Tara Brach - Meditation: Relaxing with a Smile into Living Presence (15 min)

Episode Date: July 13, 2017

Meditation: Relaxing with a Smile into Living Presence (15 min) - This meditation guides us to awaken to sensation using the image of a smile and scanning through the body. We then open to sound and to the entire changing flow of experience. When we connect with the changing flow of sensations, feelings and sounds, we also discover the formless awareness that is our Source… and home. We end with a prayer that includes our own being and all beings. From the meditation closing: Sometimes the inquiry, "Am I dreaming?" can help to clarify both the trance and the veils that we're hiding behind and what's actually here. "Am I dreaming?" Just to sense the thoughts, stories, commentary that keeps us one step removed from this vibrant mystery that's right here. And then relax back again. Moment to moment - relaxing with the life that's right here ...this breath ...these feelings ...these sensations ...this life. In these last few minutes, you might ask yourself, "Can I let go just a little bit more?" Let go of the thoughts, the veils of stories. The tension in the body - let go, relax, and let this life live through you. We close by bringing attention to the heart. Offering your heart, whatever blessing, saying, or wish most resonates in this moment. Sense that this world, this life, is part of your heart. Offering those around you, those close to you in your life, and all beings, your blessings. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. You can deepen the quality of presence by very gently scanning through the body with the awareness. Just feeling from the inside out the life of the body. You might soften the eyes, let the brow be smooth, A lot of tensions carried around the brow. The more we think, the more there's kind of a knitting and a tightness there.

Sensing a smile spreading through the eyes can help to really ease that area. Corners of the eyes uplifted. A slight smile at the mouth. It's if you can sense the inside of the mouth smiling, letting the jaw be unhinged, relaxing down to the root of the tongue. and just feeling the sensations through the whole mouth area from the inside out, gums, teeth, tongue, lips, slight smile still. Feel the throat, sense the throat filling the neck area, smile through the throat.

Just letting that curve of a smile relax the tension, visualizing and feeling it. And then smile through the heart area, not to cover. over over but really to help connect with the space that's there. So you can feel the life in the heart and chest. Feel the shoulders from the inside out. You might sense the possibility of a dissolving or loosening there. Let the hands rest in an easy, effortless way. Placing the awareness inside the hands.

to notice the natural movement of energy, the vibrating or tingling. You might experiment by softening the hands a little more and seeing what more you notice how much aliveness is there in the palms and the fingers. Let the chest be open. And loosening down, softening the belly, letting this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath and this one and again, waking up the awareness deep in the torso. You might sense a smile, the curve of a smile, visualizing and feeling that in the belly. Sense the play of sensations from the inside out, extending deep into the pelvic region, hips, buttocks, genitals,

depending to the play of aliveness, movement of sensation, scanning down the legs so that that you can bring the awareness inside the legs right down into the feet. You might sense the feet extending energetically into the earth and sense this whole earth as a field of aliveness. And since your body is part of that, so you can feel this whole body as a whole changing dance of sensation, just let everything happen, not stopping anything. Let your only intention be to relax and re-relax opening to this really magical play of vibration, sensation, aliveness, widening out the attention even further to include sound

if you're not listening with your ears but with your whole awareness, close in sounds and the spaces between sounds, noticing that you don't have to do anything to listen sounds are known spontaneously, even the more distant sounds, listening to the most distant sounds you can perceive, sensing how even the most distant sounds are included in this vast, edgeless awareness, resting in that vastness, listening to and feeling the whole moment, sensing in the foreground, this whole play of life. And sensing in the background this sentience, the awareness that knows, this stillness, this wakeful stillness, that's aware of this changing life. It's quite natural to leave this beingness, this awareness, the sense of the aliveness that's right here and go off into the trance of thinking.

For most of us it happens again and again. So when you notice that you're in a virtual reality, let your pathway back be a kind of relaxing, open, relaxing back, reopening the mind to notice sound, re-relaxing in the body, opening to sensation, coming back to your senses right here, relaxing back and sensing the awareness, the most subjective reality of your being right here. Sometimes the inquiry, am I dreaming, can help to clarify both the trance or the veils that we're hiding behind and what's actually here. Am I dreaming?

Just a sense of thoughts, stories, commentary. that keeps us one step removed from this vibrant mystery that's right here. And then relax back again. Moment to moment relaxing with the life that's right here. This breath, these feelings, these sensations, this life. In these last few minutes you might ask yourself, can I let go just a little bit more, go of the thoughts, the veils of stories, the tension in the body. Just let go to relax and let this life live through you. I close by bringing the attention to the heart. Just offering your

heart whatever blessing or wish most resonates in this moment. And since that this world, this life is part of your heart, offering those arrangements. around you, those close to you in your life, and all beings, your blessings.