Tara Brach - Guided Meditation: The Sky of Awareness

Episode Date: December 27, 2013

2011-02-09 - Guided Meditation - The Sky of Awareness

So you might close your eyes and find your way of sitting so that you're upright, alert, and at ease. And as a way of arriving right here in the stillness just to take a few full deep breaths together. So we begin by inhaling deeply. And then exhaling and let it be a slow exhale, slow conscious letting go. And another deep, full in-breath.

exhaling slowly, sensing a releasing, relaxing outward, and again, inhale deeply, filling the lungs, hold for a moment, hold the breath, and then as you exhale, sense that you can soften down the length of your body, exhaling, letting go. And then noticing as the breath resumes its natural rhythm that it's possible to relax with the in-breath as a balloon inflates relaxing open and with the out-breath the kind of softening, letting go, letting go. Letting your senses be awake so the breath is in the foreground. You're aware of the sounds in the room, where of the other sensations in your body,

of whatever mood or emotion might be here, whatever's predominant in your heart. Just taking some moments to deepen your attention. to the heart, just to sense what brings you here this evening, a little listening attention to sense what matters to come into that sincerity that senses what's important to you, what your intention is for this evening. It's from that place of sincerity and care that we chant together as community, as sangha.

We chant the simple mantra, ohm. this sound current of connectedness. If you'd like to bring the palms together and just to feel that devotion, that caring of the heart, we'll chant three times. Let's inhale deeply to begin. Sensing the presence that's right here. Senses awake.

Aware of the space around you, the sounds that are here. It can sometimes be helpful to sense the great space beyond like a wide open sky and let that sky, that openness merge with your mind so you sense the sky of awareness. Just a vast

presence. Letting that space and ease fill your body and being. The eyes can be softened as if the eyes are smiling. Brow smooth. So you let that light and space fill the brow area.

slight smile with the inside of the mouth smile and feeling a smile at the heart as if you could smile into the heart and sense from the deepest essence of the heart of smiling pouring out sense the space that's there that allows whatever mood

whatever feelings just to float sensing the space of the chest open the space allowing the shoulders to relax back and down away from the ears dealing the shoulders from the inside a kind of softening, loosening, melting, the energy up and down the arms, letting the hands rest in an easy, effortless way, feeling the aliveness inside the hands, just softening, softening, so that you can receive that tingling and vibrating in awareness. There's an openness to the whole torso down into the belly,

softening the belly. Senses this next breath is received in a softening belly, the life that's there. This breath and then this one. Letting the awareness scan through the body, through the hips, the legs. Soffening, opening, feeling the feet from the inside, the tingling and vibrating there. And with a comprehensive kind of attention, sensing this whole body as a living field of energy, a dance of sensations, just letting everything happen, letting it be received in

awareness, including the play of sound, just listening not just with your ears but with your whole awareness, listening to and feeling the whole moment, aware of the sounds, sensations, feelings in the foreground and in the background, this alert inner stillness. this awakeness, this space that it's happening in. Sensing this presence, this subjectivity is a very essence of what we are. We're all the phenomena springing forth. You might notice how quickly the mind leaves this vividness and mystery of presence and moves into thought forms, a kind of virtual reality.

And our practice is to simply notice when that happens. and without any judgment, rather with a kind of interest and care, just to pause when we notice and relax open again to what's here. Rather than judging yourself for going off into thoughts, you might celebrate the waking up to savor that moment of noticing, ah, thinking and here I am again, where of the sounds that are here, aware of this play of aliveness of sensations.

And if it helps you to anchor the attention in the breath, aware of the stream of the breath in the midst of sensations, the inflow, and the outflow. See if you can relax with what is, with this breath, with this changing stream of experience. You can start fresh in any moment. It's one of the great gifts of the path. One of the most beautiful ways to start fresh is just to re-relax.

You can just soften and let go in the shoulders again. Let whatever tightness that's there, perhaps float, and soften the hands, relaxing the belly. You can feel the breath deep in the torso. Relax your heart. So you can say yes to the life that's there. bringing a kind of intimacy and kindness to whatever mood might be predominant, sensing what it means to be intimate with the life that's here, moment after moment.

There's a Tibetan teaching that no matter where we go, how reactive we are, that the true light of awareness is just a half-breath away, just to notice where the mind has been and gently relax open again, listening, feeling the sensations in the body, relaxing with this next in-breath or out-breath, gently finding your way home, resting in the presence that's right here.