5-Awareness Meditation

The 5-Awareness Practice allows us to sit at the centre of our experience, anchoring ourselves into the present moment, bringing awareness to our internal and external worlds. This 5 step meditation begins with the breath, then moves to body sensations, then sounds, then thoughts, then emotions. This meditation is used by students in the second half of my Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course, so there is plenty of space to practice by yourself, with silent spaces of up to a minute.

Transcript

Welcome to this 30 minute meditation.

The five awareness practice gives us the opportunity to sit at the center of our experience,

Bringing ourselves into the present moment,

Becoming aware of our internal and external worlds.

Now our intention today is to remain present with our sensory experiences as they move,

Change,

Appear and disappear into awareness.

So we'll begin by placing our attention on the breath,

We'll then move to body sensations and to sounds and thoughts and we'll end the meditation by placing our attention on our emotions.

Each time we get distracted with thoughts of the past or the future,

Which we will over and over,

We bring our awareness back to our present experience and if we notice any unpleasant or difficult experiences then we stay with those experiences only for as long as it feels manageable,

Knowing that it's okay to shift our attention away from the discomfort at any time.

As the meditation goes on I'll be allowing plenty of space for you to practice by yourself,

So there will be silence for up to a minute and it will be very likely that whenever you hear my voice I'll be interrupting a train of thought.

So as we practice we remember to bring an attitude of patience and acceptance with whatever happens and we practice being kind to ourselves so we don't beat ourselves up or give ourselves a hard time when we get distracted or if we notice difficult or challenging thoughts,

Sensations or emotions.

So kindness and self-acceptance are the key attitudes that we bring to our practice today.

So let's begin the meditation by finding a comfortable position,

Sitting in an alert and relaxed posture,

Knowing that it's okay to move or shift positions at any time during this meditation.

And I invite you now to close the eyes or you're welcome to leave the eyes open.

If you are going to keep the eyes open just making sure that we have a soft focus a few feet in front of us on the floor and if you are keeping the eyes closed still making sure that we have a soft focus with the eyes closed and with the eyes relaxed.

And let's just have a quick check-in with what's going on inside the mind and in the body and in particular noticing whether or not we're here,

Whether or not we're present.

Are we focused on today's practice or have we maybe got other things running through our mind?

Stresses of the day or worries about the week ahead perhaps.

Not that it matters but we do want to be aware of where our mind is.

So if we're feeling calm and present we bring awareness to our calmness.

If our mind is somewhere else we bring awareness to the fact that our mind is elsewhere.

So I invite you now to join me becoming aware of the breath,

Noticing the inhale and noticing the exhale.

And without trying to change anything about the breath we're simply noticing how the body's naturally breathing.

The body knows what to do and we might find that there's an urge to direct the breath,

To control the breath.

And if you do notice that urge just see if you can do simply that,

Just notice the urge.

There's a tendency for many of us to want to take control,

So to take control of the breath.

So see what it's like to just allow the the body to breathe itself.

Is the body breathing deeply?

Is it a shallow breath?

Is the breath going into the chest or is it going into the stomach?

Is the exhale longer than the inhale or is the inhale longer than the exhale?

We're just noticing.

Noticing that we don't have to do anything or make any effort to breathe.

The body knows exactly what to do so just pause for a moment and notice that the body can breathe by itself without without any effort from you.

We're not so much watching the breath,

We're experiencing the breath,

We're feeling the breath.

So what does it feel like to breathe?

Perhaps we can feel the cool air coming in through the nostrils as we breathe in,

As the lungs in the chest and the stomach expand.

And then we might notice a short pause as the breath changes direction.

And then the warm air leaving the nostrils as we breathe out as the body softens and relaxes and sinks deeper into the chair or into the cushion.

We breathe in and the body expands and we breathe out as the body softens and relaxes and sinks deeper.

And if we notice that the mind is elsewhere,

Perhaps we're thinking about the past or worrying about the future.

