Wheel Of Awareness Basic Practice

In Dan Siegel's Wheel of Awareness: The hub represents the experience of awareness itself, while the rim contains all the points of anything we can become aware of, that which is known to us. We can send a spoke out to the rim to focus our attention on points on the rim. In this way, the wheel becomes a visual metaphor for the integration of consciousness as we differentiate rim-elements and hub-awareness from each other and link them with our focus of attention. Recorded live on Zoom.

Transcript

So it's finding yourself a comfortable seated posture for the Wheel of Awareness meditation.

If it's right for you,

Lying down is fine,

But perhaps on the floor rather than on the bed.

You can still have a pillow under your knees or under your head if you need it.

Just with that kind intention that we were talking about,

Bringing the attention ever so gently to the breath.

And the gentleness I'm talking about might be like a butterfly landing on a leaf.

Just noticing the breath,

Not needing to manipulate it or change it in any way.

Just noticing it.

Perhaps it might be more noticeable in the nostrils,

The cool air coming in and the warm air coming out.

Perhaps you might notice it in the throat or in the chest or the belly.

Just noticing any resistance to doing this breath meditation.

It's not a failure in any way.

If you can notice that resistance and bring that into the hub,

That's mindfulness.

And then perhaps,

Perhaps there's a really good reason today that you shouldn't meditate or perhaps you give it a go anyway.

Even though you'd prefer to be making notes or something else.

And remembering we're not trying to think about the breath.

We're not trying to analyze it or imagine it or visualize it.

We're actually noticing the felt sense of the breath in the body.

Allowing that breath to be one of those objects on the rim that we get quite absorbed in.

Yet there's still a part of us that that knows that we're being aware of the breath.

The breath that constantly ebbs and flows in and out.

Connects us to the outside world.

Connects us through our present moments,

One after another.

And remembering it's just completely human nature for the mind to go off into thoughts,

To get lost in the rim.

The moment we notice we're thinking,

That's just so beautiful.

That's that moment that we are noticing,

We're integrating,

We're bringing that thought,

Our thinking into the hub of awareness and choosing to gently direct the attention to the breath.

Now if it's helpful,

Bringing the visual of the wheel of awareness to mind.

You certainly don't have to do this.

Only if it feels like it's supportive.

Knowing that we're going to send that spoke of attention from the hub of awareness to the five senses.

Starting off by noticing hearing.

No need to go out searching for sounds,

Just allowing sounds to feel your awareness.

No need to label them or analyze them.

No,

This might happen and that's just thoughts.

Perhaps noticing textures,

Pictures,

Volumes,

Like almost like you're noticing a soundscape.

And letting that go and moving the spoke of attention to the sense of sight.

And so you may choose to keep your eyes closed and just notice,

Allow light and shadow to fill your awareness.

Or if you prefer,

You can open your eyes and gently explore the environment.

Taking a soft gaze with your eyes open or closed.

And then moving the spoke of awareness to the sense of smell.

So again,

You might have liked the idea of smelling your hand or you can just stay still and notice anything you can smell in the nostrils.

Then moving the spoke of attention to the sense of taste.

Noticing any tastes in the mouth.

Well today it might be right for you to actually have a sip of something and notice the taste,

Being really mindful of it.

Then moving the spoke to the fifth sense,

The sense of touch.

No need to go out searching,

Just see if you can receive what you can feel on the skin.

Clothing,

Glasses,

Jewellery,

Hair,

The air temperature,

The furniture that you're on,

Shoes,

The floor under your feet.

Body parts touching other body parts,

You might feel your eyelids and your eyeballs,

Your lips touching,

Arms touching the body,

Hands touching.

And letting that go and moving the spoke of attention now to the sense of the interior of the body,

The sense of interoception.

And so knowing that this part of the practice can sometimes be a bit confronting if you haven't done it before.

There's no failure in deciding not to do it or giving it a go and going back to the five senses if that feels more appropriate.

Starting off by noticing bones and joints and muscles and cartilage and ligaments,

The musculoskeletal system.

Perhaps starting with the head,

Noticing muscles in the scalp,

The skull,

The eye sockets,

The forehead,

The nose,

The cheeks,

The jaw,

The jaw joints,

Any tension in the temples or between the eyebrows or in the jaw joints or at the base of the skull.

Noticing the neck muscles and the cervical spine.

Noticing the shoulder joints.

Really noticing what you can feel within the shoulders,

The bones,

The muscles,

The ligaments.

