WEBVTT
1
00:00:03.490 --> 00:00:07.589
The following meditation is led by Tara Brach. To access
2
00:00:07.629 --> 00:00:10.919
more of my meditations or join my email list, please
3
00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:50.820
visit tarabrach.com. This meditation is called Living Embodied Presence. And
4
00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.619
we begin in a simple way with our breath as
5
00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:58.479
we often do. Please become aware of your body breathing.
6
00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:10.140
And now extending the in-breath so that you're filling the
7
00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:16.780
chest and the lungs, a nice long deep in-breath. And
8
00:01:16.829 --> 00:01:24.469
a slow out-breath. And with the out-breath, relaxing, letting go. Again,
9
00:01:24.510 --> 00:01:34.290
a nice full deep in-breath. A slow out-breath, letting go,
10
00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:41.090
letting go. And one more time, a nice deep, full inhale,
11
00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:50.299
filling the chest and the lungs. And then a slow out-breath,
12
00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:55.689
softening down the length of your body, relaxing, letting go.
13
00:01:58.430 --> 00:02:01.709
And then allowing the breath to resume in its natural rhythm,
14
00:02:03.650 --> 00:02:08.330
just sensing the possibility as the breath naturally comes in
15
00:02:08.469 --> 00:02:18.189
of receiving, opening, even in a cellular way. And then
16
00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:22.719
as the breath goes out, that releasing, letting go into
17
00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:27.620
the universe around you, letting this life breath flow in
18
00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:41.909
and out And now with a gentle attention we'll begin
19
00:02:42.030 --> 00:02:46.180
scanning through the body. And as we often do, sense
20
00:02:46.289 --> 00:02:52.120
the brow, the area of the forehead, the eyes, letting
21
00:02:52.159 --> 00:03:00.860
the eyes soften, letting the brow be smooth. You might
22
00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:04.500
imagine smiling into the eyes, letting the curve of a
23
00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:11.930
smile spread through the eyes. And becoming aware of the
24
00:03:11.990 --> 00:03:22.219
aliveness in that whole region, tingling, vibrating, perhaps the flickering
25
00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:30.370
of light and darkness at the lids. And bringing a
26
00:03:30.590 --> 00:03:36.409
slight smile to the mouth, the inside of the mouth smiling,
27
00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:43.530
Now relaxing the tongue, let it fill the lower palate.
28
00:03:45.969 --> 00:03:48.400
And sense that you can relax right down to the
29
00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:58.960
root of the tongue. Opening your attention to the sensations
30
00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:03.710
that fill the mouth now, the tongue, gums, the teeth,
31
00:04:04.849 --> 00:04:14.770
the lips. and letting that receptivity, so it's the sensations
32
00:04:15.669 --> 00:04:22.089
now spread through the face, the scalp and the skull.
33
00:04:30.069 --> 00:04:39.129
You might imagine the throat filling the neck, feeling the
34
00:04:39.189 --> 00:04:44.870
sensations in that area as you gently now allow the
35
00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:52.529
shoulders to fall away from the neck, letting the shoulders
36
00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:58.110
fill with awareness so you can feel from the inside
37
00:04:58.350 --> 00:05:03.649
out the movement of energy. And if there's areas of
38
00:05:03.750 --> 00:05:10.269
tension or tightness, you might imagine that dissolving from ice
39
00:05:10.370 --> 00:05:19.029
to water, a kind of melting. Ice to water, letting go.
40
00:05:19.050 --> 00:05:32.420
And then water to vapor. Letting whatever is in the
41
00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:41.699
shoulders float in awareness. So you can feel the space
42
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:50.810
and the aliveness in the shoulders. Aware of the arms,
43
00:05:50.850 --> 00:05:55.430
the energy that moves through the arms, right into the hands.
44
00:05:57.310 --> 00:06:03.269
Taking these moments to soften the hands. And then soften again.
45
00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:12.250
And again. Notice how as you soften, as you relax,
46
00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:20.629
you can become aware more of the aliveness in What
47
00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:32.750
do you notice? Can you sense heat and cool, tingling, vibrating, pulsing?
