So,
Welcome to this practice of tonglen or giving and receiving.
The invitation as we get started here is just to spend a little bit of time feeling the support of the ground.
So,
Just taking a few breaths here and just remembering that you're always held by the earth,
Allowing awareness to drop down into the points of contact,
Spending a little bit of time with the sensations there,
And then inviting the rest of the body to drop down into those points of contact,
That support,
That holding.
And then from this support,
We can begin to include the rest of our bodies,
So the whole rest of the upper body rising into space or the whole of the front of the body opening to space if you're laying down.
And we can include here all of what's known in our experience just now,
So sensations,
Emotions,
Thoughts.
So at the start of this practice,
Just welcoming everything that's here and allowing it to be here as it is.
So,
This is the spirit of the radical embrace,
Allowing ourselves to embrace all of what's here,
However it is.
Then when you're ready,
Just inviting us to begin to open to the space all around us.
You could even open the eyes and have a little look around,
Taking in the space,
Appreciating the resource that spaciousness provides to our bodies and minds.
If you'd like,
You could even imagine that you're sitting somewhere that is spacious,
Like the top of a mountain or a body of water,
Or maybe you're sitting in the middle of a deep blue sky,
Stretching infinitely in all directions,
So just getting a sense of the qualities of spaciousness,
Full of potential,
Totally open,
Luminous,
Deeply sensitive.
Just allowing your body to really soften into the space,
Allowing your heart to open to all that space,
Allowing yourself to become part of the space,
Connecting with spaciousness as your own nature,
Just seeing if it's possible to invite yourself to relax even a little bit more into the spaciousness.
If you've been bracing against space,
Just seeing what it would be like to trust it a little bit more.
So the rest of the practice we'll be doing from this place of spaciousness,
Never losing touch with the spaciousness at the very core of ourselves,
Our deepest nature,
Where all of experience is free to come and go without any acceptance or rejection.
In the next stage of the practice,
We begin to connect with ourselves,
Which we can do just right here with the breath,
Each breath inviting deeper awareness in the body and what's here at the level of physical sensations,
And then also imaginatively just connecting with ourselves as beings who suffer.
You probably wouldn't be here listening to this meditation if you weren't someone who suffers in some way.
And also you have a deep heart wish to be free from suffering,
A longing.
So when you're ready,
Just beginning to allow the truth of your own suffering or even ways in which you're suffering just now into your heart,
The spacious,
Open place,
Breathing it in or imagine absorbing it in through the skin.
And then on the out breath,
Just breathing out,
Release,
Ease,
Relief,
Freedom.
So as we turn towards and accept the truth of our own suffering,
It's free to dissolve in the open space of our pure hearts and we can breathe out relief.
One breath at a time,
Lovingly attending to the truth of our own suffering and also the truth of our own liberation,
That we can be free.
On each out breath,
Knowing that freedom more and more deeply.
And if at any time you begin to get lost in the practice or feel a bit overwhelmed,
You can always just stop and do some resourcing.
Self-touch is helpful,
Hand on heart,
Hand on belly,
Or you might just open the eyes and have a little look around or reconnect with sensations of the ground.
And then when you feel ready,
Coming back to the practice,
Back to the simple truth of your own suffering and the potential to be free from that suffering with each breath.
We're moving on to the next stage,
Just taking a little pause here,
Reconnecting with the open space of awareness.
Could even rest back a little bit in the posture if you've found that you're leaning forward or bracing at all.
Really allowing the body to take up the space you're in,
Feel the spaciousness all around you.
Stretching infinitely in all directions,
Holding you here.
Knowing this boundaryless open space of awareness as our truest nature.
And then when you're ready,
Beginning to bring to mind someone in your life who you know is suffering.
Firstly,
Just appreciating what it is that they're going through.
And then when you're ready,
Beginning to really turn towards,
Start to take in the suffering.
We use the imagination here,
Imagine we're breathing it in,
Maybe soaking it up.
Remembering we're not doing this as us,
We're letting the awareness do the work here.
So allowing that suffering into the open space of awareness.
And then on the out breath,
Giving back relief,
Ease,
Freedom from suffering.
On the giving back,
You could even imagine that you're giving this person all the things that they love,
That they enjoy,
That can help ease their suffering.
A beautiful piece of music,
Or a place in nature they like to go,
Wonderful food they like to eat.
Breathing in their pain,
Their suffering,
Breathing out whatever brings relief,
Ease,
Freedom.
One breath at a time.
Remembering that we don't need to rush the practice.
Just doing what we can in this moment.
We also don't need to take in all of the suffering at once.
You can think of it more like little sips.
A little bit at a time,
Allowing it to dissolve in the open space of awareness.
So that naturally what we give back is freedom.
So feel free to keep going in this stage.
And then when you're ready,
Feeling free to reconnect once again with that open space of awareness.
Using the imagination here,
Can go back to a place in our minds that evokes that infinite space.
We're just feeling into it right now,
In our own bodies.
The natural spaciousness of the in-breath,
Softening into the space around us as the body expands.
And then on the out-breath,
There's a little bit of dropping down and trusting the ground to hold us here.
And then when you're ready,
Once again,
You can begin to bring to mind other beings that suffer.
We can do this slowly and feel free to stop whenever you feel like you've had enough.
There may be people in your life,
Other friends,
Colleagues,
Family members,
Neighbors,
Who you know are suffering.
So just breathing that in,
Allowing it to dissolve in the open space of our pure hearts and then breathing out.
Relief,
Ease,
Freedom,
Joy even.
Suffering doesn't have anything to stick to when met with openness.
So it's free,
Free to liberate.
You could go through individuals in your mind or you might just think more generally,
You know,
Of all the people that you know and interact with,
Whatever suffering there might be here.
Taking it in and giving back ease,
Contentment,
Wishlessness even.
You might think of communities that you're a part of.
And then from here,
We can begin to expand even further to people we don't know,
Other communities.
Appreciating these people also suffer and want to be free.
Breathing that in and giving back a deep heart wish for their wellness.
An ease,
An opening,
The potential to be free.
And then we can just keep allowing that to ripple out to include more and more beings even beyond the human realm.
Animals,
Spirits.
Breathing in all that contraction,
All that resistance,
All that heaviness,
All that hurt,
All that broken heartedness.
And allowing it to dissolve into emptiness and releasing it,
Giving back freedom,
Ease.
Release.
Relief,
Contentment,
Wishlessness.
And again,
If it just starts to feel overwhelming,
Just back right off and do anything that supports you to come back to presence and a sense of being okay in yourself.
Any resources.
And then for the last couple of minutes here,
We can just drop any effort that we're making.
Finding your way back to the ground,
Feeling that support once again.
Maybe taking a few deeper breaths here,
Making any noises that feel good to you on the outbreath.
And you might rest back a bit in the posture,
Maybe put the hands palm up in the lap.
Could even open the eyes here with a soft focus.
We're just going to do a little bit of hanging out like sea anemones in a nutrient rich,
Warm tide pool.
Totally open,
Soft,
Receptive.
At ease.
Just sitting.
And then we'll just have a moment to sit with a dedication.
So may all beings benefit from this practice of turning towards suffering and allowing it to dissolve and liberate in the clear light of our awareness and love.
May all find freedom from suffering.
And let go of the body.
In a moment,
I'll ring a bell to mark the end of this practice.
And the invitation is to really take your time,
Gently coming out.
Feel free to move,
Stretch,
Rub,
Caress,
Scratch,
Rotate,
Anything in any way you want to,
To support the body to come out of the practice.
