Hey welcome,
My name is Ellie and I'll be guiding you through this open awareness practice today.
Through open awareness we just start to become a little bit more conscious of our thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations and the world around us without grasping or without attaching any labels or emotions to that.
You see we're here in our mindfulness practice no matter the exercise to be the observer to what's going on but not to associate ourselves with that thought,
Emotion or action.
It's when we get that separation that we arrive back to the reality of ourselves and the reality of ourselves is just pure.
There's a space within you that's always at peace no matter what else is going on in your life there is a space inside that's always at peace always at rest and through our meditation practice it's the journey back to that space every time.
So normally or I should say often in our guided meditations we have some sort of exercise that we focus on and for some of us that can feel quite rigid or strict or forced whereas with open awareness it's simply that it's just watching,
Allowing your mind to drift and observing that drift.
Throughout the practice I'll guide you towards some things you may be able to feel sense and our practice is not attaching ourselves to that just noticing.
So to begin if you haven't already find yourself a comfortable space.
You can even do this while walking if you want to try that.
Just consciously connect to the support of the ground beneath you be that at your feet or at your sit bones your hips.
Can you allow your shoulders to relax just a little bit?
Can you allow your jaw to relax and your tongue?
And if you'd like to you're welcome to close your eyes.
We'll start the practice by connecting our awareness inside tuning into your breathing in and out through your nose if you're comfortable if not then in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Notice the quality of your breath without judgment just notice if the breath is deep or if it's quite short and shallow.
Breathing in that observing mentality so you're just watching the breath or watching the body breathe itself.
Start to connect with the inner world of your body can you notice any spaces holding or clinging maybe you can invite a little bit of space that might make you feel a bit more comfortable here.
Notice how you're feeling right now deep down within yourself.
We're going to run through a sequence of things to become aware of and I'll invite you just to give that thought emotion sensation a name and then drop it or just to kind of watch it fade or let it go.
So bring your awareness back to sensations you can feel in your body areas of tightness or areas of ease and just one by one notice it and then in your mind say the word sensation and then let it go.
And move on to the next one,
Sensation then let it go.
Maybe within the sensations you can feel emotions might arise sometimes even memories arise from those sensations.
If that happens then call it emotion call it memory and then just come back to your breathing.
In this space of open awareness when emotions or memories arise try the best you can not to label them good or bad positive or negative observe them from this neutral space notice they're there and then just let them go and move on.
Can you become aware of the feeling of your body sitting or standing or walking wherever you are notice those points of contact between your body and the earth and each point of contact just notice it and then say support and then move on to the next one.
Might be at your hips support then move on.
Expand that open awareness outwardly now noticing any sounds you can hear within the room you're in and then just say listening and then move on to the next sound.
Now connect to sounds you can hear outside the room you're in or the farthest away sounds you can hear again just noticing them calling them listening and then moving on to the next one allowing each one just to pass by.
We'll stay here for the next two minutes in that time just rest in this open aware state and no matter what you feel hear smell whether that be inside your body or way out as far away from you as it'll go just become aware of it give it a name a simple name like listening feeling hearing whatever comes to your mind and then let it go and expand your awareness towards the next thing.
Down damaged please Okay,
If your mind started to wander,
Notice where it's gone,
Then let it go.
Reconnect with your breath,
Breathing consciously this time,
So really focusing on the journey the breath is flowing in and out through your body.
Open awareness meditations like this one allow us to drop our attachments to the things that happen day to day.
Distractions come in or dramas can happen in our lives and practicing this kind of open awareness allows us to let them go and come back to that space of peace inside of us.
Sometimes when the world feels like it's just swirling around you,
Notice it and then just let it go and connect back to this space,
This grounding,
This sense of calm.
This is your true self,
The rest is just noise.
Okay,
Take a big inhale through your nose,
Exhale out through your mouth at the end of your exhale open your eyes if they're not already open and then just set the intention to take this calm space out through the rest of your day today.
Thank you so much for practicing with me and I'll see you soon.
