So this is a practice of Tonglen or giving and receiving.
And the invitation is to begin as we often do,
Just feeling that connection with the ground.
Noticing what it's like to be here now,
Wherever you are.
And if it's comfortable,
And when you're ready,
Closing the eyes.
And even at this starting place,
We can appreciate that there might be a lot going on for us.
Sensations,
Thoughts,
Emotions.
So we can begin with an attitude of radical inclusivity,
Just inviting all of that to be here as it is.
While also slowly,
Gracefully opening more and more deeply to all of it.
Feeling your contact with the ground and also the body rising out of this firm foundation into space.
Or if you're laying down,
The whole front of the body softening into space.
Sensing infinite space stretching in all directions from here.
And if you'd like,
You could imagine that you're sat somewhere that brings a sense of spaciousness,
Like the top of a mountain or on the beach,
Looking out at the wide open sea.
Or just laying in the garden,
Looking up at the sky.
So just connecting with an imagined sense of spaciousness and noticing any effect this has on the body and the heart,
Mind.
Heart,
Mind like a wide open,
Luminous,
Clear sky,
Cloudless,
Boundless.
Really allowing yourself to rest here in this space full of potential.
And if you'd like to connect even more deeply with this sense of spaciousness,
You could imagine the central channel.
So this is a channel of energy running from navel to crown.
It's said to be deep blue in color,
Just like the sky and full of infinite space.
Bringing in the breath here,
Breathing along the central channel.
Connecting the major energy centers of navel,
Heart,
Throat,
And crown.
Smoothing out any wrinkles in the energy centers as we breathe here along the central channel.
Having an inner sense of spaciousness,
Openness,
Unboundedness.
Slowly dissolving any barrier between inner and outer and just connecting with a sense of spaciousness that stretches from deep inside of you all the way up to the furthest edges of the universe.
And then when you're ready and in your own time and way,
The invitation is to just begin to really connect with yourself as a being who suffers.
It may be that even just now there's some suffering here,
Physical,
Emotional,
Mental suffering of some kind.
Or you may just bring to mind the ways in which you know that you suffer.
And then using the breath or any other way of imagining,
Just very,
Very gently taking in this truth of your own suffering.
Not all in one big deep breath,
But just a little bit at a time.
Each breath,
Taking in a little bit of suffering.
And each exhalation,
Allowing a sense of ease,
Release,
Liberation.
So what we're doing here is we're inviting the suffering into the open space of awareness at our heart.
And because there's nothing for it to stick to or cling to,
It's free to simply dissolve.
So on the out breath,
What we're breathing out is in a way this resolution of our deep heart wish to be free from suffering.
We can know it right now with each out breath,
That there's just a little bit more ease,
A little bit more relief.
And if it helps,
You could place the hand on the heart here to support this transformation of the suffering into freedom through awareness.
A little bit at a time.
There's no rush.
You start to get overwhelmed or dissociated or distracted,
You can always just come back to the ground.
Very simple.
The contact there.
You might open the eyes and have a little look around or give the body a little shake.
Take a few deeper breaths.
Whatever can gently support a return to presence.
And then when you're ready,
Just picking up the thread of practice again.
Finding the breath,
Connecting with the heart.
Acknowledging and turning towards and really taking in the truth of our suffering.
Allowing it to liberate in the clear light of our loving awareness.
And on the out breath,
Ease,
Release all the good things.
We're okay.
Right now we're okay.
Feel free to hang out with yourself in this way for as long as you'd like.
It's also an invitation to just check in with how much tension or bracing there might have built up there in the body and do anything to support a little bit more ease,
Relaxation.
Returning to the blue sky,
That open space,
Resting here for a little while.
Boundlessness and clarity of the space.
And then when you're ready,
Just beginning to bring to mind someone who you know is suffering.
Could be an animal or a person.
And before doing anything,
Just noticing what it's like to bear this person in mind.
How is it to simply remember them just now?
As we do this,
We can also begin to turn towards and appreciate the ways that they suffer.
Acknowledging that and the conditions of their suffering.
And then when you're ready,
Just starting to take that in,
Not to your own individual egoic heart-mind,
But to this universal space of freedom that is also fundamentally who and what we truly are.
So in a lot of ways in this practice,
We're not really doing anything.
We're allowing awareness to do the work of transforming suffering into freedom.
Breathing it in little by little and on the out-breath,
Relief,
Ease,
Liberation.
You can imagine this in the form of things that you know this person enjoys or brings ease.
Breathing out a warm summer day or delicious ice cream.
This person suffers just like we do,
Even if it might look a little bit different.
We just want to be happy.
And we can support that through our own acknowledgement of their suffering and wishing for wellness,
Breathing out liberation,
Ease,
Release.
And if you feel like you're all up in your head,
Just see if you can drop the awareness down into the body and the felt sense of how it is to be here with this person and with their suffering.
And softening to them.
Maybe even imagining being a safe person to be around.
That helps them to feel a little bit more free.
When you're ready,
Just coming back to that blue sky once again,
Letting this person drop away,
Resting in the spaciousness,
The luminosity,
The deep blue.
Resourcing yourself with the space,
Open space of awareness,
Unbounded,
Full of possibility.
And then when you're ready and in your own time,
Just starting to turn towards others.
Bringing to mind friends and family.
Turning towards and taking in their suffering as fully as we can just now.
And giving back freedom,
Release,
Ease.
Thinking about colleagues,
Neighbors,
Members of your spiritual community,
Sangha.
You don't have to bring individuals to mind and try to get around to everyone.
It can just be a general sense of collective suffering.
And again,
Just a little bit at a time.
Any other communities that you're a part of.
A little bit at a time.
And I'm taking the lens out a little bit wider,
As wide as you feel you can go just now.
To including all living beings everywhere,
On the whole living,
Breathing planet.
Our collective suffering and our collective liberation,
All bound up,
Taking it into this open space of awareness,
Freedom at our own heart.
Recognizing the impermanence of this suffering and breathing out,
Release,
Ease,
Relief,
Liberation.
May the whole world wake up.
So in a moment,
I'll be ringing a bell to mark the end of this practice of tonglen.
And the invitation is to emerge slowly and in your own time,
Taking care of yourself.
Dropping any effort that you're making,
And simply resting in awareness.
