Tara Brach - Meditation: Meeting Fear with a Healing Breath (2020-04-01)

Episode Date: April 2, 2020

Meditation: Meeting Fear with a Healing Breath (2020-04-01) - 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 and 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 to 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 the knees spread through the face, scalp and the skull. It's feeling the tingling, the vibrating, and aliveness, filling the whole head, face,

the 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 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 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 liveliness 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, feeling 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, letting 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 as drifted in thoughts,

gently relax to 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, 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. at east, 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 billy, 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