Tara Brach - Vipassana (Insight or Mindfulness) Meditation

Episode Date: September 27, 2013

2013-09-25 - Guided Meditation - Vipassana (Insight or Mindfulness)

The primary entry to presence is through this living body. So you might let the awareness scan through your body and notice if there are any areas of particular tension or tightness just to bring a soft attention to those places, sensing the possibility of relaxing a bit, loosening, softening. You might notice the area around the eyes and let the brow be smooth, the eyes soft, relaxing the jaw.

You might sense a half smile at the mouth. Slight but real smile. Sometimes described as smile yoga because it sends a message to the whole nervous system to just relax the fight-flight to come into more of a sense. sense of ease. You might sense the curve of a smile spreading through the chest, through the heart area, not to cover over anything, but just to sense the space there for whatever your experience is, letting that space widen so that the shoulders can relax back and down a bit, softening, from the inside out feeling the shoulders and letting go a bit, letting the hands rest in a very

easy and effortless way, softening the hands and feeling the life from the inside out there, tingling, vibrating, aliveness. Let the chest be open and the belly soft. Receiving this next breath and a softening belly, this breath, and then this one and again, relaxing deep into the torso, scanning with the attention down the body, this breath, and then this one, and again, relaxing deep into the torso, scanning with the attention down the legs so you can feel again the sensations and aliveness through the legs, feeling the feet from the inside. And then notice what happens if you widen the attention to feel this whole body as a field of sensation.

Just let everything happen, tingling and vibrating, heat are cool, tightness, our flow, and just letting this life live through you, discovering in the midst of this field of sensation the sensations of the breath, the inflow, outflow of the breath, feeling the breath in a receptive way, just letting it be naturally as it is, noticing the breath where it's most predominant and easy to feel. It may be the inflow, outflow at the nostrils. You might notice a rise falling sensations at the chest, or perhaps the expanding and then the settling at the belly. For some, the breath is most easy to detect as an expanding through the whole body, even on a cellular level, an opening, expanding, and then a deflating and settling, the whole

body breathing. Your attention is letting this breath be a home base. relaxing with the inflow, relaxing with the outflow. When you notice the mind has drifted into thoughts, perhaps the future or the past, commentary, judgment, simply pause, recognize the fact of thinking and allow the mind to widen open again. So you're once again aware of perhaps the sounds around you that are right here, there of the aliveness of sensation in the body right here, this moment. And with a gentle, soft attention resting again in the inflow, outflow of the breath, your anchor to presence,

your home base. Letting the breath stay in the foreground unless some other strong experience arises and asks for your attention, perhaps a strong sensation of pain or unpleasantness in the back or perhaps some tingling that's very pleasant somewhere else. If there's some strong experience, then we let go of the breath as our primary focus and open the attention to what's arising, feeling it directly, acceptively, allowing it to be there, to change as it does. And when it no longer calls the attention, then we gently come to rest again in the breath. A similar way of a strong emotion arises, sadness or fear, excitement, strong happiness,

to let go of the breath and open to the emotion as a constellation of sensation. in the body, a felt sense in the body, saying yes to what arises, moment to moment, and if nothing is calling the attention strongly, to continue to relax with the inflow of the breath and relax with the outflow. Know that you're here, right here, rest in the present moment. start fresh in any moment, dedicating a kind and full presence to just what's right here. It's helpful to re-relax if you notice the body's tightened up, perhaps softening again in the shoulders, softening the hands, loosening a bit in the belly, relaxing your heart. If what

you connect with in the moment is difficult, you might explore feeling it as sensations, and See what happens if you really say yes, if energetically you allow life to be just as it is. The key to presence is bringing interest and friendliness to what unfolds. It's the meditation in a very simple way with a blessing of loving kindness to first sense what wish, what prayer of care or blessing you'd like to offer to your own heart. And just take a moment to whisper with sincerity some message or blessing to your own heart and sensing this whole living world and what prayer or blessing you'd like to offer to the life that's within and around you.

Again with a mental whisper.