{"id":1312,"date":"2022-01-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/?p=1312"},"modified":"2022-01-14T23:40:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T05:40:11","slug":"january-13-may-this-pain-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/january-13-may-this-pain-release\/","title":{"rendered":"January 13 – May this pain release"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing with Jill’s talk on Compassion, Karuna<\/a>, today we turn the ways to practice compassion, what sort of obstacles might arise, and how to work with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the ways we can practice developing compassion is through the repetition of phrases. Jill give us her four phrases, and explains what each phrase means for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m aware of this pain.
I care about this pain.
May this pain release.
May I know peace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She suggests we can shorten these phrases to aware, care, release, peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how Jill explains what significance the phrases have for her:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m aware of this pain” – This is an invitation to turn towards suffering. And we might see resistance – nope, don’t want to look at that. Seeing the resistance is useful too, because it helps us see where we are tight. Jill also reminds us that wisdom is needed here – sometimes we may discern that now is not the right time to turn to this, and it would be better to do something to soothe and strengthen instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I care about this pain.” – Now that we have turned to the pain, how do we respond? Do we want to shrink back, or do we want to rush in and fix things? Noticing any resistance, and determining, with wisdom, if we can stretch here a bit into care or if there is too much resistance that it’s cultivating aversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can’t stay tucked into our safe cocoon the whole time. So we can titrate – turn towards the suffering or stress just for a few seconds – then turn back to resource until we’re ready to try again. Resourcing can include grounding back into the breath or body (e.g. feeling the feet on the ground, or taking in the room), turning towards metta<\/em>, perhaps by bringing our benefactors and loved ones to mind, as we did in DaRa’s practice, or maybe even taking a break and having a soothing cup of tea. As Jill says, the point is to do whatever we choose to do with as much awareness as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last fall, I took an eight-week course in Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT)<\/a>. In the class, the teachers shared a diagram similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This relates to what I hear Jill saying about this idea of stretching our boundaries, just a little, to leave the safety zone and get to the learning zone. But we don’t want to push too far so we fall into overwhelm. Bringing our mindful attention to our body\/heart\/mind as we’re doing this practice will help use discern how we’re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“May this pain release” – This phrase can represent the action that is inherent in compassion – we don’t just notice suffering as suffering, but there’s a motivation to act – in this moment by expressing a heartfelt wish for release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jill mentions the image of Kuan Yin<\/a>, a being who embodies compassion, sometimes known as “she who hears the cries of the world.” Some statues portray this being as half-sitting in meditation – receptive, listening – and the other half poised as though she ready to jump into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jill further expands on this idea of listening in a way I found interesting: “There was a significant turning point that came when I realized that none of the Brahma Vihara practices are about trying to manufacture a particular emotion or conjure up a particular mind state. It’s actually more about listening to what’s already there.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s already there might be faint, but as we practice, we become more familiar with them and can strengthen them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“May I know peace” – Jill says this phrase reinforces the possibility of change. We can reflect on the question, What might it feel like to truly know peace?” I’ve done this as a social meditation practice, and I found it quite powerful to attune to that sense, however subtle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the metta<\/em> phrases, you can come up with ones that make sense for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a meditation from Jack Kornfield that uses some different phrases that cultivate the same compassionate heart.
https:\/\/www.dharmaseed.org\/talks\/66125\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s much more Jill brings in as part of her talk on compassion, but out of compassion for you, I’ll stop this email here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you’re up for one more thing, I invite you to check this poem titled “Compassion<\/a>” by Sharon Corcoran, which speaks to me of the times we’re in, and why cultivating compassion is more important than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With tenderness and care,
Andrea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends, Continuing with Jill’s talk on Compassion, Karuna, today we turn the ways to practice compassion, what sort of obstacles might arise, and how to work with them. One of the ways we can practice developing compassion is through the repetition of phrases. Jill give us her four phrases, and explains what each phrase means for her.\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[302],"tags":[58,10,104,312],"class_list":["post-1312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jan-2022","tag-compassion","tag-jack-kornfield","tag-jill-shepherd","tag-sharon-corcoran"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions\/1318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}