Tara Brach - Meditation: Dynamic Presence

Episode Date: March 7, 2014

2014-03-05 - Guided Meditation: Dynamic Presence

So letting the eyes gently close and beginning in one of the most universal ways by deepening attention to the breath. I'd like to invite you to take an extended in-breath. So we'll inhale deeply, filling the chest, filling the lungs. And then a slow out breath. Slow enough so you can feel the sensations of the exhale. And then inhaling deeply again. filling the chest, slow out breath, releasing, letting go, letting go. And again, breathing in, filling the chest and lungs.

With the out breath, releasing slowly, feeling a kind of softening down the length of the body as you let go of the breath. And letting the breath come back to its natural rhythm. and just feeling your attention close in, relaxed, kind of listening attention, letting the awareness come to the area of the heart, and just noticing the state of your heart right in this moment and continue listening inwardly. Just sensing what most brings you here tonight, what your real intention is for being here. and take your time as you ask yourself really, you know, what is my intention, so that you can feel a quality of genuineness or sincerity.

That sincerity is kind of a sign of having connected with what's really important, what matters. Letting the awareness gently scan through the body as a way of releasing habitual, tightness or clenching. You might soften the eyes. Sensing the possibility of smiling into the eyes, letting the brow be smooth, letting the jaw be relaxed, slight smile at the mouth, the face at ease. You might imagine smiling into the heart area. You can even visualize the curve of a smile spreading through the heart or chest area. And that's, you might imagine, smiling into the heart, sense of openness, not to cover over anything, but to make space for whatever's here. Letting that openness widen outward so that the shoulders are free to relax a bit,

perhaps a little back and a little down. You might soften and see if you can feel the shoulders from the inside out. You might sense a bit of dissolving, untangling, just a little bit of motion, sensations, aliveness, a little more space in the shoulders. As you breathe in, you might sense even in the joints, the shoulder joints area, kind of an opening.

And then with the out, breath is settling. So there's more space and aliveness with each breath. Breathing in, opening, receptive. And breathing out. kind of settling. You can feel a stillness and a space and aliveness there. We hold a lot of tension in our shoulders, so just taking some time to bring the breath and the attention there.

Just to see if we can connect with some flow, some spaciousness, letting whatever is tight float in awareness, allowing the hands to rest in a very easy and effortless way. softening the hands and feeling the hands also from the inside out in the same way you might sense

with the in breath that the hands are expanding opening the joints are opening with the out breath a kind of settling or stillness opening to receive

settling feeling a sense of space space and flow within the hands, where of the whole region of the chest. Again, as the breath comes in, a sense of opening or yielding to the breath. With the exhale, settling, stillness and space there, so you can begin to feel more openness and aliveness in the chest area, letting the awareness scan down into the belly, softening. And again, as the breath comes in, a sense of expanding.

receiving. And with the out breath, a settling, sensing stillness, space. You might feel this breath now as you're aware of the belly, the hands, the chest, the shoulders, breathing in that kind of expanding and opening, the joints, the cells, very light, receptive. And with the out breath, that settling, stillness, space for the whole torso, the arms, hands, experiencing that opening and settling. And if there's any one area that feels tense or tight or uncomfortable, you can bring the attention there and just breathe into that area, receptive, yielding, opening with the in-breath, with the out-breath, sensing the space and a lot of.

just there, still, present, including in awareness the legs, just scanning down and feeling the thighs, the hamstrings, the shins, calves, right down into the feet feeling places of pressure, the places of pressure and contact, warmth. I'm feeling the feet from the inside, the tingling and vibrating that's there. so that you can feel simultaneously now if you open the attention, this whole body is a field of sensation, and perhaps with the in-breath and opening, expanding, kind of yielding to the breath. Through this whole field, an out-breath, just resting in the space, stillness that's here, continuing to be mindful of the whole dance of sensation, this dance of sensation,

just letting everything happen, not opposing anything. Sensing in the foreground this changing swirl of heat or cool, pressure, flow, tingling, vibrating. And in the background, this alert inner stillness taken as a whole, there's a dynamic presence that is our very essence. right here you can keep letting go again and again into that dynamic

presence this changing flow of aliveness this alert inner stillness the space that everything's happening in moments that you recognize you've been time-traveling and often some thought or memory

some commentary that's when there's an opportunity to practice surrendering or relaxing back again into this dynamic presence, this aliveness that's right here. If it helps you to stabilize your attention here, you might explore that breathing whereby with the inflow, really opening, yielding, receptive. and with the outflow, settling back even more into that stillness and space,

relaxing back moment by moment into what's right here.