Nurturing Family and Relationships

It's a huge arena in your mind's eye, big enough to hold millions of people. You're reminded that you and the group built its loving atmosphere together with your thoughts and feelings. Sitting inside it is how you tune into a shared sense of support before turning to your own family.

After you recall simple happy things, like a favourite drink, clouds drifting by, or rain, a warm violet glow spreads from your heart through your head, arms, torso, legs and back to your heart. It then grows into a bubble around you, expanding with each inhale and relaxing with each exhale. It also blends with the light of everyone around you, which is how the group feeling builds.

You imagine a spot in your home with cushions or chairs, perhaps candles, flowers or incense, and a small bell. When you feel upset, you go in, sit and sound the bell as a cue to breathe, for you and for everyone at home. The idea comes from a Vietnamese Zen master who suggested a space to pause before you shout or turn disrespectful.

You first bring to mind a real difficulty with someone, then imagine them hearing the bell instead of an argument. They feel relieved and quietly sit beside you, breathing too. The scene shows reconciliation as something calm and wordless, with no need to win the conversation.

Pick something you want to see unfold with that family member today, this week or this month. It must be something you can influence, since the session stresses that we can only shape what we think, say and do. You let it take shape, move it from your head to your heart, plant it with an inhale, and release it on the exhale without needing to know how.

You give thanks to those who fed your light and receive thanks from those whose light you fed. You then rub your palms together briskly, cup them over your closed eyes without touching the lids, blink a few times against the dark, and slowly lower your hands and open your eyes.