| The Journey, Not the Destination
With practice and the guidance of a skilled teacher, though, we discover that the process of the pose, not the end product, is the real teacher. And, as we breathe into each small adjustment of our body, inviting the mind to physical spaces we usually ignore, we find our wonder at our body’s magnificence is restored. Over time, our wonder at our body causes us to reflect on the way we treat it, and many of us feel sorrow for the ways in which we’ve ignored our physical needs for rest, quality food, and healthful physical movement in service of career or other driving forces. Then, something magical begins to happen. We realize that others are having this same experience. Others around us feel the same fears, desire to avoid pain, want to be accepted and loved. Starting from the center, we widen the reach of our compassion to encompass those around us…
There are many ways to develop compassion. While some of us learn it from our own experiences of suffering, I am convinced that we can undertake healthy, positive disciplines that open our hearts first to ourselves and then to others. Pema Chodron and Thich Nhat Hanh both teach lovingkindness meditations that I have found useful in my own practice and working with yoga students.
Opening the Heart
Find a comfortable, quiet place to sit. Connect the sit bones to the floor or cushion and lift the spine up out of the pelvis, lengthening from the base through the crown of the head. Open the heart by rolling the shoulders back and down away from the ears. Soften into this position so that the body moves with the breath—avoid becoming rigid. Let the words of the metta prayer drop rhythmically into the mind/body. The prayer is said three times for yourself, three times for one you love, and, when you feel ready, three times for someone who challenges you, a person you find it difficult to embrace with compassion.
As you let the words vibrate in your consciousness, visualize the people for whom you are saying them—see yourself in your mind’s eye and feel the meaning of the words; see your beloved in detail, feel your love for him or her; see your enemy, feel your enmity transformed, softened by the words of the metta prayer. If it feels natural at some point in this prayer to take your right hand to your heart and cover it with your left, embracing yourself, feeling the energy of your own heart pulsing with compassion, feel free to do so.
Metta Prayer
May you (I) be filled with lovingkindness
May you (I) be well
May you (I) be peaceful and at ease
May you (I) be happy.
REFERENCES
- House JS, Landis KR, Umberson D. Social Relationships and Health. In: Conrad P, ed. The Sociology of Health and Illness: A Critical Perspective. 7th ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2005. 74 – 82.
- Jekel J, Katz D, Elmore J. Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Preventive Medicine. 2nd ed. Pennsylvania: Harcourt Health Sciences, 2001.
Ashley Cleveland, DC, MA, is Provost and Associate Professor at Cleveland Chiropractic College–Kansas City and teaches yoga in Kansas City. |
