Self and Others

In understanding oneself, we understand others. In feeling compassion for oneself, we feel compassion for others. Self and other are not two different things, they're not separate. So as we sit and we observe the mind, hopefully over time we start to experience a bit more calm, a bit more clarity and we started to get a bit more understanding. Although that understanding is of our own experience it's also the human experience. So we're not only getting understanding of ourselves but we're also starting to see how and why other people think, say, do the things that they do. And in that same way we're also training in empathy. We're training in compassion. We're learning how to not only be, kinder, more gentle to ourselves but we're also learning how to be perhaps more patient more understanding, more tolerant towards others. Because ultimately there is no separation between self and others. If there is kindness in our mind, in any given moment it doesn't really matter whether we direct our attention towards ourself or towards others. If the inherent quality is kindness in that moment then kindness will be the expression and the result. So knowing each time when we sit to train the mind, sitting with that intention, knowing that it not only benefits ourselves, but also benefits those around us. So just taking a moment to settle, make sure they're sitting comfortably that the back is upright, or at least flat if you're lying down. We're gonna begin with the eyes open and aware of the space around you. And by taking some big, deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. With the next exhalation, as you close the eyes. Just feeling the weight of the body, pressing down. Just taking a moment settling into the body pay attention to that point of contact. At the same time, it's becoming more familiar, the space around you. Starting to notice a different sounds, sensations just allowing them to come and go. And now just bringing, the focus back to the body, once again. Noticing how the body feels, having paused for a moment. Noticing if there's a sense of stillness right now restlessness, heaviness or lightness. And without trying to change any of that, starting at the top of the head, scanning down to the toes not getting stuck in any particular place, just evenly, slowly scanning down through the body, just noticing any particular sensations. And as you move towards the end of the scan, it is becoming more aware, the breath, the movement of breath in the body. To begin we just noticing where in the body you feel that movement. Now starting, to pay a little more attention to each and every breath. Just noticing the rhythm of the breath and noticing how each breath differs from the next and the last. And as you continue to follow that movement, the sensation of the breath, just beginning to count the...