Tara Brach - Meditation: Everything Belongs

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

Meditation: Everything Belongs - This guided meditation awakens an embodied presence through a body scan, and invites us to rest in the breath, while allowing the different waves of sensations, feelings and sounds to come and go. When difficult experiences arise, we breathe with them, feeling them fully and mentally whispering, "this belongs," or "this too." By not resisting, we discover the sea of awareness that has room for all the waves.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. As you come into stillness, you might feel the movement of your breath and sense the breath in the area of the heart. And as you feel the area of the heart, increase that listening in words.

You're listening to your heart. And the inquiry is really, what is your intention, your deepest intention, for practice, for meditating right now? What are you hoping for? What are you longing for? Listen for what you feel really sincere about, what really matters to you. We open our practice together as a community with a very simple chant. It's a kind of universal sound current of connectedness.

the mantra, ohm, and we'll chin it three times. You might want to bring the palms together touching lightly in front of the heart, gathering the attention even more fully here. And then take a nice deep in breath. In the stillness, feel your body breathing and as you do gently scan through your body and sense what might want to let go a little right now. See if you can release obvious tension. habitual tension.

And slowly scanning from the top of the body down, you might feel the area of the brow, sense that you can smile into your eyes a little. You might even imagine and sense the outer corners lifted and let the brow be smooth, the eyes soft, and become aware of the sensations and the scalp and the skull, letting that smile spread through the little, lips a little, slight smile there and the inside of the mouth and see if it's possible

to relax your tongue. Let it spread through the lower palate, even relax down to the root of the tongue, noticing the aliveness that fills the mouth, the gums, the teeth, the lips, feeling the tingling and vibrating through the face. might imagine the throat filling the neck and then sense that you can allow the shoulders to fall away from the neck. Let awareness fill your shoulders and wherever there's tightness, tension, since it could float, letting it float in awareness.

Just letting it be there, naturally unwinding, untwisting. aware of the back of the neck and the upper back, softening, releasing a little, aware of the length and the volume of your arms, feeling the hands and consciously softening the hands and perhaps softening again and feeling them from the inside out. What are you aware of? Can you sense the vibrating or the tinkling there. If not, you can soften again. It's a very intimate presence in the hands, feeling the fingers from the inside out, sensing the space between the palms and the backs of the hands.

Again, the eyes are soft and smiling. The mouth is smiling. The hands are soft, feeling the aliveness there. You might sense an openness at the chest. And then feeling from the inside out, just feel the aliveness in the area of the heart. Perhaps you can smile into the heart, not to cover over anything, but to create more space for what's actually there. Scanning down, sensing the midsection of the body.

You might let this next breath be received in a softening belt, belly. This breath and now this one and now this one and again. Feeling from the inside out and intimate presence in the belly. The same way as you scan down, feeling the pelvic region from the inside out, opening to the aliveness that's right here. Feeling the length and volume of the legs and the feet, contacting the floor. And perhaps you can imagine and sense this earth body, the vastness, the creative dynamic

aliveness of the whole earth body, and sense that energy flowing up and through you as an expression of earth, just pouring into you, enlivening you. It's that if you widen the tension you can sense this body as a feel. of sensations, not to oppose anything or stop anything right now. Let's let everything live through you, sensing the changing sounds that come and go, the sensations are vibrating and tingling, the moods or emotions that are here, let it all flow through you, let it all move like currents or waves in the sea or some that might help just to feel the inflow and outflow of the breath as a way to steady the mind.

Still aware in the background of the changing waves, sound and sensation, feelings, thoughts. If a wave becomes strong, maybe difficult, like strong, sensations of unpleasantness, piteness, tension, ache, heat, sense it in some way you're the ocean saying yes to it. Okay, this belongs. Let it come and go, let it change. It feels like too much, just breathe, feel the breath and perhaps let the breath help to anchor you so you have a way to stay present. Just breathing with what's happening can make it easier.

If a strong wave of emotion comes in a similar way, you might name it. Oh, fear, sadness, anger. Let it come. Let it unfold itself. Let yourself feel it. You might even whisper, this belongs. And if you can remember something belongs and you become the ocean again with room for the waves.

If you get lost in ways of thought and gently open the attention back to right here. These sounds, these sensations, this movement of the breath, know that you're here, right here. You might notice where your attention is and if you've been lost in thought to know that it's totally natural for the mind

to get caught inside the waves of thought. And we can develop the capacity to wake up and notice that. And with real gentleness, re-open our attention, just hearing what's right here, perhaps re-relaxing the habitual tightening in our body, letting go in the shoulders, softening our hands. You might relax your heart right here. Know that you're here.

Let yourself be that ocean of presence and let every wave belong. Whatever arises, unpleasant physical sensations, a joy or a sorrow. This belongs, this too. There's room. Making room in our hearts for this whole life moment to moment. You might invite yourself. might invite yourself to relax back yet again, awakening the senses, resting in that sea of presence, listening to and feeling the changing waves moment to moment. In these final moments,

you might bring the attention to your heart. And notice if there's any vulnerability, anything that feels challenging that wants your attention, letting yourself contact what's here with real gentleness, breathing with it, and sensing again that these are waves in the sea of presence. You might even whisper, this belongs, mentally, silently whisper, this belongs. and sense the space and tenderness that's possible, allowing the waves to be here just as they are.