Tara Brach, a clinical psychologist and meditation teacher, gives this talk on compassion, with a Q&A session. She covers three skillful means for opening to the compassionate heart: object awareness, metta, and RAIN.
How do we open ourselves to our compassionate heart? The talk first covers three skillful means for opening up to compassion, then deepens the exploration through a talk and Q&A session.
Object Awareness for Compassion
The first anchor for compassionate awareness is object awareness. As we rest our attention on a single object – or on the breath for instance – the chaos of the mind may calm down and a calm clarity arises. When this happens, compassion is more likely to make itself known. This focusing of attention helps us to soften the mind as we ground ourselves in the heart space.
Metta Meditation
Brach explains that metta can be understood as anything that helps the heart to come back to its natural state of openness. When left unexamined, we may notice that the heart has a tendency to contract in resistance to the world around us. Metta requires us to pay attention in a way that allows the heart to open. We can use imagery, messages, touch, or anything else that helps the heart to expand.
RAIN for Self-Compassion
The third skillful means she identifies is mindful awareness of the RAIN acronym. This recognition, allowance, inquiry, and nourishment of whatever our present experience is can help us to move deeper towards the compassion heart.
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