This practice is called the Converting Pain to Love practice.
This heart-mind practice for converting emotional pain to love is based on a 10,
000 year old practice called Tang Len.
This is my favorite practice.
I start every day with this practice and return to it constantly throughout my day.
I recommend that you do the same.
I begin by first getting present.
Then,
I practice the benefactor meditation.
Once I experience a glowing ball of love in my heart,
I then transition to this pain to love practice.
I recommend you also do the same.
Just 15 minutes a day of these practices over time can really foster compassion and equanimity.
This is also a great practice for healing a sense of emptiness,
Self-hatred,
Or insufficiency.
If you've been wounded or otherwise in pain,
This is a very healing practice.
I suggest you always start this practice with your own pain.
You may need to focus on your own pain for many days,
Weeks,
Or even months.
As you strengthen your experience of love and care for yourself,
You will be able to then breathe in and dissolve the pain of others,
Sending your loving energy out into the world.
What happens as a result of this practice is that you will begin to feel more loving toward yourself and others as you go about your day.
This practice develops a generosity of heart.
You will find yourself breathing out love to everyone with whom you interact.
You will begin to radiate out kindness.
Others will sense and appreciate this.
With time,
You will trigger with this and other heart-mind practices a virtuous resonance of loving and being loved.
So let's begin.
Start by getting present with the presence practice.
As you do this,
Relax.
Let go of tension.
Take a few deep slow breaths.
Anchor awareness in the breath or some other anchor in the body.
Let the mind settle as much as possible.
Breathe out and let go of tensions or agitation as much as you can.
Now close your eyes if you wish.
Once you are feeling present and centered as possible,
Imagine your sources of love filling your heart with a radiant,
Glowing ball of love.
Refer to the benefactor meditation if you need to.
Tap into the loving sources that work best for you,
Loving people in your life,
Loving beings that you know of,
Ideal divine loving parents.
God or other divine beings or even just a loving universal energy.
Whatever works best for you.
As you take in the flow of love,
Sense this radiant,
Glowing ball of love growing in your heart.
Sense the force of love coming into you and filling your heart to the brim with radiant,
Glowing love energy.
Now sense any pain in your heart or elsewhere in your body.
You can also now bring to mind circumstances that trigger upset,
Fear,
Hurt,
Grief,
Sadness,
Loneliness,
Anxiety,
Anger,
Boredom,
Restlessness,
Or any other uncomfortable or painful feeling.
Now breathe in this pain directly into your radiating ball of love in your heart.
Imagine the pain being converted to loving energy.
Breathe out this loving energy toward yourself into the center of your pain.
Imagine your love sources behind you radiating love into your glowing,
Radiating heart from behind you.
Breathe in the pain,
Convert it in your loving,
Radiating heart,
And breathe out love.
If the pain feels too much,
Just focus on the out-breath of love.
Release love from your radiating heart fueled by your love sources into the vastness of your heart.
Release love from your radiating heart fueled by your love sources into the vastness of awareness.
When you feel ready,
You can then bring to mind someone else who is also suffering,
One person you care about who is having a hard time.
Sense what it's like for them.
Let yourself fully experience their pain as much as you can.
Breathe in their pain,
Let it be converted in your glowing heart,
And breathe out love to them.
Toward the end of this practice,
You may want to sense the pain of all those who suffer.
Breathe in their pain and breathe out love.
As you finish toward the end of your practice,
Make an intention to continue to tap into your glowing heart and to keep it radiating.
Make an intention to breathe in both your pain and the pain of everyone you encounter today and to convert it to loving energy.
Make an intention to live with love on every breath.
In bringing this practice into your daily life,
It is helpful to practice attending to the essential goodness and vulnerability in everyone.
Look closely.
See if you can discern the conditioning of others that causes them suffering.
Attend to their vulnerability and to the divine spirit that shines through.
Sense both your and their sacredness.
As you encounter pain,
Breathe this pain into your radiating heart and breathe out love.
I'm indebted to Carolyn Aliato,
Who's also known as Lama Palden Droma,
And others who have taught me this practice.
Lama Palden's book,
Love on Every Breath,
Describes this practice from a specifically more Buddhist perspective.
I really recommend that you take a look at the book,
And you'll notice that it really transforms your life and your relationships if it's practiced in a persistent way over time.
