The following meditation is led by Tara Brock.

To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit TaraBrock.com.

The best guidelines on sitting posture that I know are to let the posture embody the qualities

you want to cultivate, which is being alert.

So you want to sit upright, sitting tall, but not stiff, and then at ease.

So see in that tallness if you can relax a bit of the muscles, the arms, the shoulders, the hands.

Coming into stillness, and letting the attention come gently to the area of the heart.

You might just notice the state of your heart right now.

It might be the first time you've checked in with your heart in an hour, or a day, or a week.

Just to notice what's the mood or quality of heart right now.

A gentle, accepting attention.

Just noticing if you've been tight or clenched or numb, or if there's a tenderness or an excitement or an anxiety there.

Maybe it will open easy.

And as you continue listening inward, you might sense your intention or your aspiration.

What feels strongest to you right now, for this time of meditating, practicing, what most matters to you?

Listen with fresh attention, and sense what feels most sincerely true to you.

What are the qualities of heart or presence that matter to you?

One of the images that is most conducive for open-hearted presence is that of a smile.

I'd like to invite you to imagine a great, wide, open sky, vast, boundless,

and imagine and sense the curve of a smile spreading through that sky.

You can sense an atmosphere of openness, benevolence.

Letting your mind just merge with that openness, the open sky of mind.

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