"One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is stand up and show your soul. Struggling souls catch light from other souls
who are fully lit and willing to show it." - Clarissa Pinkola Estes
One of the ways I'm keeping my soul lit right now is with Tonglen.
This Buddhist meditation practice offers a way to experience the fabric of difficult emotions as an opportunity for returning ourselves and all beings to the essence of the heart, which is compassion.
Lately, I've experienced a lot of "not enough" feelings... not helping enough, not doing enough, being enough, feeling enough, creating enough, enough, ENOUGH! Tonglen supports me to compassionately feel into the contraction and dullness of this ego trip. Then, it gently returns me to connection with the collective and to my commitment to give my heart in service.
I'd like you to have this practice in your toolkit, so here's how it's done:
Tonglen Practice
The word Tonglen means "sending and receiving."
You begin with slow, deep, round, conscious breaths and connecting to the inherent heart-wish for all beings to be free from suffering.
Next, identify the particular form of sorrow you're experiencing, either within yourself or in the world, and bring attention to the somatic quality of it (how it feels in your body).
Then, as you breathe slowly in, imagine receiving the suffering into your heart. You can visualize the difficult feelings taking the form of dense, ashy smoke or thick, sticky sludge, and you breathe that substance into the light of your pure, compassionate heart.
Upon touching the compassionate heart, the pain immediately dissolves, transforms, and alchemizes into radiant, life-giving compassion. On the exhale, you send compassion for yourself and all beings who experience this form of pain.
As you continue breathing in this way - receiving and sending, receiving and sending - your compassionate heart gradually heals the suffering.
Choosing to work with the difficult emotions that come up - rather than trying to get away from them - allows you to become a source of healing - both for yourself and for the greater good.
