How to Drop Into Your Body & Feelings

A short drop-in practice from Tsokyni Rinpoche, who will be teaching at our Waking Up In Every Moment community retreat.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche15 January 2022
tsoknyi rinpoche, practice, lion's roar, buddhism, shambhala sun
Photo by Helen A. Vink

Relax deeply. Don’t hold onto anything. Completely let go of thinking and judging mind while gently maintaining the clarity and knowing aspects of mind.

Now raise your arms to shoulder height, pause, and let them drop suddenly to your knees. As you drop your arms, breathe out forcefully. Then say, “Who cares? So what? Svaha!” (Svaha is a Sanskrit word used frequently in mantras that means “So be it.”)

Whatever happens, wherever you land after dropping your arms, just let it be. Don’t do or try to block anything. Just rest. There is no need to search for something new or try to achieve some special insight or state.

Feel whatever feelings and sensations arise and be lightly aware of them. Feel them naturally and softly, and don’t try to change anything. When uncomfortable feelings come up, you can relax and trust them, without analyzing or somehow figuring them out. Let them be as they are through feeling awareness while resting naturally in the body.

This practice can be repeated until you can more fully drop into your body and feelings.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Tsoknyi Rinpoche is a meditation master in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism and son of the late Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He teaches widely in the West and oversees nunneries and monasteries in Tibet and Nepal. His most recent book is Open Heart, Open Mind.