Meditation helps ground us in the present moment using the body.
According to the Buddhist teaching of the Five Remembrances, we are all of nature to grow old, get sick, and die, and all of life is of nature to change. This doesn’t mean we should capitulate to despair, though. We may be comforted knowing we’ve made it through many challenging times — maybe not unscathed — but we are still here and continue to experience the vagaries of human existence. What can we do when life seems overwhelming? Joan Baez said, “The antidote to despair is action,” which can take many forms, including taking a break, going for a walk and exercising, writing letters to politicians, working for systemic change, or connecting with your community.
Meditating with compassion (karuna) is a practice that allows us to process life’s challenges. Karuna helps us feel sadness and despair and channel it towards a change through the heart and mind. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” (Dalai Lama XIV) Compassion is the understanding that we’re all made of strength and struggle. There is no immunity from the challenges of being human. Using compassion, we understand that there is a shared humanity, and we all wish for moments of rest, comfort, and contentment.
Since the brain is conditioned to grasp negativity, we must act to feel better. “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” (Thich Nhat Hanh) Mindfulness and meditation teach us that reality is what’s happening here and now, not what’s ruminating in the mind. Compassion practice is daring, as Pema Chodron writes, “It involves learning to relax and allow ourselves to move gently toward what scares us.” We can be courageous in life, understanding that being human means going through difficult times, learning how to handle them, and finding solace and happiness in every moment of our lives, no matter how small and insignificant.
Using the body’s five senses can help bring compassion closer to our hearts and away from the thinking, ruminating mind. In the following practice, which can be done alone or in a group, we use the senses as they come up in the body to acknowledge what is being felt. We practice noticing sensations without judgment or a desire to fix things. Mindfulness helps us be present with what IS in the moment and accept that we’re all in this life together, one breath at a time.
Five Senses Compassion Meditation Practice:
- Find a comfortable position: Sit or lie down in a relaxed posture.
- Close your eyes: If desired, close your eyes to enhance your focus. Otherwise, just focus on a neutral spot with eyes gazing down before you.
- Settle the body using the breath: Begin with 3 deeper-than-usual breaths to relax the nervous system and bring awareness to the body. Breathing in, we notice the lungs filling up with oxygen. Breathing out, we share this life force with the outer world. Then, we invite the five senses one at a time with attention to what is happening now.
- Focus on sight: Notice five things you can see around you, such as colors, shapes, and textures. Pay close attention using your eyes, just noticing these five things without judging or assigning meaning.
- Focus on hearing: Listen to four different sounds, such as the ticking of a clock, the wind blowing, or voices.
- Focus on touch: Feel three sensations on your body, such as the warmth of your breath, the softness of a blanket, or the pressure of your feet on the ground.
- Focus on smell: Notice two distinct smells: coffee’s aroma and fresh air’s scent are examples.
- Focus on taste: Identify one taste in your mouth, even if it’s just the lingering flavor of water or your last meal.
- Repeat: Go through the five senses again as many times as you have time for, focusing on different things that come into your awareness.
Open your eyes: When ready, gently open your eyes and return to your surroundings. May you go forth in peaceful ease.
Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder and Creative Director at Mindful Frontiers LLC. Mindful Frontiers is a Benefit Corporation (BCorp) based in Taos, New Mexico, dedicated to promoting community wellness through mindfulness. We offer schools and organizations a variety of mindfulness & meditation tools designed to support and nurture individuals and groups with positive social-emotional growth. Our mission is to “welcome a mindful future, one present moment at a time,” guiding people towards greater awareness, emotional balance, and a deeper connection with themselves and others. Anne-Marie is a certified meditation leader and a certified labyrinth facilitator. Featured practices can be found on the Insight Timer app. Our website is MindfulFrontiers.net.
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