Herbert Gooden shares how meditation gathas support his practice of service to others.
By Herbert Gooden on
As a massage therapist, a constant mindful thought drives me and my offerings to my clients: I can’t give what I don’t have. Massage therapy is an intuitive healing art. My ability to provide or facilitate a relaxing and healing experience starts before anyone enters my sacred space.
Already a subscriber? Log in
You have read 5 articles this month.
For only $3 per month or $28 per year, you can read as much as you want!
A digital subscription includes unlimited access to current articles–and some exclusive digital content–released throughout each week, over thirty years of articles in our Dharma archive, as well as PDFs of all back issues.
Herbert Gooden shares how meditation gathas support his practice of service to others.
By Herbert Gooden on
As a massage therapist, a constant mindful thought drives me and my offerings to my clients: I can’t give what I don’t have. Massage therapy is an intuitive healing art. My ability to provide or facilitate a relaxing and healing experience starts before anyone enters my sacred space. I consider my space a mini Plum Village. As I serve those who show up in my space or holy ground, the state of my body, mind, and spirit will play a significant role in the healing session, contributing to the desired positive outcome we seek.
Prayer is an essential practice that starts and permeates my day. It allows me to be open and grateful for another day of service to my fellow man.
In Thích Nhất Hạnh’s book The Energy of Prayer: How to Deepen Your Spiritual Practice, lightness and joy of heart are key ingredients of a victorious healing prayer. Thầy views prayer as universal, belonging to the entire human race, and needing the energy of faith, compassion, and love. That energy opens my heart to new insights that I am truly connected to those I serve.
I pray mindfully daily through the “Calming and Relaxing the Bodily Formation” exercise.* This prayer connects me with the universal and brings peace and a sense of contentment to my body and mind. It facilitates self-regulation (being calm and at peace internally). If I am self-regulated, I will be able to transmit that to the ones I serve. It brings us home.
Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out.
I notice I am alive and breathing.
I am grateful that I am alive.
I am aware of my interbeing, and all living things breathe with me.
I am not alone.
Breathing in, my breath grows deep. Breathing out, my breath grows slow.
Deep and slow breaths regulate my nervous system, and as I calm it, it calms my mind and those who come into my presence.
Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I relax my whole body.
As I breathe in, I imagine a surge of healing and loving energy moving from my feet upward to the crown of my head as I experience self-compassion.
As I breathe out, I relax my whole body. I become aware of the entire body that I will touch, offering kindness, love, and compassion beyond their race or gender identity.
Breathing in, I calm my whole body. Breathing out, I love my body.
Calming my whole body and loving my own body with compassion gives me insights to care for others and their bodies.
Breathing in, I smile to my whole body. Breathing out, I ease my whole body. Breathing in, I smile to my whole body. Breathing out, I release the tension in my body.
My smile and its contagious effect can have a calming and uplifting impact on me and my clients’ nervous systems, promoting feelings of well-being and social connection.
Feeling socially connected can ease the whole body, releasing tension.
Breathing in, I feel joyful. Breathing out, I taste the source of peace and joy.
Being alive and in good health allows me to help others taste the source of peace and joy within themselves.
Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.
I share with clients that the present moment is genuinely all we have. I remind them that at this moment, they have my full attention, and it’s an honor for me to serve them. I inform them that at this present moment, they are the most important person in the world to me, and I am here for them.
Breathing in, my sitting posture is solid. Breathing out, I feel stable.
As I close the session, sitting solid and stable at the head of my clients, I breathe in and I breathe out, aware that I was not carried away from attending to this unique being that came to my mini Plum Village.
Thanks, Thầy, for this embodied prayer that comforts and guides me, which I transmit through presence and healing touch.
*Thích Nhất Hạnh, The Energy of Prayer: How to Deepen Your Spiritual Practice (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2006), 124–125.
