Tonglen is a practice that you can use in sitting meditation,
But it's also a practice that you can use throughout your day at any time.
You could be walking or in the moment of a difficult situation and just be able to do it at any time.
It comes from the Buddhist philosophy and Pema Chodron is one of the biggest shares of this practice and where I learned it from.
It's based around four steps that I will walk you through.
And I think we'll just begin,
Get right into it,
And I'll talk a little more.
So close your eyes,
Center into your breath.
Relax behind your eyes.
Come into contact with your body and your breath.
And with an inhale,
Allow yourself to feel.
Exactly what you are feeling.
Be present with that sensation or that emotion.
Whether it be exhaustion,
Agitation,
Grief,
Or maybe it's peace or joy.
Breathe it in fully.
As you exhale,
Breathe out a sense of spaciousness,
Love,
Compassion for yourself.
Breathe out whatever the antidote for that emotion is.
Spaciousness and compassion for yourself.
So again,
Breathing in exactly what you're feeling.
Breathe out spaciousness and compassion for yourself.
On the next inhale,
Breathe in.
The feeling that you are not alone.
Breathing in,
You are not alone.
Know there are so many other people in the world and maybe even with you in this moment who are experiencing or have experienced exactly what you're feeling.
Breathing in,
I know I am not alone.
And now on the exhale,
Breathe out spaciousness and compassion for all those other people,
All those other people who might be experiencing difficulty in their life.
And with this breath,
We expand our capacity for compassion,
For love.
We remember all the other sentient beings in the world.
We open our heart.
Come into a place of love and service of all these other beings.
I'll walk you through the process once more.
Breathing in,
I allow myself to feel exactly what I feel.
Breathing out spaciousness,
Compassion for myself.
Breathing in,
I know I'm not alone.
Breathing out spaciousness and compassion for all those other beings.
Might be helpful for you to write down these four steps so that you can use it throughout your life that it can be ingrained throughout your body and eventually after some time of practicing this kind of meditation You'll be able to integrate it so easily into those times when you're feeling difficulty or overwhelmed or anger,
And it can actually lessen our reactivity in those situations where we might get really upset.
Instead,
We immediately turn to breathing in.
I allow myself to feel what I'm feeling,
To just notice the pure sensations rather than being attached to those emotions or the story of what is happening.
And when we do that and then add in the spaciousness,
The compassion,
We begin to find relief,
Begin to release those attachments to our emotions.
And then when we come into that place of service and love,
We remember we're not alone.
And that is so comforting in those times when we are experiencing difficulty.
I hope you enjoy this meditation.
And can integrate it into your life.
Namaste.
