Tara Brach - 2014-11-19 - Meditation - Opening to Life's Flow

Episode Date: November 22, 2014

2014-11-19 - Meditation - Opening to Life's Flow

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock, meditation teacher, psychologist, and author. As you let your attention turn inward, you might take some moments to reflect on what brings you here tonight and see if you can really listen in deeply to what is most important to you, what your heart most wishes for, really what your intention is, to let yourself come into that place that feels most sincere, the silence is taking some moments to listen, listening to the sounds, the very soft sounds around you, the sounds in the space of the room,

listening to the sounds of these words, and listening to the spaces between sounds, so that you're listening not just with your ears, but with your whole awareness, listening to the more distant sounds, sensing that even the most distant sounds you can detect is arising in the space of awareness, received by awareness, noticing that there's nothing to do with listening, can't go after a sound, or even focus in on a sound. Rather, sounds are known spontaneously.

It's resting in that openness that listens. The same way that we can receive sounds. You can receive the sensations in the body in awareness. You might notice that if you soften the shoulders,

just receive and allow the experience of sensations inside the shoulders let them be felt, including the sounds and the sensations, noticing what's happening in the body, letting it be received in awareness, softening the hands, as if you could bring the whole awareness inside the hands,

receiving the sensations that are there, letting the sensations float and move and be known by awareness, feeling the awareness inside the heart and chest area, again receiving the sensations that are there allowing the life there to float and move through awareness softening in the belly letting this next breath be received in a softening belly this breath and then this one

and this one bringing that awareness that presence deep into the torso receiving the changing sensations that are arising just as you listen to sound you can listen to and feel the life of the body receptive, awake you might soften the feet sense the awareness inside the feet

receiving sensations there widening the attention now to simultaneously feel this whole body as a field of sensation letting this whole play of sensation dance through you not stopping anything, controlling anything, so that you're listening to and feeling the whole moment. You might sense like being a boat on a current, a moving current, that this whole changing play of experience

of sounds and sensations and feelings are just unfolding. there's nothing to do but be open, let the experience move through you. When you notice the mind has left this living river of experience, stepped into a virtual reality, just notice, okay, thinking, planning, worrying, and gently reopen back into this mystery that's right here, this changing flow of aliveness, sensations, feelings. If there's any intention in the practice,

it's the deepest aspirations really just to let this life be as it is, to not control, not stop anything. The way we try to control experience is by tensing against it in our bodies and by leaving experience and going into thoughts. So let your practice be simple just to notice that and arrive again in the senses, relaxing with what's happening, perhaps letting go again in the body a bit, softening, the shoulders, the hands, relaxing the heart, letting this whole play of sound and sensation live through you. Sometimes we assume we're present, but there's a slight veil of thinking

of commentary. You can ask, am I dreaming? Just shine a light on the conceptualizing going on and relax back, reentering this changing stream, this flow of aliveness. The Tibetan tradition,

the guidance is utterly awake, senses wide open, utterly open, non-fixating awareness. I might notice if it's possible to relax and let go just a little bit more, fully allowing the moment to moment arising of sensation, sound, feelings, sensing in the foreground this ever-changing flow of sound, sensation, feelings.

And in the background, that alert inner stillness, that stillness that this entire experience of aliveness is arising from and dissolving into.