Hi,
This is Meg Renaldi of Body Centered Inquiry and welcome to this guided somatic audio,
Tonglin.
There is a practice from 11th century Tibet called Tonglin.
It translates as sending and receiving.
It is a body centered heart practice of emotional self-regulation.
It can relieve helplessness,
Loneliness,
Self-pity and self-absorption.
It deepens connection to ourselves and all other beings.
The heart is the seat of consciousness in wisdom traditions.
Your heart is a place of alchemy.
It is a place where confusion can be transformed into wisdom,
Hate into love,
Indifference into empathy and this is the practice of Tonglin.
Tonglin is a challenging practice.
We willingly take on the suffering and pain of others and offer them in return via the alchemy of our heart joy,
Ease,
Care,
Compassion,
Etc.
For example,
My oldest grandson struggles with addiction.
When I think of him and I find myself worrying,
I gently shift my mind and imagine him in front of me.
I imagine the pain and confusion he carries as dark black heavy smoke in his heart.
And from my heart I breathe in his pain and in the alchemy of my heart that suffering is transformed and sent back to him as light,
Peace,
Health,
Love,
Compassion,
Whatever goodness is present in the moment.
Tonglin is a particular kind of shadow work.
In shadow work we begin from the place of our own naturally present wisdom,
Sanity and light and we don't shy away from the rejected part of ourselves or difficult parts of others.
It's not everyone's cup of tea and we do have to respect our limits.
It can be done exclusively for ourselves and the parts of ourselves that we usually get entangled with.
Jealousy,
Fear,
Small mindedness,
Perfectionism,
Anger.
Whenever we offer healing to ourselves we offer healing to the world.
That's the bottom line in an interconnected world.
Let's begin.
You can do this practice seated or lying down.
Find what's comfortable for you today and take your time to settle in.
Take the time to settle in and begin to sense your connection to the ground beneath you.
Whether you're sitting or lying down the ground is beneath you.
Allow yourself to be supported by the ground beneath you.
Imagine the ground is dynamic and it moves toward you as you move toward it.
Take time to check in with the quality of your mind,
The quality of your bodily sensation in this moment and your breathing.
And rest.
Begin to allow your in-breath and your out-breath to become more even.
Gently.
Gently allow your breath to settle,
Giving equal time to the in-breath and the out-breath.
Take your time.
You can always pause the audio at any point.
Allow the breath to settle and give equal time to the in-breath and the out-breath.
And when you're ready,
Begin to gently turn toward some quality or some part of yourself that you tend to push away.
Maybe it's impatience or jealousy or fear.
With that quality or part in mind,
Imagine from the best part of your own heart offering that less than desirable part,
Care,
Attention,
Appreciation or acceptance.
See what it is to touch one of those parts of yourself with a bit of care.
Breathe in the struggle or pain that that part causes you.
Breathe that in and allow it to touch your heart for a moment.
Allow it to be transformed and send it light,
Appreciation,
Regard.
Whatever is a caring quality for you in this moment.
Do this for a few more cycles.
Spend a few more moments breathing in the struggle of that part or that quality and then allow the alchemy of your heart to transform that struggle into light,
Clarity,
Peace,
Happiness.
This is a core practice of self-compassion.
Take your time.
If something gets in the way of you being able to offer these difficult parts of yourself,
Compassion or light or clarity,
Notice that part and offer that part that's in the way.
Compassion.
Acceptance.
Acknowledgement.
And after you've done a few rounds of that,
Rest.
Rest right where you are.
And when you're ready,
Bring your mind to a loved one who's suffering.
One for whom you'd do anything to alleviate their suffering,
Their struggle or their pain.
Breathe in that suffering and see it moving as a darkness in their heart into the light of your heart.
And right there,
It is transformed and you can send that transformed energy back to them as light,
As healing,
As relief,
As peace,
Nourishment.
And as you're able,
Continue that for a few more rounds.
Take your time.
This is important.
This is one of the ways that tonglen relieves our sense of helplessness.
There is always something we can do to alleviate people's suffering.
Take your time.
Breathing in the struggle of their heart and allowing it to be transformed by the light in yours and then offering whatever healing arises from that.
And when you're ready,
Take a pause.
Come back to your breathing,
The ground beneath you,
The space around you.
And as you're ready,
Bring to mind a group of people that are suffering or animals or trees or the earth itself.
Allow yourself to be touched for a moment by that suffering.
Breathe in the struggle or sorrow and then let the alchemy of your good heart do its work and breathe out health,
Patience,
Repair,
Kindness,
Ease.
And as you feel called,
Do that for a few more cycles of breath.
Breathing in the difficulties,
Breathing out joy,
Peace,
Renewal,
Spaciousness.
Take your time.
Pause the audio as you need to.
If at any time you feel overwhelmed,
Pause and offer compassion and ease to that overwhelmed part of yourself and rest into that.
And pause again,
Come back to your body,
Your connection to the ground and your breathing.
From the perspective of deep interconnectedness,
When you take care of yourself,
You are offering goodness to the world.
And when you're ready,
Let it all go.
Return to following your breath in and out in a simple way.
Take note of how you feel now,
The quality of your mind,
The quality of your heart,
Your body and your breathing.
Thank you.
That's the end of this guided Tongmen session.
Feel free to rest as long as you like to.
May you be at ease.
