Deeping Mode

3: Deepening Mode

Has two subdivisions:

1. Compassionate Presence to Feelings

2. Letting Be

1: Compassionate Presence to Feelings

Meditation four has three subdivisions:

1. Becoming compassionately present to bodily feelings

2. Becoming compassionately present to emotional feelings

3. Releasing

In the field of care meditations one through three, we learned how to become an environment of acceptance and warmth for all of our feelings, so they could process themselves in a deeply healing way, from which to become a more healing and loving presence to others. In the next meditation, called compassionate presence to feelings, we explore an even more direct way to become present to all of our feelings in a spaciously compassionate and healing way.

This meditation supports all other SCT practices. In this meditation, we learn how to welcome feelings into a compassionate space where they can relax, find their own place, settle in their own time, and deeply heal in their own natural way. “Feelings” here refers to the pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feeling tones that accompany our physical and mental experiences, and to all the emotions with which they are associated. To train in this meditation prepares us to become compassionately present to all of our feelings in the same deeply healing way even as they arise within our ordinary days.

Intense, stressful aspects of our daily lives trigger many difficult feelings in us. We typically try to avoid unpleasant feelings by trying to suppress them or distract ourselves from them. But when we repeatedly avoid or suppress feelings, over time, we tighten up inside, which manifests also as physical tightness. This inner stress and tightness make it difficult to open to the qualities available in our basic awareness that we cultivate in all of our practices—qualities of spaciousness, love, compassion, equanimity, and wisdom. Such stress and tightness also make it hard to be fully present to other people in an open-hearted and discerning way.

Meditation four below shows us that we don’t have to avoid or suppress our feelings and reactions. Instead, we become spaciously, compassionately present to them, in a way that helps them relax, settle, and find their own place—ultimately a place of inner healing and releasing. This transforms our ways of being with others, since our ability to be present to our own feelings with compassion is what enables us to be present to other people in the same way.

This practice has four principles: 

1. Notice the feeling within any state of mind or body. 

2. Fully allow it to have all the space it needs to find its own place. 

3. Rest with or within the feeling. 

4. And just let everything be, with a sense of spaciousness. This lets feelings metabolize themselves within a space of deep acceptance and warmth.

1: Becoming compassionately present to bodily feelings

Sit in a relaxed way, with back comfortably straight, eyes gazing gently downward. Come down from the thinking mind into the body, feeling the body as a whole, and letting the breath settle into its own natural flow. After a little while, notice the physical sensation in any part of your body, and become aware of it in a deeply allowing way, without trying to change it at all. Let it have all the space it needs to find its own way of being. If another physical sensation replaces it, become aware of that sensation in the same deeply allowing, spacious way.

2: Becoming compassionately present to emotional feelings

Now sense whatever emotional feeling is present within you, from within your body. Not just thinking about it, but sensing how it feels from within. At first you may think you are not feeling anything, but often you can become aware of a subtle emotional feeling that wasn’t fully conscious to you, such as a little anxiety or worry, or liking or disliking a little how things are, or a feeling of trying to hold on to things, or feeling a little confused. Or you may feel a stronger emotion, like fear, frustration, annoyance, or joy. Or you may just feel numb. Those are all feelings with which you can practice. Or, if you wish, you are welcome to recall an emotional feeling that is quite familiar to you and let yourself feel it now.

Become aware of that feeling within you, with a sense of deep permission for it—fully allowing it to be here, letting it have all the space it needs to find its own place; gently welcoming it. Not being enmeshed in it, not rejecting it, not trying to solve or change anything in it, not ruminating about why it’s here. Like a friend compassionately present to a friend, let this feeling have all the space it needs to find its own place in its own time, and metabolize itself in its own way. Rest with the feeling spaciously in that way, or rest within it, without trying to change anything, just letting everything be. One feeling may open into a further feeling and so on—just be with each feeling in the same spacious, accepting way.

If part of you is having difficulty with this practice, notice the feeling within that reaction and become compassionately aware of that feeling in the same way, letting it have all the space it needs to find its own place, to settle and metabolize itself in its own time.

When the mind wanders into chains of thinking, notice the feeling that is associated with those thoughts, and become present to that feeling in the same spacious, allowing way.

As this practice deepens, you may find your mind resting right in the essence of a feeling, which may open into a space of deep warmth, calm, and peace from within. If that happens, just relax deeply into that experience and let everything be.