48
00:06:38.970 --> 00:06:42.379
Just as a cup is filled with water, this whole
49
00:06:42.449 --> 00:06:51.089
body is filled with awareness and aliveness. You might sense
50
00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:57.750
an openness at the chest. And you might smile into
51
00:06:57.769 --> 00:07:04.779
the area of the heart. Visualizing and having the felt
52
00:07:04.899 --> 00:07:09.899
sense of the curve of a smile spreading through the heart.
53
00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:16.939
And sense how that can open space to whatever is
54
00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:27.430
right here. And feel more whatever sensations, emotions are there.
55
00:07:37.670 --> 00:07:42.149
Bringing that receptivity to feeling down into the belly. You
56
00:07:42.189 --> 00:07:45.089
might sense the curve of a smile spreading through the belly,
57
00:07:47.449 --> 00:07:52.000
letting this next breath be received in a softening belly
58
00:07:53.279 --> 00:08:07.490
this breath and now this one and again letting the
59
00:08:07.529 --> 00:08:12.509
belly remain soft feeling from the inside out the life,
60
00:08:12.610 --> 00:08:16.740
the aliveness, the awareness that's right here in the belly
61
00:08:31.250 --> 00:08:35.730
Scanning through the pelvic region, again you might visualize and
62
00:08:35.769 --> 00:08:39.330
have the felt sense of a smile spreading through that area.
63
00:08:40.750 --> 00:08:45.750
So you can feel from the inside out, again, the aliveness,
64
00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:58.720
the energy that's there. Aware of the legs, the length.
65
00:08:59.490 --> 00:09:06.090
the volume, the weight of your legs and can you
66
00:09:06.190 --> 00:09:12.519
feel from the inside the energy, the sensations the space
67
00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:28.129
inside the legs let your feet fill with awareness the toes, heels,
68
00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:34.100
insteps feeling the space between the soles of the feet
69
00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:40.379
and the top of the feet, feeling the aliveness in
70
00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:48.429
the feet, and sensing your connection deep, deep into the earth,
71
00:09:49.389 --> 00:09:53.309
feeling the whole earth body, the aliveness and energy of
72
00:09:53.330 --> 00:09:58.059
the earth body flowing up into your body, filling you,
73
00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:04.279
So as you open and widen the attention you can
74
00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:10.559
feel this whole body as a field of sensation, of aliveness,
75
00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:34.370
of energy. Just let everything happen. This whole play of aliveness, tingling, vibrating, heat, cool,
76
00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:45.149
perhaps pleasantness or unpleasantness, tightness or flow, just letting life
77
00:10:45.250 --> 00:11:08.149
live through you. just as it is. And it widened
78
00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:14.700
the attention to include the play of sound, the sounds
79
00:11:14.740 --> 00:11:23.919
and the space around you. Perhaps the most distant sounds
80
00:11:23.970 --> 00:11:34.929
you can detect. All arising and passing in this great
81
00:11:34.990 --> 00:11:47.590
space of awareness. This resting in that awareness that listens
82
00:11:47.669 --> 00:13:42.350
to and feels the whole moment. Let your practice be
83
00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:48.029
simple when you notice the mind has drifted into the past,
84
00:13:48.049 --> 00:13:53.549
the future, into some kind of commentary, into a virtual trance.
85
00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:01.269
Then gently note that. You might even whisper thinking, thinking
86
00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:06.570
in your mind and reopen the attention to the senses.
87
00:14:08.789 --> 00:14:13.220
Come back home through the senses. Listen again to the
88
00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:28.049
sounds that are right here. Listen to and feel the
89
00:14:28.090 --> 00:14:32.169
aliveness in the body. And if it helps you to
90
00:14:32.289 --> 00:14:38.230
re-relax a bit, relaxing can help you to re-contact that aliveness.
91
00:14:40.649 --> 00:14:48.360
you can let go again through the shoulders soften your
92
00:14:48.379 --> 00:15:01.409
hands softening the belly and smiling into the heart softening
93
00:15:01.470 --> 00:15:14.200
and opening in the region of the heart Again, feel
94
00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:22.470
the sensations, the feelings, the aliveness that lives through you.
