Tara Brach - Meditation: Meeting Fear with a Healing Breath

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

This meditation guides us through a relaxing body scan and then explores how we can allow the breath to calm our body and bring peace to our heart.

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 Meeting Fear with a Healing Breath. And as a way to begin, I invite you to simply listen, to listen to the sounds around you, listening to the words that you're,

hearing and also the spaces between them, listening not just with your ears but with your whole awareness in a global sort of way. And then with that same receptivity of listening, listen to and feel the aliveness inside your body. As you do that, you might sense what wants to let go right now. listening to and feeling the aliveness and sensing if it's possible to let go a little wherever there's obvious tension or tightness and with the same receptivity will gently scan the body with a relaxed awareness just noticing the life in the body and we begin with the

brow and the eyes and invite you to explore softening your eyes. You can even sense the outer corners of the eyes slightly lifted as if you're smiling into the eyes and let the brow be smooth and with that receptive listening presence to sense the aliveness in the whole region of the brow perhaps tingling or vibrating or maybe there's a flickering of light at the lids in the same way bringing a receptive presence to the area of the mouth and you might bring a slight smile to the lips and sense the inside of the mouth smiling letting the tongue spread through the lower palate relaxing the tongue down to the root and with that receptive attentiveness just feeling the aliveness and the gums the teeth the lips and letting that relaxation

and knees spread through the face scalp and the skull and feeling the tingling the vibrating and aliveness filling the whole head face now sensing and imagining the throat filling the neck and feeling that receptive listening presence in the region of the throat, the neck. Aware of the sensations there. Softening, opening, allowing the shoulders to fall away from the neck.

And sensing the shoulders filled with awareness so that you can feel from the inside out, the energy that's there, whether it's tightness and tension, whether there's movement and flow. And you might imagine a melting from ice to water, ice to water, and then water to gas, feeling from the inside out with that receptive, listening presence, the aliveness in the shoulders, and sensing the weight and the length and the volume of your arms. Perhaps you can feel your thumbs and sense them filled with awareness, with sensation, and forefinger, feeling from the inside out, tingling, vibrating, middle finger, can you feel the life there?

And then the ring finger, the pinky, the small finger. You might explore intentionally softening your hands now and then softening again and feeling the aliveness spread through the whole hands. You're feeling from the inside out and the hands are filled with awareness, receptive, open, letting the chest be open and feeling from the inside out the region of the heart. You might visualize and sense the curve of a smile spreading through the heart. the heart to help make space for the life that's here, receptive and open, feeling the energy, sensations and feelings in the area of the heart, breathing with what you feel, and continuing

in the scan, letting this next breath be received in a softening belly, this breath, and now this one. And again, you might visualize that same curve of a smile spreading through the belly, creating the space for the aliveness that's there continuing with a soft belly feeling the breath deep in the torso relaxing and opening through the pelvic region aware of your legs the length volume the weight of your legs peeling from the inside out the energy in the legs all the sensations and feelings right down into the feet perhaps in the feet you can feel from the inside out, the tingling, the vibrating, and then opening the attention, opening the awareness to feel this whole body as a field of sensation, not stopping anything or opposing anything, finding in this field of sensation the particular stream of the breath, the movement of the breath, the inflow, outflow of the breath, but then yourself find your home base in the breath, breathing in, softening the belly, letting the

in-breath fill you, and with the exhale, letting go into the universe, sensing the sound and space around you, releasing into this receptive openness. So with the in-breath, a receiving of soothing energy, healing energy, and with the out-breath, a releasing and a letting go. If you find your mind is drifted into thoughts, gently relax, open your attention, listening to the sounds around you, slight smile on your lips, and letting go again through the body.

You can soften again through the shoulders, the hands, relaxing your belly, relaxing your heart, and again resting in this natural movement of the breath. receiving the soothing, healing energies of the universe with the inflow. And releasing, letting go with the outflow. If you're noticing any tension or pain or fear, your body and your heart, you might let the breath directly go to that place of vulnerability,

breathing in and letting it be touched with a healing breath and breathing out allowing what's there to be held in a larger space released into a larger space of presence and if there's strong emotion something really needs a deeper quality of kindness you can place your hand on your heart offer a message of care such as I'm here or it's okay be at ease or this belongs moment by moment breath by breath

coming home to a rhythm and a peace that's right here letting in the energy and healing of the universe with the inflow releasing letting go with the outflow

it's natural to drift again and again and your pathway home will deepen each time you come back breathing in receiving a soothing stream of energy soften the belly opening and breathing out letting go and trusting yourself to a larger belonging stay and at home in this flowing breath, this moment, this life, resting in the breath, like a raft, gently moving with the waves, peaceful and at home moment by moment in this changing life. In these final moments, you might sense how fully you can let go in trusting yourself to the waves resting in the waves breath by breath safe and at home in this breath safe and at home in this moment right here right now safe and at home in this life