Tara Brach - Meditation: The Space and Aliveness of Presence (21:56 min.)

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

We arrive in presence by deepening attention in the body; relaxing and awakening through a body scan. That presence deepens as we bring our attention to the space of awareness that includes the changing flow of sounds, sensations and feelings. In that wholeness of formlessness and form, we discover our natural being - open, awake and tender.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. A primary entry to presence is really by waking up awareness through the body. So we begin with scanning through the body. You might first just scan and see if there's areas of real obvious tension or tightness. and see if it's possible to soften a little. So you can feel the life and the movement of energy there.

You might pay particular attention to the area of the brow and smile into the eyes. Sense the outer corners of the eyes lifting a smile. So the eyes can soften. The brow can be smooth. aware of the energy, the sensations in that part of your face. In a similar way, bringing a slight smile to the mouth, you might sense the inside of the mouth smiling. Let the tongue fill the lower palate,

sense if it's possible to relax down to the root of the tongue, opening the attention to feel the whole realm of sensation inside of the heart of the tongue, inside the mouth, the gums, the teeth, tongue, lips. Notice if the eyes are still soft. Again, that slight smile at the mouth. You might let the shoulders fall away from the necksum. And can you feel the awareness that fills the shoulders? Feeling from the inside out, tingling or vibrating, tightness or flow. If there's real knots in the shoulders, you might imagine that you can let them float in awareness. Are the hands resting in an easy and effortless way? Can you soften the hands a bit? You might explore what happens when you soften again and

then feel from the inside out, the aliveness inside the hands, noticing if the eyes are still soft, slight smile at the mouth, awareness filling the shoulders, hands soft, filled with aliveness and openness at the chest and then feeling inside the chest, letting the chest be filled with awareness, feeling the heart area from the inside out, the play of energy, sensations. You might smile into the heart, imagine and feel the curve of a smile spreading through the heart and sense if you're more connected with the aliveness that's there as you do that. If smiling into the heart creates some space for what's there, the same way you might

visualize and sense the curve of a smile spreading through the belly. Let the breath and the awareness go deep into the torso, feeling the life inside the belly. The eyes are still soft, Slight smile at the mouth. Awareness filling the shoulders. Soft. Hands. Feeling the energy inside the hands. Openness at the chest, sensing that smile at the heart,

the aliveness there. The smile spreading through the belly. Feeling the sensations and energy there. You can sense and visualize that same curve of the the same curve of a smile through the pelvic region, feeling the awareness from the inside out of the aliveness, sensations and energy in that region. Bringing the attention to the legs, aware of the length and the volume of the legs. And see if you can feel the feet from the inside out.

Can you feel the tingling and the vibrating there? widening the attention now to feel this whole body simultaneously as a field of sensation, not opposing anything, letting everything happen, including in this field of aliveness, the symphony of sound, letting sounds wash through you, receiving even the most distant sounds you can detect, and sensing the vastness of awareness that sounds and sensation appear in, disappear in. So you're aware in the foreground of this changing play of sound, feelings, sensations. And in the background, this vast, wakeful stillness, that which is aware, your true nature, your true home, relaxing back and just being that, being that process,

It's quite natural that you'll notice the mind goes off into thoughts, time travels. When you're aware of that, the practice is to simply note the thinking, notice that it's happening and relax, open the attention again, reawakening the senses to what's right here, where of the sounds, where of the sensations that move to the body. perhaps softening and relaxing again in the body, the shoulders, the hands, relaxing your heart. You can again in the foreground sense these changing ways of sensations and sounds, feelings, and sense in the background that alert inner stillness, that which is aware.

for some if it helps to keep in the foreground a more continual attention to the breath as a way to steady the mind, that can be a good support. Feeling the inflow and outflow of the breath to help you know you're right here, right in the center of now, moment, by moment, by moment. You might ask yourself, am I a moment? I entrance right now. Where's my attention? You've been off in a virtual reality with a friendly and interested attention. Relax back to presence. Rediscover what's right here. Notice what's going on in your body, your heart, your belly. If being here feels difficult in some way, Bring a real sense of kindness, saying yes to the moment with gentleness, with a real sense

of compassion. Let your intention be reality, fully opening to what is, letting life be just as it is. Closing this meditation by calling on the most awake, wise heart space. within you, your awakened heart, and sensing that you can offer from that awake heart any wish or blessing you have for your own being. What is it? What's your prayer, your wish for your own being right now? And then sensing that heart space is all-inclusive, including all-beams everywhere,

feeling again the prayer wish you have for all beings, for the peace, well-being, freedom of all beings.