Inclusive Heart Opening To Palestine And Beyond

In this rest meditation, we very slowly and gently learn how to stay in and with our bodies in ways that allow us to stay grounded (co-regulated). Then, once anchored, we felt into big feelings inside ourselves as they relate to suffering in the world, without going into overwhelm.
Knowing how to, first, support our bodies, minds, and hearts, allowed us to open our hearts deep and wide to spread love outwards into the world: to the people in Palestine and to anyone who came to our attention during our time together.
This was a gathering to serve love, to have a container to feel deep and wide while being co-regulated, and to utilize the power of the collective, the power of the heart, and the power of prayer.
It is transformative and empowering to know how to stay grounded/co-regulated AND feel deep and wide into the suffering within us as well as with other humans. It is powerful to be able to turn towards oppressions, and not dissociate. It is rebellious to love widely.

Transcript

All right,

So yeah,

Wherever you're sitting,

Seated or positioned or laying or gosh,

Could be standing,

Wherever you're situated,

Let's put it that way.

Let's just start as we as we do with our eyes open for a little bit here,

We're going to take some time to to ground like we always do some time to establish our relationship with our place and space very slowly.

And so just letting your eyes very slowly and gently look to see the actual factuals of your situation,

Which is to say just the things that simply are in your in your immediacy.

Maybe colors in your room that don't need to be changed or don't need to be managed don't need to be different,

Don't need to be analyzed,

Just the simplicity of colors can be the simplicity of textures of ceiling or walls or floor or whatnot.

Noticing that you have chosen to be in a space in a location that is safe for your body or safe enough,

Otherwise you wouldn't have chosen it on some level,

There is choice here we've chosen to be in our in our positioning chair.

And we can also just notice there's no imminent threat in our immediacy.

And let's just check it out,

Just to make sure slightly behind us that part of the brain can see for sure there's no imminent threat or immediate danger behind us or to the sides or above or below.

Take your time to do that we really don't want to assume that we want to check it out and let our brain calibrate to what's true,

Simply small t truth to true in this moment of our situation of our immediate reality here and now.

And we can also see the object that we're sitting on or laying on or standing upon,

We can see with our eyes that what our body is in relationship with in this moment is solid,

Is predictable,

Is stable.

We can we can see with our eyes open that our bodies are being supported either by floor or some kind of surface.

Our bodies are probably pretty still,

Maybe a little movement but not being jostled around just kind of present based on the solidity of the floor,

The chair,

The bed.

We may feel jostled inside or have emotions that are moving or thoughts that are moving or sensations that are having different kind of resonances,

Maybe even feels a little bit precarious on the inside but we can see on the outside and where our body is sitting it's probably not very precarious,

It's probably very predictable and simple.

We're letting our attention,

Our cognition connect to that reality,

Reality of this moment in actual action,

What doesn't need to be managed or figured out.

We might also notice other senses that connect us cognitively and somatically to the actual factual,

Maybe there's different scents in the room or tastes or sounds that are just very simple,

Like you don't really need to figure out the sound of my voice or manage the sound of my voice,

Just your ears just receive it,

Your hearing mechanism just receives the sound of my voice.

There might be other sounds or other data in your other sense mechanisms that are registering that data in a very actual,

Factual,

Simple way.

You can have eyes opened or closed at any point of our resting today.

I usually will let the eyes start to close just because it decreases the data and allows me to connect to other data but whatever is useful for you.

And then we'll come to the sense mechanism of touch,

So we had been seeing our space in place or our place in space but now we can feel it,

We can feel the solidity under our body in some way,

Whether it's under the feet or under the sit bones or behind the head,

Under the hands,

There'll be lots of different places where our sense,

Our mechanism of touch is connecting to some kind of solidity,

Contact that's pretty solid,

Pretty predictable Again,

We're letting our attention connect to what is so simple,

What is so actual,

Factual in this moment,

Doesn't need to be managed or changed or analyzed and it may take some effort to do that because our attention often goes to past or future or just random things.

And when you notice that that's really normal and valid,

Just gently bring your attention back to something that's so anchored in this moment that is simple for attention to re-include and reorient to or recalibrate with.

In this moment,

I'm noticing when I brought that forth,

I noticed my attention just wanting to go to the hands in placement,

One hand is connected to the ankle and the other hand is connected to the other hand and it's like,

Okay,

That's where my attention wanted to land,

That was what was really simple in this moment,

Something that needs to be figured out and the placement of my hands in this moment with the way that the hands are making contact,

I'm guessing my attention will orient somewhere else at some point to what is just kind of anchored in a simple way,

Letting your attention do that,

There doesn't need to be a reason why attention gravitates to what it gravitates to,

But we're in this moment just inviting attention to go toward what is simple and again,

What doesn't need to be managed or fixed,

Just kind of hang out there and return to that when attention drifts away.

You probably hear me breathing,

So breath is obviously here too,

But maybe has been unnoticed until now,

So we now on purpose bring in the somatic and cognitive acknowledgement of breath and we don't need to be in this moment,

Breathing a certain way,

As far as I'm concerned,

I'm just noticing breath happening,

Just like we were noticing sitting or what not positioning.