It could be planning or fixing or strategizing,

Going over to-do lists.

That's perfectly normal,

It's what the mind is designed to do.

It's designed to look into the past and think about everything that went wrong and then plan for the future so that those mistakes never happen again.

But as soon as we realize that we're caught up in that train of thought,

Then that's a moment of mindfulness and it's at that moment that we have that choice to make and we can choose to gently bring our awareness back to the present moment,

Back to the breath.

So without giving ourselves a hard time,

We practice that kindness and that self-acceptance.

It's what the mind does,

It's okay.

So we're kind to ourselves as we gently bring our awareness back to the breath.

And in the next few breaths,

Whenever we're ready,

We now choose to redirect our attention to awareness of the body as a whole and to the different sensations that we can feel in and around the body.

Perhaps there are subtle sensations like tingling or pulsing or coolness or warmth or maybe there are more uncomfortable sensations like pain or tension or itching.

So we're simply staying curious and open to whatever's happening right now.

So what sensations are happening in and around the body?

What can we feel in the body?

Each time a sensation arises,

We make a conscious effort to observe.

Taking a moment to hold it in our awareness with interest,

Being curious about exactly what this sensation feels like.

And we don't have to go searching out sensations,

We simply notice them when they arise,

When they appear.

Are we adding our own stories and commentaries to our sensations?

And if we notice that we are telling ourselves stories or narrating our experience,

Noticing that those are just thoughts just like any other,

And we can allow those thoughts to pass and we can direct our attention back to sensations,

Back to feeling that raw sensation inside the body,

That tingle,

That pulse,

That warm feeling,

That cool feeling.

And gently now,

Releasing our awareness of sensations allowing awareness of sensations to move into the background of our awareness and gathering our attention back onto the breath,

Feeling that next inhale as the body expands,

And feeling that next exhale as the body softens and relaxes.

And allowing our attention now to shift from the breath and letting our attention move into the realm of sound,

Our sense of hearing.

And we're seeing sounds now not as distractions but instead we're bringing awareness to the sounds themselves.

And we're not seeking out sounds but rather we're opening up our senses to receive whatever sounds are out there.

And notice how awareness receives sounds without making any effort.

The sounds are just there,

We don't have to seek them out.

And each time a sound arises we make a conscious effort to observe it,

Taking a moment to hold it in our awareness with interest,

Being curious about the sound,

Noticing that sound might be clear or muffled,

Sounds might be loud or soft,

There are sounds inside the room,

Outside the room,

And if we listen very closely we might even be able to hear sounds coming from inside the body.

Noticing that we often have opinions about sounds,

We often have opinions about sounds,

We might find some sounds pleasant and others unpleasant,

Other sounds we might find neutral,

So noticing this tendency to judge sounds.

And it doesn't matter what the exact sound is,

There's no need to label the sound or question why it's there,

It's the awareness of the sound that's important.

So it might be challenging at first not to have an opinion about a sound because we're so used to labeling and judging things as good or bad,

Right or wrong,

Pleasant or unpleasant,

So it takes time to coax the mind out of this habit but it's a skill that we can build with practice,

So practicing that skill right now,

So without judgment just listening to the sound,

Just allowing the sounds to come to us.

And now we're going to give our awareness and gathering our awareness back onto the breath,

Noticing that next inhale,

Noticing that next exhale.

Allowing our attention to now shift from the breath and moving our awareness towards thinking and thoughts.

So we're seeing thoughts today not as distractions but instead we're bringing our awareness to the thinking process itself.

Now thoughts appear out of nowhere,

They're a creation of a mind that wants to be kept busy at all times,

So today we're practicing stepping back and looking at our thoughts rather than from our thoughts.

