The following meditation is led by Tara Brock.

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

We begin in a simple way, our practice, by listening inwardly to our hearts and sensing

our intention for practice.

What it is that brings you to practice, what it is that your heart might long for.

Take your time, just inquiring and listening, and tell you feel that sense of sincerity

about what matters to you.

One of the most direct ways to awaken presence is by scanning down the body and waking up

from the inside out.

You might feel the region of the brows, the eyes, and just soften your eyes a bit.

In my sense of smile spreading through the eyes, lifting the outer corners, let the brow

be smooth.

Simply receive the sensations and aliveness in that area.

In a similar way, slight smile at the mouth, let the tongue relax, let it fill the lower

jaw, relaxing down to the root of the tongue, letting yourself open to the whole play of sensation

in the mouth, the gums, the tongue, the lips.

You might sense the curve of a smile at the throat, perhaps the breath as it comes in and

out at the throat.

Lending the throat, fill the neck, and feeling the sensations from the inside out that arise.

Smiling into the heart, letting a smile spread through the chest.

This isn't to paper over what's there, but really to make space for the life that's

there.

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