Tara Brach - Meditation: The Heartspace Where All is Welcome

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

Meditation: The Heartspace Where All is Welcome - This meditation scans through the body, and awakens attention to the open, inclusive awareness that all life arises in. We then explore experiencing that openness in the region of the heart, saying yes to life and including whatever is here with unconditional presence (a favorite "open space" meditation from the archives).

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. In this stillness, you might envision a very open blue sky stretching outward in a limitless way, vast sky, visualizing the curve of a smile spreading through that sky, that sky. So you can sense the uplift, the openness, the energy of a smile, spreading through that sky and letting the mind merge with that sky, feeling that spaciousness of awareness filled with a smile, wide open sky like mind, build with the energy, the friendliness, the openness of a smile, a sky-like mind, smiling into the eyes and letting the sensations in

the area of the eyes float in that openness. The brow is smooth, eyes are soft, slight smile at the mouth and you might feel the inside of the mouth smiling, relaxing the tongue, letting it fill the lower palate, relaxing down to the root of the tongue, feeling all the sensations in the mouth, the gums, the teeth, floating in this openness in awareness, eyes smiling, sensations floating in openness, smile at the mouth, and sensations floating, letting their shoulders drop away from the neck, Sensing the shoulders filled with awareness, the sensations and aliveness inside the shoulders just floating.

So if you sense a noddedness or tightness, let it float in awareness. Sense if you can notice and feel the space inside the shoulders, the sensations of aliveness floating, moving in that space. the hands to rest in a very easy and effortless way, and softening the hands, and softening again. Can you sense the sensations in the hands, the vibrating, the tingling, floating, in awareness, moving in space. Perhaps you can even sense the space between the sensations, just like you can sense the space or visualize the space between the particles and an atom, the nucleus of an atom, space

and aliveness, filling the hands. You might sense an openness of the chest, letting the curve of a smile spread through the heart and visualize and sense the sensations and aliveness there floating, unfolding, in the space of awareness, relaxing through the belly, letting this next breath be received in a softening belly. This breath right now, and now this one and again, you might visualize the curve of a smile spreading through the belly. Can you sense and feel the sensations and aliveness inside the belly, floating in awareness in space, energy moving and awareness?

and sensing the pelvic region filled with awareness, the liveliness floating, moving in that space of awareness. Aware of the legs, the length, volume of the legs, and sensing the vibrating and tingling of energy through the legs, right into the feet, and sense how it's all happening, floating, moving, in the space of awareness. You might visualize and imagine the space of awareness extending in front of you, outward beyond the further stars and behind

you outward beyond the further stars to both sides outward and outward beyond the further stars, beyond the further stars below you and above you outward outward and outward, beyond the further stars, the stars. I'm sensing how this boundless space around you and inner space is continuous, continuous space filled with the light of awareness, this world of sensation appearing and dissolving, floating in this boundless space of awareness, sounds appearing, disappearing in this boundless space of awareness, just resting in the wakeful openness that allows and includes this whole changing flow of life, quite natural that the mind will drift into thoughts.

You can gently relax back by reconnecting with the aliveness that's right here, feeling the breath and the changing sensations in the body, the sounds that are here, letting the sounds and sensations appear and disappear in this wakeful openness, this alert stillness, that's your own presence. We wake up from thoughts and we notice the thinking and then relax open. Thoughts are a mental contraction that always correlate with physical contraction in some way. So you can re-relax in any moment. Just noticing what might want to let go a little right now, perhaps softening the shoulders, softening the hands, softening the belly, sensing that

slight smile and relaxing your heart, letting life be just as it is. Sensation and sounds, appearing, disappearing in open awareness. You might sense how that open awareness is experienced at the region of the heart as a kind of heart space that includes what's here, the heart space where everything that is is included and welcome. From the poet Dorothy Hunt, peace is this moment without thinking it should be some other way, that you should feel some other thing, that your life should unfold according to your plans.

Peace is this moment without judgment, this moment in the heart space where everything that is is welcome.