Um that's what this first exercise will hopefully give you a little taste of and then we'll go deeper.
So now that we're all here,
Go ahead and find your meditative position.
Get nice and comfy.
Give yourself a couple deep breaths in.
And just allow your body to feel held by the chair that you're in.
As you start to relax,
Start to go inward.
And as you take those deep breaths in through the nose,
And exhale softly out the mouth to just kind of let the surface level tension melt away.
Just breathe and release.
Just start to notice the space around you.
You can notice the air,
If there's any sounds.
You'll see that even with your eyes closed there's awareness of the space around you in every direction.
Above you,
Below you,
Behind you.
You don't have to work to be aware of that space.
You just are.
It's always there.
That awareness is naturally open.
It has no edge,
No border.
Just open awareness.
And you might notice that this awareness,
This spaciousness,
Presence,
Is not something that you made.
It's not something that you're doing.
It's just there.
Always here,
Even in sleep,
Even in your busiest of moments,
This awareness is here underneath.
And from that place of awareness,
You can scan the body.
Just checking in,
Seeing if there's anything that wants your attention.
It could be a sensation that's present,
A tightness,
A heaviness,
A buzzing.
It might be in the chest,
The belly,
The throat.
It could be anywhere.
And just notice where something's present,
Even subtly.
And when you find the right place that's calling to you,
Just let your attention rest there.
Not trying to change it or figure it out.
Just being with it.
And notice the quality of the sensation.
Is it tight,
Loose,
Heavy,
Light?
Is it moving or is it still?
Does it have a temperature,
Sharp or dull?
You don't have to put it into perfect words.
Just feel the texture of it,
The aliveness.
And I'm going to ask you a question that might sound a little bit odd,
But don't think about it.
Just go with it.
So you are aware of this sensation.
You're aware of it.
So I'd like you to notice where is the eye that's aware of this sensation?
Not the sensation,
The one who's noticing it.
Where is that perceiving happening from?
Just go with the very first answer you get without thinking.
Just notice.
Might be somewhere in the head.
It might be in the heart.
Might feel like it has a location.
Might even be out of the body.
Whatever arises,
Just notice.
There's no right or wrong answer.
Where that awareness of the sensation is coming from.
But when you find it,
The one who's aware,
Notice what it's like.
Does the awareness of that first sensation have its own sensation to it,
Its own quality?
Or maybe it has a size or a shape.
And don't think about what it should be.
Or if you did intuitive training,
If you're supposed to be in the center of your head and it's supposed to be a sphere,
Don't necessarily just go with that.
Actually see where is that awareness of the sensation really at?
You just want to quantify it a little bit.
And then staying with that sensation or the sense of the eye,
The one that's perceiving,
I want you to ask it a question,
Not with words.
Just feel for the answer.
Does this sensation,
This awareness,
This eye,
Welcome the invitation to open,
To relax,
To expand out,
Enjoying the open awareness that's already all around it?
If yes,
You can just allow that to happen,
However it wants to happen.
No effort,
No directing it,
Just allow.
It's like a hand that's been holding tension for a long,
Long time.
You don't have to pry it open.
When the attention comes back and notices that it's been clenching the fist,
Your hand can just know to release itself.
It knows which direction to open.
So just watch and allow.
And if it's not fully ready,
That's okay too.
You don't have to force it.
You can honor whatever is here.
But if it opened,
Start to notice what that's like.
What happens in the body when the eye relaxes back into the openness?
Does the sensation change?
Does the quality of the space change?
And just let that continue for as long as it wants to continue.
You might feel a warmth spreading.
You might notice the sensation that was once charged in a certain way has maybe softened.
You might feel a sense of something releasing,
Like putting something down,
Like a light.
That's your caring.
Whatever you experience is fine.
There's no right or wrong version of this.
But then start to gently come back without losing the openness.
Just bring your attention back to the original sensation,
The one you found in the body.
