might incline towards a newborn child. The Restorative Yoga includes postures that comfort and
soothe, such as the child’s pose
The Pleasure Walk is the practice of noticing delightful
aspects of our environment for 15–20 minutes, one perception after another, like a bee extracting
pollen from a flower and moving on to the next.
Pleasure Walk
•
It’s best if you can take the walk in nature but any outdoor walk will do (like walking from your
office to the bus stop, and so on). The goal of the walk is to notice as many pleasurable things
as possible, slowly, one after another. Use all your senses – sight, smell, sound, touch…
maybe even taste.
•
How many happy, beautiful or inspiring things can you notice while you’re walking? Do you
enjoy the fresh air, the warm sun, a beautiful leaf, the shape of a stone, a smiling face, the
song of a bird, the feeling of the earth under your feet?
•
When you find something delightful or pleasant, let yourself go into it. Really enjoy it. Feel a
tender leaf or the texture of a stick, if you like. Give yourself over to the experience as if it were
the only thing that existed in the world. And when you are ready to discover something new, let
it go and wait until you discover something else that is pleasurable and delightful to you.
•
Be like a honeybee going from one flower full of nectar to another. When you are full with one,
go to another.
•
Take your time and enjoy!
The retreat closes with a Compassion Bowl in which each group member receives two pieces of
paper and writes one compassionate wish for him or herself (“May I…”) and another wish for all
beings (“May all beings…”). Then these wishes are read out loud to the entire group as they are
placed in a basket, which is later burned in a campfire, symbolically sending the compassionate
wishes to the heavens (Andrew Moore, personal communication, 2010).
Session 5: Living Deeply
Most of our suffering is nestled in a core value. For example, if you value free time, getting laid off
from work is a blessing. If you value supporting your family, losing your job can be a catastrophe.
To be truly compassionate with ourselves, we need to know what matters to us and to respond
accordingly. This session is an exploration of core values, such as “being a good friend”, “living a
healthy lifestyle”, “being happy” or “alleviating the suffering of others.” We don’t invent our core
values so much as discover them by reflecting on the choices we’ve made throughout our lives,
especially after our goals have been achieved, such as going to college, getting married, having
children and buying a house. Core values are a direction, not a destination
.
The following exercise was adapted from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy protoco
.
Discovering Core Values
•
Imagine that you have the good fortune to attend your own funeral and can listen to your own
eulogy. What you hear leaves you feeling deeply contented because what was said is truthful
and reflects how you actually lived your life from this day forward. What were the key themes
that you heard in your eulogy? (“He was a good friend.” “She was a great mom.”) What are
your core values that were articulated at your funeral?
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