--- ai_generation_date: '2026-10-06' ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview audiodharma: talks: - date: '2020-12-13' is_meditation: true mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/12573/20201213-Jozen_Tamori_Gibson-IMC-guided_meditation_centering_compassion_practice.mp3 section_slug: guided-meditation-centering-compassion-practice speakers: - speaker_name: Jozen Tamori Gibson speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/346 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: 'Guided Meditation: Centering Compassion Practice' url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12573 video_unavailable: false collapsed_sections: [] location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: MsIpENZrzOI imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Guided Meditation: Centering Compassion Practice' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsIpENZrzOI --- # Guided Meditation: Centering Compassion Practice - [Jozen Tamori Gibson](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/346) _This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._ ## [Guided Meditation: Centering Compassion Practice](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12573) Peace and good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good day, wherever you are in the world. My name is Jozen Tamori Gibson. It's a blessing to be here with you. And thank you to Gil, thank you to Kevin, thank you to the whole IMC community for having me. I'll speak a little bit more about myself later, but we could just honor coming into community together through a guided meditation. I am streaming here from Lenapehoking[^1], unceded Lenape land in northern New Jersey, and it's getting cold. It is not officially winter, but it is feeling like winter. It's important for me to say all of that because this is what influences this guidance today, along with all the other things. It's been a pleasure following Gil, especially this past week as we enter into the study of the Brahma-vihāras[^2] together. Last week was mettā[^3], loving-kindness. Angela and I connected, and it seems just fitting for me to open up this next week's Brahma-vihāra practice by offering karuṇā[^4], compassion. So for anyone who is new to this space, we will practice for 30 minutes. It will be a 30-minute guided meditation, with some spaciousness for silence through the practice, just as you are in your space as well. As I guide, I'll bring in elements of karuṇā through our guidance, for you to practice with or not. This is an honoring of your agency, of your own practice. This is why we call these guided meditations. And from this particular station, this particular seat that I'm occupying in this moment, this is an offering. And so the invitation that's always there is for you to receive it as best as you are able in this moment, as I am doing as an offerer, as best that I am able in this moment. So, inviting all of us to check in with how we are feeling. Just noticing the posture that may be of most support for your body, for our bodies in this moment. Within the Mettā Sutta[^5], the Buddha mentions various postures: standing, sitting, lying down, walking. Whatever posture we're in, it is a mindful posture. It is a posture that allows us to notice ways in which we may not be aware, ways in which we may not be present, ways in which we may be conditioned to set ourselves up in a particular way without really taking into account how the body is actually feeling and what the body is actually sharing in this moment. So although you may have intended to be in a seated position, or a lying down position, or a standing position, just really allowing for, in this particular moment, for you to notice what will be supportive right here, right now, without judgment, without expectation. This inquiry is compassion. And as you notice what your body is sharing, the body just may want to move a little bit to feel into what is presently alive. You may notice the mind thinking, or the mind trying to bring in some habitual patterns, and that's just okay. Allowing the mind to be the mind. We're really bringing forward and centering the body in our practice. So as you are settling into this posture, if the visual dharma door through the eyes is accessible to you in this moment, just allowing yourself to take in your environment. Just looking around. Allowing yourself to see your space. Again, you may be noticing some judgment arising, or some expectation. Again, that's okay. What we're practicing here is just seeing. Noticing where we are through the eyes and engaging again. Just through the sense of seeing. Not conceptually seeing what it may be. It doesn't need to be a door, just seeing the object as it is. What is it like to not have a conceptual name placed onto what we are seeing? May we allow the object to present itself in this moment, just as it is. Now, bringing your awareness to the sense door of hearing. If that is accessible for you, to engage the hearing door a little bit more, you may want to close your eyes, or as you are hearing, just have a soft gaze in front of you. You can be looking down a little bit. It's not focusing on anything in particular, but just more of a soft gaze, a blurry gaze if you will, just softening the eyes. As the awareness to sound opens, allowing yourself to