April 2026:

Monthly Focus: Armed conflict & War

When I decided to call out this motto for the month of April 2026, the world was still a lot more peaceful than today, but not enough. Since then, the conflict in the Middle East has led to suffering on all levels: people lost their lives, health, hope, homes, …
Let’s unite in our efforts to dedicate our meditation practice to ending this and all the other big and small armed conflicts that surround us.

We inhale the destructive emotions that lead to aggression as well as the physical and mental suffering of all victims of armed conflict.

We exhale peace, calmness, hope, health and well-being.

Global Tonglen:

We inhale the physical and mental suffering of all people who are affected by armed conflict anywhere in this world. This includes everyone who suffers, no matter which role they play in that conflict. Even more: By explicitly including the destructive emotions of the main actors we create space for peace.
Focus on a conflict close to you or several or simply all (as there are plenty, maybe you’d rather want to visualize a suffering world instead).

We exhale peace, calmness, hope, health and well-being.

March 2026

Monthly Focus & Global Tonglen: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we are dedicating the month of March to specific female forms of suffering.

Oppression, discrimination, sexual violence, domestic violence, forced marriage, menstrual‑related discomfort, menopause‑related symptoms and female‑specific health conditions such as cervical cancer and breast cancer.

We inhale the physical and mental suffering of all girls and women who suffer from any of those (or any other) problems. Your mother might have suffered or might be suffering from some of them. Your sister. Your wife. Somebody close to you.

We exhale well-being, confidence, joy and strength.

February 2026

Monthly Focus & Global Tonglen: Suffering from leg problems

We inhale the physical and mental suffering of all people who suffer from leg problems. Everybody knows at least a handful of people who are affected. Elderly folks with weak or swollen legs, people with sports injuries, etc. Inhale their weakness, despair, pain.

We exhale well-being, healing, hope and strength.

January 2026

Monthly Focus: All who suffer from the New Year fire disaster in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
Deceased.
Wounded.
Traumatized.
Inhale pain, wounding, despair.
Exhale well-being, healing, confidence.

Global Tonglen: Suffering from fire

We inhale the pain and despair of all humans and animals which are or were suffering from fire. Disasters, arson, bush fires, slash-and-burn, forest fires, household accidents…
We exhale healing, well-being, confidence and hope.