Introduction To Awareness

The first meditation in the Process Meditation series
The first step is to differentiate between the information I am experiencing, and experience of being aware. No matter what information I am experiencing, awareness is not that. It is simply aware.

Transcript

This is a guided exercise which will help you to connect with awareness. We're going to do this progressively, One channel of awareness at a time. We're going to start by contacting our vision. We're going to notice that we can see, Specifically we can see things. So you can begin by just noticing the things that you see, That your eyes have this capacity to focus on the things that you see. And we're going to shift our attention from what we see to our awareness. And we do it like this. I am seeing things in my visual field. I'm aware that I'm seeing them. I couldn't be seeing them if I was not aware. And I shift my attention towards this awareness. What we'll find, What we're looking for is a relaxation of focus from the stuff that I see to the experience of being aware. And we're learning how to stay connected to that sense of awareness. And we can shift our attention now to our hearing. Again, I am hearing sounds. There's information in my auditory field. Just notice the sounds that you're hearing. And we're going to shift our attention again from the sounds to awareness. I am hearing sounds. I'm aware of them. That's why I'm able to hear them. And I shift my attention more to awareness. I focus on the experience of being aware. And I notice that the experience of being aware is not a sound. For me, I hear sounds. My awareness is a receptive space, A receptive silence. And by connecting to awareness, I connect with this silence. And if we move to our mental channel of thought and mental energy, Again, I have thoughts. I can observe them. Just like I can see things in my visual field, I can see or feel, Perceive my thoughts. I can perceive my thoughts. And we can just check in with what our thoughts are like right now. And we're going to do the same shift from our thoughts to our awareness. I have thoughts. I'm aware of my thoughts. That's why I know they're there. And I focus on my awareness. Awareness is not a thought. Really feel for yourself, What is awareness? Notice how your experience shifts when you focus on and stay connected to this experience of being aware. And we can also do this with our physical body. We can feel from our feet to our head. I have a physical experience called my body with sensations, Pressure, Heat, Pleasure, Pain. And just like I was finding objects in a room, I find the sensations in my body. I connect to this information of body. I feel my body. I'm aware of my body. That's why I'm having a body experience, Because I'm aware. And I shift my attention, My focus, Towards this awareness. My body feels like a body. What does awareness feel like? I'm also having an emotional experience. And I can feel my feelings. I can see what is my emotional state right now. And I can focus on those feelings. And I can shift to awareness. I am having feelings. I'm aware of my feelings. That's why I'm able to have the experience. And I shift my attention to awareness. And I notice awareness is not an emotion. If I connect to that awareness, Which is not an emotion, How does it affect me? As you feel this awareness and reflect on how it affects you, Consider what would my life be like if I lived connected to awareness? Every experience is made possible because of awareness, Which means that the feeling, The experience of being aware, Is always available.