Tara Brach Podcast: "Meditation: Inner Space – Gateway to Open Awareness"

Date: November 26, 2025
Length: 20:08
Host: Tara Brach
Theme: Guided meditation fostering open, spacious awareness by imagining the internal and external vastness of the body and consciousness.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Tara Brach leads a deeply guided meditation designed to help listeners access "refuge in awareness." The practice encourages participants to gently perceive the internal spaces within their bodies and to connect those spaces with a sense of boundless, unified awareness. The meditation uses gentle inquiry, curiosity, and visualization, blending mindfulness with compassion, to help individuals open to a larger presence and interconnectedness with all beings.

Key Discussion Points & Guided Practice

Setting Intention & Holding Curiosity

• [01:13] Tara invites listeners to begin with a calm presence, emphasizing a non-judgmental and curious attitude:
  • “Just to sense your intention as you begin…to feel a curiosity without any expectation, to be unwilling to judge yourself.”
• The meditation is described as effortless; simply allowing spontaneous experience and responses to arise.

Guided Journey Through Inner Space

• Tara systematically guides attention to various regions of the body, using imaginative inquiry to sense spaciousness within:
  • Starts with "the space between your eyes," progressing to "the space between your ears" and "space inside the nasal passages.”
  • Moves through the mouth, throat, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, abdomen, pelvis, legs, and feet.
  • Each prompt encourages awareness of internal volume and subtle sensations, e.g., "Can you imagine breathing in and having the throat expand, breathing out and sensing the space inside the throat and neck area?"

Expanding Awareness Beyond the Body

• Listeners are gently led to experience their bodies as porous and connected to the environment:
  • “Can you imagine breathing in and having the earth, the life energy of the earth, flowing into the body, filling the body and breathing out and sensing space again?”
  • Awareness is expanded outward, imagining space extending “infinitely to the stars” in all directions.
• Tara integrates the sense of inward and outward space as a continuous field:
  • “Can you imagine that the space that extends out infinitely and that extends in infinitely is simultaneously continuously the same space?”

Heart-Centered Awareness and Connection

• The meditation culminates in focusing on the heart, seeing one’s awareness as luminous and shared with others:
  • “Can you imagine that this space is filled with the light of awareness?”
  • “Can you imagine how that space of awareness expresses at the heart?”
  • “Can you imagine that the space of your heart, that luminous vastness there in the space of every other heart of all beings, is continuous? It is one continuous space.”
• The closing invitation links personal awareness to compassion and a sense of belonging:
  • “Can you imagine moving through your day, remembering this heart space, this continuous heart space that we all belong to?”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Starting Meditation & Effortlessness

  • “There’s zero effort in here...All you need to do is give yourself permission to let whatever arises spontaneously be there.” — Tara Brach ([01:20])

• On Imagining Boundless Awareness

  • “Can you imagine that the space that extends infinitely outward and infinitely inward is continuous?” — Tara Brach ([16:45])

• On Shared Heart Space

  • “Can you imagine that the space of your heart...in the space of every other heart of all beings, is continuous? It is one continuous space.” — Tara Brach ([18:22])

• On Bringing Meditation into Daily Life

  • “Can you imagine moving through your day, remembering this heart space, this continuous heart space that we all belong to?” — Tara Brach ([19:32])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:13] Opening the meditation: intentions and gentle curiosity
• [01:30–12:40] Guided visualization through the spatial body (head, arms, hands, chest, belly, legs, feet)
• [12:45–17:30] Expanding awareness outward and inward, connecting personal space to infinite space
• [17:31–19:45] Heart-centered awareness and the invitation to carry this spacious compassion into daily life

Tone & Style

Tara’s voice is gentle, evocative, and nurturing, guiding listeners through each step with compassion, patience, and subtle encouragement. Her language remains accessible and non-judgmental, making the meditation feel safe, welcoming, and deeply unifying.

Summary

This episode offers a soothing yet profound guided meditation that helps listeners explore the inner and outer dimensions of awareness. By methodically sensing spaciousness within the body and expanding this perception outward, Tara Brach fosters a sense of boundless, luminous awareness that connects all beings. The practice combines mindfulness, visualization, and heart-centered compassion, making it an ideal gateway for anyone seeking to experience greater peace, belonging, and open-hearted presence in their life.