Alchemy of the Heart/Tonglen
There’s a practice from 11th century Tibet called “tonglen”. It translates as “sending & receiving. It is a body centered heart practice that offers us emotional self regulation: it can relieve helplessness, loneliness, self pity, and self absorption. It deepens connection to ourselves and all other beings.
It is a type of shadow work and it is a courageous practice: we begin from a place of our own naturally present light, sanity, and wisdom and we do not shy away from the rejected part of ourselves or difficult parts of others.
Tonglen is not everyone’s cuppa tea and we do have to respect our limits. It can be done only for ourselves to offer compassion for those parts of ourselves that we normally reject: jealousy, fear, small mindedness, perfectionism, anger, etc. In an interconnected world, when we offer ourselves compassion, we offer healing to the world.
However it is that you go about your healing and staying present to the world, it is best these days to “stay with the heart and its essential knowing” as Sufi teacher Llewellyn Vaughn Lee suggests.
Here’s a guided somatic audio of Tonglen for you to explore. (14 minutes)