Hello and welcome to Day 12.
How are you feeling today?
Congratulating yourself for getting to Day 12.
As we begin to transition to a new technique for today,
We're going to focus on a Tonglen meditation.
And if you haven't heard of Tonglen before,
It's a great meditation for developing compassion as well as empathy.
It also helps with self compassion.
And Tonglen meditation is basically focused on the taking and the sending.
Your inhales and your exhales,
Taking away the suffering of others and sending love and relief to them.
Or taking in light and love for yourself and then exhaling,
Sending away negative emotions or thoughts,
Painful situations.
So if you can tell,
There's a couple of ways to do this.
And we're going to synchronize our in breath and our out breath as the main focus and the foundation of today's meditation.
And just to give you a little bit of insight on where we're going today,
We are going to start in with the first technique and developing self compassion.
Grounding ourselves,
We'll be inhaling,
Visualizing a sensation of warm love and safety,
Flooding our entire body,
Soaking up into every pore.
And then we'll exhale,
Visualizing,
Sending out the dark,
Suffering,
Negative thoughts or even painful situations that you're holding onto in your mind and your body.
We're going to cultivate that peace and love for ourselves.
And then halfway through our meditation,
We'll transition into cultivating that compassion for others.
We're already going to be in a state of embodied love and acceptance.
We're now going to help others by sending that to them.
We'll inhale,
Taking in the pain and suffering of others,
Whether you want to bring in a specific person in your life or a group of people.
And we'll exhale,
Sending them relief and peace.
So with that,
However you're seated or lying down,
Get comfortable here.
And we'll start with the three deepest inhales and exhales we have all day,
As usual,
To connect our mind and our body into this space of present awareness.
Inhaling here and releasing.
Two more times.
Inhaling here and releasing.
One more time with our eyes open,
Looking around the space,
Breathing in and then exhaling,
Sighing,
Closing your eyes gently and immediately seeing where your mind goes.
Maybe you recognize the thoughts and distractions already coming in,
Just not resisting it,
Allowing it,
Bringing your main focus and your attention to your body,
Feeling the weight,
Your hands pressing down,
Your legs pressing down,
The connection of your body to the surface,
Whether it's a bed or a couch or a floor or chair,
Allowing that.
And finding that mind-body connection at your own pace,
Just filling up your entire body with this present awareness as we check in on each piece of ourselves,
The crown of our head,
All the way into our face,
All the muscles,
Releasing everything here,
Sending our breath through our throat,
Down into our shoulders,
Our arms,
Our chest,
Our belly,
Our hips,
Our thighs,
Our knees,
Our calves,
All the way into our ankles,
Feet,
And the tips of our toes.
And then zooming out,
Beginning to observe yourself sitting or lying in your space exactly as you are.
The only thing that's moving is your breath.
And then beginning to bring into your attention the warmest sensation of love,
Almost like a blanket,
Covering your entire awareness from the tips of your toes all the way to the crown of your head,
Inhaling that sensation,
Watching as that safety and love floods throughout your entire body,
Inhaling all of this in.
And as you exhale,
Through your mouth,
Watching the dark,
Negative,
Painful thoughts,
Emotions,
Situations,
Suffering,
To be peeled out of your mind and your body,
Whatever it's holding onto negatively,
Releasing through your mouth on your exhale.
We'll do that together,
Synchronizing our breath for every inhale and outhale,
Knowing that at any point your mind wanders,
Just bringing it back to the visualization of observing yourself in your environment,
In your space,
Just breathing,
Inhaling here together,
Feeling that warm air enter through the crown of your head,
Embodying every piece of yourself.
And then exhaling,
Sending out,
Releasing all of the suffering and pain,
Noticing if you choose a color for this,
Just tapping into what resonates with you,
Just feeling the sensation of every inhale,
That blanket of warm,
Comforting,
Safe energy.
And then exhaling all of that negative,
Painful suffering,
Inhaling love,
Joy,
Acceptance,
Exhaling self-doubt,
Inadequacy,
Inhaling love,
Joy,
Safety,
And peace,
Exhaling hate,
Anger,
Jealousy.
And for a moment,
Just allowing that warm light to stay,
Paying a little bit more attention to it,
Breathing here in and out,
Feeling almost marinating in this sensation,
Developing the self-compassion.
As we begin to transition,
Sending this love,
This light,
This safety,
This peace and joy to the people around us.
As we begin together to breathe in the pain and suffering of others,
Maybe you bring to mind a close loved one,
Someone in your life specifically,
Or a group of people,
Breathing in that pain and suffering,
Exhaling,
Sending them the love and peace and safety you've cultivated within yourself already,
Inhaling together,
Breathing in their difficulties,
Their suffering,
And then exhaling joy,
Acceptance,
Love.
We inhale,
Accepting without resistance,
The pain our loved ones are holding on to or experiencing.
We let go,
Exhaling lovingly through our outbreath,
Watching this energy being sent to them and watching it embody them,
Continuing here,
Breathing in difficult emotions and life situations,
Exhaling love and safety to those around us.
And as you begin to feel this energy of love and acceptance,
Not only for yourself,
For the people around you,
Just begin to take it further,
With every exhale,
Sending that love and joy infinitely,
Even to people you don't know,
People we walk past on the street,
Drive past in our cars,
Acquaintances,
Or even strangers that we have short conversations with like cashiers,
Salespeople,
Those that we just observe in our daily life,
Inhabiting the very environment that we live in as well.
Inhaling here,
Filling up our entire body,
And exhaling,
Sending love infinitely to everybody and just marinating in this space,
Enjoying this energy that you've cultivated of compassion,
Taking this energy with you throughout the rest of your day,
Beginning to get back into your body as we transition out of this guided meditation,
Maybe fluttering your eyes open when you're ready to move on,
And offering yourself gratitude for being open to this new technique and for completing day 12.
Thank you.
