Tara Brach - 2013-05-15 Guided Meditation: Open, Wakeful Presence

Episode Date: May 17, 2013

2013-05-15 Guided Meditation: Open, Wakeful Presence

Please, just to invite yourself to be right here. Invite yourself to be at home right in this moment. We'll open in that simple way of breathing together. Just taking a nice long, deep in breath, filling the chest and lungs. And then a slow out breath, very consciously letting go and feeling the sensations of releasing. Letting go. Letting go. and inhale deeply again.

Filling the lungs, even holding for a moment. Let the shoulders come back and down and then slow out breath again. Releasing, letting go, letting go. And once again, inhale deeply, hold for a moment and then gently release, softening down the length of the body. Just feel that you can let you can let you. let go, even in a cellular way, letting go, and allowing the breath to resume in its natural cycles, just recognizing the increased presence that's right here, just from this simplicity

of collecting the attention with the breath. A relaxed attentiveness, let the senses be awake so you're aware of the sounds that are here, a receptivity and a listening and a feeling into the body. You can feel the whole domain of sensations, this living body, listening to your heart, just being aware of whatever mood or emotion might be here right now, whatever the felt senses may be numbness or excitement, tight and squeezed or flowing and open, fear, sorrow, ease without any judgment just to notice how it is. As you sense the state of your heart you might sense into what your aspiration is, your

intention is for this evening. What matters to your heart and sensing our shared aspiration that our practices, our prayers, mindfulness, compassion might ripple out to touch all beings that all beings might awaken. We bring our palms together to chant the mantra, om, that simple sound current, that universal sound current of belonging, of connectedness. So we'll chant three times. Please inhale deeply. Awakening the awareness inside the body by gently scanning. You might feel the brow.

and just let it be smooth, softening the eyes, relaxing the mouth, the root of the tongue at ease, the front portion of the tongue lightly touching the roof of the mouth, so that the jaw is unhinged, slight smile at the mouth. See if you can sense the inside of the mouth smiling, smiling into the heart, feeling from inside the heart, a kind of smile, the curve of the smile spreading through that chest area. You just sense the possibility of space there and aliveness, making room for whatever is arising. Just the image of that curve of a smile can help to discover that openness in the heart area, sensing that openness spreading outward in all directions so that you can let the shoulders

relax back and down a bit more and bringing the awareness inside, shoulders. Just feel the life that's there, let it float in awareness, untangle itself, soften, loosen, feeling the energy in the arms, noticing if the hands are resting in an easy, effortless way, and then just softening the hands, feeling from the inside out, the vitality that's there, the tingling or pulsing, the vibrating. You might soften even more and see if you can bring a very intimate, close in attention to the hands. Again, to feel that openness at the chest and then loosening down through the torso so that

this next breath is received in a softening belly. This breath and this breath and again, hand soft, belly soft and again aware of the aliveness and space in the belly. This is a cup is filled with water. This whole body can be filled with awareness. See if you can feel from the inside, the life inside the legs, the thighs, the hamstrings. calves, the shins, feeling the places of pressure and contact or your feet contact the floor, warmth, pressure and the feet from the inside. Just to feel the tingling, vibrating awareness, aliveness there. Then opening the attention to feel simultaneously this whole energy body, this whole dancing field of sensation. Now letting life live through you.

you, a kind of surrendering presence, not opposing anything, including the sounds that are playing, the appearing and disappearing of sound, letting that wash through. So you're listening to and feeling the whole moment in the foreground, this changing stream of sensation and feeling sound, and in the background, sensing your own presence. It's that alert, inner stillness, rest in the knowing, and that sea of awakeness, especially if the mind seems busy and inclined to go into thoughts. You might select a home base to come back to, perhaps the inflow and outflow of the breath, or maybe your home base is this play of sounds.

Your home base could be the sensations in the hands or through the whole body. But if you find you've been often thought, the practice is just to appreciate the waking up, the recognizing you've been in trance and just coming back in a very gentle way, reopening to the sounds that are here, the sensations that are here, relaxing with what's happening moment to moment. And again, if it helps to rest with a home base and anchor like the breath to stabilize your attention, then please do so. Noticing if the mind is in a virtual reality and just relaxing open again.

The key part of the meditation practice is how we come back from thoughts. It's very easy to insert a judgment or to get real controlling of the mind. Instead just to notice, oh okay, thinking and then bring a real interest. choosing to be right here, a curiosity, what's it like, a gentleness? And that seeds the next moment with a quality of heart and presence. Right here, you might mentally whisper the word here, inviting yourself to come home to the moment. thousand flowers in spring, full moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.

If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.