It's a really hard time for a lot of us.
It's been a hard week for me.
And I know for myself,
When things feel too hard,
That's the signal to stop.
And to get my bearings.
And to get grounded.
And to examine what's so hard.
And the practice that has been really effective for me is the Tonglen practice.
So I'll offer that to you now.
I recommend sitting for this practice in a traditional cross-legged position.
Or if it's more comfortable in a chair,
Then have your feet firmly on the ground.
Engage your belly just a little bit wherever you are so that you can sit up a little bit taller.
Take a deep breath in and let it fill your lungs,
Your actual lungs.
Don't let your belly move too much.
And exhale out.
Really nice.
Let's do that again.
Take an inhale in.
And exhale out three times.
Great.
Let's try that one.
Just like that.
Inhale in.
And exhale out.
So the Tonglen practice is to accept the pain and to offer the relief.
To feel the pain.
To offer the relief.
So we see the suffering of the world and we want it to be easier.
We bring in that feeling of war.
And we send out the feeling of peace.
Breathe in.
Your pain.
All of it.
Breathe out.
Your peace.
All of it.
Breathe in.
Your anger.
Feel it.
Breathe out.
Your tolerance.
Breathe in.
Your fear.
Breathe out.
Your security.
Breathe in.
Your pain.
Breathe out.
Your relief.
Breathe in.
Your loneliness.
Breathe out.
Your friendship.
Breathe in.
Your pain.
Breathe out.
Your relief.
Breathe in.
Your rage.
Breathe out.
Your joy.
Breathe in.
Your pain.
Breathe out.
Your relief.
Breathe in.
Your despair.
Breathe out.
Your safety.
Breathe in.
Your grief.
Breathe out.
Your gratitude.
Breathe in.
Your suffering.
Breathe out.
Your elation.
Breathe in.
Your sorrow.
Breathe out.
Your enchantment.
Breathe in.
Your guilt.
Breathe out.
Your gratitude.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
If one of those options worked well for you or if it felt like you had some clearing and there was more to clear,
I offer you this next minute to continue the practice breathing in what's hard for you and breathing out what you need,
The antidote.
The next minute will start now.
Breathe in.
Your pain.
Breathe out.
Your grief.
Breathe in.
Your pain.
Breathe out.
Your grief.
Breathe in.
Your grief.
You can allow yourself to stay seated as you are in stillness or you can start to move your body just a little bit,
The tips of your fingers just a little bit,
Around your shoulders,
Maybe moving your spine around,
Moving in whichever way your body feels like it feels really good.
Neurologically,
The Tonglen meditation works because we train our brain to embrace the emotions,
The experiences that bring up our flight or fight response,
That activator sympathetic nervous system,
And we teach our body how to self soothe,
How to find peace even around that extreme discomfort.
And you can feel it.
You can feel that shift in your body when your heartbeat can swell at the thought of rage before it's even told itself the story of why it's feeling it.
And when you offer it the softness,
It embraces it so heartily.
It's so ready for it.
It's so ready to release that hard stuff.
And if you really stay present with it,
It takes the body about 90 seconds to feel any emotion,
Even the biggest ones.
And 90 seconds can be a long time.
And 90 seconds can last forever.
In the sweetest moments,
Sometimes those moments that we fall in love,
It feels like they're still happening.
Sometimes when we fall out of love,
When we feel betrayed,
It feels like that's still happening.
But the truth is none of it's really happening.
What's happening right now is you're sitting and you can offer this moment gratitude that you're not there,
That you're here,
That you've experienced what you need to experience to be right where you need to be.
And spiritually,
From the subtle body,
The practice works to cultivate the energy of what we want,
Of what we need,
The energy of peace,
The energy of love,
The energy of restfulness,
The energy of gratitude.
And we get to discover that even though we block those sometimes,
Or they are shadowed by the stories that we tell ourselves of what's happening to us,
It can feel like the only thing that ever existed was fear when you know deep in your body that you have access to security,
To safety,
To confidence,
To peace.
And so the practice teaches your subtle body,
Your spiritual self,
Your soul,
Your chi.
There's a lot of different words for it.
It's all the same stuff,
Just different language.
It teaches it how to rebuild itself,
Especially in response to those moments,
So that when you do come up against those moments of true terror,
You can come to compassion more quickly.
You don't have to let it throw you off your game for quite as long as it did the last time,
Because you now know you've taught yourself,
You've taught your body,
You've taught your soul,
That you know how to take care of yourself.
Good job.
We're all in a lot of pain right now.
It's not easy for any of us.
It's harder.
It's harder for some of us.
And I say that from a place of privilege.
It's not as hard for me as it is for others.
And if there's something I can do to support you listening to this,
Please tell me how and I'll do what I can,
Whatever it is you need.
I'm here for you as a resource you can consider yourself,
Guided to me.
If you're hearing my voice,
Please reach out and tell me something I can offer you and I will do everything in my power to make your life easier.
I offer that to you from a deep place of compassion.
Namaste.
