Tonglen Meditation

Let's start by finding a comfortable posture. This could be sitting, standing or lying down. If it feels okay to do so, you can close your eyes. And we'll take one deep breath together. In through the nose.

Slowly out through the mouth. Inviting the jaw to soften. The teeth don't need to be clenched. Inviting the shoulders to be at ease. As well as the hands and the belly.

As your body starts to settle in, your breath can come back to its natural rhythm. Nowhere else you need to be, nothing else you need to do. In this meditation, we're going to practice tonglen, which will help us develop our compassion and our ability to be present for our own suffering and the suffering of others. If at any point, this practice becomes too uncomfortable, it's okay to open your eyes, reground yourself and come back when you feel ready. We're going to start this practice with some basic breathing.

But with each inhale feel as though you're breathing in whatever you're feeling and accepting it with kindness and then feel like you're exhaling a sense of well-being and spaciousness. Try this out. Just taking in whatever you're feeling right now, accepting it with compassion, kindness, and then exhaling a sense of well-being, calm and ease. Letting this connect you to your heart. And bringing you to a state of calm.

I now invite you to bring to mind a being in your life who is going through something difficult and. As an act of compassion, you were going to feel and visualize yourself breathing in their suffering. You can imagine it as this heavy, hot, polluted air that you're taking in. You're moving closer to it. But when it comes into your body, it softens the armor around your heart, expanding you into love.

And on the exhale you offer out spaciousness, ease, kindness, and love. Imagining it as this cool, light air flowing to this beam. Practice taking some breaths like this. Breathing in suffering, letting it open your heart and breathing out whatever this being needs. Taking one more deep breath like this.

Taking a moment to reconnect with yourself. And when you're ready, you can start to reorient yourself back into this space and invite your eyes to open. You're welcome to stay here however long you'd like, and even continue meditating. Thank you for your practice and I'll talk to you soon. Take care.