And then streaming the awareness down the arms,

Upper arms,

Elbows,

Forearms,

Wrists,

Into the hands,

Right down into the tips of the fingers.

Again,

You're likely to have distractions,

Sounds or thoughts or other body sensations.

No need to block these out.

Just noticing them and gently returning the attention to the body.

Noticing the muscles in the torso,

The chest wall,

The abdomen,

The upper back,

The lower back,

The rib cage,

The upper spine,

The lower spine,

The pelvic floor muscles,

The buttocks,

The sit bones,

The pelvic bowl.

Noticing the legs and feet,

Streaming awareness down the thighs,

The knees,

The lower legs,

The ankles and the feet,

Heels and the arch and the top of the foot and the toes.

Noticing right down into the tips of the toes.

Moving the awareness now to some of the organs.

Noticing sensations in the genitals and in the bowels,

In the gut and noticing sensations in right through the belly where the bowels swish around.

Our gut feelings,

Our gut instinct.

All those nerves,

Those neurons,

Those neural connections,

Tons and tons of them through the gut,

Through the bowels.

Perhaps you might like to follow the digestive system up the stomach at the top of the belly,

The esophagus through the chest,

Through the throat and into the mouth.

Noticing the tongue and the inside of the mouth,

The dampness there or the dryness.

And moving the attention to the respiratory system.

So again,

Noticing the breath in the nostrils,

Perhaps in the sinuses,

Perhaps down the throat.

And you can feel the lungs expanding and contracting.

Moving attention to the heart or the heart area.

Another area that has got so many nerves,

Neurons and neural connections.

Like it's almost got its own brain.

If it was helpful,

You might like to put a hand over your heart,

But you don't have to.

This source of our heartfelt feelings.

Perhaps there might be some really pleasant feelings there,

Perhaps some really difficult,

Uncomfortable feelings.

No need to force,

Just noticing if it feels okay to be with whatever's noticeable in the heart.

And then letting that go and moving to just noticing the body as a whole,

Any sensations that you can feel pleasant,

Unpleasant.

From the top of the head down to the tips of the toes.

Letting that go now and moving that spoke of attention to the third segment of the wheel,

Mental activities.

This can be tricky.

We think of our thoughts as us.

It's a little more difficult to notice that they are energy and information flow,

Just like all the other things that we've noticed.

Just noticing thoughts,

Longings,

Urges,

Daydreams,

Intentions,

Attitudes,

The mental component of emotions.

Perhaps it might help to notice whether they're images or audios or even writing or perhaps something that's neither none of those things,

Just noticing.

Maybe we can become even more like a student of the architecture of our mental activities by noticing how a mental activity arises.

Does it bubble up or unfold or flash up or coming from the left or the right?

No need to really try hard here.

Just gently noticing.

Perhaps you might notice how that mental activity or thought stays around.

What's its texture?

And how does it go?

Does it just disappear?

Does it collapse?

Does it unfold?

Perhaps when you're noticing thoughts,

There's a lot more of them or perhaps there's a lot less of them.

Perhaps you might notice if there's a space after the thought,

Like a gap,

A pause.

How does that feel?

How quickly does another thought or mental activity take its place?

Letting that go now and moving the spoke of attention to the fourth and final segment of the wheel,

The sense of interconnection.

Noticing the sense of connection between you and me.

If you're on the Zoom call,

Noticing the connection between others on the Zoom call.

Noticing how the sense of connection feels between others in your house.

That might be people or pets or even plants.

Noticing how the sense of interconnection feels between you and your loved ones.

And without forcing anything,

Seeing how it is to widen that circle.

So perhaps you notice the sense of connection between people in community groups that you're involved in or work or your local community or perhaps even the whole of Australia.

Perhaps even people in the world.

And perhaps it might be easier or more difficult for some to feel that sense of connection with all the animals in the world and all the plants.

All of us sharing this planet,

It's whirling through space,

Breathing the same air,

Drinking the same water.

Perhaps you might even feel a sense of connection with a whole planet.

And if these instructions aren't right for you today,

Just ignore them.

Just let them wash over.

You can always return back to your breathing.

And knowing that the meditation is coming to an end.

Just noticing the effect of the meditation.

No matter how you've meditated,

Can you just notice what's going on right now?

That's mindfulness.

Starting to gently move the body and allowing the eyes to open softly.

Stretching if you need to.

Reviews

I really enjoyed this practice. I am feeling lighter.

Wonderful! That last quadrant on interconnectedness is especially marvelous. I will return to this meditation many times I am sure. Thank you so much!