From Champignyada,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is daily magic for peace.
Today we will ask for well-being to replace suffering.
Welcome to the circle.
So the only thing you need today,
If it's handy or you have it,
Is a globe.
So today we are doing our last episode in the mini-series on Tonglen,
And if you haven't been with us the last couple of episodes,
We've been dedicating time to the practice of Tonglen,
Which is basically becoming very still,
Identifying an area of need or focus,
And then breathing in anything difficult from that area of need or focus,
And breathing out peace and calm and love.
So it's a way to be present with what is hard,
And it's also a way to maybe transform a little bit of it,
But the intention isn't so much to fix it as to just be with it.
And something about that being with can be very helpful and very healing.
So we started by doing Tonglen for ourselves,
And then for a good friend,
And last week we worked with a difficult memory,
A hard time in our past,
And today we're going to go a little bit more broad and do Tonglen for somebody in the world,
Somebody outside of us in the world,
And I'll leave it up to you to see where your heart is called.
You might choose to focus on someone living across the street,
And you might choose to focus on someone living across the world.
If you'd like,
You can focus on Ukraine.
You can focus on somebody in the east of Ukraine who is dealing with being very close to the front line.
You can focus on someone in the west of Ukraine who maybe has more of a regular day-to-day life but is probably experiencing loss on levels you wouldn't be able to see if you talked with them.
And of course,
There are other areas in the world going through heartbreak right now.
So go with whatever calls to you today.
So to begin with,
Allow yourself to come to the beautiful pool,
The beautiful clear pool,
And sit with all of us around the edge of it.
Maybe take a breath.
You feel the earth beneath you.
Look through the water to the bottom.
Notice the rays of sunlight inside the water.
Allow your mind and your heart to become still.
Notice that while you're here looking into this beautiful clear pool of water,
We are around you.
You're in community.
You are in this special community that exists beyond space and time.
And now if it feels right,
If you're ready,
Join us in imagining someone that you would like to do tonglen for.
This could be an actual person you know or you know of,
Or it can be just for a community.
So see that person or those people clearly in your mind.
And perhaps you might bow to them on the inner,
Honoring their heart,
Honoring their experience in this moment.
And become aware also of whatever may be hard for them in this moment.
And see what it feels like to breathe some of that in.
Breathing some of that in.
And breathing out the opposite,
Calm,
Peace,
Strength.
And you might become aware of whatever it is that might be the most challenging for them in this moment.
And see what it might feel like to breathe that in.
And then breathe out peace.
Let's do that again.
Breathing in and out.
And again,
In and out.
And now at your own pace,
Just breathe in what you feel from that person.
And breathe out calm,
Peace,
Love,
Comfort.
Just allow yourself to breathe in and breathe out.
Nice deep breaths.
Just really honoring this person's moment.
The many things that you might imagine or that you can't even imagine that this person or these people are going through.
Just breathing in and out.
Allow yourself to be the transforming agent for this person in this moment.
Honoring their pain or grief or loss or shock.
And breathing out the opposite.
Returning to them a sense of love,
A sense of comfort,
Community,
Safety.
Just allowing yourself to be here with them,
Breathing tonglen for them.
Just follow the flow and trust your intuition.
If you notice anything or you're called to add any pieces in of this person's story or what's going on around them,
You're just connecting with them on the inner.
So trust your intuition.
Keep breathing,
Keep flowing.
We're going to begin to move to the end of this practice,
Just gently,
Gently.
And we're going to take three more breaths together of tonglen for this person or these people.
So breathing in,
Hardship,
Pain,
Loss.
Breathing out,
Comfort,
Calm,
Connection.
And breathing in again,
Anything you might have missed.
Really honoring their truth and releasing,
Sending them love,
Comfort.
And then last time,
Just really deeply honoring this person's day,
This person's heart.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And just letting this person go now.
These people,
Letting them drift away back to where they live,
Back to where they are living their day today.
And just take a moment to notice how you feel.
Does your body feel different after breathing in so much oxygen?
Does your heart feel more open after connecting with someone across the world or across the street?
And let's return to that pool together,
Beautiful pool that we are surrounding as a group.
You can let your eyes open when you're ready and come back into your body very gently.
May we all remember that with our breath and our heart,
We can really show up for those around us.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy,
And your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
Remember to breathe today,
Breathe and expand.
And I hope you join us again next time.
Please consider inviting a friend.
Our music is by Terry Hughes.
I'm Colleen Thomas.
Thanks for listening.
