I am an empath. Rather like the Star Trek: The Next Generation character Deanna Troi, I can pick up on the emotions and sometimes physical sensations of others, whether or not I know them personally. It is both a joy and a challenge. I love being able to identify what someone what might be experiencing in order to help them see their way clear. I would prefer not to take on their pain. There are moments when I need to remind myself: “If it’s not mine, I release it.”  It has come in handy in my work as therapist and Reiki master and yet, I am sometimes feel myself overwhelmed with the onslaught that sometimes ensues.

One such occurrence happened over the weekend. I was attending a workshop that culminated in a death meditation. Lively rhythmic music was playing and one of the facilitators invited us to dance with the cautionary statement that at any moment it would stop and we were to drop down to the floor wherever we happened to be. Kind of like musical chairs.

The music stopped.

I brought my body to the yogic posture know as savasana or corpse pose (literally this time). I covered myself with my favorite purple silk scarf and proceeded to deepen my breathing as we were led on a journey. I couldn’t tell you the specifics, but all I know is that when we were called back to consciousness, I didn’t want to return. It wasn’t a sense of desiring death or giving up on life, but rather, such a sense of peace that I wasn’t ready to relinquish.

That was when I became aware of the reason. Too much pain. Sadness. Grief. Wounds. Anger. Violence. Destruction. Hatred.

I thought that it was my job to clean up the mess and heal all of the wounds. My own all too human pain was screaming for attention while I ignored it in the service of the world. As I sobbed, others in the workshop reminded me that it was not my place to carry it all. They beamed support and the facilitators reminded all of us that when we relinquish the pain to the power of love, then we need not bear the burden alone.

The Tibetan Buddhist practice of tonglen comes in handy at such times, as we are instructed to breathe in pain and breathe out love and compassion. Such is one way to heal the wounds of the world.