Yoga with Melissa

Compassion

This week in our Awakening to Your True Self Series, we continue with the four Brahama Viharas. These translate as supreme states, desired dwelling, divine abiding, or our best home. They include loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. The brahma viharas or the four divine abodes are the teachings on the way we relate to ourselves and others. For example we meet friendly people with love, those who are suffering with compassion, successful people with joy, and unpleasant people with detachment.

Sharon Salzberg, loving kindness or metta meditation teacher, speaks of the four brahma viharas as our best home. She says, just like our home, we might not be in these states all the time, but we will feel our most authentic and most at ease when we are at home, when we are expressing love, compassion, joy and equanimity.

This week, we will focus on the second brahma vihara, compassion. Compassion means to open ourselves to suffering. Sharon Salzberg says that in our culture, suffering is viewed as unacceptable. We tend to pretend that suffering is not there or re-package it as something more palatable.For example, in Victoria, BC, where we live right now, there is a lot of discomfort with an area of our community called tent city, where several homeless people have put up tents to live this winter. Local politicians and committees have formed to move the homeless people somewhere else so they can be out of sight. So it takes a lot of courage to open to both our own suffering and the suffering of others.

When we open ourselves up to the potential of suffering that compassion offers, it is not for the sake of suffering itself. When we open to our suffering with the heart of compassion we have a tremendous opportunity to be deeply moved and develop a heart of compassion. Given the same experience of suffering, some will become bitter and angry by it and others will evolve and feel moved by compassion. For example, stuck in a traffic jam and watching an ambulance go by, some will be angered they are delayed and others will feel compassion for those who have been harmed in the accident.

I will give you another example from our wanderings in our home town. One day outside our library I was watching Tim take photographs of a beautiful sculpture. I was standing beside a grocery cart filled with a homeless person’s belongings. A man walked up to me and spent a great deal of time speaking about his anger about the expense of stolen grocery carts. While I felt some compassion for the business owner who loses his grocery carts, I listened to this man’s anger and bitterness over something that really didn’t affect him directly. When I saw the grocery cart, I saw an entire person’s life and all their possessions in that one place, outside exposed to all the elements, where anybody could steal anything at any given time. I truly felt the trembling of my heart in response to that suffering.

Compassion means opening to our experience just as it is. Sharon Salzberg says, that allows us to cut through the enchantment and deception of society around us. Opening ourselves to our own experience, our own suffering, our own feelings, sensations in our body, the quality of our mind creates a level of trust in ourselves. It allows us to become whole again.

Our experience is constantly changing. Sometimes we will be well and sometimes we will be unwell. When we can meet what is without rejecting or hating ourselves we are offering ourselves compassion. When I recognize my own fatigue in the middle of the day and give myself permission to take a nap, instead of pushing through or covering it up with caffeine,

Loving Kindness This week in our Awakening to Your True Self Series, we continue with the four Brahma Viharas. These translate as supreme states, desired dwelling, divine abiding, or our best home. They include loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. The brahma viharas or the four divine abodes are the teachings on the way we […]

Loving Kindness

This week in our Awakening to Your True Self Series, we continue with the four Brahma Viharas. These translate as supreme states, desired dwelling, divine abiding, or our best home. They include loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. The brahma viharas or the four divine abodes are the teachings on the way we relate to ourselves and others. For example we meet friendly people with love, those who are suffering with compassion, successful people with joy, and unpleasant people with detachment.

Sharon Salzberg, loving kindness or metta meditation teacher, speaks of the four brahma viharas as our best home. She says, just like our home, we might not be in these states all the time, but we will feel our most authentic and most at ease when we are at home, when we are expressing love, compassion, joy and equanimity.

This week, we will focus on loving kindness. Sharon Salzberg describes loving kindness as a deep knowing of our interconnectedness. That our lives have something to do with one another.

We live in a world now that gives the illusion of connection. Social media and our electronic devices allow us to compose, edit and revise our lives as we would like to present them to the world. We are used to a constant feed of information and entertainment so that we never have a moment to be connected ourselves, our boredom. Sherry Turkle, author of Reclaiming Conversation, says we have become a Tribe of One, loyal only to our own party. The presence of our electronic devices although on the one hand have this tremendous potential to bring us together, are also leaving us feeling less connected and less invested in each other.

“Recent research shows that people are uncomfortable if left alone with their thoughts, even if for a few minutes. In one experiment people were asked to sit quietly – without a phone or a book – for fifteen minutes. At the start of the experiment they were also asked if they would consider administering electronic shocks to themselves if they became bored. They said absolutely not. No matter what, shocking themselves would be out of the question. But after just six minutes alone, a good number of them were doing just that.” (from Sherry Turkle’s book Reclaiming Conversation).

