Tara Brach, a clinical psychologist and meditation teacher, leads a guided meditation called Having a Sky-Like Mind. Sounds appear and disappear in the open space of awareness, and the mind is sensed as open as the sky.
Left unchecked, the mind can become crowded with thought, or ‘inner noise.’ Opening our attention to guided meditations like Tara Brach’s ‘Having a Sky-Like Mind,’ or simply tuning into the real noise around us, the sounds of our direct environment, can make it easier to ease a racing mind.
Having a Sky-Like Mind
In this guided meditation, Tara Brach guides us to open our awareness to the sounds that surround us, and then invites us to envision the mind opening up completely, boundary-free, much like the sky. Incorporating the sounds of chimes and gongs, listeners are invited to tune into the way that all sounds appear and disappear just like clouds in the sky. By paying attention in this way, we notice how everything, thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations included, comes and goes through the open space of awareness.
Reconnecting to the Heart
When the mind is open as the sky, we may naturally open up from the heart space as well. Judgment, fear, anxiety, and stress may lessen as we open ourselves compassionately to ourselves and to the world around us, and we may find ourselves feeling calm and connected to the open space around and within us. In other words, a sky-like mind can reach beyond the intellect to touch our whole state of being.
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