Strong Back, Soft Front, Guided Practice

The following is a meditation I learned and heavily borrowed from teacher Frank Ostaseski by way of Joan Halifax called “Strong Back, Soft Front.” We connect with this through an exploration of our body but the metaphor can be extended to our experience of living. With strong back, soft front, the stability of a strong back allows us to be open, to be compassionate and to love. For me, the practice emphasizes what’s called the two wings of the bird of awareness: wisdom and compassion. We can not do without both. That bird won’t fly.