Meditation: Inner Space - Gateway to Open Awareness (20:08) - Tara Brach

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.

Transcript

Meditation Guide (0:00)

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Podcast Host (0:04)

Welcome friends, to the Tara Brak Podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Each week I share teachings and guided meditations to help us awaken our hearts and bring healing to our world. You can learn more or support this offering by visiting tarabrock.com where you can also join our email list. Now let's explore together the many ways we can live from the love and presence that's our deepest essence. Namaste.

Meditation Guide (1:13)

This is refuge in awareness, in this wakeful openness and, as with all meditations, just to sense your intention as you begin it, To feel a curiosity without any expectation, To be unwilling to judge yourself. Taking a few full breaths. And I'll be asking questions. And all you need to do is give yourself permission to let whatever arises spontaneously be there. There's zero effort in here and the first can you imagine the space between your eyes? Can you imagine the space between your ears? Can you imagine breathing in and out and feeling the space inside the nasal passages? Can you imagine the volume of your tongue? In other words, the space inside the tongue? Can you imagine the space inside the teeth and the gums of the upper palate? Can you imagine the space inside the teeth and gums of the lower palate? Can you imagine the space inside the upper lip? Can you imagine the space inside the lower lip? Can you imagine the space inside the tongue and the gums, teeth and lips simultaneously? So the space inside the whole mouth? Can you imagine the space between the forehead and the nape of the neck? Can you imagine the space under the dome of the skull? Can you imagine the space inside the whole head simultaneously? Can you imagine breathing in and having the throat expand? Breathing out and sensing the space inside the throat and neck area? Can you imagine a space inside the shoulders? Can you imagine the distance between the shoulders? Can you imagine the space filling the shoulders and the upper back? Can you imagine the distance between your shoulders and your elbows? Can you imagine the distance between your elbows and your wrists? Can you imagine the volume of your thumbs? Can you imagine the volume that your index fingers occupy? Can you imagine the space between your thumb and your index fingers? Can you imagine the space inside the middle fingers? Can you imagine the space inside the ring finger? And can you imagine the space inside the small fingers? Can you imagine the space between all the fingers and that suffuses the bones and flesh of the fingers? Can you imagine the space between the palms and the backs of the hands? Can you imagine a space that fills the whole hand? Can you imagine simultaneously the space that fills the hands, the arms and the shoulders at once? Can you imagine the volume of the heart? Can you imagine breathing in and feeling the lungs expand and breathing out and feeling the space inside the lungs? Can you imagine the space between the breastbone and the spine? Can you imagine the distance between either side of the chest, sides of the body? Can you imagine the space occupied by the heart, the lungs, and that fills the whole chest simultaneously? Can you imagine the distance between the navel and the back of the spine? Can you imagine the distance between either side of your waist? Can you imagine the distance between the navel and the tailbone, the very base of the spine? Can you imagine breathing in and feeling the whole belly fill with air, expanding and breathing out and feeling the whole belly filled with space? Can you imagine the distance between the hip joints and the knees? Can you imagine the distance between the knees and the ankles? Can you imagine the volume of the big toes? Can you imagine the space between all the toes, including that which permeates the bones and flesh of the toes? Can you imagine the space between the soles of the feet and the top of the feet? Can you imagine the space filling the feet? Can you imagine the distance between the feet and the core of the earth? 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? Breathing in, feeling the earth energy filling you, breathing out, sensing the space that fills the body? Can you imagine the energy from the front of you extending out infinitely to the stars? Can you imagine this space behind you extending out infinitely to the stars? Can you imagine the space to either side of you extending out infinitely to the stars? Can you imagine the space above you extending out infinitely to the stars? Can you imagine that the space that extends out infinitely and that extends in infinitely is simultaneously continuously the same space. Again? Can you imagine that the space that extends infinitely outward and infinitely inward is continuous? Can you imagine that this space is filled with the light of awareness? Can you imagine as you rest in that awareness, the expression that forms naturally on your face? 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. Can you imagine moving through your day, remembering this heart space, this continuous heart space that we all belong to? It's.