Reflection, Release & Opportunity

Reflection, Release & Opportunity is a guided meditation recorded during an Insight Timer Live event in January 2025. It invites you to trust what Life shows you. Based on the teachings of Mary O'Malley, Tara takes you through Life Breathing and explores the 6 Levels of Consciousness. This meditation is ideal for those seeking presence and acceptance.

Musical introduction composed by Kristen Williams. Meditation music "Arnor" by Alex-Productions | Creative Commons CC BY 3.0

Transcript

So when I teach meditation,

I do teach it somewhat different than many traditional forms.

If you are new to meditation,

If you're just beginning,

You might be sitting quietly and you might notice that you have a bit of like a creak happening or you want to roll your neck.

For beginners,

I encourage you to allow that adjustment.

I think unless we've just done a yoga practice or some kind of somatic work,

Sometimes we can have tightness and tension in our bodies.

And so for me,

In my personal experience,

If I am feeling the tension and then my body wants to release it,

I allow that to happen because it often opens me up to a better,

More fluid experience and practice.

So I'm going to allow you,

If you've ever been in a meditation practice and your mind is saying,

I can't move it,

My teachers have told me that I have to just hold it and see it and name it,

I'm going to invite you just to experience tonight something a little bit different with me.

So if you're wanting to shift yourself,

Adjust yourself in any way,

I'm going to let you experience that.

So I would just offer that for you tonight.

So when we begin with this idea of reflection,

This is a beautiful time of year to start with this reflecting on 2024.

What did 2024 offer to me?

What were some opportunities?

What were some challenges?

What were some things I may want differently?

When you reflect on that,

It is definitely not going back and holding regrets.

It's about seeing where is there tension in my body around something that arose last year?

Where is some tension in my body around patterns in my life that may have shown up for me?

My invitation tonight is going to be holding that tension to notice that tension.

We're going to be talking about saying hello and welcoming that tension.

We're not asking it to go away,

We're not asking it to leave,

We're asked just simply saying we see you.

Because we can't change things unless we're aware of them.

We can't make changes to things that remain in our unconscious.

So again,

If there's tension in that part of your neck,

It's about saying hello,

I see you.

It's about saying I welcome the message,

The deeper learning here.

But you're not actually looking for the answer.

You're trusting that life is going to show this to you in the perfect time.

So as we go through and as we do some kind of body scan and as we set up our meditation,

If there's moments,

If there's questions,

Like for example,

I'm going to offer some questions for you.

But as I offer the question,

I'm asking you not to seek the answer.

Not even in meditation.

Perhaps you might not even get the answer by the time you're done.

But you've offered the question up to life.

And you're saying life,

In your perfection and in your perfect time,

May I see the answer here.

So what am I carrying from the past?

That might be a question at the start of this new year that you might want an answer to.

I think when we offer gratitude to those things that are showing up in our lives,

They're no longer scratching and calling us.

That's what all the tension is.

It's asking for it to become conscious.

Let the tears flow.

Be fully present with them.

And maybe this is the way through.

Reflection,

Release,

And Opportunity.

A guided meditation by Tara Herrick-Brown.

Introduction Music by Kristen Williams.

Meditation Music by Alex Productions.

So closing your eyes and beginning to breathe in through the nose and out through the nose.

If you're sitting cross-legged,

You can have your palms up and open.

You may have them face down on your knees.

If you're sitting in a chair,

Make sure your feet are firmly planted on the on the ground.

If your legs are not crossed,

I invite you to bring a mudra together that you can complete the circuit of the body.

So whether it's a mudra at your heart or your palms together,

Thumbs touching.

If your legs are crossed,

You can have more of a independent hand posture.

So sitting,

Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.

Allowing the spine to be strong and erect,

Top of the head reaching towards the sky.

You don't need tense back muscles to hold your spine erect.

Just simply sitting up,

Allowing as though you would have a book at the top of your head that could be balanced.

Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.

As you breathe in,

Allow the coolness of the air,

Allow that sensation in through the nostrils.

And as you exhale,

Feel the warm air brushing over your top lip.

In through the nose and out through the nose.

Feeling your seat fully supported by your cushion or chair.

Tuning into the space at the sits bones,

A darkness where the fabric of your clothing meets the seat.

Not only can you notice the darkness,

But perhaps you can also become aware of this space,

Where the clothing ends and your seat and support begin.

Noticing how darkness and the space there also offers support to you.

Reminding ourselves that polarities are what our world is made up of,

But darkness is not good or bad.

It's sometimes all part of the same support and space.

Continuing to breathe in and out through the nose,

Feeling the support of the seat.

Bringing your awareness now inside the body.

Perhaps you're aware of the shishumna,

That long fluorescent light bulb reaching from the top of the head to the base of the spine.

With each breath,

Perhaps you're aware of that light bulb growing brighter and bigger with each inhale and exhale.

Noticing the rise and the fall of your chest as you breathe.

