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As empaths, intuitives and healers, we often take on the suffering of the world
unnecessarily. Living within our loud, busy, and energetically frantic world, we
have the habit of storing the pain of others in our bodies, minds and hearts each
and every day. Many times, life just feels too much for us to bear. As a result, we
constantly feel tired, overwhelmed and burdened by the problems and
responsibilities that our friends and family members seem to “dump” on us. If
you suffer from chronic mental and physical illnesses such as fatigue, anxiety
and depression, chances are that you desperately need to release the toxic energy
within you.
Being an empath, intuitive or healer can be a great and powerful gift, but only if
you learn how to centre yourself, ground your emotions, and refrain from
shouldering the unhappiness and suffering of others. If you don't learn how to
ground yourself, you'll live like a slave to emotional energy, rather than a master
of it. However, once you learn to master this energy, you won’t feel burdened by
your sensitivity – instead you’ll actually feel empowered by it.
To help you master your gifts, we have recorded this gentle guided meditation
using an ancient Tibetan Buddhist technique called T onglen. This ancient
meditation will help you to release your inner pain – and the pain of others – so
that it can be transformed for the highest good of all.
The Tonglen meditation is the perfect cleansing tool for all sensitive empaths. At
its core, Tonglen is about giving and receiving energy and being present for our
own suffering and the suffering of others consciously. Tonglen also helps us to
awaken to the immense strength of our Hearts that can be reached through the
cultivation of loving openness. In fact, it is said that the Dalai Lama himself
practices the Tonglen meditation every day because it brings him peace of mind
and helps him to open his heart to others.
So how does this meditation vary from other meditations? Tonglen is different
because it asks us to consciously breathe in the suffering of the world, to hold it
inside the unbreakable place of love and compassion within us, and then to
breathe it out as transformed healing energy.
To many, actively breathing in the pain of the world may seem too difficult a task
to undertake, particularly as sensitive people. However, breathing in the suffering
of the world does not mean to burden yourself with the misery of life, but instead,
to acknowledge its existence and to accept it. Once this pain has been
acknowledged, accepted and transformed within us, it can then be released back
into the world with joy and loving-kindness. This allows us to consciously learn
how to accept, transform and surrender painful energy and emotions whenever
we absorb them from others in our lives.
To begin your Tonglen practice, you might like to start with smaller issues in
your life first, such as personal problems, family dramas, or work-related issues.
After you’re comfortable with the practice, you might like to move on to larger
issues that burden you, such as consciously feeling the unhappiness of societal
injustice, poverty, and global destruction.
Remember, this meditation is about learning how to consciously t ransform your
pain rather than trying to carry the world on your shoulders. There is a huge
difference between bearing someone’s pain as if it were our own, and s haring
someone’s pain without letting it affect us. The Tonglen meditation helps us to
learn how to flow with the energy within and without us, without becoming
attached to it. When we stop fighting energy and when we start releasing our
attachment to it, we experience profound emotional, mental, and physical
healing.
Tonglen teaches us that the wisest and healthiest way to approach energy – even
toxic energy – is to flow with it and let it pass right through us, because when we try
to fight or control it, we create more suffering. And by sending love and healing
to others, we send love and healing to ourselves.
Try this tonglen meditation each day for one week, and notice how you feel.
Remember that it is your very own heart that is the ultimate healer of all pain
and suffering within you. Once you learn how to use your heart to consciously
meet, feel, allow, and let go of energy, you will no longer feel burdened by
anything or anyone around you.
So let’s learn how to surf these waves of energy together with strength and
dignity.
Guided Meditation (Spoken by Sol)
We will start by finding a silent and darkened room to relax in ….
Sit or lie down, and draw awareness to your breathing ….
[Pause]
Allow yourself to relax into your breath for a few moments …
notice how your body feels as you breathe in and out …
[Pause]
Feel how the body already knows how to breathe without any effort from you …
Breathing is effortless …
simple … easy ……
There’s no need to control anything …
just let your breathing flow naturally ...
meditate on these feelings for a few minutes until you feel grounded …
[Pause]
Next, start to notice any feelings of discomfort stuck in your energy field or
lodged within your body ….
[Pause]
Allow these feelings to be there without fighting them ...
Gently breathe in these sensations ….