So you might notice breathing happening because you hear it,

You might notice breathing happening because of some sensation in the nostrils or maybe somewhere in the side ribs,

Could be lots and lots of places,

Just letting your attention connect to breath in a way that's very simple and intellectually,

We know that we don't need to manage breath,

We also know that we can if we want,

But we know that we don't need to because when we go to sleep at night,

Breath just breathes us,

So we might just be curious of how,

Like gravity is holding us or the chair is holding us,

We might just notice how the breath is breathing us and we're being held by both chair or floor or bed and we're being breathed by this mechanism that is in relationship with the space around us and we can feel the breath breathe us in or we can feel being breathed in,

We used to say that,

And we can feel being the breath breathing out and in that wave of expression,

We'll feel the filling up and the emptying out,

The different micro adjustments the body makes,

The ribs make,

The diaphragm makes,

The nostrils make,

Maybe even into the pelvic floor a little bit,

There'll be just little tiny micro movements,

Some big,

Some real small,

Some we won't notice,

Some we will notice,

My favorite is to kind of notice that when I breathe in,

My shoulder slightly go towards the ceiling,

When I breathe out,

They kind of go back down to the floor,

If I was laying down,

It would be my chest or my belly rises to the ceiling and back down towards the mattress,

It depends on where you're in relationship with gravity,

There's no right thing to notice here,

Just your own experience in your context,

You really want to keep inviting our attention to really notice our relationship with this very moment in the simplest that it's here,

In the actual factual,

And so at any time we can use the different sense mechanisms to do that,

We can open our eyes to remind ourself,

Oh,

I'm in a safe place or the couch is very stable or whatnot,

We might return to using smell or sound,

We're on purpose going to use our sense mechanisms to remind us of our relationship to what's simple,

When we're connected to what's simple,

It doesn't mean that we're feeling everything simply,

Or it doesn't mean that everything becomes simple,

It just means that something in our relationship,

Something in our reality has some simplicity to it,

And we want to include that,

Because there's a lot that we connect with that doesn't seem so simple,

So we just want to really be curious of what we do have access to in any given moment,

In this moment,

To what is simple to ground or anchor with,

Or re-include,

This is really important at any time,

And particularly when we're on purpose going to invite ourselves to be open,

Open to challenging situations on the planet right now,

So we're coming together today to honor and pray with the challenges that are happening in Palestine,

But there's lots of challenges and suffering happening in the world,

In Israel,

In Sudan,

And gosh,

So many places,

Honestly,

It doesn't even do justice to try to name them all,

But we know that,

Whether it's from just the news or our intuition,

Maybe our attention just wants to go to a location today,

Maybe we don't even know what location,

But we're going to remind ourselves that our wisdom is beyond our linear understanding,

So we can be here in this moment,

And our heart wisdoms can be other places,

Here and other places,

And our attention can be here and other places,

And science has all this studied out,

This is not woo-woo,

This is actually scientifically proven,

And we get to experience it when we slow down to be with the consciousness of the depth of our heart's ability to feel deeply and widely,

So in this moment,

We just kind of pause on the exploration we're going to be doing,

Just really connect to our heart space in this moment,

And our heart space doesn't mean the chest location,

It can be,

Anatomical heart lives in the chest,

But heart space does not have bounds,

So we might feel our heart space in our bellies,

In our shoulders,

Going beyond our bodies,

Under us,

Above us,

Outside,

We may feel it in our hands,

Or feet,

There really isn't anywhere that heart space can't live,

And we might feel it in certain ways more than others,

So we just want to honor our own connections in the simplest,

The very simplest ways that they show up here,

And heart resonance can feel very simple,

So simple that we may not even recognize it,

Because there's not the fireworks that we might assume are supposed to come with a heart resonance,

Heart resonance can feel very simple and neutral,

So we try to invite ourselves to set aside ideas of heart resonance or heart opening,

And we keep our attention on what is very simple in this moment,

Invite ourselves to set aside expectations or agenda,

And keep handing ourselves over to the breath breathing us,

And the field of gravity holding us,

And we call forth the heart,

The wisdom of heart opening to be here too,

Very simple,

We may feel this to be true or intuit it to be true that heart wisdom and breath wisdom are in relationship,

As is gravity wisdom,

Wisdom of gravity,

They're all in relationship,

So we may feel that,

We may kind of get a sense of that,

We may not,

Stay in the mystery of what we're connecting with right now,

And stay,

Stay very slow in this journey,

So just staying right here,

Whatever's here,

Let yourself feel what you feel,

Apart from shoulds opposed tos,

Have tos,

Being breathed,

Being held,

Wisdom is here,

Anytime we start to feel any kind of overwhelm,

Let our attention take care of ourselves in simple ways,

Let the eyes open,

Let the body move,

Recalibrate to the choice that you have at this moment,

May even want to walk around,

Just really letting attention and wisdom be here as it is,

And supposed to,

Shoulds and have tos ideally,

Wisdom by its nature has a wisdom beyond our linear availability,

So we just stay with the experience,

Whatever it happens to be,

May not match what you thought or think should be,

And just,

If you can,

Just let those shoulds go,

Stay with the experience that is here,

As we now call forth our heart wisdom to on purpose include the people of Palestine,

