The following talk is given by Tara Brach,
Meditation teacher,
Psychologist and author.
Many of you know and love this teaching from Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.
He writes that when the crowded Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates,
If everyone panicked all would be lost.
But if even one person on the boat remained calm and centered,
It was enough.
It showed the way for everyone to survive.
What I'd like to reflect on tonight is what it means to face a pandemic,
A time of really widespread fear with a compassionate heart.
And what comes up in me – just to name it – is this very real mix of fear,
I feel grief,
My heart is anticipating real loss,
There is a rawness,
There is a tenderness.
And with all that is also a sense of possibility.
The possibility that this suffering,
It's so deep and so wide,
Will wake up our hearts in a collective way.
And I'd like to name that these are times when there is real danger around us that we actually go on hyperdrive with worry.
And the challenge as we know is that fear when it takes over causes a tremendous amount of suffering and in a pandemic it's contagious so it can become widespread and it becomes one of the greatest dangers of a pandemic.
So again that question,
Can we be that person in the boat who feels the intelligence of the fear but knows how to hold it with mindfulness and with compassion?
Because this is where the training and mindfulness comes in.
And we are going to explore it bringing RAIN to fear.
For those of you that aren't familiar,
RAIN is a weaving of mindfulness and compassion.
And the letters of the acronym give us an easy to remember sequence that can help us to recognize what's going on – R,
A,
Allow it to be there,
I,
Investigate it,
And N,
Nurture it.
And then there is after the RAIN where we actually rest in presence.
This weave of mindfulness and compassion in a kind of evolutionary sense shifts us from fight-flight-freeze to attend and befriend.
And we'll just practice a little bit right now just to give you a taste especially if you are new to RAIN on how to bring RAIN to fear.
Take a moment if you will to adjust how you are sitting if that's helpful and to take a few full breaths.
And you might scan and sense whatever might be going on in your life – it may be pandemic related or other – it might be bringing up some form of fear.
And I want to make clear this is not a time to bring up a traumatic kind of fear or panic.
Practice with something that doesn't feel overwhelming to you right now.
And as you bring to mind whatever circumstances bring up fear just to make it more immediate just visualize whatever it is that involves another person,
See that person,
What's going on for them,
If it involves you,
Just see the setting that most might in your mind relate to or associate with the fear,
If there is something being spoken that brings up fear,
Something you are visualizing in the future.
And begin the practice of RAIN recognizing whatever is most predominant.
It may be that you mentally whisper the word worried or angry or fearful,
Anxious,
Tight,
Whatever is predominant.
And then let your intention be to allow – that means a willingness to pause with what is here – so that wisdom in you just says,
Let be,
This belongs,
This is a natural part of life,
A wave in the ocean.
If you can allow even for some moments that enables you to begin to investigate the eye of RAIN.
And you might notice where you feel this in your body – your throat,
Your chest,
Your belly.
Sometimes with investigating you can ask yourself,
What am I believing?
What am I anticipating?
And whatever comes up then find out how your body experiences that.
If you are believing something bad is going to happen to you,
That you are going to lose something precious,
What's that like to feel in your body?
So again feeling the throat,
Chest,
The belly,
The center line of your body.
You might find it helpful to put your hand wherever you can sense fear.
And for some because so many of us are dissociated from our body it can be very vague and that's okay.
Sense that you are inviting whatever wants to be accepted and included into awareness.
Just invite the fear to be felt.
Breathing with whatever vulnerability you are contacting.
And with some interest and gentleness what does it feel like?
How is fear living in this body right now?
Perhaps you can breathe with it and feel right to the epicenter.
Whatever you are experiencing as you investigate to again allow it to be there,
A kind of surrendering presence,
No resistance.
And with an intimate attention you might ask the vulnerable part of you,
How do you want me to be with you?
What do you most need right now?
And sense that you can listen from the most awake,
Wise part of your being,
From your awake heart,
What does this place most need?
Is it love?
Is it pure acceptance or forgiveness to feel embraced?
And sense that your awake heart can offer what's needed in a very direct and intimate and immediate way just washing through and bathing that vulnerable place with some quality of tender presence,
Of love,
Of compassion.
And if for you it's easier to imagine that compassion and love coming from another source,
From a loved one that you trust who is wise and you know cares about you or from a spiritual figure or from a formless loving presence,
Just imagine and feel and sense that love pouring in.
Let your deepest intention be to let that vulnerable place feel loved,
Washed and bathed in love.
You might imagine light,
Warmth,
A wash of tenderness.
Become aware of the quality of presence that's here.
Let yourself relax,
Open,
Just rest and be that presence,
That open,
Tender presence.
Notice the difference between being identified as a fearful or agitated self and the spaciousness and openness and freedom of loving presence.
As you're ready,
Taking a few full breaths.
So here we are.
We're in the midst of this huge unprecedented uncertainty and reactivity and fear and confusion and a lot more.
In a way we've been training for this.
Each of us in our own ways we've been training how to open more in our personal life to the joys and the sorrows,
To the fears,
To the losses.
With an awake heart we've been training.
So if you're intentional right at this juncture in time,
If you're intentional,
How you want to move through this,
The suffering that arises can turn you towards your deepest resources.
Can we be that person in the boat who feels the intelligence of the fear but knows how to hold it with mindfulness and with compassion?
May this suffering awaken this heart and all hearts?
May it help make love go viral?
