LOOM
WEEK 1: On meeting myself where I am
we talked about contemplative psychotherapy and buddhist psychology
the multiplicity of the self : we carry multiple parts. there’s no rigid self structure, we have many different self states and as many selves as we have relationships
mindfulness and compassion as the foundational practices to cultivate a clear awareness, open up to what is here and cultivate the loving presence to carry all those inner parts.
PRACTICE
Insight/Vipassana Meditation
REFLECTIONS
WHEN YOU ASK HOW ARE YOU, WHAT DO YOU HEAR?
WHO IS THE YOU OF TODAY?
POEM
Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now.
-David Whyte
MEDITATE
WEEK 2: On processing emotions
We talked about looking closer to emotions and how the RAIN technique is a great bridge between mindfulness and compassion, between noticing what is here and what is needed.
T both understand and embody our emotions can ultimately lead us to cultivate self compassion, self parenting and integration of the multiple parts we carry
PRACTICE
RAIN (Tara Brach, Model)
REFLECTION
WHAT DO YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE YOU OF TODAY? WHAT IS NEEDING, OBSERVING, FEELING?
AFTER THE RAIN PRACTICES, PROMPTS TO REFLECT:
What is happening and can I let this be here?
What am I believing about myself right now?
What do I need? What message can I offer myself?
POEM
Always we hope someone else has the answer, some other place will be better, some other time it will all turn out. This is it; no one else has the answer, no other place will be better, and it has already turned out. At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. There is no need to run outside for better seeing. Nor to peer from a window. Rather abide at the center of your being; for the more you leave it, the less you learn. Search your heart and see the way to do is to be.
- Lao-Tzu
MEDITATE
WEEK 3: On widening the circle
We talked about how the way into compassion is an INVITATION and that to learn more about compassion, we get into a gradual process of dismantling our stress (that sense of internal war and fragmentation) and we begin to see our full potential
We talked about to continue taking a closer look at the 3 fires and how instead of fixating in the content of it, we can notice our relationship with them:
-grasping, desire, clinging
- aversion, rejection, hate
-delusion, ignorance, doubt
PRACTICE
This practice is formally known as Equalizing Self and Others
REFLECTION
(after the practice)
HOW DID IT FEEL TO VISUALIZE YOUR SAFE PLACE?
WHAT DID YOU NOTICE WHEN WORKING WITH YOUR LOVES ONE? NEUTRAL ONE AND DIFFICULT PERSON? HOW WAS THE BODY RESPONSE AND HOW WAS THE MIND RESPONSE?
DID YOU NOTICE THE PRESENCE OF THE 3 FIRES?
POEM
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
(…)
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
- Rumi
MEDITATE
WEEK 4: On giving and taking
We talked about this week’s practice are:
1- undoing our resistance of contacting vulnerability that is here and when we touch it compassion almost emerges naturally.
2- undoing the grasping that has us holding on versus letting it be held by the wholeness of being.
PRACTICE
Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist Practice that can be used in some variations, in this week’s practice we used for self compassion. Tonglen can be translated to giving and taking .
REFLECTION
This is a powerful practice, I’d suggest as a reflection after the practice to let yourself lean into being then any cognitive exploration. Allow yourself for a few minutes to see or visualize how the breath (which is in fact energy) move through your body and what are the effects of it when we stop to pay attention to it.
READING
This week I brought the book “ When things fall apart” from Pema Chodron. It’s a great reading to begin to explore these practices we have been exploring. Here are the passages I read to you:
“Embarking on the spiritual journey is like getting into a very small boat and setting out on the ocean to search for unknown lands. With wholehearted practice comes inspiration, but sooner or later we will also encounter fear. For all we know, when we get to the horizon, we are going to drop off the edge of the world. Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what’s waiting out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.”
“Impermanence becomes vivid in the present moment, so do compassion and wonder and courage. And so does fear. In fact, anyone who stands on the edge of the unknown, fully in the present without reference point, experiences groundlessness. That’s when our understanding goes deeper, when we find that the present moment is a pretty vulnerable place and that this can be completely unnerving and completely tender at the same time”
MEDITATE
WEEK 5: On expanding
We talked about how these past weeks we walked on a field of compassion:
Cultivating awareness/ insight
Processing emotions
Widening the circle and working with other beings
Alchemizing the suffering, holding the space
And this week was about expanding with mentors
The latest school of Buddhism, which are teachings still kept more distant from the general public revolve around more advanced practices.
Tantra (which is part of this latest movement) means “loom”/”to weave” and refers to: reweaving the fabric of the core layers of the mind/body process. We are trying to reach the most inaccessible place of our being and this happens after the foundation of mindfulness / compassion being fully integrated.
In a way: it’s finding ourselves to be who would be if we weren’t so stressed all the time? If we know we are deeply loved, accepted.
Referring back to the multiplicity: with this week’s practice when working with our future self as our mentor, we are stretching our capacity to see this part of ourselves in its full potential, right now just as it is. We are challenged to go look for it and welcome it.
PRACTICE
My future self (this is a basic version of practices that explore visualizations with mentors)
REFLECTION
How do you want me to be with you? : this is an inquiry we can use on our daily lives when we want to invite/call in this most expanded part of ourselves, our future self.
Write
1- describe your future self
2- write a letter from your future self to you at your current self. What would you tell yourself?
POEM
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on (…)”
-Mary Oliver
MEDITATE