Shamata And Sympathetic Joy

You'll begin this guided meditation grounding yourself with a Shamata meditation practice and follow along as Lama Tsomo moves you into a practice of Sympathetic Joy, one of the Four Boundless Qualities.

Transcript

Imagine that you're a marionette and there's a string coming out of the back top of your head hanging from the ceiling and your whole spine is hanging from that.

So it's very loose yet straight.

Your chin is just a bit down,

Mouth a bit open,

Breathing naturally.

Now breathing is something we do all the time but rather than thinking I'm breathing I'd like you to pay attention to what's just happening.

Your gaze is downward which means your eyes are half open,

Half closed.

And you're feeling the movement of your belly or the coolness in your mouth.

Or what's happening in your rib cage.

Your pelvis is tilted slightly forward,

Your belly's hanging out like those Buddha statues.

And if you've had that moment of,

Oh yeah,

I was meditating,

Good.

You get to come back to simply breathing,

The experience of breathing.

Savoring this moment.

Coming back again and again to fresh moments of Shama time.

So the moments passing by and the thoughts passing by can be like a rope passing over your open hand.

So you can register all of it as it comes and goes without having to grab a hold and be pulled off your seat.

That hand remains open and aware.

So you might become curious about how your torso is moving with the breath.

Exactly how.

What's it doing?

You're becoming a connoisseur of breath.

Returning again and again.

You may be able to stay with the breath for an entire breath.

Again the thoughts can come and go.

They can be like waves going up and down and passing by.

We don't have to follow them right now.

So a kind of a favorite little mantra of mine is,

I don't have to think about that right now.

Now we'll shift gears and go into sympathetic joy.

So what is it that's a source of joy for you these days?

Maybe it's something about this weekend.

Maybe it's something going on in your life these days.

But pick something specific and for this you can close your eyes if it helps.

So hopefully you've landed on something and here's your chance to feel genuine joy for yourself.

You get full permission.

So just as if a friend was experiencing a joyful moment and you'd want to hug them,

You can almost imagine hugging yourself and smiling and savoring.

So it's like you're hugging your little kid self who's feeling joy.

So if it's really something joyful and you're really feeling joy for yourself about that,

You can't help but smile.

Maybe take a deep breath and savor.

Maybe you're really enjoying the music.

Or maybe you're enjoying the feeling in the room right now.

Whatever it is,

Now let's step it out.

So whatever your theme is,

Now imagine somebody you care about,

Somebody it's easy for you to feel sympathetic joy for.

See them in front of you,

Feel them in front of you.

Think of a time when they've experienced something similar and you can't help but be happy for them.

And so you hug them.

You're hugging each other,

Sharing that joy together.

Allow yourself to savor that fully.

And of course you'll forget and remember that's part of every meditation.

But it feels so good to come back to this.

I find I forget a little less.

Now maybe you think of somebody else who you easily feel sympathetic joy for.

And again time,

The linear sort,

Is an illusion.

So anytime they've experienced something similar to the theme that you're experiencing,

Bring that to mind and feel that joy with them.

And in a way the closeness I feel when I'm imagining hugging somebody in their joy and I'm sharing it with them,

It's almost more togetherness than I might feel in a actual hug with somebody.

Because the togetherness doesn't stop at the skin.

It's almost more complete.

And taking a deep breath,

Savoring the joy.

Mmm.

Now let's step it out to all of us in this room.

If you want to stay with the theme,

Whatever it is that you've picked,

We can be sure that everybody in this room has experienced a joy similar to the one you've been experiencing.

And we're happy for all of us here.

And so we feel that,

We savor that with everybody.

So imagine that sharing with individuals in the group,

And the group as a whole.

Keeping it fresh.

And feeling the intensity of the joy as strongly as when you felt it for a couple of your favorite people.

Why not be just as happy for these people?

Now there are probably whole swaths of people out there in the world who are experiencing something similar.

Whether it was a challenging piece of work that you finished,

Or and certainly there are plenty of people out there who have experienced that.

Or perhaps another kind of joy.

A chance to be with somebody you really care so much about.

The joy of togetherness.

And certainly there are lots and lots of people experiencing that at this very moment.

So whatever is your theme for right now,

Imagine those huge,

Huge segments of the world population experiencing that right now.

And you're just as happy for all of them.

So you savor that together with them.

Do your best to keep that feeling as vivid as when it was close in.

Again,

This is equanimity along with sympathetic joy.

And truly we can be just as happy for all of them.

And that tide of sympathetic joy rolls out even farther so that it includes all and everyone.

Because at some time or another all of them have experienced a similar joy.

And so we feel it keenly along with everyone.

And savor that for just another moment.

And now back to Samatha.

So again you're like a marionette hanging from the ceiling.

And as you feel yourself hanging from that string,

Your chin naturally drops just a bit.

And your back is supple yet naturally straight.

Pelvis tilted a bit forward,

Belly hanging out.

This time let's go ahead and use sound.

And this is going to be a very interesting practice,

Letting the sound pass through without thinking particular thoughts around it,

Making movies about it,

Just letting it pass through.

Being a passive observer of all the sounds.

So that includes passing cars,

Fellow meditators shifting around,

And an occasional voice talking.

Not to mention the sounds from somewhere nearby in the building maybe.

All of it.

Passing through.

And you'll have lots of opportunities for those mindful moments saying,

Oh yeah I was meditating.

Good.

The more the better.

And placing the mind again on sound and letting it pass through.

Just barely registering it.

Okay.

And savoring one more moment of shamatha.

Listening to the sound of the bell until you can't hear it anymore.

Reviews

With Great Joy ThankyouandBless 🧸🙂❤️🧸

This was beautiful. Thank you!

Thank you for teaching the Four Immeasureables here on Insight Timer. I recently heard your talk with Duncan Trussell on this subject and am so thankful to be able to practice with your recordings. 🙏

Thank you so much for this wonderful guidance - 🙏🏽💖🙏🏽

What a wonderful meditation. I feel like I’ve just come back from a healing retreat. Thank you so much.

Integrity. Gracias 🙏🏻

An amazing meditation to start my morning with, thank you ! 🙏🕊✨