Welcome.
I'm Tara Kuzno.
I'm so glad you're here.
Today's practice tends to the difficult experience we sometimes have in relationship to another's suffering.
Sometimes the world seems so heavy with pain that it seems impossible to grasp.
Or someone you know and care about is suffering.
Or there is a person that causes you upset or worry.
There are times when it's hard to know what to do.
Or there isn't much you can do except to bear witness.
Yet by recognizing when a moment of suffering arises in you,
That very instance of noticing allows a bit of room to ease in kindness.
Sit quietly and comfortably perhaps with a hand on your heart or resting gently on your lap.
Breathe in and out in a gentle and comfortable way.
This meditation focuses on the natural cadence of breathing.
And for some a focus on the breath can cause discomfort.
And so I invite you to rest your attention on another anchor such as your belly,
The hands or the feet,
Or on sounds.
The intention is to cultivate a sense of gentleness and ease.
As you breathe,
Bring to mind a sense of warmth and comfort or whatever you may need in the moment that begins to evoke an experience of caring.
You may even recruit your own imagination or fond memories of being cared for.
Perhaps a feeling of comfort or the image of someone who is nurturing and kind.
You can return to this image or caring sensation whenever you need to during this practice.
Now bring to mind a person who is struggling and needs compassion.
Someone you are connected to in some way and who causes you some discomfort.
Perhaps you are caring for someone who is exhausting you or someone you know who is troubled or suffering in some way and you feel at a loss or an avoidance or uncomfortable.
These are natural reactions to suffering.
Without getting caught in a storyline,
See if you can visualize this person and notice the struggle or reaction in your own body.
What arises within you?
Begin to be aware of the stress or discomfort you are carrying and incline yourself toward compassion.
Compassion for yourself.
Inhaling fully,
Drawing on your breath and allowing yourself to take in compassion,
Soothing every cell and calming your nervous system.
Perhaps sensing a warmth radiating to all reaches along the map of your body.
And after you inhale a comforting breath for yourself as you exhale,
Offer the other person who brings you discomfort,
Feelings of kindness,
Caring,
Comfort and ease.
Sense your compassion widening to encircle this person.
Breathing in compassion and breathing out compassion.
Return to yourself,
Breathing in warm sensations of caring and breathing out warm sensations of ease.
And then switch back to the person who you have difficulty or discomfort with.
Breathing in compassion and breathing out compassion.
Rumi the Sufi poet said,
These pains you feel are messengers,
Listen to them.
In this way we can bring a caring attention to our experiences when we allow ourselves some stillness.
In an even flow of in and out breath,
Begin to receive and give warmth and kindness.
Just saying to yourself,
One for me,
One for you.
Like a seesaw back and forth,
Back and forth.
Breathing in compassion,
Breathing out compassion.
One for me,
One for you.
Finding a cadence,
A rhythm of giving and receiving compassion.
One breath in for me,
One breath out for you.
Simply let yourself rock to and fro,
Back and forth.
And noticing every once in a while any discomfort or ease and simply returning to breathing in one for me and one for you.
Now release this practice and allow yourself to be exactly as you are.
This practice is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself and for another.
The meditation teacher Jack Kornfield said,
If your compassion does not include yourself,
It is incomplete.
In this way,
We include ourselves in a widening circle of compassion.
Take gentle care.
