Liberation requires clearing citta of its contracted state. We can learn to care for our citta, to know what lifts and steadies it to bring it out of contraction. In meditation we try to concentrate and feel even more constricted. Opening up the body and accessing the vitality that comes from mindfulness of breathing can have a calming effect.
Meditation is not a set of techniques; it is authentic, direct access to your inner heart/felt subjective experiences. Many times what’s found there is dukkha. Much of it can be resolved just by developing the inner body and clearing the hindrances.
Bear this in mind when meditating. With unpleasant or painful mental feeling, the tendency is to contract. Try opening up instead. It stops the cycle of agitation and resistance that keeps the pain there. Use the body to do this, as a source of strength and energy to stop the mind spinning out into story. In order to withdraw and stand back, we must have a place to stand back into. That’s what the body is for.
This new version of the acronym RAIN is a powerful way of bringing compassion to the life within you, and to attuning and deepening compassion for others.
