in spiritual circles (and in general american life), there is a tendency to push against the messy stuff, the hard stuff, and the bad stuff and to focus instead or affirm what is tidy, easy, or good.
i’ve experienced many meditations where we “breathe in light, breathe out light,” like that.
i travel in such circles, so i can attest to the prevalence of such sentiments and practices and their many benefits–particularly in terms of feeling better in the short term.
these same circles teach that what we resist persists. there is a way that avoiding the “yuck, stuck and what the fuck,” as one of my spiritual teachers says, can amp up that which we don’t want, and it can also leave me feeling drained as i use vital life forces to defend, avoid and focus elsewhere.
in a time such as now (or any time in my lifetime), when epic violence, drama, and existential threat looms, i sometimes remember to turn to the tibetan buddhist practice of tonglen (with which i am somewhat acquainted but no expert).
tonglen, as i learned it, is a meditation practice where we breathe in the yucky stuff, (or, as pema chödrön puts it) the “claustrophobic” feelings, and we use our spirit to transmute it to light and love and breathe that out.
i have heard this practice described as using the stuff we don’t like as a “spiritual brillo pad” to scrub away the illusion of separation between us and the rest of the world.
now, for those of us who are empaths, let’s be careful not to confuse transmuting the painful reality with consuming it. we don’t want to take this on; we want our spirit to transform and use it to heal the world. but it is not US that is healing. it is the practice.
here, pema chödrön, actually in a tibetan buddhist lineage, provides a brief description; let me know what you think. have you ever done this practice? does it. intrigue you?