And now I want you to become aware of your body being breathed.

Notice how with each inhale your body moves and expands.

Without thought,

Without trying,

Your body's being breathed by life.

Notice the experience of your body being breathed.

I'm going to be quiet for a few moments while you tune into the awareness of that body breath.

In through the nose,

Out through the nose.

The breath of life.

Earlier I asked some questions about the reflections of 2024.

What are some of those things you're still holding from the past?

Without looking for those answers,

Can you become aware of any tension in your body?

Without asking that tension to go away or judging it as good or bad,

I just want you to say,

I see you.

You may put the question out there,

What is it that you're asking me to see?

And then you let go of needing to know the answer.

You might ask the question,

Why am I still holding this?

And again with the exhale,

That question drips off into space and into life,

Trusting that in the perfect time the answer will be seen.

With reflection comes a realization that some things no longer serve us.

Lingering doubts,

Old habits,

Heavy emotions.

What are you still carrying?

Releasing this need to know as an act of self-love.

And sometimes by paying attention to that tension,

That tension in the body,

We make more space within ourselves.

We make something known that we weren't aware of before.

And so you just continue to breathe.

Perhaps you found the tension and you've made it known,

And you just continue to breathe.

You continue to let life breathe you.

Perhaps you ask the question,

What can I release with gratitude,

Knowing it's served its purpose?

And with your exhale,

That question drips off.

Allow yourself to free yourself to grow and breathe and move forward into new opportunity.

When we no longer hold grievances and tensions from the past,

It allows us an opportunity to see more clearly what's next.

We reflect,

We release the need to know,

And it opens to new opportunities.

We let go of our mind and needing to know what it is,

And we trust that life,

Just as life breathes us,

Life will show us that perfection in the right time.

We're going to be quiet again for a few breaths.

Allow life to breathe you.

Perhaps your awareness expands.

Perhaps rather than clinging to the tension,

The pain,

A thought,

You can allow your awareness,

Just like horse blinders opening,

You can allow your awareness to expand to meet the horizon.

What is life showing me here from this perspective?

If I'm not fixated,

What is my opportunity as I open my arms to life?

Allowing an opening without looking for answers.

And as we create this space through release,

We open ourselves to opportunities with every breath,

With every moment.

If your mind begins to wander,

I invite you just to come back to that center,

That place inside of you.

Perhaps do a small scan,

Small scan of the body,

And allow yourself to meet a moment of tension.

And you just breathe,

And you say,

I see you.

And you exhale.

And you exhale,

And you again expand your awareness,

And then you surrender and say,

Oh yeah,

Life breathes me.

Let me return to that breath.

When we sit in meditation,

We often start with a busy mind,

A busy body,

Stress and tension from our day,

And we're asked to immediately slow down the mind.

That's hard to do.

So when we see the busyness of the mind or feel the tension in the body,

We just say,

I see you.

I'm here.

Let me know if there's something you need right now.

And that question is breathed into space and into life,

And you come back into an open willingness to be present in this moment,

Knowing the perfect time the answers will arise.

So many of us know this,

But we just need these gentle reminders to come back into this present moment.

And so here we are,

And here you are,

Listening to that great teacher inside of you,

Reminding you about things that you may already know.

And when that happens,

You say,

Thank you to yourself.

And then you open your arms once again to life.

And you feel your body being breathed.

We move through these different levels of consciousness from these lower levels where we feel victims to life.

Life happens to me.

We move into the next stage where we feel like we're in control and we set these intentions,

We make these vision boards.

Life happens by me.

Until we find a new level of awareness that life happens for me.

Perhaps we reach this fourth level that life happens in me.

And we continue to meditate and find more teachings.

And we remember,

Oh,

Life happens through me.

Until we reach this awareness that life is me.

These six levels of consciousness,

As Mary O'Malley wrote,

Are beautiful reminders to the ebbs and the flows of these different stages of consciousness that most of us weave through.

Most of us are not at level six,

Fully enlightened at all times knowing life is me.

We all feel like a victim to life sometimes.

We all think that we can have this egoic will fix it,

Life happening by me.

But then sometimes we sit with a teacher and we're reminded that this life is happening through me,

That life is me,

And that life breathes me.

And so all these pains,

All these points of reflections,

And all these opportunities are part of life.

And even though they feel sad sometimes,

Hard sometimes,

Scary sometimes,

We say,

Hi,

I see you.

What are you showing me today?

I believe there's an opportunity here that life's ready to show me.

I'm listening.

And with that,

You take your breath and you send it off.

Because life is perfect.

It will answer you in the right time.

So I invite these messages to just sink and absorb and integrate into every cell of your being.

And allow yourself to take what serves you and let go of the rest.

Maybe something I'm saying doesn't resonate with your framework.

That's totally fine.

Let that slough away.

And what speaks to you,

May it integrate.

Acknowledging any tensions in the body,

Feeling the rise and the fall of your chest as life breathes you.

Namaste.