Then slowly breathe out healing energy …
[Pause]
Whatever is causing you pain …
breathe it in consciously …
This pain could be feelings such as anger, fear, sadness, restlessness or
resistance …
Just let yourself gently breathe in this pain …
let it accumulate within you for a moment …
Then slowly breathe out …
sending yourself healing, loving energy …
[Pause]
Feel this energy fill your arms, legs and entire body ...
Notice how your body relaxes and lightens, each time you breathe out loving
energy …
[Pause]
Breathe in pain …
Breathe out loving energy …
[Pause]
Let yourself fully feel and transmute all of the energy stuck within your body …
Let this trapped energy absorbed from others exit your body with each and every
exhale …
[Pause]
Inhale pain …
Exhale loving energy ….
[Pause]
It might help to imagine that you are inhaling heavy, black air …
This black air is full of all the anger, depression, fear, and resentment
transmitted by others …
And as you breathe out …
imagine that you’re exhaling white air …
This white air is clear, pure, radiant, and healing …
[Pause]
Breathe in black air ...
inhaling all the pain and discomfort ….
Breathe out white air …
exhaling healing and loving-kindness …
Breathe in … black air …
Breathe out … white air …
[Pause]
Feel your body gently relax as you let go of the energy that you’ve absorbed from
other people …
breathing in black air …
and breathing out white healing air …
gently … and slowly …
[Pause]
Repeat this practice of breathing in black air, and breathing out white air, for a
few minutes until you feel calm and spacious inside …
[Pause]
By sending love and healing to others, we send love and healing to ourselves.
This final stage of the Tonglen meditation is about consciously opening your
heart to the suffering you feel within others, for example, your family members,
friends, community, country, or world at large – and then transforming this
suffering into healing energy.
In order to send love and healing to others, we need to first dissolve any barriers
around our hearts that were created from fear or mistrust. These inner walls that
barricade our hearts prevent us from transforming other’s pain into loving
energy. By melting these walls, our hearts open to their natural state of warmth,
compassion and openness.
We’ll start by bringing awareness to your chest area …
are there any feelings of heaviness or tightness in this area?
[Pause]
Notice these feelings in your heart with compassion …
Perhaps your heart aches or even feels numb? …
this is often the case with sensitive and empathic people …
Our hearts carry so much pain from other people that our minds try to prevent us
from feeling …
Visualize this shell that tries to protect your heart …
What color or texture is this inner shell?
[Pause]
Feel this shell encase your heart …
feel the resistance it creates …
feel how isolated it makes you feel ...
Then slowly …
imagine this shell beginning to dissolve …
[Pause]
As you breathe in, imagine the pure air crumbling this shell ….
Imagine the shell melting as your heart begins to open and blossom …
As you breathe out …
feel your heart burning brighter …
[Pause]
Breathing in …
dissolve the shell …
Breathing out …
feel your heart opening and burning bright …
[Pause]
After a few minutes, notice how your heart feels.
Does it feel bigger, brighter, or stronger?
Keep breathing in and out until your heart feels open …
[Pause]
After a few minutes of enjoying the feeling of having an open heart …
think of a person who is in great pain …
think of a person that you couldn’t help in the moment …
a person who needs more help than you can give right now …
[Pause]
As you breathe in ..
feel their pain in your body ..
As you breathe out ..
send them love and healing ..
Breathing in … feel their pain …
Breathing out … release their pain as loving energy
[Pause]
Visualize this person – or group of people –
What emotions are transmitted? What does this energy look like?
[Pause]
Imagine yourself breathing in these emotions …
Feel them transform within your heart ...
Then breathing out …
send them loving energy …
[Pause]
Feel the anger …
the confusion …
the fear …
the pain of this person or people …
and allow it to dissolve in the immensely vast waters of your heart …
like a drop of ink in a bowl of water.
[Pause]
As you inhale … breathe in this black energy …
Feel this energy melt within the fires of your heart …
And as you exhale …
imagine that a current of mercy and healing flows out of your heart ..
blessing the one who is suffering in this moment …
[Pause]
Breathe in pain ….
Breathe out healing ….
[Pause]
In … and out … in … and out …
Breathe in ….
Holding the dark energy in your open vast heart … letting it be transformed …
Then, breathe out … let healing, radiant love, and mercy flow from you to this
person …
[Pause]
If at any point you feel nervous about opening your heart
breathe in this fear …
allow your heart to embrace these feelings …
it’s OK to feel scared …
Breathe out … and send loving energy to yourself …
[Pause]
Continue this practice for however long you need breathing in pain ... and
breathing out healing energy.
© Luna & Sol PTY LTD