Meditation Mini Retreat:

Hosting Mixed Emotions: The Importance of Connection

Alejandro Chaoul, PhD

achaoul@junghouston.org

“If you love, you will grieve—and nothing is more mysteriously central to becoming fully
human.”
Joanne Cacciatore, PhD

I. Basic Principles

❖ The Two Wings (of the Garuda):

Method/ Compassion + Wisdom

Wisdom— Re-discovering one’s “inner home.”

Method/Compassion—developing the altruistic mind to enlightenment.

-developed through the meditative methods,
-actualized through dedication practice.

❖ The Three Doors (to our inner wisdom/inner home):

Body, Speech or Energy/Breath, and Mind

❖ The Three Doorways:

Stillness, Silence and Openness (free from thought)

❖ The Three Inner Refuges (being more at ‘home’ wisdom):

Openness, Awareness and Warmth

❖ The Three Metaphors:

Sky, Sun and Rays

The Three Poisons:

Anger, Attachment and Confusion/Ignorance

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 II. Mind-body contemplative practices

Body- stillness and Openness/Spaciousness--like the Sky

(later we will include movement)

BODY posture: Five-point posture is preferred.

(but you want to be comfortable, not stiff or tense)
The Five-Point Posture- Stillness
❖ Sit cross-legged, on a cushion,
❖ with your back straight,
❖ chest open and expanded, like an eagle soaring through the sky
❖ hands in equipoise position (palms facing up, left palm resting on right, thumbs placed
at the base of the corresponding ring finger, hands placed low on the belly, resting on
your lap), and
❖ with your jaw tucked slightly down and in to lengthen the back of your neck.

If you are unable to sit on a cushion on the floor, you may sit in a chair with your feet flat
on the floor, with your back straight and sitting forward in the chair. The rest of the posture
is the same as that of sitting on the cushion.
Keep your eyes closed or if open, gazing peacefully but not looking around.

Pg. 4, Tibetan Yoga for Health and Wellbeing (Alejandro Chaoul)

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 Energy- Breath (and sound)
Energy is the link between mind and body, making us a whole unit of mind-energy-body. It is
important then to understand energy better, and within energy we will work with its aspects of
breath and sound.

Connecting through Breathing

❖ Focused attention: use the breath as your anchor (elicit relaxation response)
❖ Breath as healing wind: helping to clear (feeling obstacles as smoke) and nurturing
(feeling the qualities as light)

Inhale/breathing in welcoming all positive and nurturing qualities—you can visualize (picture) the
air as (green) light.
Exhale/breathing out getting rid of all negative or obstructive qualities—you can visualize the
exhalation as smoke.
Relax finding an inner space where you feel more connected to your ‘inner home’.

Connecting with your Heart (sem, citta, heart-mind)- Openness

Finding a way to connect and to stay connected to yourself is crucial. The state of mind that we are
aiming for is characterized by being relaxed and aware. The above posture puts the body in a
position to help you relax and be aware so that you can then incorporate the work with the breath
and mind. The ‘posture’ of the mind could be said to be skylike, connecting to your ‘inner home’.
In simple words we can say we are giving a break to our ‘business address’ of our mind and be
more in our ‘home address.’ In that way, ‘host’ or emotions and pains, instead of rejecting or
grasping.

Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD and Zen Teacher says:

“We need a Strong back and a Soft Front: It takes tremendous strength to uphold oneself in the
midst of difficult conditions, but it also takes a soft front—or openness to the world as it is, to have
an undefended heart.”

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 Speech: Silence + Sound.

Connecting through Sound: A

❖ Connect to your sky-like nature
❖ While producing the sound of A feel focused both when you make the sound and when
the sound disappears
❖ Still producing the sound, utilize it to clear away obstacles (could be physical,
emotional, mental or spiritual) and to open & connect more to yourself with the support
of space/sky-like nature

Contemplative Movements (from Tibetan Yoga tradition):

1- Simple pervasive breath movement:

Related to the air element. Exhale all the air in your body as you contract your body and let go the
air. Inhale and slowly feel you are filling up your body, extending your arms and letting that air-
energy expand throughout—reaching your fingers, your toes, and all your head. Stay for a moment
in that expansive sensation. Exhale and Relax, maintaining awareness.

Pg. 23, Tibetan Yoga for Health and Wellbeing (Alejandro Chaoul)

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Nine Breathings of Purification (from Tibetan Yoga for Health and Wellbeing, pp. 8-10)

Breath is the most palpable aspect of our energy, so working more with our breath helps us
to be more in tune with the mind-energy- body connection.