3: Releasing

After some time, just settle fully into this feeling of spacious allowing. Let this help your mind to relax deeply, settle back a bit inwardly, release all frameworks of concern, and become completely open like space, beyond reference points. As thoughts and feelings arise, let them just metabolize themselves and release within this sky-like openness of awareness, by letting everything be.

Processing Meditation Four: This practice is done in meditation sessions to learn how to do it throughout our day. We begin the practice with physical sensations, then became aware of

emotional feelings. We learn to do this practice at any time with any feelings: physical or emotional, unpleasant, pleasant, strong feelings, subtle feelings. If there is no strong feeling at any moment, you can do the practice with your felt sense of body and mind at that moment, even with a subtle feeling of dullness or numbness.

All the other meditations of SCT take us into a way of being that is different from what we may have been accustomed to. This stirs up many emotions and reactions. In this way, all SCT practices generate the material for compassionate presence to feelings. Whenever you are having a difficulty or reaction to any other practice, notice the feeling within that reaction, and do this practice of compassionate presence for a little while. If the feeling deeply settles, you can return to the practice at hand. Or you can continue with this practice of compassionate presence, letting things settle and deeply heal by themselves.

This practice is adapted from the handshake meditation teaching of Tsoknyi Rinpoche.

2: Letting Be

Meditation five has four subdivisions:

1. Abdominal breathing

2. Letting be of the body

3. Letting be of the breath

4. Letting be of the mind

Meditations one thru four above bring out powers of love, compassion, spaciousness, and deep acceptance that make us into a deeply healing environment for all of our perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. In the releasing phase of those four meditations, we let those loving qualities help the mind feel safe enough to release its narrow frameworks and begin to settle into the spacious source of those loving qualities—a pervasive openness, clarity, simplicity and warmth of awareness that is beyond all constructs of mind. In that way, we start to settle into the deep nature of the mind, a unity of total openness and pure awareness—the empty, cognizant ground of experience. In the next meditation, “Letting be,” we learn to settle even more directly and fully into that spacious ground, to learn to reunify with it. That is the ultimate secure base from which to become more fully present to self and others.

1: Abdominal breathing

Sit in a relaxed, comfortable way with back straight, eyes gazing gently downward. Come down from the thinking mind into the body. (pause) Take a slow deep breath, inhaling from the abdomen so it expands, exhaling slowly and completely, and letting go of all your concerns with the exhale. Relax for a moment before inhaling again. Repeat several times. Then, while still breathing from the abdomen, let the breath settle into its own natural flow. Feel the belly expand and contract with each breath. Let that feeling draw you into it more and more, breath by breath. (pause)

2: Letting be of body

Notice any feeling of tightness or holding on anywhere in the body, and let that relax. Let all bodily feelings just settle in their own way, in their own time. (pause) Deeply let be into the body, by letting the body unify you with it more and more. As if the body is meditating you. As if the body is doing the knowing. (pause)

3: Letting be of breath

Still breathing from the abdomen, feel the full inhale and exhale with each breath. Notice any sense of holding on to the breathing process anywhere, and let that relax. (pause) Deeply let be into the breath, by letting the feeling of the breath in the body unify you with it more and more, breath by breath. As if the breath is meditating you. As if the breath is doing the knowing (pause).

4: Letting be of mind

Now raise your eyes to look ahead, with a gentle panoramic gaze that spaciously encompasses the whole visual field. Leave all senses wide open, and relax into that panoramic sensory field. (pause)

Notice any grasping in the mind to any mental construct—holding on to any sense of self or framework of thought—and let that feeling of holding on relax deep within. Let the mind settle back a bit inwardly and come to rest in the background of its awareness, which is naturally wide open and luminous, like the sky. Let the mind relax into the spacious background of its awareness beyond reference points—wide open, limitless, and radiant. Let this natural openness of awareness meditate you, unifying you with it more and more, by letting everything be. Let any thoughts and feelings that arise just metabolize themselves and release within this skylike expanse of openness and lucidity, by letting all be.

When the mind closes up again, holding on to a narrow sense of self or frame of thought, let the mind again settle back into the spaciousness and clarity in the background of its awareness, naturally wide open, limitless and radiant. Let patterns of thought and feeling that arise just unwind and release within this limitless expanse of lucid openness.