Welcome friends to the Tara Brock podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Each week I share teachings and guided meditations to help us awaken our hearts and bring healing to our world. You can learn more or support this offering by visiting TaraBrock.com where you can also join our email list. Now let's explore together the many ways we can live from the love and presence that's our deepest essence. Namaste. Just as a way of beginning, take some moments to adjust if you're sitting or for some people like to do these lying down, standing, however, adjust your posture so that you feel a sense of ease, also alertness. And you might let your attention go inward. And for some that's closing your eyes, some might find it helpful to just lower your gaze, whatever serves you. And we'll begin in the simple way of breathing together. Just become aware of this body breathing. And you might lengthen or extend the in-breath, perhaps to the count of five. So you really feel the chest and the lungs, but the slow out breath, the same count, matching the in-breath and the out-breath. You can feel the sensations of releasing the breath. And again, a long, slow in-breath. And a slow out breath. And again, breathing in, filling the chest and the lungs. And sense with the out breath that you're actually letting go, releasing, relaxing outward. And again, breathing in, opening, receiving. And breathing out a long, slow out breath, softening down the length of the body as you release the breath. Now as you allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm, in a sense and observing of the breath, that it's possible to continue to relax with the movement of the breath, with awareness, perhaps sensing the presence that has increased just even in a few moments that you're more here. Now we can increase that presence further as we scan down the body, waking up in an energetic way. You might imagine and feel a smile spreading through the eyes. So the outer corners of the eyes are lifted a bit. Let that help us softening through the eyes. A softening and a smoothing of the brow. In a similar way, you might let there be a slight smile at the mouth. Feel the inside of the mouth smiling. Letting the tongue fill the lower palate, relaxing the tongue down to the root. Feeling aware of the sensations that fill the mouth, comes the teeth, the lips. I'm waking up to the sensations of the face, all the small micro muscles, allowing them to rest. The scalp and the skull, sensing the volume of the head, the sensations, the aliveness through the whole head, aware of the throat filling the neck, feeling the sensations and aliveness in the neck. And intentionally allowing the shoulders to relax back and down some, falling away from the neck. You might let your awareness fill the shoulders. So you can feel from the inside out, allowing any tightness or tension to float in awareness. Rest the softened a little so you can begin to feel movement, aliveness through the shoulders. And see what might want to let go a little more. Feeling an awakening and letting go through the arms so you can feel the weight and the volume and the length of the arms filled with energy. I feel your thumb inside out, the fingers, the space between the fingers. This thing if you soften the hands now, you soften again. You feel from the inside out, you can become aware of aliveness, tingling, vibrating. And just as a cup is filled with water, this whole body is filled with awareness and aliveness. Feeling the chest to be open, feeling the heart area from the inside out. You might smile into the heart. Let a smile spread through the heart and the chest. Making space for what's here, for however the aliveness expresses in the chest area. Feeling the breath go deep into the torso, so this next breath is received in a softening belly. This breath and this one. And again, feeling the belly from the inside out, aware of the movement of energy, the aliveness, the play of sensation, letting the pelvic region be filled with awareness, opening to the aliveness. Fully awake, fully here, inhabiting these bodies. Sensing the legs, the length, the volume, the weight, feeling from the inside out, the movement of energy, right into the feet, sensing all those nerve endings, tingling, vibrating. Absescence of pressure, warmth, where your feet contact the floor and the earth below. You might sense the great volume, massiveness of the earth and all that energy flowing through you. Receptive. Feeling that aliveness, failure, sensing that you can let life live through you. But if you widen the attention, you can include the aliveness not only of sensation but of sound. Receptive. Listening. Sensing in the foreground, changing flow of sound and sensation, feelings, and then the background, that vast, wakeful presence that which is aware. The awareness, the interior awareness, that stillness that perceives all the sensations. And that vast, spacious awareness that's listening, sensing how awareness lives interior through around everywhere. When there's a recognition of being lost in thoughts, simply relax, open, listening, listening to and feeling the aliveness that's right here, relaxing back into that formless awareness. To that awake space that's really your essence. All that arises belongs like changing ways to this vast oceanness of your being. From the poet Dana Fals, trust the energy, the courses through you. Just then take surrender even deeper. Be the energy. Don't push anything away. Follow each sensation back to its source, in vastness and pure presence. So new, so fresh, you don't know who you are. Welcome in the season of monsoons. Be the bridge across the flooded river and the surging torrent underneath. Be unafraid of consummate wonder. Be the energy and blaze a trail across the clear night sky like lightning. Dare to be your own illumination.