In addition to the way we use breath in Connecting with Your Heart, a more traditional Tibetan
and elaborate breathing practice that you can use is called the Nine Breathings of Purification.
At MD Anderson, we use it in our Power of Breath class, as well as in the Tibetan yoga
research protocols.

Nine Breathings of Purification consists of three kinds of breaths. You repeat each kind three
times using alternate-nostril breathing, and then breathe through both nostrils to clear the
three poisons or afflictions that do not allow us to be in our meditative state—anger,
attachment, and confusion. Once we clear these, we can be more open in our connection to
our inner home and feel more balanced. From the Tibetan medicine perspective, this inner
balance brings health of body, energy, and mind.

Breath is a wonderful tool for clearing your external and internal obstacles. Like the wind
removing the clouds and letting us see the sky that was already there, these breathings can
remove anger, attachment, and confusion, which the Tibetan medical and yogic traditions
hold are the chief afflictions that prevent you from being healthy and realizing your natural
state of mind.

Think about how anger can hijack you. When you are angry, you almost become anger itself,
and you say, “I am angry.” You then see all the things around you through the lens of anger,
limiting your perspective and your ability to be open to yourself and to others. Similarly, when
you are attached to something or the way in which something has turned out, you limit yourself
by not being able to “unstick” yourself from that situation or allow yourself to be in a more
open state of mind. Finally, confusion is a muddy or cloudy state of mind that prevents you
from clearly seeing what is really going on, and thus it limits your perspective with a lack of
clarity.

First set of three breaths: Purifying Anger

❖ Place your right thumb at the base of your ring finger.

❖ Close your right nostril with your right hand’s ring finger.
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 ❖ Breathe in through your left nostril and feel your breath energizing the left side of your
body.
❖ Release your right nostril, and, reaching across your face, cover your left nostril with
your right hand’s ring finger.
❖ Exhale completely through your right nostril to dissolve obstacles related to anger.
❖ Repeat for a total of three rounds, inhaling through your left nostril and exhaling
through your right nostril.
❖ Notice how you feel—maybe a little more open—on the right side of your body.

Second set of three breaths: Purifying Attachment

❖ Place your left thumb at the base of your ring finger.

❖ Close your left nostril with your left hand’s ring finger.
❖ Breathe in through your right nostril and feel the breath energizing the right side of
your body.
❖ Release your left nostril and, reaching across your face, cover your right nostril with
your left hand’s ring finger.
❖ Exhale completely through your left nostril to dissolve obstacles related to attachment.
❖ Repeat for a total of three rounds, inhaling through the right nostril and exhaling
through the left nostril.
❖ Notice how you feel—maybe a little more open—on the left side of your body.

Third set of three breaths: Purifying Confusion or Self-Doubt

❖ Place your hands on your lap in the equipoise position, left over right, palms up, and
thumbs at the bases of the ring fingers.
❖ Breathe in through both nostrils and feel the breath energizing your whole body.
❖ Exhale completely through both nostrils, dissolving obstacles related to confusion or
self-doubt.
❖ Repeat for a total of three rounds, inhaling and exhaling through both nostrils.
❖ Notice how you feel—maybe a little more open—in your whole body.

After practicing the Nine Breathings of Purification and clearing obstacles within yourself, rest
in a meditative state, staying relaxed and alert in your inner home. Remain comfortable within
this experience for a few minutes, and then, to conclude, come back to your heart center and
actualize your intention by sharing the benefits of your practice with others and with yourself.

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Sharing the Benefits: Dedication

At the end of every session, one concludes with a heart-felt intention of dedicating the benefits
of the practice to all beings. Remember, it is like pouring nurturing nectar in the ocean, from
where everyone can drink, including you.
There are many ways of doing this, and you do not even need words, just the feeling.
I wrote this one poem/prayer that I did for my children:

I pray that all my actions, of body, speech and mind

Be for the Benefit of All Beings
May all of my actions be good
And none of my actions be bad
May All Beings Be Happy
May All Beings Be Happy
May All Beings Be Happy
(And may I have the awareness and unconditional love to contribute to it)

References

Wangyal, Tenzin Rinpoche. Awakening the Sacred Body, NY: Hay Publisher, 2010.

Wangyal, Tenzin Rinpoche, Tibetan Sound Healing, NY: SoundsTrue, 2002.

Chaoul, Alejandro, Tibetan Yoga for Health and Wellbeing, NY: Hay Publisher, 2018.

www.mbsihouston.org

www.mdanderson.org/integrativemedcenter
(look for audios and videos)

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Applications to Support Your Practice
(also, you can look in these apps meditations by Alejandro Chaoul)
Both of them you can sign for free for 14 days and experience them.

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