Tara Brach - Meditation: The Silence That's Listening (from retreat)

Episode Date: June 22, 2018

Meditation: The Silence That's Listening (from retreat) - Listening to sounds is a powerful way to quiet the thinking mind and connect with the natural openness of awareness. In this guided meditation, we begin by opening to sound and then listening to and feeling the whole changing flow of life - allowing whatever is here to be just as it is. In the foreground, we notice the dance of sensations, thoughts, emotions…rising up and falling away. And in the background, a wakeful, receptive presence - the silence that is listening. When we let go of all doing and relax back into this alert stillness, we sense our true nature…our home.  In words from the Tibetan tradition: "Utterly awake, senses wide open. Utterly open, non-fixating, allowing awareness." (Morning meditation from the 2018 Spring IMCW 7-Day Silent Retreat)

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. As part of settling in this morning, you might want to bring to heart and mind your intention towards presence, towards awakening, and feeling this body sitting here, breathing, sensing the posture, whatever, subtle, aligning that supports you,

and sitting in a way that's awake, alert, at ease, and noticing if there's any places of obvious holding that want to let go, that are easy to soften, bringing our attention, opening the attention to sound, Beginning with listening, there's no doing with listening. Sounds arise and they're spontaneously known by awareness. So a global kind of listening, letting the sounds wash through you. You may be aware of very close in sounds, the sounds of these words, coming, going.

the spaces between sounds, listening into the space in the room, perhaps the most distant or subtle sounds that awareness can detect, sensing the vastness, the openness that includes all sounds arising and passing, a receptive silence that's listening, and sensing how you can bring the same listening, awareness. to receive the sensations of the body. Very soft, receptive, attentiveness in the area of the eyes. If you're listening to and feeling the sensations received in awareness, opening to the sensations through the whole face,

opening to the sensations through the shoulders, the arms, the hands, are receptive, listening and feeling the life that's here. Receiving the sensations, feeling, tone around the heart. Sense how awareness completely allows whatever's here to be just as it is. Perhaps softening the belly a bit and bringing that same receptivity and allow presence, the sensations are known by awareness through the pelvic region, perhaps the energy that streams through the legs, and the feet opening to receive simultaneously all the sensations in the body, and again including sound, listening to and feeling the whole changing flow

moment to moment, sensing in the foreground. changing sensations, sounds, thoughts, feelings. And in the background, this wakeful openness, the silence that's listening, the stillness that knows sensation, sensing this alert stillness, that's true nature, your home. At some point there's a noticing that the attention has moved in into thoughts, to notice the thinking. And there's a, that relaxing open, reopening the senses to what's right here. Again, perhaps listening to the actual sounds, relaxing in the body so that you can listen

to and feel the aliveness in the body and listen to and feel the end-of-ness in the body and listen to and feel the energy, mood, emotions, and the domain of heart. And sense for yourself, depending on the quality of your mind and attention right now, whether it would be helpful to rest with the main anchor, just letting your attention be very intimate in a focused way to further quiet and steady the mind, or whether perhaps you'd like to continue to attend to the changing, the natural flow of sound or sensation, feelings, when something strong arises to include, you can continue

breathing with what arises or not. but the intention is to say yes to whatever wave or current of experience is calling for attention. And if it's sticky or charged, you can deepen your presence, fully recognizing and allowing what's there, investigating in the body, the felt sense, contacting fully and bringing some nurturing kindness. So sensing for yourself which way of paying attention in any moment really most serves and awake and open-hearted presence. I'd ask, is anything between me and presence? Am I dreaming right now in a trance of thoughts? Letting the kind of inquiry

shine a light of awareness on what's actually happening. And often we'll find there is some sort of the interference of the veil of thoughts. Just to notice the difference between that virtual reality and what's right here. And right here might be pleasant, it might be unpleasant, and yet there's a growing freedom in opening to this heerness, reopening the senses, listening, receptive, softening a bit in the body so that you can be receptive to sensation, perhaps the shoulders, the hands, the belly. So you can feel this body breathing, receiving moment-to-moment experience through your senses.

And there's a phrase from the Tibetan tradition that's a very beautiful guide in practice. Utterly awake, senses wide open, utterly open, non-fixating, allowing awareness. You might explore utterly awake, senses wide open, just, sense, each sense door, sound, sensation, feeling wide open, utterly open, non-fixating, allowing awareness, early awake, senses wide open, utterly open, non-fixating, allowing life be just as it is, letting go of all doings and just being awareness.