Tara Brach - Guided Meditation: Disarming Our Hearts

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

Most of us know the suffering of feeling separate from others. In this guided meditation, we explore how we can re-open our hearts by intentionally bringing a caring mindful presence to our own vulnerability, and then extending that presence to include others. When inhabiting that presence, we are able to respond to relational conflict and distance with a growing creativity and love.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. I invite you to begin by noticing whatever is going on inside you, letting the attention turn inward, and taking a few moments on purpose to let go, to sense what wants to be released right now. It might help to feel the movement of the breath and relax with the out breath.

You might soften the shoulders, soften the hands and feel the aliveness inside the hands, and let the chest be open, the belly soft, letting this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath and this one, and again, so that if you widen your body, your attention. You can feel the aliveness in the body, and you can feel the heart area, sensing presence, and the heart aware of whatever mood or emotion is here, and as you deepen attention, to sense your aspiration, your longing to disarm your heart, to open, to touch more love and compassion. And I'd like to invite you to choose a situation. where in some way you have separated yourself, distanced yourself from others, from a

group perhaps of difference or a particular leader that you feel aversion to. I sometimes call this bad othering where you're aware that you have in some way pushed this group or this individual away. with a sense that they are less than, less moral, less worthy, less valuable. It might be because of their views, their behaviors, politics, religion, race, but in some way you have felt some anger, aversion, or hatred, and pushed away a group of difference. or a particular known individual. And you might tune into a particular example of behavior or an event that triggers bad othering, making the other bad or wrong, some way that you feel

the group or the individual is causing harm. And let that example be close in, so you really get in touch with whatever it is that they are doing, exemplifying that brings up your anger or aversion. Let yourself get in touch with it. And now make what I call the U-turn, which means bring a kind attention right to what's going on inside you. Sensing judgment, sensing anger, sensing blame, whatever you're feeling. It's feel it in your body. And you might from the start, put your hand on your heart and so that you're holding it, you're contacting it, with the quality of care.

And just notice what's there. Aversion, fear, anger. And keep feeling into it and sense perhaps the fear that most is catching your attention. The fear of what else could happen, the fear of what could go wrong. Again, stay connected. Let yourself feel the fear. And perhaps if you open to it fully, you can sense underneath the fear or a sense of loss

or of grief or of sorrow for what's been unfolding. Let yourself feel. Feel what's here. And in the most deep way, what it is your most deep way, caring about. What is it you care about that's underneath the anger and aversion? Is it ending suffering, the suffering of the most vulnerable? Is it safety, security? Touching peace? Having more love and compassion on the planet? Taking care of our precious planet? What is it that you're caring about that's underneath all the layers, underneath the anger

and aversion, and take some moments to let the caring be as big as it really is? There's something that really matters to your heart. Feel it. As you're feeling that care, you might pose the inquiry, what is love asking from me? What's the action? Is it maybe to learn more? Is it to speak your truth in a more visible, audible way? Is it to write something?

Is it to offer your time or money or energy to a cause? Or maybe love is asking for your attention elsewhere? Just sense. What is love asking from you right now? Now take a moment from this place of caring, of wanting to relieve suffering, to go back to the individual or group who was the bad other, the enemy, the other side, and let yourself see past their behaviors to where they might be hurting, afraid, vulnerable, and see if you can sense the space of compassion that includes them

that wishes for their well-being. And then widening the attention you might notice the sense of your own being right now, the shift from focusing on judging or hating or blaming to focusing on what you care about, to viewing another through the eyes of compassion, to sensing what we might call a strong back and a soft front, the strong back sensing what you want to take care of.

what you want to protect, how you want to act, and the soft front being a heart that includes all beings. Sense what it's like to have a heart that is disarmed, perhaps sense boundaryless belonging, and know that this belonging, this field of compassion is more the truth of who you are than any story of blame, any passing feeling of anger, that it's your true refuge. Namaste, thank you.