Tara Brach - Meditation: Awakening Our Full Aliveness

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

Meditation: Awakening Our Full Aliveness -  We cut off from our aliveness when we are lost in thoughts and on auto pilot. This meditation arouses a receptivity to sensation from "the inside out," opens the awareness to sound, and then invites a full resting in receptive, dynamic presence (from the archives). It doesn't matter how many times the mind drifts. It's the gentle re-arriving that retrains your heart and mind. Just to choose to come back… Perhaps to sense what might let go a little more… If there's something that might want to relax a bit more right now… To listen to and feel the changing moment-to-moment experience with an awake, open awareness. ~ Tara

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. Feel your body sitting here and breathing and explore feeling the breath at the heart. Just notice the state of your heart right now. It might be the first time in a while you've intentionally checked in. And so what's my heart feel like? You might sense on a physical level, whether there's numbness or tightness or soreness or flow, and also if there's any emotions moving through you.

The beginning of intimacy with our life is to really notice this moment. What's happening right here? What's the quality of heart-mind? you listen inwardly, you might listen for what your aspiration or intention is. What is it that most matters to your heart? If you could sense how you'd want to feel or what you'd want to be in touch with, what would it be? Aware of your body sitting here and breathing and lengthening or extending the breath.

So the in-breath is slow and long and deep and the out-breath. is slow. A slow release matching the length of the in-breath, continuing with a long slow in-breath, a long slow out-breath. No pause in between. You might count slowly to four as you breathe in. Slowly to four as you release. You might sense with the in-breath.

an opening and a receiving, a filling with energy, and with the out breath, the releasing, a settling, a letting go. And now allowing the breath to resume its natural rhythm. So you're shifting from directing the breath to observing the breath, noticing the quality of presence that's right here that perhaps you're a little more collected, quiet, quiet, present. You can deepen this quality of presence by bringing the attention more fully awake in the body. You might still continue to feel the breath as you bring the attention

to the area of the brow, let the eyes soften. You might smile into the eyes, letting the outside corners lift a little, letting the brow be smooth, feeling from the inside out the sensations and aliveness in this region of the face, relaxing the jaw, sensing a slight smile at the mouth, letting the tongue fill the lower jaw, see if you can relax right down to the root of the tongue. And from the inside out, receiving the sensations and aliveness. in the region of the mouth, bringing the awareness now to the shoulders. You might imagine the shift from ice to water, feeling that from the inside out, ice to water, and then water to gas, and from the inside out, receiving the sensations of aliveness in the area

of the shoulders, aware of the hands. softening the hands, perhaps softening again, and from the inside out, receiving the sensations and the aliveness that fill the hands, sensing an openness to the chest. And you might smile into the area of the heart, sense a smile spreading through the area of the chest, not to cover over anything, but to actually open to open to heart. what's here and from the inside out receiving the aliveness in the region of the heart and chest, scanning down the torso, loosening the belly and letting this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath and now this one and again you might sense from the

inside out receiving the aliveness. in the region of the belly, continuing to scan down to the pelvic area, relaxing, opening, sensing the awareness from the inside out, receiving the sensations and aliveness in the pelvic region, aware of the length, the volume of the legs, right down into the feet, letting the awareness be inside the feet, receiving the aliveness and sensations that are there. Still aware of the feet, the legs, softening the hands again, aware of the shoulders, softening, relaxing, the chest open, belly soft, slight smile at the mouth, the eyes soft, and opening simultaneously now to feeling all parts of the body from the inside out, so you can sense

this body as a dance of aliveness. A field of sensation. Notice how nothing holds still. There's no boundary to the body, no place where the skin encapsulates. A field of living sensation, energy. the dance of aliveness, letting everything happen, not opposing anything, sensing how this dance of aliveness includes the play of sound. It's nothing to do.

Sounds appear spontaneously. They're known spontaneously in the space of awareness, relaxing back, listening to and feeling the entire dance of aliveness. You'll notice before too long that the mind drifts rather than resting in this aliveness, those inside different thoughts, past, the future. Not to judge, it's quite natural when there's a noticing of that. to simply pause and reawaken the senses, listening to the sounds that are right here, and re-relaxing through the body a bit, softening the shoulders, the hands, the belly, receiving

in awareness, this play of the senses. Moment to moment to moment. It doesn't matter how many times the mind drifts. the gentle re-arriving that retains your heart and mind, just to choose to come back, perhaps to sense what might let go a little more, if there's something that might want to relax a bit more right now, to listen to and feel the changing moment-to-moment experience with an awake, open awareness. Close by receiving the experience of your heart

in awareness. And sensing whatever wish or prayer you'd like to offer to your heart right now. And sensing how this heart space is open and all-inclusive as you offer your prayer for all beings.