Tara Brach - Meditation: The Center of Now (22:26 min)

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

The portal to presence is awakening through the body from the inside out, and then opening to include sound in field of aliveness. This reveals  the awake space that everything's happening in; the space that lets everything be, just as it is. It's in that full allowing that we discover the center of now, that pure still presence that is the very source of our being. The meditation ends with an offering of prayer as that presence is experienced in the domain of the heart.   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. Our gateway to presence is through waking up in the body

many times. It can be quite simple to begin with the eyes. Often when we're thinking a lot, the muscles around the eyes get tight. So you might intentionally soften around the eyes. As if you're

smiling into the eyes and letting the outside corners of the eyes gently be drawn upward a bit. Let the brow be smooth. Slight smile at the mouth, the inside of the mouth smiling. As Zen teacher Ticknadhan describes it, this is smile yoga.

It sets a kind of message to the nervous system to relax the fight-flight-fries response and be more at ease. Just feel that inner and outer smile, very slight but real, in the atmosphere of a smile spreading through the face, through the brain. You might sense the curve of a smile at the throat and sense the space and the ease spreading there,

letting the throat fill the neck area, sensing that, visualizing that curve of a smile, feeling the sensations that are there, allowing the shoulders to relax back and down a bit. Let the awareness fill the shoulders, you're feeling from the inside out. You might imagine the shift from ice to water, that kind of melting sensation. Inside the shoulders, ice to water, and then water to gas. Can you feel sensations moving in the shoulders? And also the space that they're floating in, untangling in, letting the hands rest in the easy and effortless

way, softening the hands, softening and then from the inside out, sensing the aliveness that's there. See if you can notice the tingling and the vibrating, the movement of sensation. letting there be an openness at the chest and then feeling the region of the heart from the inside out be aware of whatever sensations are there with interest, with a gentle attention, noticing both the sensations at the heart

and also the space that sensations are moving in, unfolding in. You might smile into the heart area, visualizing and noticing the felt sense of a smile spreading through that region. Not to cover over anything. Put to sense even more directly the space that has room for this life. It's letting life be, continuing to scan down the body, letting the curve of a smile, that image and felt sense spread through the abdominal area.

below the navel, just visualize and feel that and sense the aliveness in that region. You might let this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath and then another, aware of the movement of sensation and the space that it's floating in, rechecking back to the area of the eyes, soft, smiling into the eyes, the corners uplifted a bit, brow smooth, and the mouth, slight smile there, the throat, sensing the curve of a smile, the aliveness there, and the heart, space, and aliveness, and the belly, soft, open, feeling the energy there, continuing to scan down, feeling the pelvic region. Again, you might sense the curve of a smile, just visualize and feel that curve of a smile in the space,

the openness that aliveness happens in. It's feeling the dance of sensation, deep in the torso, feeling the length and the volume of the legs, filling the feet with awareness. So you can feel the tingling and vibrating there, places of warmth, pressure, including the hand, again, softening the hands, and then widening the attention to sense this whole body as a dance of sensation, vibrating, tingling. Just let everything happen, sense that you can surrender over and over into this field of aliveness, just letting life lift through you. Notice how sounds spontaneously are known, peer and disappear.

in this field of aliveness, aware of sound and sensation, and the vast openness that they appear and disappear in, like points of light in the night sky, continuing to relax back and just surrender, rest, be that awake open space that knows this changing play of sound and sensation, feelings, the dance of life, letting everything be just as it is. At some point you'll notice quite naturally that the mind's drifted into thoughts.

Let the practice be simple, just to relax open. Noticing again the sounds that are actually right here. Noticing the play of sensations. Coming back to your senses and to the wakeful openness that everything's happening in. The mind's particularly busy, it can be helpful to let the breath be in the foreground, relaxing with the inflow, relaxing with the outflow, still aware of the play of sound and sensation. Knowing that you're here, right here, right in the center of now, no matter of how far the mind has traveled, you can relax back in any moment. That's the gift of this intention

to be here. Just when you notice, oh okay, thinking, thinking. Gently reopen the attention, surrendering the storyline and reconnecting with the aliveness that's right here, moment to moment, a relaxed presence, just noticing what's happening, allowing this changing flow of life to be as it is. And in that allowing, there's a realization of the very center of now as a way of closing, bringing the attention to your heart and sensing how the heart of your heart experiences presence. sensing the intrinsic tenderness of heart space. And from that heart space, offering whatever wish or prayer to your own being

most resonates in this moment. And sensing how this heart space naturally includes those around you, naturally includes all sentient beings, feeling your prayer, feeling your care, extend to all beings everywhere.