what I needed to be with something painful in my life—I really appreciate it.

A superb peaceful tempo and tone of voice 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Thank you so much! So happy that I found you today.

Beautiful lessons during these times of suffering
Thank you 🙏🏼

thank you so much !!!

so powerful! thank you so much!

Wonderful! Very calming and soothing. I will continue to use these practices :)

Felt really connected to my elemental nature! She also did a great job helping to ground the heart/mind before introducing that which is challenging.

Wonderful, got better and better as it went along. Lovely voice, good balance of speaking and silence. Will listen to again! Thanks so much!🙏💟