The Center Of Now

Our deep conditioning is to be lost in virtual reality. Explore the mystery of relaxing back fully into the space of open presence.

Transcript

As your body becomes still,

You might invite your attention right here.

Just make yourself at home right in the moment.

It can help to begin with a few very conscious long breaths.

Let's together inhale deeply.

And with the out-breath,

A conscious letting go,

Letting go,

Letting go.

Good.

And then inhaling,

Filling the lungs,

Filling the chest.

And again as the breath goes out,

Sense the releasing,

Letting go.

And again inhaling deeply,

Filling the lungs.

This time holding for a moment when the breath is full.

Feeling the sensations of fullness and slowly letting go of the breath,

Softening down the length of the body,

Letting go.

As the breath resumes its natural rhythm,

Sense the possibility of relaxing as it comes in,

Relaxing,

Receiving,

As a balloon inflates,

Opening with the breath.

And with the out-breath,

Again kind of dissolving outward into the space around you.

Just sensing the possibility of this breath as kind of a way of collecting the attention,

Relaxing with what's happening right here,

The breath in the foreground,

And yet still aware in the background of the sounds that are here.

Sense is awake,

Aware of the field of sensation,

This body,

Aware of the heart,

Breathing and feeling your heart,

Opening the evening as we do with that inquiry of what really brings us here,

What our intention is for the evening,

What matters to us.

And as you feel with sincerity what you care about and we sense our shared caring that this awakening of heart and mind might serve all beings,

We will chant together and tonight we'll chant what's called the Bhij syllable which is the root syllable ah which is the sound current of the heart,

Of the opening,

Awakening heart.

If you'd like to bring the palms together,

Please do.

And we'll take a deep in-breath and then just chant and as the… when you run out of breath just breathe in and start chanting again so it becomes a continuous sound and I'll ring the bell when it's time to stop.

See if you can let go into the sound current,

Become part of the sound current,

And if you feel so drawn to let the voices harmonize.

Okay,

Inhaling deeply.

And exhaling deeply.

And exhaling deeply.

And exhaling deeply.

And exhaling deeply.

And exhaling deeply.

Sensing the quality of presence that's right here.

Quality of awakeness,

Openness,

Noticing the changing stream of experience.

We deepen our presence as the body becomes more awake and relaxed.

You might notice if there's any obvious places of tightness or tension.

And just soften.

You might find just by bringing your awareness to where there's a tangle,

Holding,

There's a natural letting go,

Loosening.

You might feel the shoulders from the inside and just sense whatever tightness might be there can float.

Maybe a dissolving,

You might feel that letting go.

Just to feel the hands and just soften and feel the tingling and vibrating there.

Soften and feel the aliveness there.

Let the chest be open.

And then scanning down the torso,

Feeling the belly from the inside and just see if it's possible to loosen,

Soften there.

Let this next breath be received deep in the torso.

This breath.

And this one.

And again.

Let the awareness wake up through the hips,

Inside the legs.

Aware of sensation right down into the feet.

Feel the feet from the inside.

And the whole body at once.

This living field of sensation.

This energy expressing,

Expressing.

Just letting it happen.

The sense is wide open,

Including sound.

So that there's a listening to and feeling the whole moment.

Continuing in presence,

If it helps to have an anchor of the breath in the foreground to stabilize the attention.

You might feel the inflow and outflow with a careful attention.

A receptive attention.

So if you're receiving the breath,

Still aware of the sounds and sensations.

Aware of the quality of here-ness right here.

And as you're moving down the Playing Field,

Out of froze.

You might notice the attention drifting into the kind of virtual reality of thinking.

Without any judgment,

Just a pause.

You can start fresh in any moment.

Kind of re-relaxing,

Open the mind.

The sounds are here listening to these sounds instead of the story sounds in the mind.

Just the space that's here.

Re-relaxing the body a bit.

Get the shoulders again.

Soften the hands.

Relaxing the heart.

There's an openness to the entire field of experience.

Feel supportive to have the breath in the foreground.

That's what it means to be in the center of now.

Really recognizing and allowing this changing play of experience.

You don't want to let go.

When you notice the mind has drifted,

What most matters is your attitude in arriving again.

If instead of judgment there can be a celebrating of noticing and appreciation of arriving again right here,

Ah,

Back,

Okay.

With interest,

What's it like right this moment?

Can we say yes to the experience that's right here?

To these sounds and sensations,

To these feelings in the heart.

Now with interest.

Go.

You might ask yourself if it's possible to relax just a little bit more right now.

Relaxed attentiveness.

Relaxed attentiveness.

Relaxed attentiveness.

We'll close the sitting much as we open by feeling the breath again in a very immediate way.

Perhaps taking a fuller inhale now.

Breathing in.

And exhaling.

Letting go.

And exhaling.

Letting go.

Inhale deeply.

And exhale.

Letting go.

And again nice full in-breath.

Exhale.

Letting go.

And sensing as you complete this formal sitting if there is any way that you are holding a judgment about how the practice went.

And giving yourself that gift of letting go.

Letting go of the judgment.

And honoring your deepest intention just to be here and be present as well as possible.

So we close with a forgiving heart,

A kind heart towards the life within us,

Around us.

Reviews

Totally dropped in. Thank you for the gift of your meditations. Truly inspiring. And with more and more practice I now can meditate with so much going on around me. Husband grooming the dogs. Teenagers asking questions of him. All whilst I meditate. Thank you. ☺️

Excellent, deeply relaxing, thank you. Stored this in my ‘valuable’ folder for future reference. 🙏

I only wish that it didn't have ending bells, so if I wanted to use it to go to sleep at night, I could. Otherwise, it is beautiful. I learned how to be patient through the initial teaching, to forgive my mind from wandering, and to be still after it ended until the tension in
my body began to dissipate.
I will return. Namaste.

Thank you for this one 🙏🏼. It’s a great way to practice letting go and just accepting what is.

I really enjoyed this one. The chanting at the beginning was very connective and the long pauses gave me a chance to practice on my own with gentle reminders to return to the present. I especially appreciate the comment about the attitude when you notice yourself drifting being what’s important. Celebrate noticing and returning home.

I saw you years ago on my wife’s phone. Now, here I am thinking “Tara really is amazing at this!”

Always a wonderful experience to meditate with you, Tara. 🙏

So great to get the reminder to be in the center of now. Tara’s voice is so calming, clear and strong. She reminds me to reset when I need it and reminds me that meditation is a practice.

Loved the meditation. It's a lot more powerful than what I thought when it started. Thank you.

Amazing I’ve just re started
my meditation journey and what a wonderful beginning thank you so much 🙏

Mind wandering a lot..
Tried to be in the now though
Thank you
#gratitude

Just lovely 😁 effortless presence, thank you very much.

Such a powerful practice- ‘we close with a forgiving heart towards the life within us and all around us.’ Letting go of judgement and honouring this deep longing of the heart to be free and at ease.
Thank you, Tara. Your teachings are deeply healing.

The light around us
The light within us
Never goes out
Namaste 🙏🏼

I feel calmer and relaxed for doing this meditation. Thank you 🙏

What an excellent practice in coming back to the Now. Thank you 🙏

One of the most profound practises I've done lately. Thank you! Met myself on some deeper level with loving presence.

I found this a great way to start the day with positivity and energy.

Tara's soothing voice is always of big help when I am practicing shamata.

I loved it. Tara leaves space in this meditation for those practing to find there own way within it.