And is it the same or has it shifted?
And if there's anything that remains in that original sensation,
I want you to invite the sensation to whatever's still here.
To open and relax is all of awareness,
Or for all of awareness to flow in and as the sensation,
Letting it do what feels most natural.
Just staying present.
And then we'll go a little deeper.
Sometimes when we ask a contracted sense of I to open up,
It welcomes that.
And sometimes we notice that there's something behind it.
Something that was watching the first sensation,
Maybe a deeper position that the awareness was looking for.
Almost like a secondary emotion,
Secondary sensation.
So you might've been aware of a sensation.
You found the I that was aware of it.
But the next question is,
Who was aware of that I?
There must be a perceiver noticing that too.
And so gently now notice if there's a sense of an I that's watching what's been happening so far.
A deeper position.
Might be in a different location from the first one.
And it might have a completely different quality to it.
And just go with the first thing that arises.
Where is that deeper noticing happening from?
Notice its quality.
If it has a shape,
Texture,
A weight or temperature to it,
Even.
And then ask the same question.
Does this sensation,
This deeper I,
Does it welcome the invitation to open and relax into and as all awareness?
Welcome the invitation to open and relax into and as all of awareness.
And allow that without effort.
The awareness knows what to do.
This can happen like a dissolving.
Like a salt crystal disappearing into water.
It was there and then it's everywhere.
Not gone but no longer contained.
As the salt.
And sometimes it's more like fog in morning sunlight.
Slowly,
Gently,
The form lets go of itself.
And what's left is the light that was always there underneath.
Or it might be something entirely different for you.
How that moves and changes.
Trust whatever your experience is.
And just notice what's here now.
What's the quality of this space?
And if there's a sense of something looking,
A perceiver watching even this,
You can go another layer deep.
Where is the I that's aware of what just happened?
The I watching the I watching the I watching the sensation.
Just notice where is that perceiving coming from?
That third layer deep.
Make contact with it,
Experience yourself as it.
And does this welcome the invitation to open and relax?
As all of awareness.
Let the openness,
It already is be recognized.
Some of these contractions have been here for a very long time.
Decades even.
And sometimes they don't need force.
They just need to be seen,
Noticed.
Included and invited.
And that invitation,
It's always gentle,
Kind.
And now let's include the body fully.
Gently bring your attention to your entire physical body.
Not to fix or change anything.
Just to include it in this awareness exercise.
To let that awareness that's been opening flow in and through.
And as the body.
So beyond these eyes and beyond the first sensation.
Let the fullness of awareness open to the head and face.
Let the fullness of awareness open to the neck and shoulders.
Let the fullness of awareness open to the chest and heart.
The belly,
The back.
The arms and hands.
The hips.
The legs.
Feet.
And anywhere that still holds tension,
You can just notice it.
Without trying to fix it,
But rather include it.
Saying,
Yes,
That pesky hip pain or whatever it is,
You too are included in this.
Nothing needs to be excluded.
Nothing is left outside the wholeness.
Every sensation,
Every feeling,
Every thought that arises.
Even if it's a sense of panic,
It's all welcome.
It's all happening within this open awareness that you are.
So let it flow into any of those areas.
And let yourself just rest here for a moment.
You might take note of the quality that's here now compared to when we started.
When we take note of it,
We can recognize and remember that this could be a useful exercise to use.
If you need a state change,
If you want to bring the wholeness of awareness through.
And even if you don't experience the exact state you were hoping to experience,
That's okay.
This process continues long after we stop.
The system,
Once it's shown how to release in this way,
It tends to just keep going.
The invitation was already sent out.
Things that you might not have even been aware of may shift in the hours and days ahead.
And so gently begin to return.
Become aware of the sounds in the room.
Temperature of the air,
The feeling against the floor,
The chair you're in.
And then you can slowly but surely make your way back to the room,
Not a meditation.
Very nice.
