June 2026: Suffering related to Water

Less than half of all human beings live in an environment that holds “just the right amount” of water. According to the United Nations World Water Development Report 2026, as of 2024, 2.1 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water while 3.4 billion people still lacked safely managed sanitation services and 1.7 billion lacked basic hygiene services at home. It also highlights the intensified occurrence and magni-tude of hydrometeorological hazards.
Thus, with summer peaking in the northern hemisphere, June is dedicated to all kinds of suffering around water – most prominently the lack or abundance of it: Droughts and flooding.

We inhale the all the suffering caused by (a lack of) water, water damage, water accumulation in the body (e.g. legs), illnesses caused by the consumption of contaminated water. Pain, despair, weakness, sickness, death.

We exhale sunshine or rain (as needed), well-being, health, confidence, strength, hope.

May 2026: Famine and Food

This month is dedicated to all kinds of suffering around food. Most prominently the lack of it: famine. Droughts, floods and plagues are constantly adding to the already existing food insecurity, malnutrition and hunger across the globe. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, far more than 300 million people are living in hunger.
If you’re thinking “poor country problem” – nope! No need to look far: feedingamerica.org reports 48 million people facing food insecurity in the USA, with 1 in 5 children not having enough food to grow up strong.
If we include eating disorders, obesity, food allergies and food borne illnesses into our focus topic, we’ll probably cover at least half of the world’s population… Even better!
Think of yourself, friends, relatives, neighbors, strangers near and far, children, homeless, refugees, …

We inhale the all the suffering caused by a lack of (nutritious) food, food borne illnesses, eating disorders, obesity, food allergies. Pain, shame, despair, weakness, death.

We exhale well-being, self esteem, confidence, strength, hope.

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.