M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Place...of wellness Videos-on-Demand 2008
Duration: 0:25:53
[Music]
Hello. Welcome to the Tibetan meditation class. My name is Alejandro Chaoul. We will be doing today Tibetan meditation that focuses on connecting to the heart. This comes from the Tibetan Bon tradition and the idea is that we all have a way of connecting more deeply to ourselves, to a deeper aspect of ourselves. Usually, we talk about mind and body. In this tradition, we talk about mind and body as being a unit. Whatever happens in the mind many times affects our body. Whatever happens in the body many times affects our mind. So, if we are able to calm our mind, we are able to calm our body and be more connected to a deeper aspect of ourselves what I like to call home or heart. So, what we'll do is we'll first calm the mind and in the way to calm the mind, this mind is the mind that we talk about like we call it the monkey mind. So, we calm the monkey mind and come back home to this mind that we call the heart mind, and how we are going to connect it. We are going to connect it through energy and energy can be expressed in either breath or sound. And, in this class we will particularly focus on breath. Now, we are going to focus on the body, on the breath, and on the mind. So, let's start with the body. So, for the body, we want to be as comfortable as we can. We can be in a cushion, we can be in a chair, or we can even be on the bed, and the idea is to be as comfortable as we can and feel that it is not just a cushion or the chair or the bed that is supporting you, but it is really the whole earth. So, take a moment to feel that whole earth supporting you and take a deep breath. And, as you feel the earth supporting you, also feel the space around you, whether it is this particular room or the whole universe, feel that support, it's almost like embracing you and as you feel that you might bring with your imagination your favorite place, maybe, you need to bring that place in the mountains or in the forest or at the beach. Just bring it with your imagination and feel the support of that external space and take a deep and joyful breath. Feel that you are comfortable in the body and as you feel comfortable with the external space, we will now start accommodating our internal space of the body. You are not just feeling comfortable in our sitting part, but also if possible try and stretch your hands up, if possible. If it is not possible, just feel that you can stretch your back and as you stretch, feel that the muscles in the back are relaxing releasing some of the tension and as you keep the hands up for just one more moment, feel that the back is straight, especially the spinal cord is very straight and keeping the back straight allow the hands to come down slowly, slowly towards the knees and let them rest on the knees and take a deep breath. Slowly bring the hands together, one on top of the other. We call this the equanimity posture and as you do that feel that the chest area is opening, expanding, relaxed. We say it's like an eagle flying in the sky. So, take a moment to feel like that eagle flying, soaring in the vast expanse sky and as you feel that openness and that lightness take a deep and joyful breath. So, feel comfortable in that body posture and still maintain that sense of comfort in the external space and the earth supporting you as you are accommodating that body posture. You can now relax your eyes and you can close the eyes if that's comfortable. If you want to leave them open, you can point to the tip of the nose and then to the ground in what we call a peaceful gaze. And as the body is relaxed, but still alert, we are now going to bring the mind's attention to the breath. For a moment, just notice how you are breathing. As you are breathing in, do you feel you are breathing in through the nose or through the mouth and allow that breath to come into the lungs maybe there is a subtle aspect that goes beyond the lungs. Just notice how you are breathing. Even as you exhale, notice if you are breathing out through the nose or through the mouth, just keep up a couple of more breaths in that way just noticing, have your mind's attention on the breath noticing how you are breathing.
[Breathing sounds]
Keep that body straight but also relaxed, especially the shoulders relaxed. Allow the shoulders to relax, but still maintain the back straight. Have your mind's attention on the breath, we are now going to focus on guiding that breath with the mind. So, we are going to try and guide the breath to be inhaling and exhaling only through the nose. So, as you breath in, bring that air only through the nose, feel that air coming to the lungs, maybe they come a little bit beyond the lungs, allow that to happen. Then as you exhale, again bring it through the nose. So, we will be inhaling and exhaling through the nose keeping that posture as comfortable as possible breathe in and out through the nose comfortably. As you breathe in, feel that that air brings with it all nurturing qualities. These nurturing qualities could be physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual and just allow that nurturing. You can feel it like light. You say green light in our tradition meaning that the green is the color of the air element, so feel that that green light is nurturing you deeply, nurturing you, every organ of your body, every cell of your body. Allow that nurturing and as you exhale, it's more like smoke, but we are releasing our obstacles, things that discomfort us. Maybe we have a little tension or pain, let it go in that exhalation, or maybe there is anxiety or fear, allow it to go in the exhalation and as you inhale, breathe in nurturing yourself, not just physically but also emotionally, mentally, spiritually. So, keep on breathing keeping the mind's attention on the breath remembering that with every inhalation, you can nurture yourself, may be you need more peace of mind, may be more joy, love, whatever it is, you can bring it with that green light and as you exhale, remember to leave, to get rid of whatever discomfort, that tension in the body or pain, that anxiety, that fear, the uninvited thought that keeps on coming, whatever it is, let it leave and don't worry as you exhale, it dissolves in the space in front of you, which leaves more space inside, so in the next inhalation as you bring in the green light allow it to nurture you, keep the chest area open and relaxed as you allow that light to nurture you. Light is the essence of the air element. So keep on breathing, inhaling, and exhaling with your mind's attention on the breath.
