Tara Brach - Meditation: Touching Peace - with a Smile (2015-08-19)

Episode Date: March 18, 2016

Meditation: Touching Peace - with a Smile (2015-08-19) - Tara is traveling this week, so asked that this "smile meditation" be posted.

Greetings. I'm Tara Brock and I'd like to welcome you to these podcasts. While the talks and meditations are offered freely, we'd very much appreciate your support. To make a donation or learn more about my schedule, please visit tarabrock.com and our I'mcw.org. Thank you. So we begin in a simple way with the breath, consciously extending the in breath so that you're breathing in deeply, filling the chest, filling the lungs. And a slow out breath, slow enough so you can feel the sensations of releasing, letting go,

letting go. And again, extend the in-breath and then a very slow out-breath. Feel with the out-breath the sensations of releasing, letting go, letting go. And again, inhaling deeply, filling the chest and lungs, breathing out slowly, and then please let your breath resuming your natural rhythm. Just feel that increased quality of presence of collectiveness right here. The atmosphere that allows a deepening of presence is one of gentleness or kindness. and the image and sense of a smile can help bring that alive.

You might sense the curve of a smile filling space all around you as if there's this great blue open sky filled with the curve of a smile. Imagine that your mind is merging with that open space so that the smile is filling your mind, right, receptive, open, feeling the smile spread through the region of the eyes. So the outer corners of the eyes are slightly lifted, letting the eyes be soft, the brow smooth, feeling a slight smile at the mouth. And see if you can sense the inside of the mouth filled with that sense of a smile, relaxing down to the root of the tongue.

The eyes are smiling, the mouth. You might feel the breath at the throat and sense a curve of the smile at the throat, sensing how the throat can fill the neck and that smile can create a sense of openness and receptivity. And then feeling the smile spread through the heart and chest area, smiling into the heart, sensing the smile there not to cover over but to make space for whatever is here. Letting that openness of a smile spread outward and outward so that the shoulders can relax away from the neck, relax back and down. You might feel the shoulders from the inside out, sensing and feeling the aliveness that's

there. the space, letting the hands rest in an easy, effortless way and feeling inside the hands, softening and feeling the life inside the hands. See if you can notice the tingling or vibrating the way aliveness moves through the hands. Again checking back to the eyes and letting the smile be there, softening, slight smile at the mouth, the throat. and feeling the smile spreading through the chest, feeling the inside out the chest area,

the whole play of sensation, feeling, scanning down the body, feeling the area of the belly, the abdominal area, and sensing the curve of a smile there, visualizing and feeling that receptive curve of a smile. See if you can feel the aliveness and space,

softening the belly, feeling from the inside out the life that's there. Continuing to scan downward, letting a smile fill the whole pelvic region, visualizing and feeling the curve of a smile, that receptivity and openness, and feeling from the inside out, the aliveness that fills you. Feeling the region of the legs, the life inside the legs, right down into the feet. and then widening the lens of attention to feel this whole body simultaneously as a field of sensation, not stopping anything, not opposing, just letting this life play itself, resting in this open, smiling awareness that allows life to be just as it is, continuing to sense this whole sea

of aliveness, and then resting the attention on the simple movement of the breath, the sensations of the inflow and outflow right here, moment to moment, with the breath coming in, simply opening to receive, totally opening to receive. With the breath going out, simply letting go, dissolving outward, letting go into the sea of awareness. You notice that the mind has drifted. See if you can relax back. Relax back by opening the field of awareness to include sound that's right here, reopening. the attention in the body and relaxing through the body, relaxing back to this next in-breath

or out-breath as the breath comes in, opening to receive, just touching the life of the moment. And as the breath goes out, dissolving outward into the space around you, letting go. If something strong is calling that wants your attention, some strong emotion or sensations in the body, then include what's there, breathing with the experience. You might sense as you breathe in that you're touching fully the experience. And as you breathe out, that you're letting it be held in the space of awareness. When it's no longer a compelling experience, just to come back to the simplicity of the breath again. We experiment with the intention to relax fully with whatever's going on inside you.

These are the words of Lama Gendon Rimpashe. Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but it is already there in relaxation and letting go. Don't strain yourself. There's nothing to do. Let the game happen on its own springing up and falling back without changing anything. only our searching for happiness prevents us from seeing it. Waiting to grasp the ungraspable, you exhaust yourself in vain.

As soon as you relax this grasping, space is there. Open, inviting, and comfortable. Nothing to do. Nothing to force. Nothing to want. And everything happens. by itself.