Heart Practice
Settle into a comfortable chair or cushion.
Feel your body, its shape and weight, the sensations coming and going, the movement of breath in and out.
Feel the spaciousness in and around your body.
Recall and appreciate one or two of your positive qualities.
Gently breath in and out while inviting good wishes for yourself and others.
May I (you, they, we, all) feel safe and protected.
May I (you, they, we, all) be happy and peaceful.
May I (you, they, we, all) be healthy and strong.
May I (you, they, we, all) live with ease.
Dwell in each phrase for a breath or two at least, breathing softly with awareness, wishing well, at your own pace, gently, with warmth for yourself and others.
Temporary states of calm, clarity, or bliss are not enough.
Seeing emptiness is not enough.
Freeing oneself is not enough.
The purpose of spiritual practice is to free oneself and others.
We become disenchanted with cyclical existence;
we change our motivation;
we stabilize our attention;
we come to see the actual nature of experience;
we relinquish the causes of suffering in ourselves;
and appreciating the suffering of others, we do what we can to help.