Tara Brach - Meditation: Presence, Breath, Full Aliveness (2015-07-08)

Episode Date: July 11, 2015

Meditation: Presence, Breath, Full Aliveness (2015-07-08)

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock, meditation teacher, psychologist, and author. Please begin by finding a comfortable sitting position. And by that, meaning a way of sitting where you're upright, so you're sitting tall and also relaxed at ease, letting the sitting posture be whatever's most conducive to being alert and relaxed. We'll begin by taking a few full breaths together.

I'd like to invite you to inhale and really fill the chest and lungs, an extended inhale. And then a slow out breath, releasing the breath, releasing the breath, and feeling the sensations as you let go. And then inhaling deeply again,

filling the chest and lungs. Slow out breath, letting go, letting go. and one more time, inhaling deeply, nice full conscious in-breath. And with the out-breath, softening down the length of the body, letting go, letting go. And allowing the breath to resume in its natural rhythm, relaxing with the inflow, relaxing with the outflow, with the receptive quality of listening, just to ask yourself now

what your intention is in being here for this meditation, what you long for, what most matters to you. See if you connect with what feels most sincere. We open together as community with a simple chant of the mantra Ome, that's a sound current of connectedness, and see if you can let that chant, that sounding, arise from a sincere heart. And to deepen that heart presence, you might gently bring the palms together,

touching lightly in prayer pose. We'll begin by inhaling deeply. The chant will be three times, so start by inhaling and filling the lungs. Body to a full presence by scanning with awareness. You might feel the region of the eyes, soften the eyes. Let the eyes be relaxed. the brow smooth, feeling the mouth, sensing a slight smile at the mouth, letting the inside of the mouth smile,

letting the tongue press gently against the roof of the mouth and the root of the tongue, very relaxed. See if you can feel the whole constellation of sensations in the area of the mouth, letting the shoulders fall away from the neck. And feeling the shoulders from the inside, side out, placing the awareness inside the shoulders. And see if in that space of awareness you can feel the tingling and vibrating and perhaps squeeze or tension, whatever's there.

Softening a little more inside the shoulders. And see if there's any deepening of that letting go. Letting the hands rest in an easy, effortless way. And then placing the awareness inside the hands. so you can feel as you soften the hands now the tingling and vibrating and aliveness that's there. Let there be an openness to the chest and feel from the inside out the area of the heart

just letting whatever sensations are there let them express and float in awareness. Again, sensing the eyes and softening in the eyes slight smile at the mouth, letting go in the shoulders, softening the hands, feeling the heart from the inside out, and extending downward to loosen the abdominal area. And see if you can receive this next breath in a softening belly. This breath, and now this one, and again, you begin to feel from the inside out the aliveness that fills the belly and continuing to scan downward, sensing the whole pelvic region.

And again, from the inside out, feeling the dance of aliveness, the changing sensations. You might sense the contact points where your hands touch your legs or each other, the warmth, their pressure there, where your bottom touches the cushion or chair, where your feet touch the ground, dealing the feet from the inside out, the play of sensation there, and then widening the lens of attention to include simultaneously this whole body, this whole field of energy we call the body, just sense it as a field of dancing sensation. and see if with a surrendering presence you can just let everything happen, not opposing or resisting anything.

If you notice tightening or tensing, just bringing the awareness to that area and sense the possibility of a natural untangling, a natural loosening, re-relaxing into the changing flow, including in this field of aliveness, the changing dance of sound. the soft sounds appearing and disappearing in the room, spaces between sounds, the spaces between these words, receptive, noticing you can't eam at sound. Rather, you can listen, not just with your ears, listening with your whole awareness,

listening to the more distant sounds, letting the sounds wash through the sounds, you, re-relaxing and letting sensations live through you, sensing behind the listening to sound, the feeling of sensation. This alert, inner stillness, this presence, this wakeful openness, and as a way to stabilize or steady the attention, to feel this background of presence moment to moment. You might sense in a gentle way the simple movement of the breath, a relaxed, intimate presence with the breath. You might notice where your attention is and if the mind is drifted, just to welcome yourself back. No judgment, simply re-relaxing, open, listening again, letting go a bit in the body, shoulders, softening the hands, relaxing the heart, letting the senses be awake,

and perhaps feeling the gentle movement of the breath in the foreground, and in the background, that presence, that wakefulness and openness, that's our deepest, most intimate nature. We'll close the sitting with a simple wish of loving kindness. bringing your heart and your presence to your own experience and just sensing whatever blessing or prayer you'd like to offer to yourself and sensing the heart space that's here that is truly inclusive sensing that you hold this life, this world in your heart

and feel your prayer for all beings