A Steady Heart in this Age of Pandemic

by Jack Kornfield

The coronavirus pandemic is spreading widely. We are in an unprecedented time of uncertainty and difficulty. With it, we see collective fear and anxiety spreading, and also simultaneously, a deepening resolve and care. We realise how vulnerable we are as human beings and how we need to protect one another.

Such difficult times call for inner steadiness and strength for our own well-being, for our immune systems and those around us. As Master Thich Nhat Hanh said, “If everyone on the crowded Vietnamese refugee boats had panicked when they encountered storms and pirates, all would be lost. But if just one person on the boat could remain steady and calm, it would be enough to show the way for everyone to survive.” We share a field of connection with so many others and we can become that composed person on the boat. As we hold together the collective anxiety and fears, the confusion and sadness, we can also hold together the collective hopes and courage.

We have done this before, through our blood and DNA of a thousand generations of ancestors who survived wars, epidemics, depressions, tornados, famines and eras of great difficulties with strength and love. This strength and love is within us too and it is here for us to draw on.

This is what you have been training for and this is what we can offer to our children: a steady heart amidst it all. This meditation, uses the power of mindfulness to tend, steady and support inner well-being.

MEDITATION TO RELEASE TENSION IN THE BODY 

To undertake this practice, sit with feet flat on the floor or grounded and steady on a cushion. Let your eyes close gently and feel through your body the deep connection that goes down into the earth. Steady yourself, bring a mind full of loving awareness to this present moment. 

Sense your body, become aware of any areas of tightness and tension, contraction, heaviness and pain. Acknowledge this with a kind, loving awareness, as if with a bow. The energies and intentions you have collected during this period as your body go into fight, flight or freeze are still within you.

Let these energies begin to open, let them expand, intensify, release, open bigger. You will notice little by little that they begin to soften and dissolve. You hold the sensations of the body, its pain and tensions as you would hold a child who is frightened in your arms, just holding and allowing all sensations to open as they will. Feel the space around them, the stillness of space and mindful awareness. 

As you feel the intensity and pulsation of these sensations, difficult though they may be, gradually allow them to drain down your body from your head and neck down through your shoulders, arms and torso, the pelvis down to your legs and feet into the earth. Allow the heaviness, tension, contraction and tightness to move in your body and drain into the earth. As you do, thank them: “Thank you for trying to protect me. Thank you for trying to care for me. I am okay now. I am steady now. Thank you.”

As you thank your body for trying to hold and protect you, you will notice a release. Rest in the space of this steady kind attention. Feel the body open, release, grounded and steady. You are now loving awareness itself that recognises what is happening in the body and allows it to release and open. Let yourself feel a growing steadiness and calm all around those energies.

MEDITATION TO STEADY THE HEART 

Bring your attention to your heart and notice in particular, any fears or sadness, anxiety or confusion, grief, anger or worries for your family, friends, for the young and old, for the caregivers on the frontline and acknowledge all these emotions softly with a bow of kindness, let them be held in loving awareness, let them intensify or open, and expand and release as they wish. Trust that you can allow yourself to feel and let the feelings themselves move through you, open up and bring a greater sense of spaciousness as you do.

You are not resisting them but thanking them: “Thank you for trying to protect me, I am steady now”, and feel the growing steadiness and spacious presence of loving awareness, relax into it. Now turn your attention to sense your state of mind: acknowledge if there are racing thoughts, doubts, scattered mind, fearful thoughts and let your loving awareness be like a vast space that can hold these thoughts like clouds that appear in the space of your mind.

As if to bow to them, you acknowledge them gently: “Oh doubts, oh fear, oh racing mind”, let them be present and open the sky of your mind without resistance. As you allow them to open and move, you can thank them: “Thank you for trying to protect me, I am steady now, I am okay now.” Let in the vastness of space, the clouds of thoughts, the images; let the energies of mind open, displaying themselves in loving awareness — all the people you care about, all the things you worry about.

As they open in loving awareness, they will begin to soften and dissolve and a greater stillness will come. The racing thoughts and worries will settle down. Yes, you can think and plan, but no need to go overboard and be too obsessive. I am loving awareness held in a space of calm and steadiness now. Feel it: loving and open, compassionate. Trust that this awareness, your own awareness, your own true nature is consciousness itself, this awareness can hold all the things that arise as a witness, as a loving and kind witness. Trust that you have within you the great heart of compassion, that you can hold all that arises with a tender heart. 

Those who are worried about their ageing parents and young children; those who are on the frontline as healthcare workers or others; those who are worried as neighbours, community and friends, you can extend your own steadiness and calm of your own heart, body and mind in all directions. Radiating wellbeing and calm, radiating a loving and compassionate heart to all who struggle; a reminder that we can steady ourselves in this boat of the world.

Let your awareness sense yourself as a great tree; your roots go down from your body deep into the earth, steady and strong. Feel the depth of your connection from your body, energies and being down into the earth below. Feel how it strengthens and steadies you. And notice too as your body breathes.

You are like the breathing of the tree itself, through the leaves of the tree, that breathes in the midst of the vast open skies rooted in the earth. The breath breathes itself like the leaves exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide breathing in the vastness of skies. Sense yourself, this great tree, as clouds and sunlight come and go. Breezes come and the branches sway, storms and great winds have come and gone. And the seasons change, of warmth and cold, of snow and rain, of rainbows and beauty, while you are the great tree, standing rooted in the midst of it all, connected to the earth below, and the vast space of sky, with time and eternity.

Rest like this great tree with a peaceful and steady heart. You become the Buddha, the awakened one, steady and still amidst it all. Feel your body rooted in the earth; feel your heart at peace, and feel your mind open like the vast skies; let yourself sense how you can embody this steadiness and this peacefulness where you are: at home, with your family and friends, among those who are at ease, or those who are frightened and struggling. You can be the centre of calm in your community and as you move through the world, you can be that one on the boat; you can be the great rooted tree, you can bring your sense of calm and steadiness wherever you go.

With this steadiness of body, heart and mind, you can offer yourself now with care in this difficult time. Remember to be especially polite and respectful, particularly to those around you who are frightened or going through difficulties. Join those who are singing from the balconies, who are caring for others physically, virtually and in whatever ways, and do so with a  steady and loving heart. Do that which supports your own steady and peaceful heart.