95
00:15:26.970 --> 00:15:35.320
A direct, intimate presence with aliveness. Again, listening to and
96
00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:46.360
feeling the moment. Can you sense the quality of here-ness,
97
00:15:48.179 --> 00:17:26.089
of being-ness? Living presence. It can be helpful to check,
98
00:17:26.609 --> 00:17:32.140
to ask yourself, am I dreaming right now, lost in thought?
99
00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:40.319
And if that's what you discover, it's an opportunity to
100
00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:51.279
practice homecoming, to come back through the senses, just be still,
101
00:17:52.839 --> 00:18:10.920
notice what's happening. listening aware of the sensations and feelings
102
00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:18.910
in the body perhaps that gentle smile at the mouth
103
00:18:20.569 --> 00:18:33.410
smiling into the heart Feeling the life that's here. Listening
104
00:18:33.470 --> 00:18:46.660
to and feeling the changing flow moment to moment. Noticing
105
00:18:46.740 --> 00:18:57.099
the quality of here-ness. Of arriving again right here. in
106
00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:57.690
this being, in this presence. Whenever you're lost in meditation,
107
00:19:58.789 --> 00:20:05.670
in life, you can find your way back to this presence,
108
00:20:06.529 --> 00:20:10.750
this quality of here-ness, and let it be a refuge.
109
00:20:12.490 --> 00:20:15.950
You might listen to the words of the poet David Waggoner.
110
00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:26.079
Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you
111
00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:32.779
are not lost. Wherever you are is called here, and
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00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.460
you must treat it as a powerful stranger, must ask
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00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:43.029
permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen.
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00:20:44.009 --> 00:20:49.210
It answers. I have made this place around you. If
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00:20:49.250 --> 00:20:54.170
you leave it, you may come back again saying, Here,
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00:20:56.269 --> 00:21:00.690
no two trees are the same to raven, no two
117
00:21:00.769 --> 00:21:05.759
branches are the same to wren. If what a tree
118
00:21:05.930 --> 00:21:08.640
or a bush does is lost on you, you are
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00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:15.539
surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows where you are.
120
00:21:16.859 --> 00:21:56.990
You must let it find you. As you close, you
121
00:21:57.029 --> 00:22:02.119
might feel your heart's intention to take refuge in presence
122
00:22:03.349 --> 00:22:06.769
again and again through the moments of your life.
1
00:00:03.490 --> 00:00:07.589
The following meditation is led by Tara Brach. To access
2
00:00:07.629 --> 00:00:10.919
more of my meditations or join my email list, please
3
00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:50.820
visit tarabrach.com. This meditation is called Living Embodied Presence. And
4
00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.619
we begin in a simple way with our breath as
5
00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:58.479
we often do. Please become aware of your body breathing.
6
00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:10.140
And now extending the in-breath so that you're filling the
7
00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:16.780
chest and the lungs, a nice long deep in-breath. And
8
00:01:16.829 --> 00:01:24.469
a slow out-breath. And with the out-breath, relaxing, letting go. Again,
9
00:01:24.510 --> 00:01:34.290
a nice full deep in-breath. A slow out-breath, letting go,
10
00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:41.090
letting go. And one more time, a nice deep, full inhale,
11
00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:50.299
filling the chest and the lungs. And then a slow out-breath,
12
00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:55.689
softening down the length of your body, relaxing, letting go.
13
00:01:58.430 --> 00:02:01.709
And then allowing the breath to resume in its natural rhythm,
14
00:02:03.650 --> 00:02:08.330
just sensing the possibility as the breath naturally comes in
15
00:02:08.469 --> 00:02:18.189
of receiving, opening, even in a cellular way. And then
16
00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:22.719
as the breath goes out, that releasing, letting go into
17
00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:27.620
the universe around you, letting this life breath flow in
18
00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:41.909
and out And now with a gentle attention we'll begin
19
00:02:42.030 --> 00:02:46.180
scanning through the body. And as we often do, sense
20
00:02:46.289 --> 00:02:52.120
the brow, the area of the forehead, the eyes, letting
21
00:02:52.159 --> 00:03:00.860
the eyes soften, letting the brow be smooth. You might
22
00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:04.500
imagine smiling into the eyes, letting the curve of a
23
00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:11.930
smile spread through the eyes. And becoming aware of the
24
00:03:11.990 --> 00:03:22.219
aliveness in that whole region, tingling, vibrating, perhaps the flickering
25
00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:30.370
of light and darkness at the lids. And bringing a
26
00:03:30.590 --> 00:03:36.409
slight smile to the mouth, the inside of the mouth smiling,
27
00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:43.530
Now relaxing the tongue, let it fill the lower palate.
