Welcome to Awareness Practice for a Healthy Mind Meditation.
From managing your stress or anxiety to self-realization,
It all starts with awareness.
When we learn to become aware of our sensations,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
And belief systems,
We begin to not identify with them,
Which opens us up to new ways of just being.
This meditation directs your attention to your senses,
Body sensations,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
And our connection with the external world,
And finally placing awareness on awareness itself.
Practicing this frequently will help to integrate all aspects of your brain,
According to Dr.
Dan Siegel,
Which leads to a healthy mind.
We begin by settling into a comfortable seated position,
Back straight,
Tongue resting gently on the roof of your mouth.
Close your eyes and begin to turn within.
Take a few slower,
Deeper breaths as you release tension from your body.
So we begin with just bringing your awareness to the breath,
Allowing it to be as it is.
We will turn our light of awareness first to the senses,
Beginning with the sense of seeing.
So you can open your eyes again,
But just allow the sights to come to you without labeling anything.
Just becoming aware of seeing.
You can close your eyes again.
And the second sense we'll be focusing on is hearing.
So bring all of your attention to the sounds you are hearing.
My voice,
The sounds in the room.
If your mind wanders,
Just bring it back to listening.
Next,
We'll bring our focus of attention to the sense of tasting.
Are there any tastes in your mouth?
And then the sense of smell.
What smells are you aware of?
And we will also turn our focus to the sense of touch.
You can bring your awareness to where your clothes touch your skin,
For example.
Maybe your hands are resting within each other.
So bring your light of awareness to the sense of touch.
Now we will turn our attention to the body.
We begin with this beam of awareness brought to the sensations of our head.
Bring your awareness to your scalp,
Face,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Your arms and hands.
Your chest.
Your upper back.
The lower back.
Your belly.
Your hips.
Now we'll bring awareness to the legs and feet.
This is a good opportunity to take a breath and with your exhale,
Do that body scan again,
Just looking for any areas of tension.
With the exhale,
Naturally releasing.
And feeling yourself grounded and settled in your chair.
I now invite you to experience your inner body.
This is called your introception sense.
We will begin with the feet,
But instead of just becoming aware of your feet,
Allow your awareness to go inside the feet.
Bring the awareness inside the left foot.
And the right foot.
And can you be inside both feet at once?
And we'll bring this sense of awareness to our hands.
So bringing the awareness inside the left hand.
You may feel some tingling,
Some warmth.
And inside the right hand.
And choose an internal organ,
The stomach or the heart.
And bring your awareness inside the body so you can sense the stomach or the heart.
So you're feeling into it.
Becoming aware of any sensations.
Can you become aware of the inside of your body as a whole?
It may feel like a field of vibration and sensation,
A sense of aliveness.
Does this vibration continue on the TEDith,
Like I was talking about this before vibration have a boundary We will now move our light of awareness to any feelings that may have come up.
When you become aware of the body,
Frequently emotions come up as they do have a physical component.
So just allow and witness any feelings.
You can think of your inhale as a welcome,
Welcoming any feelings.
And just with your exhale allowing a letting go.
Or just being with your feelings.
Next we'll bring our attention to our thoughts.
So usually in meditation,
We think that we are trying to avoid our thoughts.
But for this exercise,
We are purposefully bringing our attention to the thoughts without trying to stop them or control them.
You can get curious,
Where do thoughts emerge from?
Can you just watch a thought emerge and then leave your awareness?
I now invite you to turn your gaze of awareness outward.
How do you feel connected in your life?
Turn your attention perhaps to the people in your life.
Whether you live with someone,
People you work with,
Family,
Friends,
Community,
Maybe it's more your connection is to nature or art.
We're just bringing awareness to how you connect.
And observe if thoughts and feelings come up as we have this new focus of awareness.
Again,
Just get curious and observe neutrally.
Our final focus will be turning awareness back on awareness itself.
So who or what has been aware this whole time?
Where do these sensations,
Perceptions,
Thoughts emerge from?
What is present when you're not focusing on thoughts,
Sensations or perceptions?
Some like to compare this field of awareness to the sky and each object,
A thought,
A sensation or perception is like a cloud that appears and disappears into this field of awareness.
How does this field feel?
It's spacious,
Free,
Peaceful.
This is your still point.
It's in this still point that healing happens,
Insights emerge.
And when allowed,
It's the place where grace moves through and does its magic.
I invite you to practice this often and you will notice a calmer,
Clearer mind.
You'll also notice this sense of inner connection emerging as you discover that we are all really emanations from this one field of awareness.
Thank you for practicing with me.
This is Anne Baker from Essence Health.
