Tara Brach - Meditation: Living, Embodied Presence (2020-05-13)

Episode Date: May 14, 2020

Meditation: Living, Embodied Presence (2020-05-13) - This practice begins with a full body scan and then guides us to return again and again to our senses. What we find is a dynamic presence, a Hereness that feels like home. The meditation ends with a beautiful poem by David Wagoner called, "Lost."

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. This meditation is called Living Embodied Presence. And we begin in a simple way with our breath, as we often do. Please become aware of your body breathing. And now extending the in-breath so that you're not. filling the chest and the lungs, a nice long deep in-breath.

And a slow out-breath. And with the out-breath, relaxing, letting go. Again, a nice, full, deep in-breath. A slow out-breadth, letting go, letting go. And one more time, a nice deep, full inhale, filling the chest and the lungs. And a slow out-breath, softening down the length of your body, relaxing. letting go, and then allowing the breath to resume in its natural rhythm, just sensing the possibility as the breath naturally comes in, of receiving, opening, even in a cellular way. And then as the breath

goes out, that releasing, letting go into the universe around you, letting this life breath flow in and out, And now with a gentle attention, we'll begin scanning through the body. And as we often do, sense the brow, the area of the forehead, the eyes. Letting the eyes soften, letting the brow be smooth. You might imagine smiling into the eyes, letting the curve of a smile spread through the eyes, and becoming aware of the aliveness in that whole region. tingling, vibrating, perhaps the flickering of light and darkness at the lids. And bringing a slight smile to the mouth, the inside of the mouth smiling.

Relaxing the tongue, let it fill the lower palate, and sense that you can relax right down to the root of the tongue. Opening your attention to the sensations that fill the mouth now, the tongue, gums, the teeth, the lips. And letting that receptivity, so as the sensations now spread through the face, the scalp and the skull. You might imagine the throat filling the neck, feeling the sensations in that area. As you gently now allow the shoulders to fall away from the neck, the shoulders fill with awareness. You can feel from the inside out, the movement of energy. And if there's areas of tension or tightness, you might imagine that dissolving from ice to water,

a kind of melting, ice to water, letting go, and then water to vapor, letting whatever is in the shoulders float in awareness. So you can feel the space and the aliveness in the shoulders, aware of the arms, the energy that moves through the arms. right into the hands. Taking these moments to soften the hands. And then soften again and again. Notice how as you soften, as you relax, you can become aware more of the aliveness in the hands. What do you notice?

Can you sense heat and cool, tingling, vibrating, pulsing. just as a cup is filled with water, this whole body is filled with awareness and aliveness. You might sense an openness at the chest. You might smile into the area of the heart, visualizing and having the felt sense of the curve of a smile spreading through the heart. And sense how that can open space to whatever's right here. You can feel more whatever's in something. whatever sensations, emotions are there.

Bringing that receptivity to feeling down into the belly. You might sense the curve of a smile spreading through the belly. Letting this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath and now this one and again. Letting the belly remain soft, feeling from the inside out, the life, the aliveness, the awareness, the awareness, the awareness, that's right here in the belly, getting through the pelvic region. Again you might visualize and have the felt sense of a smile spreading through that area.

So you can feel from the inside out again, the aliveness, the energy that's there. Where of the legs, the length, the volume, the weight of your legs. Can you feel from the inside, the energy, the sensations? the space inside the legs. Let your feet fill with awareness, the toes, heels, in steps. Feeling the space between the souls of the feet and the top of the feet. Feeling the aliveness in the feet. Sensing your connection deep, deep into the earth.

Feeling the whole earth body, the aliveness and energy of the earth body, flowing up into your body, filling you. So as you open and widen the attention, you can feel this whole body as a field of sensation of aliveness, of energy. Just let everything happen. This whole play of aliveness, tingling, vibrating, heat, cool, perhaps pleasantness or unpleasant. tightness or flow, just letting life live through you, just as it is. It widen the attention to include the play of sound, the sounds and the space around you,

perhaps the most distant sounds you can detect, rising and passing, this great space of awareness, this resting in that awareness that listens to and feels the whole moment. Let your practice be simple. When you notice the mind has drifted into the past, the future, into some kind of commentary into a virtual trance, then gently note that. You might even whisper thinking thinking in your mind and reopen the attention to the senses. back home through the senses. Listen again to the sounds that are right here.

Listen to and feel the aliveness in the body. And if it helps you to re-relax a bit, relaxing can help you to re-contact that aliveness. You can let go again through the shoulders. Soften your hands. Soffening the belly and smiling into the heart. and opening in the region of the heart. And again, feel the sensations, the feelings, the aliveness that lives through you. A direct, intimate presence with aliveness.

And again, listening to and feeling the moment. Can you sense the quality of heerness, of beingness, living presence? It can be helpful to check, to ask yourself, am I dreaming right now? Lost in thought. And if that's what you discover, it's an opportunity to practice homecoming, to come back through the senses. Just be still. Notice what's happening. Listening, aware of the sensations and feelings in the body.

perhaps that gentle smile at the mouth, smiling into the heart, feeling the life that's here, listening to and feeling the changing flow moment to moment, noticing the quality of heerness of arriving again right here in this being, in this presence. Whenever you're lost in meditation, in life, you can find your way back to this presence, this quality of heerness, and let it be a refuge. You might listen to the words of the poet David Wagoner, stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you are not. not lost. Wherever you are is called here and you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen, it answers. I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying here. No two trees are the same to raven. No two branches are the same to wren. If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows where you are. You must let it find you.

As you close, you might feel your heart's intention to take refuge and presence. and again through the moments of your life.