Tara Brach - Meditation: Breathing into Presence (2016-12-21)

Episode Date: December 22, 2016

Meditation: Breathing into Presence (2016-12-21) - The breath can be our gateway into the boundless awareness that holds all life. This meditation begins with a breath that calms our nervous system, and then invites a relaxed presence with the breath and sensation that open us to the "universe breathing." Resting in awareness, we realize the wakefulness, peace and vitality of pure presence. "The whole universe is the body breathing..." 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. In the stillness, aware of this body breathing, very consciously extending and deepening the breath. So the in-breath is full and deep, filling the chest and lungs, breathing in. And then a slow-out breath, slow enough so you can feel the sensations,

as they leave the nostrils, releasing the breath, releasing, letting go. And then a nice, full, deep in-breath again, breathing in, billing up, and then a slow out-breath. Very aware with the out-breath of letting go, relaxing outward, releasing. And again, a nice deep, full in-breath, filling the lungs, and a conscious slow-out breath, releasing, letting go, continuing in this rhythm of breathing in and filling yourself with the breath and then a slow out breath, very consciously slow so there's a sense of the relaxing outward,

the releasing as you release the breath, keeping the attention close into the breath, there are the sensations of filling up and of releasing. when you notice the mind has drifted, just gently come back to the in-breath or the out-breath. It can be a relaxing open to receive with the in-breath, and a relaxing and releasing with the out-breath. See if you can sense with the in-breath that you're filling not just your chest and your lungs, but all the cells in your body expanding, receiving, even the spaces between the cells. filling up, opening up. And then with the out breath that's settling, releasing, letting go.

So if everything in you could dissolve outward into the space around you. And then gently releasing any directing of the breath so that the breath can resume in its natural rhythm now, sensing how you can continue to feel a sense of relaxing with the inflow, relaxing with the outflow. but letting the breath be just as it is, a relaxed attentiveness. ...of the rhythm of the breath, you can begin to very consciously scan through the body and just relax and awaken different regions of the body. You might feel the area of the brow and the eyes and just soften the eyes, let the brow be smooth.

You're feeling the breath and feeling the tingling and vibrating in aliveness in the regions, of the brow. In a similar way you can let the jaw be unhinged, relax the tongue right down to the root of the tongue. Let the tongue fill the lower jaw, slight smile at the mouth. And feel the aliveness, the tingling and vibrating in the tongue and the lips, the gums. You might feel the breathing and the attention in the area of the shoulders. Sensing the possibility of the shoulders falling away from the ears, relaxing back and down some, breathing and feeling from the inside out the shoulders and sense the possibility of some dissolving, ice to water, water to gas.

You can breathe with the shoulders with the inflow feeling and opening to receive, right? right perhaps into where there's tangles or knots, loosening, opening. And with the out breath, the releasing, a settling. Their hands rest in a very easy, effortless way. And then softening the hands, feeling them from the inside out. And breathe with the hands, feeling the tingling and vibrating, breathing and sensing the aliveness there. Let there be an openness to the chest.

feeling the region of the heart from the inside out, the felt sense, the sensations there. Breathing in and filling with air, with prana, with energy, and breathing out, letting go of tension, releasing, loosening the area of the belly, and let this next breath be received in a softening belly, this breath and now this one. Again, feeling yourself breathing with the belly. this region of the belly, breathe in and contact and receive the life breath. And with the out breath, a releasing, letting go, awareness to fill the pelvic region, breathing with the life that's here, breathing in and feeling the energy, the aliveness. Breathing out, releasing, relaxing outward.

Length in the volume of your legs, the feet contacting the floor, and the sensations inside the feet, the aliveness there. And widening the lens and to feel this whole body is a field of sensation. And sensing as the breath comes in, this field is filled with energy and aliveness, opening to receive. And as the breath goes out, relaxing, releasing, further opening, sensing the whole dance of sensation, and the space that it's happening in, resting in this open awareness in the foreground,

simply receiving this life breath, sensing the movement of the inflow and the outflow. The whole universe is your body breathing, vibrating, awake space. The mind drifts as it will, contracts away from this living presence. into thought forms, just to gently relax back, reconnect with the senses, with this inflow and outflow of the breath, with this whole field of aliveness, sensation, sound, just in this wakeful openness, aware of this whole universe breathing, how fully you can relax with the simple inflow and outflow of this life breath. For these last few moments, letting go of any directing of the mind

and discover what happens when you just let everything be just as it is. Resting the mind in what is. Resting the heart in what is. May all beings everywhere discover the peace and freedom of resting. the heart in what is true, in the reality of this present moment. May all beings be free.