This is a 15-minute Tanglen meditation for the people of Ukraine and Russia.
Tanglen is the practice of sending and taking,
Sending out happiness,
Taking in suffering.
Let's start by removing all distractions and find a comfortable posture,
One that's relaxed but upright and alert.
Take a deep breath.
I want to invite you to take three deep breaths.
Breathing in deeply,
Letting the belly expand,
Breathing out,
Pushing the belly towards the spine.
Let's get in touch with our body,
Noticing the sensations of the body,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Neutral.
Just a gentle noticing.
Just being with what is.
We'll begin by flashing on bodhichitta.
Bodhichitta means awakened heart-mind.
It's the felt sense of space,
Vastness.
It's that feeling of looking out over a mountaintop or over the waves of the ocean.
Just feeling that vastness,
That open heart,
Open mind.
Next we'll work with texture,
Breathing in heat,
Darkness,
Heaviness,
And breathing out coolness,
Light,
Fresh air.
We're not holding on to anything,
Just a light touch of breathing in the heat,
The heaviness.
Breathing out light,
Coolness.
Now we'll breathe in the pain and the suffering of war,
The difficulties of the Ukrainian people trying to flee.
Breathing that in and breathing out compassion,
Love,
Caring.
It's the felt sense of taking in the bad and breathing out the good.
Breathing out the pain and the suffering of war,
The difficulties of the Ukrainian people trying to flee.
Now let's breathe in the pain and the suffering of the Russian people,
The difficulty of sanctions,
Of being cut off from the world.
Breathing in that difficulty and breathing out light,
Peace,
Compassion.
Breathing out the pain and the suffering of war,
The difficulties of the Ukrainian people trying to flee.
Now let's breathe in the pain and suffering of people all over the world who are suffering from war.
Breathing in that difficulty,
The pain,
The suffering.
Breathing out light,
Coolness,
Compassion,
Love.
Breathing out the pain and the suffering of war,
The difficulties of the Ukrainian people trying to flee.
Breathing out the pain and the suffering of war,
The difficulties of the Ukrainian people trying to flee.
Breathing out the pain and the suffering of war,
The difficulties of the Ukrainian people trying to flee.
Now let's rest in loving awareness,
Coming back to the breath,
Our body part,
To anchor us in nowness where our life is happening.
Breathing out the pain and the suffering of war,
The difficulties of the Ukrainian people trying to flee.
When the waterfall of thoughts rain down with gentleness and friendliness,
We just come back to our anchor.
Resting with our body,
Our mind,
In the present moment.
In a minute I will ring the bell to end this meditation.
Namaste.
