Coming Home

This is a practice designed to drop you back into your body and into your breath; to come back home. Drawing upon Tara Brach's version of RAIN, we explore the practice of Recognising, Allowing, Investigating, and Nurturing in order to find our way out of our heads and back into the heart.

Transcript

As you're ready now beginning to set yourself up in a comfortable position.

So you might be seated cross-legged on the floor,

You might be on your knees,

You might be seated on a chair or even in your car right now.

And if that's you maybe just on crossing the legs,

Maybe stopping the car,

Parking up for a moment.

And just taking a moment to really set yourself up,

So sitting upright,

Finding some length through the back of your body.

A slight lift through the crown of your head.

Beginning to let the shoulders just drop away from the ears.

And the invitation is there to either close your eyes or just soften down your gaze.

Becoming aware of the fact that you are breathing here.

Tuning into the natural rhythm of the breath as it enters and leaves the body right through the tip of the nose.

Watching the full embracing of every breath in.

The full falling away of every breath out.

Maybe it's helpful to notice where you most easily detect the breath.

So that might be right down into the very bottom of the belly watching the ballooning of belly as you breathe in.

And it's softening back towards you as you breathe out.

Maybe it's the expansion and the contraction of the rib cage.

Or the lifting and lowering of the chest as you inhale and as you exhale.

Maybe it's the difference of the temperature of the breath as it draws in and out of your nose.

Or maybe a sense of the whole body breathing.

Just noticing.

Observing,

Watching here.

And as that attention shifts more and more onto your breath.

You might become aware now of the relationship with your physical body.

Those changes that the breath makes.

As now you scan the whole entirety of the body from the crown of the head right down into the tips of the toes.

Getting a sense of maybe where there's tension or tightness where you can maybe release or let go a little.

Also noticing where it feels free.

Where it feels easeful.

Where it feels alive.

Without inviting any judgement on that or any stories around it.

Just noticing.

Maybe labelling,

Watching and witnessing.

Settling back into that breath.

Into the aliveness of the body.

Noting the mind how focused or dispersed it may seem just right now.

The feeling tones of the heart.

Without a need to fix or change or alter like we so often want to do.

Controlling the situation,

The experience in any way just to noticing.

When we think about this almost sense of homecoming to aliveness.

It really revolves around replanting ourselves in our bodies.

When things get challenging,

When we struggle or we face experiences that challenge us in some way.

Our own natural way of being can really be to run a million miles away from what's here.

This need to distract ourselves or to numb ourselves to feel into anything other than what's here.

When in fact in those times,

In those challenges,

In those struggles.

The kindness,

The most compassionate thing that we can do for ourselves is to just stay.

When we feel challenged,

Stay.

When struggle knocks down our doors,

Stay.

When the heart feels like it's breaking so far beyond belief,

Just stay.

It can be so difficult to feel into our own bodies,

Our own aliveness.

It's a real prominent feature in our society.

These bodies that know so much,

Are capable of so much.

We spend this time lost in a trance of thinking,

Worrying,

Fear,

Judgment.

The thing is,

When we're stuck in that space,

Our senses are shut down.

When we're lost in thought,

We cut ourselves off from the beauty of who we are,

The empathy,

The compassion,

The wonder,

The connectedness.

The poet John O'Donoghue,

He says that our bodies,

That they know that they belong to life.

It's our minds that make our lives so homeless.

So when we know that the pathway of presence really calls upon that embodiment,

Can you now start to bring your attention to what's the nature of your reality,

Your experience right here?

Can you listen to your own mind,

Your own body,

And see what's true?

The only way that we can start to break patterns or see beyond these challenges or our habitual tendencies,

Repeating themselves over and over is to deepen our attention to where the tangles are.

To understand that which lies below the line of our current awareness.

Feeling into breath.

Feeling into the aliveness of this body as you feel it from the inside outwards.

Awake to the mind,

Awake to the heart.

With that intention to just stay.

Just stay.

This is beautiful staying that says that all that you really need is already within you.

Only you must approach yourself with reverence,

With love.

Self condemnation and this self distrust,

The grievous errors.

Your constant flight from pain and search for pleasure.

It's only a sign of the love that you really bear for yourself.

Make love of yourself perfect.

Deny yourself nothing.

Give yourself infinity and eternity.

Discover that you do not need them.

That you are beyond.

Make love of yourself perfect.

And it's only that when we really allow ourselves to love the life that's here,

That we can begin to free our hearts.

So you might now sense,

Is there anything that stands in the way of you being at home in the moment?

At home with yourself right here.

Is there any way that maybe you've turned on yourself right now?

And scanning for anywhere where there's maybe a sense that you're carrying some judgment,

Maybe some blame towards yourself.

Can you just recognize that?

Maybe there's a fear or a nervousness around the uncertainty of things right now.

So maybe a particular situation,

Conversation or maybe even headline that brings that more to the forefront.

Begin to see that place where you are in this place.

Or maybe who else may be involved.

The words exchanged as you recognize what's coming up,

Whatever is predominant.

You may just have a silent note or whisper to yourself of what's coming up.

Whether there's a fear or a nervousness,

A guilt in some way,

A sinking,

A heaviness.

Whatever that is,

The allowing now is just to let it be,

Just to stay.

Can you let it be part of your experience right here?

Part of your reality,

Some waves in the ocean.

Let it belong.

That's not saying that you agree with your beliefs.

It's just acknowledging that they're here,

Whatever they are,

That they belong.

You might investigate now how does it feel in your body when you're feeling this way?

Maybe you track your throat,

Your chest,

Your belly.

You might even feel your actual posture.

And it is that you're feeling down on yourself.

Maybe your head is down,

Your shoulders are drooping.

The tension through the jaw,

Through the forehead,

Furrowing of the brow.

Getting in touch more with the feelings in your body.

Maybe investigating what is it that you believe in this moment about yourself?

What's the worst part of this?

Where in your physical shape do you feel it the strongest?

And it may even be helpful to touch that part of the body.

Maybe it's a kind hand to your heart,

Your throat or to your belly.

Wherever you feel it the most.

Feeling this nurturing process,

Embodying it with your touch.

You might ask,

What does this part of me need most right now?

The part of me that's feeling the judgement,

Feeling critical,

Feeling blaming,

Maybe hurt.

What's the reminder?

What's the message?

What do I need to hear?

Is it forgiveness,

Acceptance?

If the most loving part of you could just offer the right words right now,

What might be helpful?

Maybe there's a loving being in your life right now that you can remind you of what it is that you need to remember.

Maybe you can even see them as they say it with a smile.

Let the words in,

Let the message in,

Let the care in.

So what would it really mean for you to make love of yourself perfect right in this moment?

To let the light,

To let the tenderness begin to wash through.

The more that you let it in,

The more that you can start resting in that space beneath,

In the magic,

The gold.

More heart,

More care.

Maybe you sense the difference between the self and the story of where you began.

And this heart space that's holding your own being with care,

The truths of who you really are.

All you need is already within you.

Only you must approach yourself with reverence and love.

Self condemnation,

Self distrust,

Grievous errors.

And your constant flight from pain and search from pleasure is a sign of the love that you bear for yourself.

Make love of yourself perfect.

Deny yourself nothing.

Give yourself infinity and eternity.

And discover that you do not need them.

You are beyond.

Nothing to be added,

Nothing taken away.

Make love of yourself perfect.

All you need is already within you.

And you make your way home and just stay.

Starting to just reconnect back with that breath,

The aliveness of the body.

Taking a few really conscious deep breaths.

And when you're ready,

Gently opening your eyes.