Choosing Living Presence

Awaken from trance by intentionally releasing thoughts and arriving again and again in this mystery that is here and now.

Transcript

So please,

If you will,

Close your eyes and with your eyes closed,

Adjust your posture so that you find your way into sitting upright.

There's a quality of sitting tall and alert.

And then notice what you can relax in the posture.

Optimally we want the sitting posture to support the inner qualities of being awake and at ease.

Awake and at ease.

Just breathe together,

Collecting the attention,

Inhaling deeply,

More of a fullness to the in-breath than normal,

Breathing in.

And a slow out-breath,

Slow,

Slow release,

Letting go,

Letting go.

And then again inhaling deeply,

Filling the chest and the lungs.

You might even hold for a moment to feel the fullness,

The chest open,

The shoulders back.

And then a slow out-breath,

Slow enough so you can feel the sensations of releasing the breath.

And inhaling again,

Filling the lungs.

And then a slow out-breath,

Softening down the length of the body,

Releasing,

Letting go,

Letting go.

And then allowing the breath to resume its natural rhythm and sense the quality of presence with the breath,

Allowing,

Intimate,

Awake.

Connecting this presence include whatever experience you are having in the heart,

Whatever mood,

Whatever the state of the heart is right now.

So you are connecting with yourself,

Taking a few moments to come home to what is going on inside you.

The attention at the heart,

Sensing what your intention is for tonight.

This is a listening in with the quality of real sincerity,

Touching what matters to you,

Recognizing what matters,

Letting what matters inform your evening.

Sensing yourself here with others who are also feeling into aspiration,

With people all over the world who are trying to live their life aligned with heart.

And it is with that wider consciousness that we chant together tonight.

You might bring the palms together to really connect with the innocence and purity of heart.

We will chant the mantra Aum,

This sound current of connectedness,

Feeling our shared intention to wake up our hearts and minds.

Please inhale deeply.

Aum.

Aum.

Aum.

Arriving in presence by scanning through the body with your awareness,

Taking some moments to soften or relax areas that might be habitually tight.

It helps to soften the eyes.

We are not always aware of the tensing in the brow area.

Let the brow be smooth,

At ease.

You might even sense a smile spreading through the eyes,

Receptive and open.

Sensing in the jaw area a slight smile at the mouth.

Letting the face be relaxed.

No need to make an expression.

Just receptive,

Sensitive,

Awake.

You might sense a smiling into the heart area.

Not to paper over but to just connect with the space that is there,

That has room for whatever is happening.

So you can relax,

Open the heart.

Feeling that space spread out,

Allowing the shoulders to gently relax back and down.

Feeling the shoulders from the inside,

Perhaps sensing a kind of melting from ice to water.

Water to gas.

See if you can begin to feel a natural flow of aliveness inside the shoulders.

Similarly you can bring the whole awareness inside the hands.

Let the hands rest in a very easy and effortless way,

Softening the hands.

And then notice if you can receive a flow of aliveness in the hands.

Just a tingling,

A pulsing,

A sense of temperature,

A vibration.

Again,

Feeling that openness at the chest,

Feeling the chest from the inside,

The heart from the inside,

Flow and aliveness and space.

And loosening down the torso to soften the belly,

Letting this next breath be received in a softening belly.

This breath.

And then this one.

And again.

Feeling the body from the inside out,

Deep into the torso,

Aliveness,

Space,

Flow of energy.

Feeling the legs from the inside.

Scanning down right into the feet.

So you can feel the places of pressure,

Warmth,

Where the feet might contact the floor.

And feel from the inside,

The aliveness inside the feet.

And opening the lens of attention to feel simultaneously this whole field of aliveness.

Just receiving as this life lives through you.

You might include the sounds around you,

This play of sound,

Letting that live through you.

Something to do.

Resting as awareness,

As that openness that this aliveness plays through.

Sensation,

Sound.

For some,

Having the breath in the foreground,

Just a gentle relaxing with the inflow and outflow helps in remembering this presence that's here.

When you have an anchor like the breath or perhaps sounds or could be the sensations in your body,

Then it's easier to notice when you've left and gone into a virtual reality of thoughts.

So let your practice be very simple.

Know this presence as home.

When you notice you've left,

To just appreciate that waking up and gently come back to the sounds that are here,

To this play of sensations,

This liveness that's here,

To this inflow and outflow of the life breath.

Again and again,

Choosing this living presence that's right here and then relaxing into it moment by moment.

Resting as awareness,

As that openness that this aliveness plays through.

So let your practice be very simple.

Relax.

Relax.

Even if this presence that's here feels difficult,

Physical and mental,

Physical unpleasantness,

Emotional pain,

You can still choose to be here and offer a very gentle attention.

Bring the softness and heart of kindness to what's here.

You might name the experience,

Breathe with the experience,

Offer a phrase of comfort to yourself as you open to what's real,

What's here with loving-kindness.

Reviews

Lovely journey inward, gentle guidance with quiet spaces seem the best connection to self as we are.

Thank you for helping me keep coming back to myself. I will keep coming back to this meditation!

Love your soothing voice. It encourages me to fall into your rhythm and relax into peace.

I love all Tara’s meditations. They are so gentle and always exactly what I need :)

My ocd psychiatrist gave me this insight and I want to share it: "the medications you are on, including marijuana, are all "presence" drugs. I had previously expected that once I finally began the habit of meditation, all of my daily meditations and yoga were bringing me to other places and for me, in this moment/phase, I needed to seek meditation (and yoga) for actual PRESENCE and psychonauting it was not my current challenge. This was difficult. Thank you. Namaste.

Great guided meditation to teach coming back and connecting when thoughts distract me.

Love the little bits of humanity that come through in very quiet bits of background sound. As always, delightful and deep teaching.

Nice and relaxed with plenty of time to breath in your own way. Thank you 🙏

Tara Brach just knows how everyone wants to feel and makes them feel exactly that way. Always grateful!! 🙏

Wow. Practice being with yourself feels so good. 🙏🏼

Thank you 🙏💜🙏

Beautiful morning meditation

Namaste, Thank you.

Tara's meditations are always spot on!

Another gem. Can be done both ends of the day.

Excellent as always thank you Tara

Very relaxing. Thank you.

This meditation sets me for the day. It helps me live the day with more presence and acceptance. Thank you!

Yes, nice guiding , breath of fresh air

Peaceful and at ease 🙏