5 Points Open Awareness (MBSR)

This mindfulness practice moves through five points of awareness (breath, body, sounds, thoughts and emotions) before coming to rest in open awareness. We practice being present to the full range of events within and without with an attitude of non-striving, accepting and non-judging.

Practicing in this way can help us to access a much deeper, richer way of being, no matter what arises on our lives.

Transcript

So we're going to practice a 30-minute meditation on open awareness,

Using elements of breath,

Body,

Sounds,

Thoughts,

Emotions,

And then open awareness itself.

In this practice,

You're taking a seat right in the middle of your life to be with the full range of events within and without,

As they move and change,

Appear and disappear.

We're practicing resting in the awareness with who you are,

Beyond all of the wanting and having and doing.

So the intention of the practice is to bring our awareness to our present moment experience,

Moving awareness gently from these different elements,

Breath,

Body,

Sounds,

Thoughts,

And emotions.

We practice with an attitude of non-striving,

Of accepting,

And non-judging.

So finding a position that's comfortable for you,

Could be sitting on a cushion or a chair or a stool.

If you're on a chair,

Having both your feet on the ground,

And maybe closing the eyes if that's comfortable for you,

Otherwise,

Resting your gaze gently on the ground,

Noticing where you're in contact with the ground,

And feeling how you're being supported,

And feeling your spine growing tall,

Your head balanced on top of the spine,

Shoulders relaxed,

Allowing the hands to rest,

It might be on the lap or on the thighs or the knees,

Just finding a place where you can hold yourself without needing to be too tense,

But having a sense of alertness,

Of dignity,

Of nobility,

And then taking a moment to simply be,

Just to be present with your experience,

However it is in this moment,

Not needing to do anything,

Just opening to what there is in this exact moment of your life.

So as we begin the practice,

Becoming aware of the body breathing,

Noticing the breath,

Entering the body,

Noticing the breath,

Leaving the body,

Being present to each breath as best you can with a kind of fresh attitude,

Just seeing what's there to be noticed,

Paying attention to each and every breath,

And letting go of any need to control the breath to make it any other way than it is,

Just allowing the breath to happen,

Trusting your body that it knows what it's doing,

And letting your life unfold one breath at a time,

Noticing each breath rolling in and rolling out,

Letting each breath come and go,

Just being present to its rhythm and as best you can watching the entirety of each breath,

From the beginning through to the middle and the end,

And then starting again,

Just allowing the breath to be at the centre of our attention,

And if the attention wanders off at any time,

Just gently escorting it back to the breath,

However many times as is needed,

And then expanding awareness to also include the body,

Becoming aware of the body sitting here,

Any sensations you can notice,

You might notice where your body's in contact with the chair or the cushion,

You might notice the touch of clothes on the skin,

You might feel the temperature of the air,

Maybe tingling in your body,

Could be some tension,

Some tightness,

Or some softness,

Or maybe nothing at all,

Which is also fine,

There's no need to find anything special,

Simply noticing which sensations are there for you,

In each moment,

Maybe noticing how the sensations in your body change without you doing anything,

Just how they come and go on their own,

Some may be short,

Others longer,

Maybe noticing how they change in intensity,

Maybe noticing new sensations arising,

Seeing how like the breath,

Each sensation has a beginning,

A middle,

And an end,

Remembering that if you encounter anything that's too difficult or too challenging during your practice,