Sherry Turkle says that we are so accustomed to the illusion of connection through technology, that being alone has become a problem that technology solves for us. She goes on to say, that afraid of being alone, we struggle to pay attention to ourselves. The problem she says, is when we can’t find our own center, we lose confidence in what we have to offer each other.

I feel this is incredibly relevant to the present moment teachings of loving kindness. Loving kindness is a practice by which we connect first with ourselves. Our well may be empty. But drop by drop it begins to fill, and over time, what may have begun as feeling as though we have nothing to give, shifts into a generosity of spirit where we have more than enough to give to others.

Loving Kindness begins with friendliness towards ourselves. Not just the parts of ourselves that we like, but all parts of ourselves. Sharon Salzberg describes it as beginning as a practice of intention that transforms our field of being from one of fear to one of connection. Instead of seeing ourselves as separate or abandoned, we will begin to see ourselves connected to the fabric of life.

With the practice of loving kindness meditation or metta meditation, the phrases of loving kindness are the practice by which we come back to our center.

You practice the phrases:

May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be at ease;

in a rhythm that is pleasing to your heart and over time the meaning deepens.

Home This week in our Awakening to Your True Self Series, we are turning our attention to the four Brahama Viharas. These translate as supreme states, desired dwelling, divine abiding, or our best home. They include loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. The brahma viharas or the four divine abodes are the teachings on the […]

Home

This week in our Awakening to Your True Self Series, we are turning our attention to the four Brahama Viharas. These translate as supreme states, desired dwelling, divine abiding, or our best home. They include loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. The brahma viharas or the four divine abodes are the teachings on the way we relate to ourselves and others. For example we meet friendly people with love, those who are suffering with compassion, successful people with joy, and unpleasant people with detachment.

Sharon Salzberg, loving kindness or metta meditation teacher, speaks of the four brahma viharas as our best home. She says, just like our home, we might not be in these states all the time, but we will feel our most authentic and most at ease when we are at home, when we are expressing love, compassion, joy and equanimity.

Like our homes, love, compassion, joy and equanimity can become our dwelling place, where we feel the most at home. They should not be places of short visits. Just like our homes, we can allow ourselves to sink deep into these qualities so that they become part of us, so that we become grounded in them. From that place of safety and security we will begin to see our interconnection with all beings.

Like our previous practices of Self Awakening, the four brahma viharas are a practice of cultivating. When we come to learn and know the dwelling place of the brahma viharas, we are planting the seeds for a beautiful garden of love, compassion, joy and equanimity to emerge. Sharon Salzberg says it is not about acquiring, having, preserving or getting these qualities, rather cultivating the ground so these qualities may expand in our lives. We are simply creating the conditions through which our True Nature of love, compassion, joy and equanimity can emerge.

We can all reflect on moments in our lives when we have experienced love, compassion, joy and equanimity. We have had moments of connection, clarity and insight. A practice grounded in the four brahma viharas is simply a practice in getting used to it. Instead of these qualities being fleeting we learn to dwell and abide in loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity so we can know them more deeply.

Members practice foot connective tissue class first

Props Needed: bolster, blocks, meditation cushion, chair or folded blanket, yoga strap

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Wide Legged Child’s Pose or Balasana, Half Happy baby pose or Ardha

Squat or Malasana, Chin Mudra, mountain pose or tadasana, tree pose or vrikshasana, chair pose or utkatasana, Uttanasana or standing forward fold, Setu Bhandasana or bridge pose, jathara parivartanasana or revolved abdominal pose, Happy Baby Pose or ananda balasana, Savasana or Corpse Pose

Resource: Jack Kornfield Bringing Home the Dharma, Awakening Right Where You Are

Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are

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Today’s question to answer in the comments is: Can you remember a time when you felt most at home in o...

Non-Identification We continue our mindfulness based yoga series with the final letter of the acronym RAIN. This phrase was first coined by Michele McDonald and has since been used by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. I first used the acronym RAIN in Namaste Yoga 211 in the Hanuman Series on Taming Your Monkey Mind RAIN […]

Non-Identification

We continue our mindfulness based yoga series with the final letter of the acronym RAIN. This phrase was first coined by Michele McDonald and has since been used by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. I first used the acronym RAIN in Namaste Yoga 211 in the Hanuman Series on Taming Your Monkey Mind

RAIN (recognition, acceptance, investigation and non-identification) is a mindfulness based compassionate tool that you can use when you are feel overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, depressed, challenged and dealing with difficulty. It is a way to stop being so hard on yourself. When you find yourself trapped in mental drama, emotional pain, self-criticism, worry and negative mental habits that are common to all of us as human beings, RAIN can be a mindfulness compassion tool that allows you to feel less overwhelmed.

The N – non-identification of RAIN reminds you that your negative mental habits, whether they be painful thoughts, feelings and sensations are not you. As you step to the side with non-identification, you can observe those thoughts, feelings and sensations and realize no they are not you. You can watch them go by like a bad news feed.

