Tara Brach - Meditation: Meeting Life with a Kind Presence (21:26 min.)

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

This practice guides us to a receptive, kind presence by starting with listening, and moving through a body scan. We then rest in an open awareness, responding to whatever arises with a gentle attention.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

Welcome, friends, to the Tara Brock podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Each week, I share teachings and guided meditations to help us awaken our hearts and bring healing to our world. You can learn more or support this offering by visiting tarabrock.com, where you can also join our email list. Now, let's explore together the many ways we can live from the love and presence that's our deepest essence. Namaste. We'll start our time together with meditation, really opening to our moment-to-moment experience

with an accepting heart. So in that spirit, you might close your eyes, or let the eyes be downcast, and let the attention go inward. Take some moments to adjust your sitting posture so you're sitting in a way that allows you to be alert, awake, but also at ease. You might open your practice by reflecting for a moment on your intention, the intention towards presence, the intention toward meeting the moments with a kind heart,

and then begin listening, a receptive kind of listening, to the sounds around you, listening to the most distant sounds you can hear, listening not just with your ears, but your whole awareness in a global kind of way. Notice with listening, there's nothing really to do. Sounds are known spontaneously by awareness. Just sensing the receptivity to sound and bringing the same openness and receptivity to sound to the sensations. in your body. You might become aware of the area of the brow, let your eyes soften, and as if you could listen to and feel sensations. Simply open to what's there. You might bring a slight smile to the lips, and then bring the awareness inside the mouth, receptive to the sensations,

the tongue, gums, teeth, and letting your awareness fill your shoulders. feeling the shoulders from the inside out with the same receptivity allowing the sensations the energy to be just as it is sensing if there's some natural unwinding or softening that might happen letting the hands be filled with awareness and again feeling from the inside out

receptive to the tingling or vibrating pulsing. You might sense an openness to the chest, letting the chest be filled with awareness. Receptive, present to the sensations that are right here. Receptive to the energy and the felt sense in the area of the heart. Scanning down, filling the belly with awareness. softening the belly a bit, bringing that same receptivity, that same presence, noticing the experience from the inside out, and filling the pelvic region with awareness. Again, attuning, receptive, open to the life that's right here, extending that presence and receptivity down through the

legs, sensing the feet filled with awareness, receptive, open to the tingling and vibrating sensations there. And then widening the attention to feel this whole body as a dance of sensation, witnessing, listening to, and feeling the aliveness. And again, including sound in a conscious way in this field of awareness. So you're listening to and feeling the whole moment and when the attention drifts from this receptive presence, let that be an invitation to deepen familiarity with the pathway home, to wake up out of the thoughts,

and again to listen, shifting from virtual reality to the living, changing, moving sounds and sensations that are right here. And if something strong is calling your attention, some strong, unpleasant sensation perhaps, burning, twisting, aching, tightness, or maybe a difficult emotion. Fear, sorrow, anger, jealousy, anxiety. then our practice is to include what arises relating to whatever the experience is with that presence, that gentleness, an awake heart. It's helpful to check and see if you've been lost behind that veil of thinking.

And if that's the case to relax back into presence. No reason to yank the mind to the breath or anything like that. Just simply relax open the attention again. Listen. So you're listening to the actual sounds that are here. Listen to and feel the aliveness in the body. Perhaps relaxing a little where there's obvious tightness. Listen to and feel the life of the heart.

Know that you're here. resting in presence, in a kind attention. It doesn't matter how many times the mind drifts off into thoughts. All that matters is when you notice to choose to arrive again, right here, in presence. Relax, open the attention. Re-relax. See what wants to let go a little in the body. and gently rest back in that presence that includes the changing life of the moment,

listening to and feeling the flow that's right here. For this last part of our practice, invite you to gently bring your attention to the area of the heart. You might imagine and sense the breath coming in and out of the heart, and as you do, you might sense what you might sense, the state of your heart is right now, opening to whatever human vulnerabilities, challenges, places of contraction, whatever might be going on that wants attention in your heart. And as you listen to and feel this human heart, sense what blessing, what prayer you'd like

to offer for your own well-being. And mentally whisper that, directing it inwardly with kindness, sensing your own spiritual heart, holding and caring for this human heart. And from that spiritual heart space that we all share, that edgeless open heart, you might sense the earth, our mother, in your lap, and all beings in your heart. Take a moment to sense whatever prayer or blessing you'd like to offer to our world.