The following meditation is led by Tara Brock.

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

Scanning through the body and noticing if there's any areas of tension or tightness,

bringing a gentle awareness to whatever you might notice, see if there can be a natural softening or letting go.

It's helpful to feel the area around the eyes, the more we're thinking, the more the little muscles around the eyes tighten.

Just intentionally soften the eyes. You might imagine warps floating in a pool of water.

Let the brow be smooth.

Relaxing the jaw, letting it be unhinged, let the tongue spread and fill to the lower palate.

See if you can feel right down to the base or the root of the tongue. Just relax there.

Aware of the sensations and the gums and the teeth and the lips, letting the lips be in a very slight

smile, a half smile, allowing the shoulders to relax back and down a bit,

that's in floating parallel to the ground, softening at the back of the neck. Let the awareness fill the shoulders.

If you feel a tightness or tension or holding there, you might imagine the shift from ice to water, a kind of melting.

And then water to gas. Can you sense the movement of sensation inside the shoulders?

Allowing the hands to rest in a very easy, very effortless way.

You might soften the hands and then soften even a little more,

and then feel them from the inside out.

Do you notice the movement of sensation inside the hands, kind of tingling or vibrating?

You can bring the same sensitivity or intimacy with sensation throughout the whole body,

letting the chest be open, and then feeling from the inside out the region of the heart.

It can help to smile into the heart, to visualize and have a sense of a smile spreading through the heart area,

not to cover over, but to make space for what's actually there.

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