Meditation is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to reach high levels of spirit and cleanse yourself of bad energies. It is a kind of soul renewal, as well as an important process of getting to know yourself and the world around you. Can you imagine if this benefit could be extended to other people? Because with tonglen meditation this is possible!
Tonglen is a meditative practice taught by the Dalai Lama and widely used in Tibetan Buddhism. It aims to purify the person who practices it and the others to whom it dedicates. It's as if bad feelings, physical pain, trauma or dissatisfaction leave our body at the same time that a lot of happiness invades us.
Follow the steps below to practice it:
1- As with any meditation process, seek a quiet, uninterrupted place where you can connect with yourself and leave the earthly world out.
2- Take as much time as necessary to calm your mind and reach a state of calm and serenity within yourself.
3- Feel integrated into the air. Pull through the nose the sensations of heat, density, darkness and heaviness and exhale the freshness, light and lightness. Feel that you are pulling these sensations later through all your pores. Feel the movement of contraction and expansion of your entire body.
4- Stick to any negative situation you are experiencing personally. It could be a physical pain, a sensation, a bad feeling, or a situation that you can't resolve. Think of other people you know and even other people you don't know who may be experiencing this as well. Think deeply about these questions.
5- Breathe into you all the pain you see in your life and in the world at large and vibrate and exhale the most intense happiness you can imagine.
With these five simple steps, you can do a practice that benefits you and other people you can imagine. It is an act that we can also do by mentalizing the people who have done us wrong or simply those with whom we do not identify in any way. Thinking that what they did is because of some pain they feel and trying to take that away from them, in a way, benefits everyone.
It is an altruistic practice that can bring well-being to an infinity of people. Try it!
Written by Roberta Lopes of the Eu Sem Fronteiras Team
