Deep Awareness

When stillness and clarity emerge in deep awareness we can let go of all the meanings and judging and simply witness what is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral (nor pleasant, nor unpleasant). Soft, alert, relaxed and awake we can embrace the changing kaleidoscope of experience.

Transcript

Hello, Welcome to this guided meditation where we will go a bit deeper into awareness. After relaxing into our body, If you're used to focusing your attention on one thing, Like the breathing, If you're used to mindfulness, Awareness meditation, Then we will experience that stillness and clarity of mind that comes when we are able to let go of the thinking mind and embrace all the experience that is surfacing now, That is arising into consciousness, Into awareness. Let's start the meditation now. Find a comfortable posture where you know you can stay still for a while or moving as little as you can, Moving with awareness, Feeling the body, The sensations, Not fighting against what is here, But feeling it. So simply feeling the body from the top of the head till the tip of the fingers, The tip of the toes, And feeling the breathing in the body following this movement of the chest or the abdomen, Expanding and contracting with the breathing, And each time I breathe out, I can let go, Relax, Put everything down. The shoulders are relaxed, Soft, The arms, The hands are soft, Relaxed, All the muscles in the body slowly relax. There's nothing to grasp now, Nothing to achieve, So we can relax and simply be. Be aware of the in-breath, Be aware of the out-breath, Or be aware of any other sensation that catches my attention right now in this very moment. Maybe there is a warm sensation somewhere in the hands, The palm of the hands, The cheeks, The cheeks, The feet, Or some coolness, Vibrations, Tingling, Whatever is here, I simply acknowledge it. Breathing in and breathing out, We're slowly letting go of all the ideas, All the meanings, All the stories, All the judging, And simply opening up to the experience that is going on right now in the body, Being it pleasant, Unpleasant, Or neutral, Nor pleasant nor unpleasant, Unpleasant, Neutral. And if I realize that I'm lost into stories, Fantasies, Thoughts, I can always go back to the breathing, Simply feeling the body breathing, Feeling this movement, This rhythm during the entire in-breath and during the entire out-breath. Maybe there is a pleasant experience right now, Some warmth or coolness, Vibrations, Maybe in the eyes, The cheeks, The arms, Maybe there is calm, Tranquility, Joy, Whatever is here, I simply acknowledge it. Breathing in and breathing out, We're letting the space of awareness be as wide as it can be, So that anything can be just the way it is now. There's no need to grasp, No need to run after something, A pleasant experience, We're simply knowing, Witnessing what is passing by into the sky of awareness. Breathing in and breathing out, Maybe there is an unpleasant experience right now, Some burning in the back, In the legs, Some pulling or throbbing, Maybe there is restlessness, Anxiety, Regret, Whatever is here, Again we're simply acknowledging it. Breathing in and breathing out, We're simply observing, Seeing what is passing by, Feeling it as a cloud passing by into the sky of awareness, Without grasping, Without being involved, Attached, Identified with these transitory states of the body and the mind. There's nothing to push away, Thoughts, Emotions, Sensations, They are like clouds, They arrive, I see them coming, Maybe staying for a while, Changing, Moving, And then I see them going away, Dissolving, If I don't grasp them, If I don't get identified, Or if they don't really go away, But still they change, They move, Maybe they get bigger, Smaller, They increase or decrease in intensity, I can explore them with curiosity, How is this experience, Is it cold or hot, Is it hard or soft, Is it pulling or pushing, We're knowing, Knowing what is here, Without grasping, Without pushing away anything. Breathing in and breathing out, We can slowly enter into stillness and clarity of mind, That allows us to be with the experience, To simply be present to what is here, Feeling the belly rising and falling, Maybe there is nothing special right now, Nor pleasant or unpleasant, And so I can rest into this neutrality, Into this huge wide space of awareness, Simply knowing the in-breath, Knowing the out-breath, Or knowing any other sensation that catches my attention right now, In this very moment, Maybe there is a sound in the environment, Then I can also repeat mentally the word sound, Sound, Or hearing, Hearing, The sound can be pleasant, Unpleasant, Or neutral, In all cases I simply become aware of the experience, Being it pleasant, Unpleasant, Or neutral, And by slowly letting go all the concepts, All the ideas, All the meanings, All the judging, All the opinions, All the stories, I enter into this huge vast space of awareness with a still and clear mind, So starting by simply knowing the in-breath, Knowing the out-breath, Feeling the belly rising, Falling, We come to know the workings of the mind and how the mind is connected to the body, We come to a deep understanding about reality, About ourselves, A lot of patience and kindness is needed, But step by step we can know better and better these workings, We just have to keep it simple, Know one in-breath, Know one out-breath, Or know the body, The entire body, Embrace the experience, Warmth, Coolness, Hardness, Softness, Letting go all the meanings, All the judging. We will have time later at the end of the meditation to go back analyzing, Understanding, Right now for these few minutes that we have left of the meditation we can let go of the thinking mind and simply be, Be aware of the in-breath, Be aware of the out-breath, Feeling the belly rising and falling, Rising and falling, And you may now start to move the body, The back, The shoulders, The arms, The hands, Stretching, You might need also to massage the body, The legs, The arms, The back, And depending on how deep was your meditation, Give yourself time before opening the eyes and go back to the usual way of perceiving yourself, The environment. During meditation, Especially if we're able to go into deep meditation, We enter into a different state, Usually we are identified with the awake state, But we spend at least one third of our life sleeping, Which is a different state. The meditation is something in between the sleeping state, The one without consciousness, And the awake state, Because during meditation we are still, We're not moving, So it's like when we're sleeping with eyes closed, But during meditation we are aware, We are awake, We're not sleeping, We're not forgetting, We're not going into oblivion, We are awake, We are knowing, Knowing, We're conscious, The mind is clear, And we are knowing, Knowing what is going on, All the thoughts passing by, The emotions arising, And all the sensations in the body. So it is a good state to be in at least for a few seconds or a few minutes every day, It's like recharging the batteries. Thank you for taking the time to cultivate this part of yourself, Through entering into this deep state of awareness, We're cultivating and are a part of ourselves as human beings, Which is really, Really important. So it's good to acknowledge this, And acknowledge that it is important to cultivate it.