notice perhaps the furthest sound from you. Noticing how the sounds arise, pass away, float away, dissolve. Again, noticing if the mind is adding a story or a narrative, a concept to what is being heard. Allowing those concepts to float away. Hearing. Gradually bringing our awareness to sounds that are a little bit closer. Just a little bit closer until you're here with the sound closest to your ear. This may be my voice. You may also hear sounds coming from the world that's surrounding me, but it's in your ear, similar to my voice. Allowing any sounds to just be as they are. Allowing them to show up just as they are. Letting go of the hearing practice to listening practice, and just noticing the sensations around the ear where we are noticing elements of the body. Noticing the ear and your head space. Just noticing what the body is sharing. If there's any tightness or tension, just noticing. Focusing the jaws, your mouth, to your neck. So allowing yourself to arrive here at your own pace. Checking in as we move down the back, the arms, noticing. Compassionately noticing. Bringing our awareness down to the lower body. Noticing our sit bones if we are on a cushion, or a chair, or even lying down. Begin to notice the earth element, the ways in which we're being held by the room that we were just scanning. Noticing the earth elements holding the body as we continue to scan the lower body. Arriving. You may begin to notice the body as the earth element. The lower body holding the torso, the torso holding the head and the shoulders, the upper body. Compassionately. Without judgments, without expectation. And noticing this earth body breathing. Naturally breathing. Breathing with, breathing on behalf of, breathing for. This is the air element saying hello. Inhale and exhale. With each inhale, may we compassionately arrive as best we are able in this moment. With each exhale, allowing ourselves to rest in this moment. Providing ourselves to center the breath, or the body, or perhaps even sound, if you have a practice with sound as an anchor, as a reminder of this present moment. Whenever the mind wanders, whenever we are lost in thoughts, whenever we are distracted, we only notice our distraction because of mindfulness, because of awareness. It's at that moment we can decide how to be. So may we be with our intention to be present. Returning to the breath, or returning to the body, or allowing sounds to be our anchor as it arises and passes away. Choosing one anchor. Gently being with one anchor. In these closing moments of our practice together, allowing yourselves to continue practicing meditating, yet letting go of any habitual states, any formal way of practice, and just allowing yourself to be practice. Noticing what arises in the moment. I will ring the bell. This is another opportunity for us to notice what arises. Allowing the body to compassionately and appropriately respond to the sound of the bell to the close of this session as we enter into another form of practice. ## Reflections Just a couple of words and some gratitude for you practicing with me in that way, allowing me to be a guide and offerer as we connect with each other through these interwebs. For anyone who was here and new to practice, I didn't go into much background in terms of how to anchor with the breath, but if you were to engage with this recording later on, just checking in with where the breath is most prominent in the body. It may be in the belly, the hara, the dantian[^6] just below the belly button, or the whole belly. It may be in the chest area, right? Or maybe at the nostrils, the tip of the nostril somewhere around there, where you notice the breath. Or it may be the whole in and outflow of the breath. Allowing that to be your anchor. And in terms of the body, sometimes it's challenging to be with the body as an anchor. It doesn't matter how seasoned one may be in the practice; this moment is brand new for all of us. And so it could be supportive to just think of perhaps, or feel into, a quarter-inch size area, maybe at the kneecap or some place on the body that isn't so active or so energized. And it is okay for you to notice some heightened energy. If you're in a sitting posture, you might perhaps even allow yourself to stand, right, to expend some of that energy in another way. The point is to be mindful. Be mindful when we are moving from one posture to the next, not reactive to anything in particular. And even when we notice reactivity, that's awareness. That's mindfulness being known, and can we then appropriately respond from there? Thank you for your practice. --- [^1]: Original transcript said "lenape atlantis is", corrected to "Lenapehoking" based on context. Lenapehoking is the traditional territory of the Lenape people. [^2]: **Brahma-vihāras:** The four "divine abodes" or sublime attitudes in Buddhism: loving-kindness (_mettā_), compassion (_karuṇā_), empathetic joy (_muditā_), and equanimity (_upekkhā_). [^3]: **Mettā:** A Pali word often translated as "loving-kindness" or "goodwill." [^4]: **Karuṇā:** A Pali word meaning "compassion." [^5]: **Mettā Sutta:** The Buddha's foundational discourse on loving-kindness. [^6]: **Hara / Dantian:** Terms originating from Japanese and Chinese traditions, referring to the body's center of energy or physical gravity, generally located in the lower abdomen.