Tara Brach - Meditation: Embodied Love (2020-12-02)

Episode Date: December 3, 2020

Meditation: Embodied Love (2020-12-02) - This meditation guides us through a scan, to awaken a healing and openhearted presence throughout our body. We then widen to our full field of awareness, including whatever wants attention in an open, inclusive loving presence.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. We'll start together as we do with a meditation. This is a heart practice. It's embodying metta or loving kindness. So I invite you to start by finding a very relaxed posture to be in. Of course, it's always fine and good to be alert and awake

and sitting upright, but make sure that you're comfortable. Prioritize being at ease, relaxed. And whatever posture you choose, you might close your eyes and settle in a bit. It can be very helpful to feel the breath and let the breath be long and deep, so you inhale and fill the chest in the lungs. And with the out breath, feel letting go. Letting go, letting go. and again, inhaling, filling the chest and the lungs.

With the out breath, a sense of releasing, relaxing outward, letting go. One more time, inhaling deeply. And a slow exhale, release slowly, softening down the length of the body, and letting go. Letting the breath resume in its natural rhythm. in a sense you can observe and feel the breath and sense of deepening presence right here. And from this presence, feel your intention towards kindness to relate to and bring kindness to the moments. We begin by bringing a kind and gentle attention to our bodies. And you might start and establish that kindness with the image of a smile,

I like to imagine a wide open sky, letting the curve of a smile spread through that sky, spacious and inviting. And let your mind just merge with that open sky so your mind is filled with the curve of a smile, with that receptivity, that benevolence. And you might soften your eyes and feel the smile spreading through the eyes. letting the outer corners be lifted some. And since the brow is smooth, letting the whole region of the face around the eyes

be relaxed and easy, filled with that gentleness of a smile. And in a similar way you might bring a very slight smile to the mouth, to the lips, and feel the inside of the mouth smiling and feel that same gentleness, and kindness in the presence that fills your mouth. Just feeling all the sensations, the tongue, gums, teeth, lips, and letting that sense of kindness

spread through the face. Feel the scalp, the skull. You might visualize and have the felt sense of a smile at the throat and sense of space that opens up, just bringing a kind, gentle attention to the throat. Let the throat fill the neck. And start sensing that your shoulders can fall away from the neck, that you can feel the shoulders from the inside out now. Let the shoulders be filled with awareness, with that gentle, kind presence. And if there's tightness or tension, let it float in kindly awareness. becoming aware of your hands and making sure they're resting in a very easy way, very effortless,

and intentionally softening your hands and softening again, very receptive presence, feeling the tingling and vibrating from the inside out, and let there be an openness to the chest. And you might visualize and have the felt sense of a smile spreading now through the heart in the chest area, that curve of a smile. And as you smile into the heart and receive that smile in the heart, just sense the space that it creates for whatever's here, allowing whatever mood or energies in the heart to float in a very kind, tender presence. And then again, visualizing the curve of a smile and sensing it spreading through the navel area, through the belly,

And as you do, let the belly soften and feel that opening, that receptivity to the life, the energy in the belly. And you can bring that same image and felt sense of a smile through the pelvic region, letting it spread, creating an openness and a receptivity deep in the torso, allowing the life that's here to float in a very benevolent, gentle, receptive presence. I'm aware of the legs, the length, the volume of the legs, and feeling the feet from the inside out. If you open the attention, you can feel this body simultaneously as a field of sensation, just letting everything happen, the energy move as it does.

And notice if there's anywhere asking for your attention, any domain in this field of sensation that's difficult. Bringing a tender heart presence to that area. Letting it be felt with kindness, receive with kindness. Letting this heart medicine, this heart presence really fill your body and being. Aware of sounds, sensations. letting everything appear and disappear in a tender, receptive, and open presence, sensing that curve of a smile spreading through the entire field, tenderizing the entire field of awareness.

And if the attention drifts, you can gently come home again and again to this heart space by softening in the body, by sensing the curve of a smile, perhaps spreading through your heart, and sensing this entire field filled with the tenderness of a smile. Everything that arises is welcome can be held with kindness. You might notice if the mind has drifted and if it has, then to know that the way home is really seeding the moment with kindness again, to not yank your attention back to here, but relax back with gentleness, perhaps re-relaxing and softening the shoulders, softening the hands, loosening and softening the belly, relaxing your heart, reopening to the

aliveness that's right here, this changing flow of sensation and sound and sensing the space that's happening in, this heart space where everything that is is welcome, this heart space of tenderness. And as you rest in presence, you might scan your human heart, scan your current light, and sense if there's something that wants your loving attention, something difficult that's shutting you down or scaring you or keeping you separate. And if it helps, put your hand on your heart, your human heart. So you're keeping company. Breathing with whatever wants attention, with whatever fear, hurt, upset, feel the gentleness of your touch. You might also sense a slight smile so that you can attune to holding this human heart with your spiritual

heart, with this open heart space that's really your home. And from your spiritual heart, you might offer whatever message of kindness resonates in this moment, whatever you feel you might want to remember or trust offering from your spiritual heart to your human heart, your blessing. Sensing how that deepens and opens your presence. You might bring to mind someone you know who can use your healing attention. And sense this person, what they're struggling with, floating in this heart space of yours, this spiritual heart, which is really our shared heart space. Sensing this person bathed in kindness. Sending your person, sending your blessing, sending your wish to them, and widening the attention to feel this entire field

of heart space, this shared heart space, including all beings everywhere, all of us who are practicing together, all those we know, all beings on this living planet, the planet herself held in spiritual heart space, feeling our prayers for this world. for this hurting, mysterious, beautiful world. And as we close, just sensing the simplicity of the prayer, please, may we be kind. The Dalai Lama teaches kindness is my simple religion. There's no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own mind, our own heart is our temple, and our

prayers, kindness. Please, may we be kind.