Tara Brach - Meditation: Whole Body Breathing (2018-11-07)

Episode Date: November 9, 2018

Meditation: Whole Body Breathing (2018-11-07) - This guided meditation includes a body scan and invites the receptivity and letting-go of whole body breathing. Once we have awakened the vitality and presence throughout the body, we have access to the formless dimension, the awareness that is our source.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. In the stillness, take some moments to just let yourself settle, relax a bit. You might become aware of the breath and feel the breath in the area of the heart. And as if you could listen in to your heart, asking yourself the question, What is my deepest intention right now for practice?

What is it that matters to me? Sensing where you feel most sincere, what is that longing in the heart? Is it for peace of mind, to relax, to not be fearful? Is it to open your heart, to be more natural in that loving quality? Is it to be more present for your life, yourself, for others, Is it for wisdom, spiritual realization, realizing who you are? Sensing your deep intention, sensing our shared aspiration to awaken these hearts and minds

and serve the awakening of others. We open together as community, those that have joined us live streaming, those everywhere. where in this moment you might bring your palms together in front of the heart and prayer, posture, pose. So you can feel the heart's sincerity as you chant. We'll chant three times this mantra, Om, the sound current of connectedness. So begin by inhaling deeply. Be aware of this body sitting here, breathing, and gently begin to scan through the body

with your awareness. If there's any areas of particular tightness or tension, letting them soften, relax. You might pay particular attention to the area of the brow, letting the eyes be soft and the brow smooth. You can even smile into the eyes to help relax and awaken that region of the face, bringing a slight smile to the lips. This is sometimes called smile yoga because it sends a message to relax, be at ease, reduces fight-flight freeze, slight smile, letting the inside of the mouth smile, let the tongue fill the lower palate, relaxing down to the root of the tongue. You might allow the shoulders to relax back, and down a little and see if you can feel the shoulders from the inside out and begin

to detect the areas of movement and tightness. And if there's sense of clutching, of tension, let it float in awareness. Notice the possibility of a little softening, releasing, dissolving. allowing your hands to rest in a very easy and effortless way, softening the hands, softening again, and now feeling again from the inside out, what do you notice? Can you sense the tingling or pulsing or vibrating in the hand? Become aware of an openness at the chest. and again from the inside out feeling the sensations in the area of the heart, hands still soft.

You can smile into the heart, visualizing and sensing the curve of a smile, spreading through the chest. This doesn't paper over what's there, but it helps you to have room for experience. and what's the experience of the heart from the inside out, loosening down the abdominal region and so that you can let this next breath be received in a softening belly, this breath and now this breath and again letting a smile, the image and sense of a smile spread through the belly, feeling from the inside out. What do you notice? What are the sensations like?

Relaxing down through the pelvic region, feeling the life from the inside out, letting that awareness fill the legs and fill the feet. If you feel the feet from the inside out, can you notice the tingling and the vibrating there? Again, softening the hands, smiling into the eyes, widening the attention.

So you can feel this whole body simultaneously as an energetic dance, a field of sensation. Just letting go a little more, noticing how everything's moving, tingling, vibrating, heat, cool, flow, pressure, squeeze, bubbling, tingling, vibrating. You might sense with the in-breath that you're breathing into this whole energy body, even in a cellular way and the spaces between the cells. And with the out-breath, there's that settling, releasing, relaxing outward.

Your whole body breathing, this whole energy body body, breathing, completely receptive with the in-breath, exploring the very essence of receptivity, like a balloon inflating, totally receiving this life breath, with the out-breath, the essence of letting go, releasing, relaxing outward. You can feel this whole body breathing or if you just soften the hands and pay attention to the hands, sense how the breath can fill the hands, the cells and the spaces between opening the joints with the in-breath and with the out-breath settling, relaxing, letting go, exploring the nature of receptivity with the in-breath, softening and opening, the cells, the joints,

the spaces between the cells. With the out-breath of relaxing, releasing, settling. You can feel your whole body, your whole energy body breathing in this way. If it helps to focus on just the hands, that's fine. If there's something that's calling your attention, some strong discomfort, a strong emotion that has unpleasantness in the body, you can let the breath go right to that most vulnerable place. Breathing in, receiving this life breath, letting it touch the cellular level and the spaces between

the cells and with the out-breath letting go, letting what the breath, letting with the out-breath letting whatever's here, be released into the vastness around you, letting this way of breathing be a way of deepening presence with what's right here. How open and receptive can you be with this in-breath, allowing your whole being to be touched by the breath and how much can you let go with the out-breath, releasing into the vastness of space and awareness. And for these last moments now, letting go of any directing of the breath or the attention, letting the breath be just as it is.

And sensing in the background the awareness, that awake presence that's noticing everything, that which is aware of the breath and sound, that primaleworthy, that primary, immoral, pure awareness that's our true home, resting in awareness, noticing the coming and going of this life, this breath, sensation, sound, letting everything be just as it is.