Tara Brach - Meditation: Awake & Open Awareness

Episode Date: August 23, 2018

Meditation: Awake & Open Awareness - This calming meditation practice helps settle the mind with the breath and then opens to the changing flow of experience, letting life be just as it is.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. The attention, collect with the awareness of the breath, you might extend the in-breath some, so it's long and deep, inhaling and filling the chest in the lungs, and then a slow-out breath,

about the same length as the in-breath, releasing slowly, and then breathing in again a nice long in-breath and breathing out a slow out-breath. Continuing in this way with an extended in-breath and out-breath, matching the lengths of the breaths, not pausing in between. Slow, long, deep breath,

the in-breath and the out-breath matched. No pausing. Relaxed and present with the breath. When you breathe in, making sure, you fill the chest and lungs, and with the out breath slow enough so you can feel the sensations of the breath as it leaves the nostrils.

And now allowing the breath to resume in its natural rhythm, sensing the possibility of simply relaxing as the breath comes in, opening to receive the breath, and relaxing with the out breath, surrendering, releasing, letting go. Still aware of the breath, you might also scan through the body and notice if there's any areas of particular tightness or contraction, places in the body that want to relax a bit more, release.

Letting the awareness go to those regions. You can sense tension dissolving a little, letting this life breath be in the foreground, resting your attention, wherever it's most easy or place. present to feel the breath. And for some that might be the inflow, outflow at the nostrils. Brothers, the rising, falling at the chest, or maybe the expanding, settling at the belly. Maybe it's a sense of the whole body breathing.

Expanding, opening, and releasing, deflating, not controlling the breath in any way now. Let your body be breathed as if you're listening to sound, listening to and feeling the breath in a receptive way. You'll notice before too long that the mind quite naturally drifts away from the breath, which is not a problem. When you become aware of drifting, that's an opportunity to practice this basic path way of coming home to re-relax the attention open. Become aware of what's right here,

these sounds that are right here, aware of the sensations in the body, and then gently landing again in the next in-brath or out-breath, rising breath, falling breath, letting this life-bread be a gateway to presence so that you know that you're right here. You might mentally whisper the word here. Just feel the vividness and mystery of presence, letting the breath be a home base. And yet if some other strong experience arises, some strong sensations maybe that are unpleasant or very pleasant, our strong emotion, we let the breath recede in the background and let that wave of experience be in the foreground. So if some area of the body is feeling some heat, burning, cool, twisting, aching, then we let that be right in the

foreground saying yes to what's arising, feeling it, opening to it, witnessing, witnessing how it comes and goes in the space of awareness. Staying with what's intense or calling our attention until it passes and then gently arriving again at our home base of the breath. If what arises is challenging, it's fine to breathe with it. Let the breath help to create a kind of stability as you feel what arises. in the same way if a strong emotion arises, excitement or fear, happiness or sorrow,

to open to that weather system, again, feeling it as sensations in the body, allowing it to be there just as it is, noticing how it changes, how it moves, and when it's no longer calling your attention, again, coming to rest, with the movement of the breath. Noticing where your attention is and relaxing open, relaxing back to what's right here, just to what's right here.

Let the senses be wide open. You're aware of the sounds around you, aware of the sensations in your body, perhaps letting go a bit through the shoulders, letting the hands be soft, the chest open, and the belly soft, relaxing and feeling your heart. Feel that you're all here for these last few minutes of practice.

Letting the intention be to let everything be just as it is, not grasping on to anything, not pushing anything away, utterly awake, senses wide open, utterly open, non-fixating awareness. Right here. See what it means to not control anything. Full letting be.

We'll close our meditation with a short verse from the poet Riocon. Without desire, everything is sufficient. With seeking, myriad things are impoverished. Plain vegetables can soothe hunger. A patched robe is enough to cover this bent old body. Alone I hike with a deer. Cheerfully, I sing with village children. The stream under the cliff cleanses my ears.

The pine on the mountain top fits my heart.