The Yogabliss, Your Heart Life on-line Moving into Meditation classes met this morning.  We engaged our imagination in a compassion meditation.  We imagined the land, culture and people of Ukraine.  We imagined the decision makers who hold the fate of so many in their hands.  We imagined the Russian people who are so closely related to their Ukrainian sisters and brothers. We reflected on the suffering and turmoil of the war.  We imagined sending  the physical, emotional and spiritual support needed to bring safety, healing, peace and renewal.  May they and all beings be relieved of suffering.

We practiced a compassion meditation adapted from Nomali Perera’s To Contact and Hearten Ukraine: Guided Tonglen Meditation.  Nomali works in coaching facilitation and teaches meditation.

Our guided reflection was inspired by meditation teacher and writer, Oren Jay Sofer.  He offers many ways to contemplate and cultivate compassion.  His teaching outlines the dimensions of compassion to include equanimity and wisdom.

We heard from To Begin With, the Sweet Grass by  Mary Oliver. This poem is from the collection,  Evidence: Poems.  Mary paints pictures in words that land in our heart, flesh and bones. They move us beyond the edges of our skin, to “become a child of the clouds,” to love ourselves and to love the world.

Relaxed Reflection

Here we are in the glimmering of another Spring. In the Northwest, our green is greening as plants open their arms and faces to the sun. There is a beautiful tenderness in the way they offer themselves up to life – seeding and sustaining – nourishing bees and butterflies, ants and hummingbirds – offering a resting place for bats, birds and squirrels. We, too, have a kind of nectar that we offer the world when our hearts are open. Compassion. Like turning toward the sun – we feel the warmth of caring. Compassion flowers when we turn toward suffering.

There are many suffering in places that call for our Compassion. These days are hearts are drawn to the war in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Spring is being buried by the death and destruction of war. Right now we can notice how the depth of these words land in our hearts. As distant observers we can respond. We can make small choices with great care. We can choose to work with our hearts and minds. We can bear witness.

I invite you to let the in-breath be easy and the out-breath be relaxed. Take a breath and feel what you are feeling. When you’re ready, begin to notice the ground beneath you. Notice how you’re held by Earth: solid, steady supporting the weight of your body.  Perhaps you can sense the spine as a column of support at the center of your body, holding you up. As you center, see if you can connect with the perspective of a wise elder. That part of you that has a more timeless view in which everything comes and goes. See if you can touch that place of inner knowing that gives you balance.

Bring to mind the word Compassion. You can place your hand over your heart. Feel your body and just see what comes: feelings, images, memories, the willingness to care. You can say silently: “I care” and see what comes.

I invite you to bring the land of Ukraine into your mind with your next in-breath.  Imagine its air, its forests and rivers, its mountains and waters. Imagine its natural beauty wanting to emerge in this Spring. Now you can bring to mind Ukraine’s culture, its history, its cathedrals, buildings and peoples’ homes. Imagine the roads, the railways, the schools and libraries. Now, if you can, imagine the destruction that has happened and continues to happen in these areas. I invite you to draw on your natural capacity to care. Take a breath and let yourself feel what you are feeling. Now, imagine you are sending the land of Ukraine, safety, protection and peace. You can imagine helping hands eventually reseeding, rebuilding, renewing these wounded areas.

With your next in breath, I invite you to bring the people of Ukraine to mind. Perhaps through the images you have seen in the news. Or through reports from Ukrainian friends and family you may know. Bring to mind, the elderly, the sick, the children, the mothers, the fathers, our fellow sisters and brothers of Ukraine. Bring the front line workers, the doctors, the nurses, the military and the many civilians who have taken up arms to protect their people. Now, if you can, imagine their suffering their pain, their fear, their struggle, their desperation, their panic, their rage, their despair, their indignity, hunger, thirst, the sense of becoming a refugee losing one’s home and work. I invite you to draw on your natural capacity to care. Take a breath and let yourself feel what you are feeling. Now, imagine you are sending the Ukrainian people caught in this war: comfort, safety, compassion, peace, courage and strength to do what they need to do. Send anything that you wish that supports their well being in this moment.

With your next in-breath, I invite you to bring to mind the decision makers, the global leaders, the diplomats, those who are making the decisions. If you can, imagine, their struggles, their confusion, their ignorance, their lack of action. What must it feel like to witness their neighbors wounded and dying? Take a breath and feel what you are feeling. Now, imagine you are sending all the world’s leaders: clarity, steadfastness, conviction, the highest ethical and moral decisions, consciousness and awareness, courage, strength and leadership.

With your next in breath, I invite you to bring the Russian people those who are indifferent or supportive of this, those who do not want any part of this war, those who have protested and are now in prison, those who are yearning to help their brothers and sisters of Ukraine. If you can, imagine their suffering, their agitation, their helplessness, and for some, their ignorance. Now imagine you are sending them courage, determination, strength – in their bodies and their voices, clarity and understanding.

In your own time come back to the simplicity of your body, your breath. Notice sounds around you.  See if you can settle down in the tender gravity of kindness. See if you can let yourself be nourished by breath, supported by Earth. Gifts so freely given. Let yourself be. Give yourself the simplest kindness. As you become aware of any tension in your body, your heart, your mind, can you offer yourself some gentleness? Like a caring friend being there. This is compassion.  We turn towards pain or suffering or challenge with the possibility of helping. Perhaps being with the question: ‘What is needed now?’ How does our heart move in response to difficulty?

In his course on Holistic Spirituality, meditation teacher Oren Jay Sofer explores the different dimensions of compassion and how we bring it to life. He says:

. . . We have to notice it. And then in response the heart starts to feel. . . . Compassion has to be balanced with equanimity. Equanimity is the wisdom of perspective. It recognizes that things in the world follow their own course and we all have to choose how we respond . . . Equanimity understands that there is only so much we can do and there is so much we can do.

Our first response is often our caring presence. It may be as simple and profound as listening in silence together while allowing a heavy heart to reveal itself slowly like the opening of a flower. It may be saying ‘yes’ with enthusiasm and ‘no’ with love. We may be seeking wisdom together. Today, we walk alongside each other in companionship and compassion. We are willing to be with the broken heartedness in the world and to listen for what healing is called for. Our kindness goes with us everywhere like a shadow or a friend. Poet Mary Oliver writes:

…eventually tides will be the only calendar you believe in…
And someone’s face, whom you love, will be as a star
Both intimate and ultimate,
And you will be heart-shaken and respectful.

And you will hear the air itself, like a beloved, whisper
Oh let me, for a while longer, enter the two
Beautiful bodies of your lungs…

Look, and look again.
This world is not just a little thrill for your eyes.

It’s more than bones.
It’s more than the delicate wrist with its personal pulse.
It’s more than the beating of a single heart.
It’s praising.
It’s giving until the giving feels like receiving.
You have a life- just imagine that!
You have this day, and maybe another, and maybe
Still another…

And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned,
I have become younger.

And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world. ”
― Mary Oliver, Evidence: Poems