What can we do with all this suffering?

A shared practice for holding collective grief

During this time of deep tension and suffering in our community, it can be helpful to find a mindfulness practice that can transmute our feelings of powerlessness, anger, and anxiety into hope, care, and connection. Tonglen is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice (“giving and receiving”) designed to cultivate compassion by breathing in the suffering of oneself and others on the inhale, and sending out healing, light, and relief on the exhale. It reverses habitual tendencies to avoid pain, instead transforming suffering into love and openness. If you are overwhelmed with grief or despair, or just need a way to manage your nervous system, you are not alone. Let this meditation support you.

How to Practice:

• Sit comfortably with a”mountain-like” posture with both hands resting on your heart
• The Inhale: Visualize taking in suffering (your own and that of our immigrant neighbors) allowing it to enter your heart, melting the armor around it.
• The Exhale: Visualize sending out light, cool energy, and well-being from your heart to yourself, to those in our beloved PNC community, to those being targeted by ICE, and to all residents of Maine.
• Begin by practicing with the suffering of our own communities here in Maine. Gradually expand to include all beings everywhere.