Each time a thought arises we're making a conscious effort to observe it,

So taking a moment to hold it in our awareness with interest,

Being curious about the thought and we don't need to go searching out for thoughts,

We simply notice them when they appear,

So if there are no thoughts in the mind,

Great,

We can just pay attention to the silent mind,

If there are lots of thoughts in the mind then that's great too,

We can become aware of those thoughts and we can observe those thoughts as they pop into our consciousness and then they leave.

You you and our thoughts are often memories of the past or their thoughts about the future and often by labeling the thoughts we can reduce the temptation to get carried away by them so perhaps choosing to acknowledge the thought by silently saying in our minds thinking or planning,

Fantasizing,

Worrying,

Then once we've labeled the thought we can gently and quietly come back to the anchor of the breath while we simply wait to see what thought comes along next and we can notice perhaps if the thoughts are happy or sad or maybe even neutral,

Again we're not trying to do anything with the thoughts,

We don't really have a goal,

If anything the goal is simply to notice the thought with curiosity and interest.

You you you you you and the mind will get distracted,

It's what the mind does and even when we're bringing our awareness to thoughts sometimes those thoughts can be so engaging that we get carried away on that train of thought so if that happens that's perfectly fine but as soon as we realize that we've been carried away on the train of thought without giving ourselves a hard time we just accept that's what the mind does and we patiently bring our awareness back to thoughts and looking at thoughts rather than from our thoughts you you and allowing our awareness of thoughts to move into the background of our awareness and gathering our attention back onto the breath back onto the next inhale as the body expands and the next exhale as the body softens and relaxes noticing that in breath and noticing that out breath and allowing our attention to now shift from the breath and letting our attention move to our emotions as we sit here as we meditate we might notice emotions coming into our awareness and much like thoughts we're practicing stepping back and looking at our emotions rather than from our emotions so what emotions can we feel right now maybe there's anger or joy or happiness or sadness there could be fear confusion calm contentment excitement whatever's present in the body right now no matter how subtle we're just bringing that into our awareness you you each time an emotion arises we're making a conscious effort to observe it we're taking a moment to hold it in our awareness with curiosity what is this emotion doing inside the mind and in the body and noticing as well that emotions are always felt somewhere in the body so where in the body can we feel this emotion so perhaps we can feel the emotion in the chest maybe there's a heaviness or tightness or tingling or warmth or perhaps it's in the stomach maybe a churning or a fluttering sensation or maybe tightness or pulsing in the hands or it could be in the head of the face or temples heat burning tingling so maybe asking ourselves what am I feeling right now you you now allowing our awareness of emotions to move into the background of our awareness and gathering our attention back onto the breath noticing how the body is breathing without trying to change anything about the breath what does the breath feel like right now is it a slow breath is it a deep breath is that exhale longer than our inhale or inhale longer than our exhale really noticing what it feels like to breathe the sensations of breathing and as this meditation comes to an end choosing to bring our attention now back to the body feeling the body connected to the ground or connected to the chair noticing where you're making contact with the floor or the cushion and noticing how the body is feeling right now does it feel differently in any way to the start of the meditation just noticing and keeping our eyes closed bringing our attention now to sounds inside the room sounds outside the room possibly even sounds coming from our own bodies and gently wiggling our fingers and toes and whenever we're ready slowly opening the eyes in our own time having a little stretch if we need to and congratulating ourselves for taking some time to look after our mind and our body have a great day and I'll see you in the next session

Reviews

A perfect balance of silence and instruction! Very helpful. Thank you! 😊

Always enjoy your guidance. namaste.

Fabulous thank you, Chibs 🙏🏽 I was a bit scattered this afternoon so I sat with your 30min 5-Awareness Meditation and by the end of the session, felt a lot better. One to practice regularly, I think 😉

The interruptions to quiet thought are great practice. I love the timber of your Voice. I am immediately relaxed. Thank you so much for taking the time to record this.🙏🏽🌻

One of my daily favourites 😌 what a glorious voice! xx

That was super good! Simple, grounding and some peaceful pauses. Thank you! Really good!☮️💖🙏🖖🪷🕉