Meditation · Compassion
Compassion (Karuna) Practice
Attending to suffering with the wish it be relieved
Compassion practice — attending to suffering (your own or another's) with the wish that it be relieved. Distinct from metta (goodwill in general) and self-compassion (specific to self in a hard moment).
Steps
- Bring to mind someone (including possibly yourself) who is suffering
- Let yourself actually feel it — not fix, not turn away
- Silently offer: 'May you be free from suffering, may you find peace'
- Notice what arises — tenderness, ache, resistance
Who I brought to mind + what happened
If it becomes too much
- Widen — hold the person's suffering AND others suffering the same thing
- Return to self-compassion for the part of you that hurts alongside them
- Come back to the breath, come back to the body
Compassion is not the same as taking it on
You feel with, not for. Practiced regularly, compassion strengthens the capacity to be present to suffering without being drowned by it.