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Guided Meditation: Warm-heartedness towards experience

So, to begin that guided meditation this morning, for those of you who have been here during the week, you know that I've been doing a series on connection. It's not really a Buddhist word necessarily, but in some ways there's so much about practice that is about connecting in a simple way, in a warm-hearted way, to our experience. Not with a sledgehammer, but with—maybe we might even think of a caress, a feather.

So what would it feel like, or what would the experience be, if you were to connect with your experience right now, with the sensations that are arising at this moment? And importantly, the flavor, the attitude, the manner in which we connect is also really important. Can we connect with some warm-heartedness, with some openness? We're not trying to shove our experience away or towards a different direction, just to be with it.

Sometimes it's helpful to start a meditation session with what's obvious. It might be feeling the pressure of the chair, or the cushion, or the ground against the body. Feeling that connection between the body and something else, and feeling the support, feeling grounded.

Then we might notice other experiences, other sensations arising in the body. These might be areas of tension, tightness. Can we bring that same warm-hearted, or at least neutral, attention to those experiences? Not trying to make them go away, recognizing that they are already here. What would it be like to connect with them in some kind of way, in a way that allows them to be there, in a way that aligns with reality, that doesn't pretend that they're not there? And then maybe notice how our connecting with any areas of tension or tightness in a warm-hearted way—then what happens?

As we're sitting here, we might also notice other bodily sensations associated with breathing. We can allow the attention to rest, to dwell, to connect with the sensations of breathing. Feeling the expansion, contraction, tautness, stretching, and then the opposite of tautness and stretching.

And in the same way, can we bring a warm-heartedness, a softness, and openness to this experience? Feeling from the inside what it feels like to have an in-breath, a beautiful in-breath. What does it feel like to have an out-breath? It can be interesting to pay attention to the transitions, the endings and the beginnings of in-breaths and out-breaths, inhales and exhales.

When we notice that we're lost in thought, in a warm-hearted way, can we just very gently, simply begin again with the sensations of breathing? No need to be critical of ourselves, no need to dwell in any feelings of disappointment or frustration. Just a recognition: "Oh, I was lost in thought and now I'm not. Let's begin again."

If a bodily sensation becomes compelling, can we in some kind of way invite it in? "This too, this too we can hold in our awareness."^[1] When it's no longer compelling, we can return to the sensations of breathing.

Is there a way that we can connect, be mindful of our experience in a warm-hearted way? Without straining, without chiding ourselves, just simply noticing the sensations of breathing, or bringing our attention to what's really compelling—maybe bodily sensations, maybe sounds. And when they are no longer compelling, returning to the breath, with no idea that we have to get somewhere, that things have to be different in some kind of way.

To allow the present moment experience to be known, to allow the connection to our experience to arise, as opposed to reaching out and grabbing or snatching, as opposed to batting things away, shoving them away. And if you ever find yourself lost or disconnected from the moment, just very simply, gently begin again with the sensations of breathing.

Reflections on the Practice

This practice of meeting our experience with some warm-heartedness, allowing what is already there to be there, helps create the conditions in which we can do this in more and more areas of our life. And to be able to meet our experiences not only in meditation, but in our daily life, our encounters with others.

To meet these experiences in a warm-hearted, open way—which is not the same as condoning, it's not the same as saying that everything is perfect and the way that we wish it were. It's just aligning with the reality of the moment and not being lost, not being disconnected from either ourselves or from others. And this being present for what's actually happening, in an open way as best we can, then creates the conditions for an unfolding that can lead to greater and greater freedom, not only for ourselves but for others, as they feel seen by us, as they feel that we are present for them. And we might be able to sense or see things that perhaps weren't obvious to us before.

So this practice of returning to the breath with a warm-hearted attitude, this stance, this practice of being with whatever our experience is with some openness, can help create the conditions for the support and benefit not only of ourselves, but others that we come into contact with. And then it can radiate out from there, as people feel seen and heard, as they see that it's possible to be grounded. That might affect them and the way they show up in the world, that our practice can be for the benefit of all beings without exception, everywhere.