Tara Brach - Meditation: At Home in the Moment

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

Meditation: At Home in the Moment - This meditation cultivates a gentle, wakeful presence in the body, with the "smile down" and then guides us to resting in a home base of sensations or the breath. We then open to whatever arises with a clear and inclusive attention, saying "Yes" to the life that is here.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. Take some moments to check your sitting posture and you can do it really with your eyes closed from the inside out, making whatever subtle adjustments help you to feel aligned so that you're sitting upright, sitting tall but not stiff, balanced, sense what wants to let go a little bit right now. Just right at the beginning, let go. You might become aware of the movement of the breath and gently feel the breath in the area

of the heart. We begin with the simple reflection on aspiration. What is your intention for this meditation sitting, for this gathering? What is it that really brings you here that matters to you? Letting yourself sense what you sincerely care about, what your heart longs for. We can bring that quality of gentleness and receptivity into our whole body and being as we scan through the body and just relax. It's helpful to use the image and felt sense of a smile.

You might sense a smile spreading through the eyes, lifting the outer corners of the eyes, letting the brow be smooth. The eyes are soft, a slight smile at the mouth. You might sense the inside of the mouth smiling. and let the tongue fill the lower jaw, relaxing down to the root of the tongue, and widen the attention to feel the tingling and aliveness through the whole face. The skull, just sensing that smile and aliveness that fills the brain, a sense of openness, vitality. Let yourself feel your shoulders and allow them to drop away from the ears.

From the inside out if you can sense the aliveness in the shoulders, perhaps imagining and feeling a kind of dissolving or melting sensation there. And if there's a real sense of knots or tension, let it float. Just let what's there float in awareness. Let the hands rest in a very easy and effortless way, perhaps touching lightly the thighs or touching each other in the lap. Feel from the inside out the hands as you soften them. Just explore that, softening and then feel the aliveness there. And soften again.

Feel the aliveness inside the hands. And so there's a smile at the eyes, the eyes are soft, the mouth. You might smile into the heart. Imagine and feel the curve of a smile spreading through the heart and the chest. Feeling from the inside out, the aliveness, the energy in the heart area. You can feel and imagine the curve of a smile at the belly spreading through the navel area. See if you can see if you can see. soften the belly. Let this next breath be received in a softening belly.

Hands still soft. Smile at the mouth. If you can feel the aliveness and sensation deep in the torso, imagine, visualize and sense the felt experience of a smile spreading through the whole pelvic region. And sense the aliveness there. Not to cut off any region of our body, really open to the play or dance of sensation that animates this being, the air of the length, the volume, the weight of the legs. See if you can feel the feet from the inside out, the tingling and vibrating there. And again, the tingling and vibrating in the hands and widening descents through the whole body, this aliveness.

So, the body is a field of sensation. and just let it all happen. This whole dance of energy. You notice the mind drifting into thoughts, you can gently relax back into this field of vibrating aliveness. You might sense in the midst of this field the aliveness or sensations of the breath, the inflow and outflow of the breath. Not controlling the breath in any way. Just letting the body breathe itself, You can gently rest the attention, relax with the breath. In mindfulness practice it's helpful to have a home base like the breath or the whole field of body sensations to come back to again and again because the mind is so conditioned to time travel.

So we gently relax back over and over to this living, vibrating reality right here. relaxing with the inflow, relaxing with the outflow. If something strong arises, some strong pleasant or unpleasant sensation or emotion, then you can continue to feel the breath but breathe with what's occurring. If there's some ache or pain, squeeze, tingling, tension, tightness, or sadness, fear, excitement, feel where it lives in your body, breathe with it, say yes to it, not to resist anything. Notice what it's like, notice how it changes.

And when it's no longer calling your attention, come back again, relax back gently with your home base, with the simple movement of the breath are the play of bodily sensations. You might sense right now is this trance or presence. So often there's that veil of thinking that's between us and really this living sacred space right here, this mystery of presence right here and gently relax back. See if you can make yourself at home in this moment. either resting in the breath, bodily sensations, or if there's something calling for attention, gently opening to it, saying yes to the life that's right here.

As a way of closing, you might gently feel the breath in the area of the heart. Sensing this human heart and offering whatever blessing, whatever wish or prayer, you'd like for your own healing and freedom, sense the quality of kindness and care as you offer yourself a wish. Then letting that kindness or cares it naturally does extend to include this earth and all living beings everywhere, feeling our shared prayer that all beings everywhere might be filled with loving presence, held in loving presence. presence, that all beings everywhere may be happy, know the natural joy of being alive.

May all beings touch a great and natural peace. May all beings everywhere awaken and be free. Namaste and thank you.