This afternoon's heart practice will be tunglin, which is a compassion practice that is from the Tibetan tradition.

In the different expressions of love, loving kindness is understood to be the natural response when we take in or touch a sense of appreciation for another's practice.

It's a compassion for another's goodness, for beauty, for the sense of the sacred that shines through life.

In a similar way, compassion is the natural arising that comes from when we let ourselves be touched by suffering.

It's the heart's resonance with suffering our own or others.

And it's a natural capacity of our heart.

And yet it takes cultivation given that in the moments when we are in fight or flight, including when we've fleed into our thoughts,

we're not available to really be touched in a visceral way by suffering.

So there's a correlation between our capacity for mindful presence with what's difficult, an embodied presence with what's difficult,

and a full-bodied response of care, a distinction between abstract or mental compassion, and that which is expressed and experienced in a more full way.

So in that spirit, it's always helpful.

And this is with all the heart manifestations to begin by again, no matter how many times you've done it, re-relaxing, letting the attention scan through the body, and letting go some.

Noticing how if in this moment you relax and soften the shoulder sum, you can begin to feel the life that's there.

You can begin to loosen loosely as one teaching describes it.

And when you intentionally soften the hands, there's a kind of intimacy and receptivity to the life that's there.

And when you have the intention to soften the heart, or perhaps smile into the heart, sense a smile there,

it actually helps you to be sensitive to the feelings or mood of the heart.

So just taking some moments to see if there's any areas of obvious tension or tightness, places that you might soften, bring awareness to,

give the possibility of untangling a little.

The literal translation of tongue is taking in and sending out.

The breath is very, very useful, kind of support in the practice and will explore it with the breath today.

It's not necessary, but it's very helpful.

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