RAIN is a tool you can use when your inner critic is getting loud. Many of you will remember our Inner Critic Series.  This past week, I have been pushed by my The Pusher. If you want to learn more about the Pusher, go back to Namaste Yoga 277 . My pusher has been pushing me to do more, achieve more, move forward, and get ahead as the calendar year rolls into 2016. As my pusher looks back on 2015, he doesn’t think I’ve achieved enough, he thinks I could have done more, faster and better. My pusher wants to raise the bar and raise it high.

With mindful compassion, the tools of RAIN, I have recognized, accepted, investigated and brought natural loving awareness to what has really happened for me over the past year. My identification with my small self has loosened. I realized that my sense of who I am is not defined by the story that my Pusher was telling me. Then there was the possibility of living from a place of openness and love that is the natural awareness that Tara Brach speaks about.

Tara Brach reminds us that the RAIN of mindfulness and self-compassion is not a one-time thing. Your natural loving awareness will not be stable and enduring. This does not mean that you cannot trust your shift in perspective when it happens. You may experience this shift in perspective as warmth, openness or an acceptance. RAIN is a practice for life. It is something you will have to do over and over again. It is a way to meet your doubts and fears. Each time you recognize overwhelm, stress, anxiety, judgment, and your inner critic, you are in a position to let go of the old habit and slowly over time you will begin to experience a natural loving awareness that is the Truth of who you are, over any story your inner critic is telling you.

Props Needed: yoga strap, yoga blocks,

Yoga Postures/Asanas: Bridge Pose or Setu Bandhasana, Supta Padangusthasana or Hand to Big Toe Pose, Cat Pose or Marjaryasana, Thread the Needle or Parsva Balasana, Pushan Mudra, Lunge Pose or Anjaneyasana, Parsvottanasana or Pyramid Pose, Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana or Standing Hand to Big Toe Pose, Warrior Three or Virabhadrasana Three, Wide Legged Standing Forward fold or prasarita padottanasana, Matsyendrasana Variation

Resource: Jack Kornfield Bringing Home the Dharma, Awakening Right Where You Are

Investigation Members practice hamstring rescue first. We continue our mindfulness based yoga series with the third letter of Jack Kornfield’s acronym RAIN. The first two weeks we focused on recognition and acceptance. Today we bring awareness to Investigation. Through our yoga practice we can awaken to our True Selves. We can discover new ways to […]

Investigation

Members practice hamstring rescue first.

We continue our mindfulness based yoga series with the third letter of Jack Kornfield’s acronym RAIN. The first two weeks we focused on recognition and acceptance. Today we bring awareness to Investigation.

Through our yoga practice we can awaken to our True Selves. We can discover new ways to approach the challenges of our lives while deepening the wisdom and joy we experience as well. Through our dedicated yoga practice we can awaken to our best spiritual and human capabilities.

Investigation allows us to see deeply. Through our yoga practice we explore our physical sensations in our body, our emotions, our energy and the thought patterns that surface in our yoga practice.

Our physical experience offer the perfect opportunity to bring awareness and loving kindness to what is happening in our body. We can explore the sensations and limitations of our physical experience with kindness and acceptance.

In response to our physical practice, emotions will arise. They can be pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. Through our physical practice we learn that we tend to hang on for dear life to that which is pleasant, contract and avoid unpleasant emotions and disengage or zone out when our experience is neutral. Our practice as yogis is to stay present to whatever our emotional landscape.

Likewise during our physical practice thought patterns will surface. They too are the perfect training ground to question the stories we have associated with certain physical experiences. What judgements and beliefs arise in response to physical stimulus? Are they habitual or are they are true reflection of your present moment experience?

Resource: Jack Kornfield Bringing Home the Dharma, Awakening Right Where You Are

Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are

Did you like today’s show?

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Thank you for your donations Leah, Eva, Peggy, Joshua, Elizabeth (loved your emojis!)

We appreciate your support immensely.

If you would like to make a donation to Namaste Yoga you can click here. You can also contribute through your time by commenting in the comments section.

Today’s question to answer in the comments is: What are you bringing kind investigation to is it part of your physical sensations, your emotional landscape or thought patterns?

We went into detail on the teachings of the first three letters in RAIN, recognition, acceptance, integration and non-identification today. If you would like a beautiful infographic, with some quick reminders about each part of rain enter your email address below and I’ll send it to you.

If you would like more support in bringing mindfulness alive in your life then I recommend starting a meditation practice. We have a meditation group in our membership community and an Introduction to Meditation

Acceptance We continue our mindfulness based yoga series with the second letter of Jack Kronfield’s acronym RAIN. Last week we focused on recognition. This week we bring awareness to acceptance. We can ask ourselves, am I free and loving? It is possible to live with freedom and compassion in all areas of your life. Through […]