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. Our gateway to presence is through waking up in the body many times. It can be quite simple to begin with the eyes often when we're thinking a lot the muscles around the eyes get tight. So you might intentionally soften around the eyes as if you're smiling into the eyes and letting the outside corners of the eyes gently be drawn upward a bit. Let the brow be smooth. Slight smile at the mouth. The inside of the mouth smiling. As Zen teacher Tick Nod Han describes it, this is smile yoga. It sets a kind of message to the nervous system to relax the fight-flight-freeze response and be more at ease. Just feel that inner and outer smile very slight but real. The atmosphere of a smile spreading through the face, through the brain. You might sense the curve of a smile at the throat and sense the space and the ease spreading there. Letting the throat fill the neck area, sensing that, visualizing that curve of a smile. Feeling the sensations that are there. Allowing the shoulders to relax back and down a bit. Let the awareness fill the shoulders so you're feeling from the inside out. You might imagine the shift from ice to water, that kind of melting sensation inside the shoulders. Ice to water. And then water to gas. Can you feel sensations moving in the shoulders? And also the space that they're floating in, untangling in. Letting the hands rest in an easy and effortless way. Softening the hands. Softening and then from the inside out, sensing the aliveness that's there. See if you can notice the tingling and the vibrating, the movement of sensation. Letting there be an openness at the chest. And then feeling the region of the heart from the inside out. Be aware of whatever sensations are there with interest, with a gentle attention. Noticing both the sensations at the heart and also the space that sensations are moving in, unfolding in. You might smile into the heart area visualizing and noticing the felt sense of a smile spreading through that region. Not to cover over anything, but to sense even more directly the space that has room for this life. Just letting life be. Continuing to scan down the body, letting the curve of a smile, that image and felt sense spread through the abdominal area below the navel. Just visualize and feel that and sense the aliveness in that region. You might let this next breath be received in a softening belly, this breath. And then another. Aware of the movement of sensation and the space that it's floating in. Rechecking back to the area of the eyes, soft, smiling into the eyes, the corners uplifted a bit. Browse smooth. The mouth slight smile there, the throat sensing the curve of a smile, the aliveness there, the heart, space and aliveness. The belly soft, open, feeling the energy there. Continuing to scan down, feeling the pelvic region. Again you might sense the curve of a smile, just visualize and feel that curve of a smile in the space, the openness that aliveness happens in. Just feeling the dance of sensation, deep in the torso. Feeling the length and the volume of the legs. Filling the feet with awareness. So you can feel the tingling and vibrating there. Places of warmth, pressure. Including the hands again, softening the hands. Then widening the attention to sense this whole body as a dance of sensation. Then vibrating, tingling. Just let everything happen. Sense that you can surrender over and over into this field of aliveness. Just letting life live through you. Notice how sounds spontaneously are known. Peer and disappear in this field of aliveness. Aware of sound and sensation and the vast openness that they appear and disappear in. Like points of light in the night sky. Continuing to relax back and just surrender, rest, be that awake open space that knows this changing play of sound and sensation, feelings, the dance of life. Letting everything be just as it is. Letting everything be just as it is. At some point you'll notice quite naturally that the mind's drifted into thoughts. Let the practice be simple just to relax open. Noticing again the sounds that are actually right here. Noticing the play of sensations. Coming back to your senses. And to the wakeful openness that everything is happening in. The mind is particularly busy, it can be helpful to let the breath be in the foreground. Relaxing with the inflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Still aware of the play of sound and sensation. Knowing that you're here, right here. Right in the center of now. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. That's the gift of this intention to be here. Just when you notice, oh okay, thinking, thinking. Gently reopen the attention. Surrendering the storyline. And reconnecting with the aliveness that's right here. Moment to moment. Relaxed presence. Noticing what's happening. Allowing this changing flow of life to be as it is. And in that allowing, there's a realization of the very center of now. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. Relaxing with the outflow. As a way of closing, bringing the attention to your heart. And sensing how the heart of your heart experiences presence. Sensing the intrinsic tenderness of heart space. From that heart space offering whatever wish or prayer to your own being most resonates in this moment. And sensing how this heart space naturally includes those around you. Naturally includes all sentient beings. Feeling your prayer. Feeling your care extend to all beings everywhere. Thank you.
