I have used breathing as an exhaust system in which I get rid of my stress, I love to sigh, or maybe it is more accurate to say that I rely on sighing as a way of getting out my funk. Tonglen is a breathing and attention practice preserved in Tibetan Buddhism in which we inhale darkness and exhale light. Bottling up negative energy is the big no no of self-help. Why on earth would I want to do that? Yet I feel better…

The practice can be simple but it can also be a form of hardcore meditation. To make it an easy part of my day I tried a number of visualizations…

• Breathe in and recognize what negative energy you may have developed in your day, don’t focus on the cause but visualize your sadness, frustration, stress, filling your body as you breath in…

As you breathe out look out, reach out. imagine out, with the desire to enjoy, love, support, care for, invest in, something in your immediate surroundings.

• If we prefer a more scientific lens we can recognize that the oxygen we breathe is the “waste of nature” and the CO2 that we exhale is the fuel of photosynthesis. We have the opportunity to connect to nature, others, and ourselves through the air we share.

• You can imagine your own struggle, the struggle of someone close to you, of the community, of some far away place as a basis for establishing a basis for expressing your desire and hopefully action to bring a little light to the rest of the world.

I have always envisioned breathing in the good energy that surrounds me, the heat if I am cold, the cool air if I am hot. I was really surprised to find a meditation practice that promoted the exact opposite; breathe in the “negative” that surrounds you or that is within you and breathe out compassion. I tried it passively throughout a day and found a dramatic shift in my mood. I was in a pretty good mood but I found myself feeling that I was expressing that I was in a good mood vs. keeping it to myself. My good mood echoed off the positive that was present around me.

Even when I feel positive there is some level of present negativity, defensiveness, fear somewhere in my expression. This practice also felt like I was giving myself a chance to stand up and say “my name is Jeff, and I am an (insert my darkness).” All of a sudden I was much more in touch with owning my darkness while using it to fuel positive expression; expressing and inviting compassion. The echo also seemed to say “Hello Jeff!, you are welcome here.”