Tara Brach - Meditation: A Witnessing, Kind Presence (2017-01-18)

Episode Date: January 20, 2017

Meditation: A Witnessing, Kind Presence (2017-01-18) - Starting with scanning through the body and awakening the senses, we then rest in presence, with the breath as a home base. The meditation invites an openness to whatever arises, and a gentle kind attention if we encounter physical or emotional pain.  We end with a prayer that includes our own being and all beings. Free download of Tara's 10 min meditation: "Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease" when you join her email list.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. You're sitting with a very simple reflection on intention. You might ask your own heart, you know, what is my deepest longing? What's my real intention for practicing, for meditation, for being here, listening inwardly to what feels most sincere in you right now? Sincerity is a sign that you're more at home and your intention.

What matters? Awakening often starts with being awake and present in our bodies. We'll scan down the body with awareness, mindfully waking up as we go. You might begin with the area of the brow, just softening the eyes. perhaps imagining a smile spreading through the eyes, let the brow be smooth. You might sense that same smile, a slight smile at the mouth, let the inside of the mouth smile, relaxing the tongue right down to the root of the tongue, letting the tongue just spread through the lower jaw. Feel the inside of the mouth awake, the gums, teeth,

It's aware of sensation, space inside the mouth, allowing the shoulders to relax back and down some. Since the awareness filling the shoulders, you might imagine a kind of dissolving from ice to water, a melting inside the shoulders. Ice to water and then water to vapor. See if you can sense the tingling and vibrating and aliveness inside the shoulders, letting go. Let the hands rest in an easy and effortless way and the legs are touching each other and soften the hands.

See if you can consciously soften and feel from the inside out as you're softening the aliveness sits here. Just as a cup can be filled with water or this whole body. body can be filled with awareness, liveliness and awareness. Let the chest be open and feel the region of the heart. See if you can feel from the inside out the heart, whether there's a sense of tightness or flow, tenderness, numbness, fresher, vibration, heat or cool, just let it happen. See, if you can sense the aliveness and space inside the region of the heart. Loosening and relaxing down the torso,

letting this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath, and now this one, and again, softening the belly, feeling the breath deep in the torso, and still with a slight smile at the mouth and still with the hands soft, feeling the belly from the inside out, the aliveness of sensation, feeling and imagining the space that sensation arises from the space inside the belly, fairness filled the pelvic region, and again sensing the space and aliveness that's there, this whole dance of sensation, feeling the length and the volume of the legs, and feeling the feet from the inner

inside out, the tingling and vibrating there, sensing your aliveness rooting deep, deep into the earth and the earth below and around you, this whole field of energy flowing through your body, through your feet up your legs, filling your trunk through the head, just filling you. So that if you widen your attention, you can feel your body as a whole field of sensation. merging with the universe around you, tingling, vibrating, heat, cool, let everything happen, not resisting anything, including in this dancing field, sounds come and go, letting sounds wash through you, listening to and feeling the whole moment in the foreground, continuing to sense

this dance of sound and sensation, feelings. And in the background, that alert inner stillness, timeless presence, it's always here, this relax back, being that presence, witnessing, feeling, listening to this changing life. And not too long you might notice the attention drifts. It's quite natural. So if it's helpful, you can gently shepherd the attention back by resting with the inflow and outflow of the breath. It's a way to kind of anchor or stabilize the attention a bit, relaxing with the breath, still aware of the sounds and sensations, the aliveness that's here,

in the background of this quality of presence, of heerness, that wakeful openness, moment to moment that's aware and if something arises that's difficult some fear, some physical pain then let the presence be a caring, kind presence just bring that added sense of gentleness to contact what's going on, a soft presence.

Just notice how it is and notice how it changes. Breathe with what's going. going on. So you're a loving witness, connected and yet big enough to be with what's here. Nothing strong is calling the attention to rest. Again, with the inflow and outflow of the breath, simply open to the changing flow of life moment to moment. You might see if it's possible to relax or let go just a little bit more right now.

See if there's anywhere in your body that is ready to solve. often relax your heart, gently resting with the movement of the breath, the senses awake, aware of this background of presence, of heerness, that's really our home. We close in a simple way bringing that loving, witnessing presence to our own heart, to sense whatever our own heart needs right now, offering with care, some blessing or message, whatever is needed to our own human heart. And sensing from this loving, witnessing presence, our larger community, the community of all beings, and just sensing what most feels natural to offer as your prayer of care to our world.