The land of Palestine,

Whatever that means for you,

You don't need to be doing anything differently than you have been,

Images may come,

Smells may come,

Sounds may come,

Simple sensations or not simple sensations may come,

Whatever does come,

I'm going to invite you to stay somewhat anchored in what we had already established as anchoring,

As heart wisdom comes in,

To include the people of the land of Palestine,

Your attention stays simple with breath,

Breathing with what is here,

The breath is breathing your body,

The breath is breathing what you might be imagining or experiencing in other ways,

Or being held,

Including simple,

Inviting ourselves to trust the wisdom of the heart,

It's beyond our understanding,

And stay simple,

Let the breath breathe you how the breath wants to breathe you,

If you are feeling like it would be useful to have some intentional relationship with breath,

Maybe,

For example,

On purpose have a longer,

Slower exhalation,

You can absolutely make that happen,

You may want to on purpose have a longer,

Slower exhalation,

Then you can just kind of watch the body,

Inhale,

How the body wants to inhale,

Breathe the heart,

And the heart be free.

He's holding us,

Breath is breathing us,

And heart wisdom is,

Is moving through us.

We're going to call forth this heart wisdom to move,

Wisdom waves through Palestinians and land and people,

May others feel this heart resonance,

Be with us in this heart resonance,

May we be together in this wisdom,

This wisdom that's beyond our small self.

I've been using the words heart wisdom,

But they could just as easily be love wisdom,

God wisdom,

Really centering God love heart first.

God love heart with us,

Our systems,

And God love heart first with all others,

Particularly this morning prayer for what's happening in Palestine.

So,

God love heart first with those in Palestine.

Being with our well-beingness in this moment.

Known and unknown.

And that is my prayer this morning to be with love God heart first,

Be with love God heart first in me,

Be with God heart love first in all others and Palestinians and land this morning.

And just to let that be what it is,

You may have another prayer to add in and just let yourself open to the prayers that are emerging within you,

Silently and forth,

Call them forth.

Your prayers,

Your intentions,

Your calling forth extend anywhere and everywhere that arises in you to be in relationship.

Whether you,

Whether it's really specific or really broad or maybe even almost beyond words,

Let it be mysterious or very succinct.

If attention starts to drift away into past or future or into overwhelm or fear-based stories or other complicatedness,

It's okay,

Just notice that.

It's allowed here too,

And I'd invite you to make sure you're connecting to something very simple at this moment.

Whether it's your sit bones or some aspect of your breath.

We're really staying with love first,

Love in us first and extending out from that grounded,

Rooted,

Connected place.

Interesting part of God to do that,

To do the wisdom of that resonance of heart,

Heart,

Heart.

That we are woven with,

We are a part of,

Inseparable from.

Breath is breathing us.

Gravity is holding us.

Love is loving us.

Loving love to do love's work.

We allow love to know more than we do.

And to really trust that love is at work here in a way that we may not fully understand,

May not make sense.

We let it not make sense.

We let ourselves be within love.

We let love do love's work.

We're feeling some tender places.

Let's really honor that,

Honor the tenderness.

Sometimes we mistake love,

I'm sorry,

We mistake tenderness or even pain for wrongness,

That we've done something wrong or something bad is happening.

Sometimes we are connecting deeply.

This means we're opening.

And it can be really uncomfortable sometimes to be open,

Which is why we really invite ourselves to also stay simple with what is very neutral or okay,

As we also open up and potentially feel discomfort.

Breath is breathing us.

Gravity is still holding us.

And love is still loving us.

Letting ourselves connect to love and other,

A few more breath cycles.

Conscious attention,

Connect to whatever is coming to connect with,

Staying in the breath of allowance.

Do love's work.

If you're listening to this later in a recording,

You can pause here if you want to stay here a little longer.

But for now,

Let your body start to move a little bit.

Maybe think of sit bones in a rocking way.

Maybe all of the above.

Stretch the legs,

Stretch a little bit.

The eyes can slowly open if they've been closed,

But just really take time,

Take some time.

As we're slowly back into more form,

Just let yourself say a simple prayer of gratitude for being here today,

Being able to connect safely to breath,

Being recipient of breath.

When we're doing a practice that may be uncomfortable or feel edgy,

Thank yourself for being here,

For doing this.

Maybe there's something very tangible that you want to just acknowledge in gratitude,

Or maybe just something very simple.

Maybe there's some things you want to write down that have come to you in our time together.

Excuse me,

If that feels right for you or true for you,

You can just let yourself write some things down.

Take good care.

So after this,

Make sure we take good care.

Drink lots of water.

You can go for a little walk.

Simple.

All right,

We'll come back to screen here and recording.

Reviews

Dear Lisa,
Thank you for sharing this practice. From experiencing this practice, it helped me to think about different levels of suffering that exist in the world. Whether local in my community or elsewhere in the world, such as in Palestine. I used Tonglen during this practice, which was helpful when considering the needless suffering. Blessings to you for offering this practice experience. I’ll repeat this often… and once again, thank you!