Tara Brach - Meditation: Letting Go

Episode Date: June 29, 2022

Meditation: Letting Go - One way of understanding meditation is a letting go of the habitual clenching of thoughts, the clenching that resists emotions and pulls away from aliveness itself. This meditation guides us in letting go, first through the body, and then practicing letting go of thoughts and relaxing and resting in the changing flow of experience. The blessing of letting go is a homecoming into the truth and wholeness of what we are, a realization of reality, and freedom.

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 close your eyes, just feel your body sitting here breathing. And you might bring your attention to the area of your heart. So you can feel the breath at the heart. And let your reflection be, what is my deepest intention right now for practice?

for meditation. What really is your heart's longing? And as you reflect, just feel what really connects you with your sincerity. What do you feel most sincere about? Is it waking up your heart so you can love more freely? Is it being more present in your day-to-day moments? Is it waking up from the trance of fear? being more courageous? Is it deep realization, your true nature, that truth?

What's the longing that brings you here? One understanding of meditation is that it's a deep letting go of the habitual tightening and clenching of our body and mind and heart. These are the words of the Tibetan teacher Telopa. Let go of what has passed, let go of what may come, let go of what is happening now. Don't try to figure anything out. Don't try to make anything happen. Relax right now and rest. When our body and mind are in the habitual tensing, circling thoughts and tight muscles, we can set the grounds of purely resting by gently scanning through the body and sensing what wants to let go. You might feel the region around the eyes and just sets what wants to soften, what wants

to let go, and feeling the scalp and the skull, perhaps noticing the slight micro tightening, sensing where there might be a loosening and easing up, sensing the possibility of more space, more flow, wear of your mouth, the jaw. And again, what might want to let go? What might allow for more spaciousness and ease? some this can be supported with a very slight smile, a very slight but real smile, letting yourself feel the tingling and vibrating through the mouth, tongue, the gums, and then through the whole face.

Feeling the neck from the inside out, letting the throat fill the neck, again sensing what might want to let go a little. How might there be some loosening, softening. Feeling the shoulders from the inside out and noticing what might let go a little there, sensing how places of tightness or tension can begin to float in awareness. And sensing what might want to let go in the back of the neck, the upper back, how can there be a little more loosening in space, and letting the hands rest in an easy, effortless way?

And feeling the hands from the inside and sensing the possibility of softening and softening again, noticing the aliveness that's revealed when we begin to let go and soften, letting there be an openness to the chest and feeling from the inside out the whole chest cavity and again asking what might want to let go a little here. Feeling the mid area of the back. Again noticing where there might be tightness or tension and inviting a little bit of loosening, softening, letting go. You might explore letting this next breath be received in a softening belly, this breath

and now this one and again sensing the whole midsection of the body filled. with awareness and sensing what might be possible to soften even more where there might be some letting go, aware of the lower back and what might want to let go there, softening, opening, sensing the whole pelvic region filled with awareness, sensing the possibility of letting go deep in the pelvic region, opening to the aliveness that's here. aware of the legs, the length, weight, the volume. And then from the inside out sensing where there might be some letting go as you scan through the legs, unclenching the thighs, hamstrings, caps, feeling the feet the places of pressure,

contact, warmth where you touch the floor, and then inside out the other, the other, the aliveness inside the feet, widening the attention now. And feeling this body as a field of sensation and letting everything happen is letting go into the aliveness that's here. Letting go into the aliveness that's here. Sensing what that means to you to let go into aliveness. aware of the changing flow of sound, sensation, and feelings, letting go by resting back and letting everything be just as it is, letting go and relaxing with the life that's

right here moment to moment. It's quite natural that the mind will drift back into a kind of thought contraction, commentary, that inner dialogue, thoughts about the future, the past. Not a problem, it's completely the nature of attention, the way the mind works. And when there's a noticing, you can simply relax open again, come aware of the sounds that are here, right here. Perhaps scan again in the body and notice what wants to let go right now. Laxing the shoulders again.

Soffening the hands. Slight smile at the mouth. Relaxing the heart. Letting go into the aliveness that's right here. Letting everything be just as it is. Let go of what has passed. Let go of what may come. Let go of what is happening now.

try to figure anything out and don't try to make anything happen. Relax right now and rest.