Tara Brach - Meditation: Yes to Our Moments (2020-12-09)

Episode Date: December 10, 2020

Meditation: Yes to Our Moments (2020-12-09) - When we open without resistance to the changing flow of aliveness, we discover the formless presence that is our true home. This meditation guides us through a body scan and then opening to all sounds, sensations and emotions with the energetic allowing of "Yes." We close with a poem by Danna Faulds, "White Dove."

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. Wherever you are, just take some moments now and find yourself a way of sitting that's comfortable so that you're alert, you're able to stay awake. Usually an upright posture helps with that. And also at ease.

And as part of settling, for many it helps to close your eyes and let the attention go inward, coming into stillness, letting the attention rest with the breath, and extending the breath now so that you inhale and fill the chest, the lungs, breathing in fully, and then the out breath is slow so you can feel the sensations of the breath as it's released. And again, inhaling deeply, filling the chest in the lungs, and a slow out breath, feel a sense of relaxing outward and letting go, letting go. One more time, inhaling deeply, a slow, smooth out breath, relaxing, softening down the length of the body with the exhale.

And then allowing your breath. to come back into its natural rhythm and sense yourself both observing the breath and feeling the breath with an increased presence. Taking these moments to set your intention for practice, that aspiration to regard whatever arises with a kind allowing attention. And we deepen that presence as we scan through the body. You might begin with the eyes, softening the eyes.

Feeling the tingling around the eyes as you let the brow be smooth, so many micro-muscles in that region and they contract as we're thinking. And as we soften, it helps to wake up from the thoughts. You might bring a slight smile to the lips. That sends a message to the whole nervous system. to come into more ease. You might let the tongue fill the lower palate and see if you can relax right down to the root of the tongue. Widen the attention so you can feel the tingling and vibrating through the mouth. Feel the surface of the skin of the face, scalp and the skull, allowing the attention

to come into the shoulders, allow the shoulders to fall away from the neck and then feel the shoulders from the inside out. This is an area we typically carry so much tension. No need to try to do anything. Just let whatever tightness you might feel, let it float. Let it relax naturally, dissolve naturally in awareness, feeling the hands and making sure they're resting in an easy way and effort worthless way and then softening the hands and softening again and feeling them from the inside out and intimate relaxed attention. See just receiving the sensations with awareness. Let the chest be open and then allow the attention to settle in the heart area.

Again a receptive, soft, allowing presence. just feeling the life that's here, bringing that receptive presence to the back, the upper back, a sense if it's possible to let go just a little, and then the mid back, letting the belly soften also, so that this next breath is received by a softening belly, this breath, and now this one, and again, relaxing down through the lower back and the pelvic region, You might feel the breath received deep in the torso now, letting the sensations that arise be received by awareness, aware of the legs, the length, the weight, the volume, feeling the feet from the inside out, the tingling, vibrating, and sensing this whole body all at once,

this energy body, this field of sensation, not opposing anything, not controlling anything, letting this whole life live through you, letting this whole life be received in a wakeful space of awareness, including in this awareness the sounds that arise and pass, perhaps the sounds of these words, the closened sounds in the room. just letting sounds wash through you, letting sensations wash through you, letting this life live through you, and continuing to rest in this receptive, open presence, listening to and feeling the changing life that's here. If it helps you to steady the attention by having the breath in the foreground, just to let there be that gentle resting with the inflow and the outflow.

of the wider field of sensations and sound. At some point you'll notice that the mind is drifted, as it naturally does. It's the nature of mind to go off into thought forms. And your pathway home, your pathway home, is to simply pause and notice that without any judgment. Notice thinking, thinking, and then reopen. the attention to the actual sounds that are right here, listening, and reopen the senses to the aliveness in the body, perhaps by softening again and loosening a little in the shoulders, softening the hands, and softening the belly, and relaxing the heart.

So you can feel the aliveness and letting this life live through you. and the sounds living through you. And if something is moving through that's difficult, some physical discomfort, some emotional difficulty like fear, anxiety, sorrow, shame, anger, then to bring special attention to those waves of experience, to let your intention be to say yes. energetically say yes, allowing whatever waves are arising to belong right here. Let them come, let them go. If it helps as you say yes, you can put your hand on your heart and send some kindness

to whatever feels vulnerable to create more space for the life to live through you, noticing where your attention is and finding that pathway home back with your senses awake, listening to the sounds that are here, opening to the sensations, the feelings of the moment. And you might sense if there's anything right now asking for your acceptance. There's any difficult sensation or emotion that is asking for inclusion. And if there's something there, then again to bring that energetic yes, it could be the the word yes or you might whisper this belongs or place your hand again on your heart and just send some kindness to whatever is asking for acceptance and then widening the attention sensing

who you are and what is here when you're truly saying yes to the moment we close with the poem by my friend and poet donna falls in the shared quiet an invitation arises like a white dove lifting from a limb and taking flight. Come and live in truth. Take your place in the flow of grace. Draw aside the veil you thought would always separate your heart from love. All you ever longed for is before you in this moment, if you dare draw inner breath, and whisper yes.