28
00:03:45.969 --> 00:03:48.400
And sense that you can relax right down to the
29
00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:58.960
root of the tongue. Opening your attention to the sensations
30
00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:03.710
that fill the mouth now, the tongue, gums, the teeth,
31
00:04:04.849 --> 00:04:14.770
the lips. and letting that receptivity, so it's the sensations
32
00:04:15.669 --> 00:04:22.089
now spread through the face, the scalp and the skull.
33
00:04:30.069 --> 00:04:39.129
You might imagine the throat filling the neck, feeling the
34
00:04:39.189 --> 00:04:44.870
sensations in that area as you gently now allow the
35
00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:52.529
shoulders to fall away from the neck, letting the shoulders
36
00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:58.110
fill with awareness so you can feel from the inside
37
00:04:58.350 --> 00:05:03.649
out the movement of energy. And if there's areas of
38
00:05:03.750 --> 00:05:10.269
tension or tightness, you might imagine that dissolving from ice
39
00:05:10.370 --> 00:05:19.029
to water, a kind of melting. Ice to water, letting go.
40
00:05:19.050 --> 00:05:32.420
And then water to vapor. Letting whatever is in the
41
00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:41.699
shoulders float in awareness. So you can feel the space
42
00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:50.810
and the aliveness in the shoulders. Aware of the arms,
43
00:05:50.850 --> 00:05:55.430
the energy that moves through the arms, right into the hands.
44
00:05:57.310 --> 00:06:03.269
Taking these moments to soften the hands. And then soften again.
45
00:06:03.290 --> 00:06:12.250
And again. Notice how as you soften, as you relax,
46
00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:20.629
you can become aware more of the aliveness in What
47
00:06:20.649 --> 00:06:32.750
do you notice? Can you sense heat and cool, tingling, vibrating, pulsing?
48
00:06:38.970 --> 00:06:42.379
Just as a cup is filled with water, this whole
49
00:06:42.449 --> 00:06:51.089
body is filled with awareness and aliveness. You might sense
50
00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:57.750
an openness at the chest. And you might smile into
51
00:06:57.769 --> 00:07:04.779
the area of the heart. Visualizing and having the felt
52
00:07:04.899 --> 00:07:09.899
sense of the curve of a smile spreading through the heart.
53
00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:16.939
And sense how that can open space to whatever is
54
00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:27.430
right here. And feel more whatever sensations, emotions are there.
55
00:07:37.670 --> 00:07:42.149
Bringing that receptivity to feeling down into the belly. You
56
00:07:42.189 --> 00:07:45.089
might sense the curve of a smile spreading through the belly,
57
00:07:47.449 --> 00:07:52.000
letting this next breath be received in a softening belly
58
00:07:53.279 --> 00:08:07.490
this breath and now this one and again letting the
59
00:08:07.529 --> 00:08:12.509
belly remain soft feeling from the inside out the life,
60
00:08:12.610 --> 00:08:16.740
the aliveness, the awareness that's right here in the belly
61
00:08:31.250 --> 00:08:35.730
Scanning through the pelvic region, again you might visualize and
62
00:08:35.769 --> 00:08:39.330
have the felt sense of a smile spreading through that area.
63
00:08:40.750 --> 00:08:45.750
So you can feel from the inside out, again, the aliveness,
64
00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:58.720
the energy that's there. Aware of the legs, the length.