[Breathing sounds]
When your mind gets distracted, you will be following an external sound or an internal sound, bring it back to the breath. Let the breath be your anchor as you keep on breathing in and breathing out through the nose.
[Breathing sounds]
So keep on breathing keeping your mind's attention on the breath. You might notice that your mind is now distracted following a thought, maybe a memory of the past, maybe a plan of the future, let them go by like a bird flying in the sky that leaves no trace to follow. So, don't follow them, come back to the breath. Let those thoughts, those sounds, whatever disturbances, let them go by and you focus back on the breath. The breath is your anchor and as you keep on breathing through the nose, remember that you are using the power of the breath to nurture ourselves in the inhalation, to cleanse ourselves in the exhalation. Feel free in that exhalation to exhale thoroughly, so then in the inhalation you can breathe in more smoothly welcoming breathing in those nurturing qualities. So, keep on breathing at your own rhythm inhaling the nurturing qualities and exhaling what you don't need.
[Breathing sounds]
As you keep on inhaling and exhaling, find the rhythm that is comfortable for you. Feel a smooth rhythm like a wave in the ocean as we inhale and as we exhale. Not all waves are equal in strength and length, but they need to be smooth, so feel that smoothness of the wave in the ocean as you breathe out and as you breathe in. Remember you are cleansing or purifying in that exhalation, you are nurturing in the inhalation. And as you breathe in and out in this way, you might feel that some of those obstacles are released, you feel more settled, more relaxed in that state of mind that is more natural, in the state of mind that is more relaxed and at the same time more alert, more comfortable as you keep on breathing, inhaling and exhaling. Inhaling green light and feeling the nurturing qualities, exhaling smoke, releasing what you don't need. So, keep on breathing for a couple of more breaths.
[Breathing sounds]
And as you feel more comfortable, more settled at home that state of mind that is more like your heart mind, more relaxed, more aware. You feel more connected in this way. You feel that all the obstacles, external obstacles, things that keep on drawing you away from yourself allow them to dissolve, to lose their power over you. Let them dissolve in the same way that ice dissolves in the water because you are focusing more in being at home and being connected, allow those obstacles to dissolve like ice in the water. Let them dissolve, allow them to dissolve as you keep on breathing.
[Breathing sounds]
And allow also those emotions that are strong and pull you away, let them dissolve like ice in the water. Allow them to dissolve.
[Breathing sounds]
Even though thoughts, those uninvited thoughts that keep on distracting you also let them dissolve like ice in the water as you keep on focusing on the breath. As we keep on inhaling and exhaling, we keep on nurturing and purifying ourselves settling more and more at home, connecting deeper and deeper to our heart, our heart mind. As you feel more settled, try and stay in that state of mind, meditative state of mind, more natural state of mind being relaxed but still maintaining clarity, awareness as we keep on breathing. Remember that if you need to keep out or exhale dispel a particular disturbance, that anxiety, that fear, that tension, that pain, whatever it is just exhale it. And in inhalation instead bring in a nurturing quality, joy, love, peace of mind, whatever you need and keep on doing it for a few more breaths.
[Breathing sounds]
Keep on breathing in that smooth way like a wave in the ocean feeling more connected to yourself, allow to feel more deeply connected to yourself, to your home, feeling more relaxed and more aware. As you allow yourself to be connected deeply to yourself in this way, one would know that you can maintain this state of connection not just doing meditation practice, but also in your everyday life. You can come back to the state of mind at anytime during the day and instead of reacting to things in your everyday life, just act from being at home and then act upon that. Also, as we connect deeply to ourselves in this way, you can connect deeply to others, heart to heart, heart mind to heart mind. So, take a moment that as you feel more connected to yourself, allow to connect to others. Others might be friends, family, caregivers, doctors. Just connect deeply from the heart as you keep on breathing. Another way, you can also share whatever benefits of the practice with all beings. It is like pouring this nectar, this good qualities in the ocean, so that everyone can nurture from them, can drink from them including yourself. So, take a moment to feel that sharing from the heart.
[Breathing sounds]
As you maintain that sense of connection without needing to open the eyes yet, we can slowly start to relax the body, starting by stretching your legs, and as you stretch your legs, you can relax your toes and your ankles and your knees. You need to massage the knees a little bit and the thighs. Relax both legs, keep on breathing, still maintain that sense of connection. As you relax your torso and your shoulders, especially those shoulders relax them as you keep on breathing. Relaxing your arms, especially those elbows and the wrists and the fingers. Keep on breathing relaxing more of those shoulders and relaxing the neck and the throat and the head. Relax all the parts of the head and the face. Relax the muscles and the face. Relax the eyes and take your time to slowly open the eyes, but slowly, so you don't get immediately distracted by external things that you see. Let them be part of that meditative state that you are in allowing to integrate with that external world, slowly, breathing, remembering that you can maintain this state of mind in your everyday life and try and do that as much as possible.
[Breathing sounds]
Thank You. We had a good class.
[Music]
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