You can always move back to the breath,

Or to the points where the body is in contact with the ground,

You can rest there until you feel ready to venture out again,

To explore once more,

And you can come back to the sensations in the body and see what's there,

And then moving the awareness to the sense of hearing,

So not seeking out any sounds,

Simply being open to whatever's there to be heard,

Not needing to find anything special or particular,

Just noticing what sounds are there for you in this moment,

Maybe noticing how the sounds also change without you doing anything,

How they just come and go on their own,

Some may be short,

Others longer,

Maybe noticing how they change in intensity and volume,

Maybe new sounds arise,

And seeing how like the breath and the body sensations,

Each sound also has a beginning,

A middle,

And an end,

Allowing the sounds to be at the centre of our attention,

Maybe with curiosity noticing where in the body you can hear the sounds,

Is it just through your ears,

Or can you feel the sounds anywhere else in your body,

And then letting go of the sounds and moving the awareness to thinking,

The realm of thought,

Seeing thoughts not as distractions,

But as best you can,

Bringing your awareness to the thinking process itself,

Maybe noticing how thoughts arise,

Seeing how some might be short,

Others longer,

But at some point they dissolve,

Trying as best you can to notice the beginning of the thoughts,

The middle and the end,

Without getting caught in their content,

And maybe noticing how like sounds in the body,

Some have more intensity,

More emotional charge,

More volume than others,

Maybe labelling thoughts if that helps,

Thinking,

Planning,

Worrying,

Dreaming,

Remembering,

Maybe gently saying hello thought,

Goodbye thought,

Just practising looking at thoughts rather than from thoughts as best you can,

Staying,

Resting in this place of gentle spacious awareness,

Letting the thoughts come and go,

And moving the awareness to emotions,

Just seeing what you can notice,

Be in your heart,

Maybe in your body,

Seeing what's there for you,

Could be a sense of frustration or restlessness,

Peace,

Boredom,

Sadness,

Joy,

Fear,

Or maybe nothing,

Or maybe it's just hard to tell,

So seeing what's here for you in this moment,

And if you can sense an emotion,

Even if it's just a whisper of an emotion,

Noticing where in the body it seems to live,

Can you find an echo of the emotion in the body,

Just being curious if you can,

What sensations are there,

What can you notice,

And as you're doing this,

Practising allowing and softening to whatever you find,

Maybe noticing that the emotions,

The sensations in your body from these emotions may change,

So just like the breath,

The sounds,

And the thoughts,

They may come and go,

Knowing that each emotion also has a beginning,

A middle,

And an end,

Perhaps observing this in your body as best you can,

Not thinking about the emotion or its story,

Just feeling the echo in the body,

Being curious,

Going there,

Breathing with it,

Breathing through it,

And if at any time the emotions become too much,

Just knowing you can always rest in the rhythm of your breath,

Or the contact between your body and the floor if you need,

And then moving now into open awareness,

So not choosing to bring your attention to anything in particular,

Just simply sitting here,

Fully aware of whatever is presenting itself to you in each moment,

Just sitting,

Just waiting,

Just being in the open space of the mind,

Mind not limited by body,

Expanding naturally,

Simply observing whatever presents itself to you in the moment,

Could be sound,

Body sensations,

Thought,

Emotion,

Whatever it is,

Just letting that be the centre of your attention,

Being spacious with whatever arises in each moment,

And exploring if it's possible to let go of any particular object as a focus of attention,

Seeing if it's possible to rest in awareness itself,

Without any effort,

Just knowing whatever arises in each moment,

Being present to it all,

Simply being here now,

And now returning the attention to the body,

The body as you sit,

As being present to your experience,

Sitting here in this room,

In this moment,

Noticing how the body is being held,

Being supported by the ground,

And noticing your body breathing,

Noticing the breath gently rolling in and rolling out of your body,

Maybe feeling the movement in your belly,

And then taking a moment to just be,

Allowing yourself to be exactly as you are right now,

Maybe thanking yourself for taking time to practice today,

To nourish and care for yourself,

To strengthen your muscles of awareness,

Remembering that practicing in this way helps create access to a wider,

Deeper,

More open way of living,

Of being,

And then slowly starting to move your body however you need,

However feels right for you.

The meditation practice is now complete.

Reviews

I enjoyed this meditation. It is one that I come back to and will continue to come back to. It is important for me to create that distance between thoughts and emotions and my actual self.

Nice. Thank you! The guiding is very mellow and grounded. I could have used a little bit more silence. Unlike many guided meditations, this does not ask a lot from the mind, which I found quite helpful.