Tara Brach - Meditation: Awake, Openhearted Awareness (2016-10-12)

Episode Date: October 16, 2016

Meditation: Awake, Openhearted Awareness (2016-10-12) - This meditation guides us in recognizing the formless awareness that is always here, but often outside of conscious awareness.  As awareness awakens to realize itself, we come home to our primordial nature—boundless, lucid, tender presence. Listen to the full talk: Seeking What's True — Within Ourselves, Beyond our Self, With Each Other (part 2) at: https://www.tarabrach.com/seeking-whats-true-pt2/ Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. Several pathways of training to have that remembrance of really this ocean to which we belong. And we're going to close this evening with a guided practice that can give us a taste. I like to begin about a 15-second meditation.

For the next 15 seconds, close your eyes and try not to be aware. Okay, 15 seconds, beginning now. Try not to be aware. Okay, open your eyes. So how many were successful? Can I see right? Sometimes we really feel like, oh, I wasn't aware. but we're aware of that.

That's a little tricky. Let's close your eyes. This is going to be more like a five-minute, six-minute meditation. And settle yourself, feel the sitting posture, and take a few full breaths, and let the breaths gather your attention, collect your attention. And for a moment again, you might try not to be aware,

try not to be aware. And very quickly notice that awareness is always here. We might not be aware of the awareness, but it's here. There's this ongoing registering of sound and sensation and feelings. You might let that awareness that's here be relocated. And just imagine that that awareness is in front of you and up a bed, like a stage light, but it's your awareness that's looking down on this body and mind, bearing witness, perceiving. And just through that locality above in front of you, just be aware of the body and sensations and feelings that's here in what you call you.

Awareness is beaming down, picking up the kind of thoughts that might be. in the background and the feelings in your body, the sense of sitting here. And sense that witness, that beaming awareness now just kind of surrounding you. So it's around to the sides and behind you. It's really all surrounding you and seeping inside so that you can begin to sense that that awareness is outside and inside. So it's feeling from the inside out and aware of it's feeling from the inside out,

and aware from the inside out of your body, interior space of awareness, feeling sensations, an exterior sensing sound. So there's this whole field of awareness picking up everything, a continuous field of sensation. It's this stillness that's perceiving aliveness and vibration. This awareness is the silence that's listening. It's the openness, the formless openness, that sounds and sensations are occurring in, this relaxing back, being that field of continuous awareness, listening to and feeling the changing movement of ways,

listening to the sounds. And you might inquire who is listening. Really, who is listening? Who is hearing these words? and just turn the attention back gently, just to see what's aware, what is awareness. And then just let go and just be that awareness. Again, that silence that's listening. Empty, awake space.

If a thought comes up, who's thinking? Simply turn the attention back to awareness. Who or what is aware? and just let go again. Serena Sargadatta says when I look into my mind I see I am nothing. When I look into my heart

I see I am everything. Between the two my life flows. Sensing the heart space the awareness at the level of the heart that cherishes the ways receiving everything that's arising in this heart space

You might bring to mind a dear one. Just let the image and sense of someone whose dear come to mind. And sense how this dear one is received in this open-hearted awareness. This dear one floats, is included, is a part of your heart. And perhaps let another person arise in awareness, sensing how to you know, how this heart space holds this being awake, open, inclusive, and tender, intrinsically tender. Through homecoming is to the awake awareness, this open-heartedness that's your deepest nature, you're not a human awakening to spirit.

You are spirit, awareness, awakening through this body mind, the truth you're seeking is already here. When I look into my mind, I see I am nothing. When I look into my heart, I see I am everything. Between the two, my life flows.