AIRED: August 19, 2019
SPECIAL GUEST: Lama Palden Drolma
“‘Love on Every Breath’ is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist a meditation that combines breath, awareness, imagination, and an energetic transformation process,” writes author Lama Palden Drolma, who has been practicing Tonglen meditation for over forty years and teaching it for over thirty. “The meditation brings all these components together in a powerful way in order to open our hearts, to reveal and cultivate our kindness, love, compassion, and wisdom.”
In the standard Tonglen, the meditator simply breathes in the suffering of others and then breathes out love and compassion to them, but this approach does not always work well for Westerners, who often find it difficult to get past the ego’s roadblocks. That is why Lama Palden prefers to teach the more user-friendly “Love on Every Breath” variation to Westerners, which comes from the Shangpa lineage of two enlightened women.
The complete “Love on Every Breath” meditation consists of eight steps and is done as a sitting practice that takes forty-five minutes to an hour from start to finish, but the practice is highly adaptable and can be done “on-the-spot” in daily life as well as on the cushion. Lama Palden provides instructions for both in Love on Every Breath. She also provides a “non-Buddhist” variation for people from other traditions that can be easily adapted for the non-religious or for those of different religions.
“The On-the-Spot method is highly adaptable and can be used in any moment when you see suffering, whether it is in the grocery store, in traffic, or at a dance concert,” writes Lama Palden. “Healing our own wounding and suffering with love gives us the capacity to be present with and truly love others. As we heal, our innate goodness, our innate wisdom, and love, comes into the forefront of our consciousness and infuses our speech and actions.”
ABOUT LAMA PALDEN DROLMA
Lama Palden Drolma is the author of Love on Every Breath. A licensed psychotherapist, spiritual teacher, and coach, she has studied Buddhism in the Himalayas with some of the most preeminent Tibetan masters of the twentieth century. Following a traditional three-year retreat under his guidance, Kalu Rinpoche authorized her to become one of the first Western lamas. She subsequently founded the Sukhasiddhi Foundation, a Tibetan Buddhist teaching center in Fairfax, California.
