Tara Brach - Meditation: Letting Go of Doing

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

Meditation becomes truly freeing in the moments when there is no controlling whatsoever; when nothing is resisted or grasped after. This guided meditation begins with a simple body scan, relaxing and awakening to sensations in the body and then including the play of sound. We then let go of any doing, and simply notice and allow the changing flow of experience, letting life be just as it is. In this pure allowing presence we become aware of the background silence that is listening. The invitation is to relax and be the awareness that is conscious of all that is unfolding.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. Become aware of your body breathing and let attention and gently come into the area of the heart. You might sense the breath coming in and out of the heart. We begin practice with an inquiry

And the inquiry is what's really most important to you right now about practicing, meditating, being here. What is your intention, your most sincere intention as you meditate? Taking some moments to sense what matters to you and sometimes you'll get a kind of prefab answer to that question, just keep listening. This is really the kind of question of what is most important in your life? What does your heart most really care about? One of the most direct pathways to waking up presence is consciously scanning through

the body, feeling the aliveness in the body. We begin often with the area of the eyes because when we're thinking a lot there's a contraction, very small muscles around the eyes. So you might begin by softening the eyes, letting the brow be smooth, even sensing you could smile into the eyes, letting a smile spread through the eyes. And with that relaxing, very resetting. to whatever sensations are here. Perhaps you notice vibrating.

Perhaps you visually can see black and white spots dancing around. Perhaps there's some pulsing, not changing or controlling anything, just receiving life. You can relax the jaw, let it unhinge, slight smile at the mouth, letting the the tongue fill the lower palate, noticing if it's possible to relax down to the root of the tongue. Noticing how the mouth fills with sensation as you relax. Perhaps widening the lens and feel the whole face alive. Imagine the throat filling the neck, feel the aliveness inside the neck.

Take some moments to allow the shoulders to fall away. from the neck. You might even imagine from the inside out a kind of melting or dissolving. Ice to water. See if you can feel that. Ice to water. Water to gas. Sensing with real receptivity the play of sensation inside the shoulders. Notice if it's possible to let the hands rest in a very easy way, very effortless. And then if you soften the hands, what do you experience from the inside out? What's it like? Softening again.

An intimate attention, receptive. Can you notice the tingling and the vibrating, the aliveness that's revealed when we relax? The eyes are soft, slight smile at the mouth. The hands are soft, letting there be an openness to the chest, and feeling inside the chest, the area of the heart, bare receptive presence, noticing the sensations and aliveness that's there. Into the belly. Just experiment, softening the belly, softening and feeling the breath received deep in the torso. Can you bring that same intimate presence to the belly feeling for the knee?

inside out the life that's there. Can you bring that presence, that receptivity to the pelvic region, relaxing and opening to receive sensations, energy, aliveness? Where the legs, perhaps sensing the length and the volume, feeling the feet where they contact the ground, the floor, maybe sense of pressure, warmth. from the inside out, feeling the aliveness in the feet. The eyes are soft. It's like smile at the mouth.

Hands are soft. Feeling from the inside out, chest is open, belly soft, and the aliveness down into the feet. If you open the attention, you can sense simultaneously the energy of the whole body. Sometimes describes as a subtle energy body, this without a body, this without a body, boundary, just a living, changing constellation of energy, a field of sensation. Notice what happens if you don't stop anything, not opposing anything, not changing anything. Include in awareness the changing play of sound.

You're listening not with your ears but with your whole awareness listening to and and feeling the sounds of these words, the spaces between words, listening to and feeling the space in the room, listening to and feeling the silence. The silence is listening. In the foreground, this changing flow of sensation, feeling, thoughts, sound. In the background, this awake awareness, silence that's listening, stillness that's aware of all sensation and feeling. Let your practice be simple, one of just listening to the life that's here, listening

to the changing flow of sound and sensation, feelings, thoughts, listening. to what's in the background, this silence, this awareness, the formless presence, that's our home. You don't have to make anything happen. The only real instruction is to let life be just as it is. Mind drifts off into thoughts. If you get lost inside of thoughts, be a gentle arriving again. noticing and listening to what's right here. You might ask yourself, is it possible to let go just a little more?

Let go of any doing. You might notice it's possible to let go again. Re- relax. You can re-relax the body a bit. Relax any controlling, any doing. Bring some interest to notice what is it like to really let life. to really let life be just as it is, can you sense the awareness in the background that's listening to and feeling the moment?

Relax and be that awareness. Rest as awareness.