Listening is a transferable skill from the cushion to all of life. One that supports us to engage skilfully with our life: to ask deep questions, and be sensitive and creative in how we live, how speak, and how we listen.
What we mean or interpret as an instruction to 'Open' can be wide open also: We can open around a phenomena or experience, we can open into that, or we can open to more... One way we can be thorough open explorers is by noticing the vedana that is added onto the experience, and opening around or into that, or opening to more via other vedana attributed phenomena.
This meditation guides us in embodying loving presence through a body scan, and then meeting whatever arises with a tender heart. We close with a beautiful blessing-poem from John O’Donohue.
A key way stress disconnects us from ourselves and each other is through the limbic reactivity of blame. This talk helps us to recognize the suffering of chronic blame, resentment and anger, and to bring a healing presence to the vulnerability that underlies blame.