65
00:08:59.490 --> 00:09:06.090
the volume, the weight of your legs and can you
66
00:09:06.190 --> 00:09:12.519
feel from the inside the energy, the sensations the space
67
00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:28.129
inside the legs let your feet fill with awareness the toes, heels,
68
00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:34.100
insteps feeling the space between the soles of the feet
69
00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:40.379
and the top of the feet, feeling the aliveness in
70
00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:48.429
the feet, and sensing your connection deep, deep into the earth,
71
00:09:49.389 --> 00:09:53.309
feeling the whole earth body, the aliveness and energy of
72
00:09:53.330 --> 00:09:58.059
the earth body flowing up into your body, filling you,
73
00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:04.279
So as you open and widen the attention you can
74
00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:10.559
feel this whole body as a field of sensation, of aliveness,
75
00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:34.370
of energy. Just let everything happen. This whole play of aliveness, tingling, vibrating, heat, cool,
76
00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:45.149
perhaps pleasantness or unpleasantness, tightness or flow, just letting life
77
00:10:45.250 --> 00:11:08.149
live through you. just as it is. And it widened
78
00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:14.700
the attention to include the play of sound, the sounds
79
00:11:14.740 --> 00:11:23.919
and the space around you. Perhaps the most distant sounds
80
00:11:23.970 --> 00:11:34.929
you can detect. All arising and passing in this great
81
00:11:34.990 --> 00:11:47.590
space of awareness. This resting in that awareness that listens
82
00:11:47.669 --> 00:13:42.350
to and feels the whole moment. Let your practice be
83
00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:48.029
simple when you notice the mind has drifted into the past,
84
00:13:48.049 --> 00:13:53.549
the future, into some kind of commentary, into a virtual trance.
85
00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:01.269
Then gently note that. You might even whisper thinking, thinking
86
00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:06.570
in your mind and reopen the attention to the senses.
87
00:14:08.789 --> 00:14:13.220
Come back home through the senses. Listen again to the
88
00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:28.049
sounds that are right here. Listen to and feel the
89
00:14:28.090 --> 00:14:32.169
aliveness in the body. And if it helps you to
90
00:14:32.289 --> 00:14:38.230
re-relax a bit, relaxing can help you to re-contact that aliveness.
91
00:14:40.649 --> 00:14:48.360
you can let go again through the shoulders soften your
92
00:14:48.379 --> 00:15:01.409
hands softening the belly and smiling into the heart softening
93
00:15:01.470 --> 00:15:14.200
and opening in the region of the heart Again, feel
94
00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:22.470
the sensations, the feelings, the aliveness that lives through you.
95
00:15:26.970 --> 00:15:35.320
A direct, intimate presence with aliveness. Again, listening to and
96
00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:46.360
feeling the moment. Can you sense the quality of here-ness,
97
00:15:48.179 --> 00:17:26.089
of being-ness? Living presence. It can be helpful to check,
98
00:17:26.609 --> 00:17:32.140
to ask yourself, am I dreaming right now, lost in thought?
99
00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:40.319
And if that's what you discover, it's an opportunity to
100
00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:51.279
practice homecoming, to come back through the senses, just be still,
101
00:17:52.839 --> 00:18:10.920
notice what's happening. listening aware of the sensations and feelings
102
00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:18.910
in the body perhaps that gentle smile at the mouth
103
00:18:20.569 --> 00:18:33.410
smiling into the heart Feeling the life that's here. Listening
104
00:18:33.470 --> 00:18:46.660
to and feeling the changing flow moment to moment. Noticing
105
00:18:46.740 --> 00:18:57.099
the quality of here-ness. Of arriving again right here. in
106
00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:57.690
this being, in this presence. Whenever you're lost in meditation,
107
00:19:58.789 --> 00:20:05.670
in life, you can find your way back to this presence,
108
00:20:06.529 --> 00:20:10.750
this quality of here-ness, and let it be a refuge.
109
00:20:12.490 --> 00:20:15.950
You might listen to the words of the poet David Waggoner.
110
00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:26.079
Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you
111
00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:32.779
are not lost. Wherever you are is called here, and
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you must treat it as a powerful stranger, must ask
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permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen.
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It answers. I have made this place around you. If
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you leave it, you may come back again saying, Here,
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no two trees are the same to raven, no two
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branches are the same to wren. If what a tree
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or a bush does is lost on you, you are
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surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows where you are.
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You must let it find you. As you close, you
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might feel your heart's intention to take refuge in presence
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again and again through the moments of your life.
