Tara Brach - Guided Meditation: Rest As Presence

Episode Date: August 30, 2013

2013-08-28 - Guided Meditation: Rest As Presence

So you might close your eyes and take some moments to adjust your posture, however most serves, both feeling alert, feeling awake, and also at ease. And then coming into stillness, let's begin in that simple way of breathing together, taking a long, extra full in breath, breathing in, and then a slow outbrose. breath, very consciously releasing the breath and being aware of the sensations of letting go. Breathing in again, filling the lungs, filling the chest with air. And a slow out breath, letting go, letting go, letting go.

And once again, let's inhale together. You might hold for a moment when you're filled with breath and then a slow, constantly out breath, just softening down the length of the body. Releasing, letting go, allowing the breath to resume its natural rhythm. And let it be right front and center so you can continue to attend and relax. As the breath comes in, opening to receive. And with the out breath, settling, releasing, noticing an increased degree of presence, just in this simple way of collecting the attention, bringing the attention

to the heart, and taking some moments to contemplate what brings you here. See if you can sense in the most deep way what matters to you, what your heart's longing is, your intention for the evening is. Feeling your sincerity, feeling your care about waking up your heart your mind we'll chant together the simple mantra om this is the sound current of connectedness of belonging the heart you might bring the palms together again gathering and centering the attention at the heart we'll chant three times so begin by breathing in fully through the body with a gentle attention. You might notice if there's any areas of obvious tightness or tension. Just see if

by bringing the awareness there, there can be a natural softening, releasing. For most of us, the shoulders habitually tightened with stress. You might feel the shoulders from the inside side out and just let the tension or tightness float a little. Sense the possibility of movement of releasing. You might imagine the movement of ice melting to water, that dissolving, right inside the shoulders. Then water to gas, feeling the energy down through the arms to the wrists and the wrists and the hands, you might soften the hands, feel the awareness inside the hands. And see if you can notice the natural vibratory activity, the tingling, the sensations,

aware of the pressure where the hands touch your legs or touch each other, places of warmth. So it's an intimate attention. You might sense if you soften a little more, you might sense, how much more aliveness you naturally receive. Sense an openness in the chest and inside the chest, letting the awareness be in the chest. It's a sense of the heart, the sensations, feelings. So that openness makes a space for whatever the actual experience is. What does your heart feel like?

Being a gentle attention down to the naval area, you might soften the belly a little, letting this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath, and now this one, and again, you're waking up deep into the torso, this awareness of the aliveness that's here, sensing the places of contact where you're sitting on your chair or cushion,

or your legs or feet contact the floor, wear of pressure, warmth, and simultaneously feeling the whole body as a field of sensation. So you're widening the lens and letting this whole life live through you, this whole dance of tingling and vibrating, tightness and flow,

warmth and cool, perhaps pleasure, pain, Just letting everything happen to you, including an awareness the play of sound, the soft sounds in the room that appear, disappear like these words, noticing the spaces between sound, listening to the silence, and this openness listening to and feeling the entire moment so you can notice in the foreground, the changing play. of sound, this dance of sensation, perhaps mood or emotion. And in the background, this alert inner stillness, this silence, the space of silence and presence, that which knows.

Rest as presence is letting this life be just as it is open stillness. Notice the mind pretty quickly contracts and fixates on thoughts, feelings, sensations. That's totally natural. So the practice is simply to notice that and in the noticing just to relax the grip and relax back right into this heerness right here. So we over and over again wake up from the dream of thoughts and relax back, resting as presence, allowing this life to be just as it is. If you find that your mind is very tugged around and busy and it supports you to take some moments to collect with the breath, you might let the breath be in the foreground, a gentle, relaxed attention that notices the inflow and outflow of the breath.

It's a way to help quiet some stabilize the attention. When there's some settling again to relax back and simply rest, rest in that openness that's filled with presence. And again noticing if the minds drifted into that trance of thinking and finding that just noticing, oh, thinking, thinking. and there's that possibility of again relaxing back, sensing this play of sound, sensation. Let the senses be wide open and then rest as that openness. If you notice there's some struggle or conflict or pain, you can help to lubricate the

pathway home with some kindness. Just a gentle message of it's okay. in some way touching your own heart as you relax back into this timeless presence right here open still awake. In teachings, the guidance is utterly awake, senses wide open, utterly open, non-fixating awareness.