Hi,
This is Chris.
I will now guide you through a 20-minute open awareness meditation.
This is a sitting meditation,
So let's begin by finding a comfortable sitting position for you.
You might want to sit on a chair or on a meditation cushion.
In case you are sitting on a chair,
Please make sure you sit with a straight back,
Maybe bringing the shoulders a little bit back,
Sitting away from the back of the chair so that your spine is self-supporting and the feet flat on the ground.
If you are sitting on a cushion,
Maybe use a cross-legged position,
The head balanced on top of the spine.
The hands can be placed on the lap or the knees,
Palms facing up or down.
When you are ready,
Gently closing the eyes.
The intention of this meditation is to bring your awareness into all aspects of your present moment experience.
We bring the attention on different parts,
First into the breath,
Then into body sensations,
Sounds,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
And finally we open up to the totality of your experience.
Bring an attitude of non-striving,
Acceptance and non-judging to this practice.
Simply allowing everything that arises,
Turning towards instead of fighting against whatever it is that is arising.
Now let's start with the open awareness meditation.
As you settle,
Just allowing the breath to enter and leave your body.
Simply breathing in and out.
Noticing that there is a beginning,
A middle and an end.
Noticing that there is a beginning,
A middle and an end of each in-breath and out-breath.
And if you have drifted off,
Noticing that and simply coming back to my words and the breath in a kind and non-judging way.
Now when you are ready,
Expanding your attention beyond the breath to include also the entire body sitting here.
Simply becoming aware of sensations in the body right now and right here.
And if unpleasant sensations are here,
Simply allowing them to be,
No need to change or fix.
Maybe breathing into them and breathing out of them,
Letting go,
Softening.
And if the attention wanders,
Noticing that and making a choice to bring the attention back with care and kindness to the awareness of the body and the breath.
Now,
Allowing the attention to shift from the breath and the body to the sense of hearing.
What sounds can you notice?
Receiving whatever is available,
My presence,
My presence.
Whatever is available might be sounds from within the body and from the environment near and far.
Noticing how the mind labels sounds,
Has opinions about sounds,
Likes and dislikes certain sounds.
Just being with sounds and allowing things to unfold.
And when you are caught up in emotions or thoughts,
Recognizing them and choosing to come back to the experience of sounds.
And when you are ready,
Allowing attention to shift from hearing and letting it expand this time into thoughts,
What can you observe?
Seeing thoughts not as distractions,
But rather bringing your awareness to the body.
To the thinking process itself.
Noticing how thoughts arise,
Stay briefly or for a more extended period and then dissolve.
Thoughts have a beginning,
A middle and an end.
So you can practice not getting lost in the content of thoughts.
Simply observing them from a distance and allowing them to be.
And maybe noticing how you are relating to thoughts.
And in case you drifted off,
Then recognizing this,
Knowing that this is normal,
That happens to all of us and just gently coming back to the awareness of thoughts in a non-judging way.
Then letting go of thoughts and bringing your attention into emotions.
What emotions can you notice?
Perhaps unpleasant emotions are here,
Such as sadness or depression.
Sadness or nervousness,
Restlessness or fear.
Or maybe pleasant emotions are here,
Such as peacefulness,
Calm,
Happiness and joy.
So whatever is here,
That's all right.
Just practicing allowing the emotions to be here and maybe observing them from a distant point of view.
Maybe exploring the emotion,
Practicing allowing and softening.
And when it feels right,
Maybe even breathing into and out of the emotion.
Maybe just bringing the picture of a train station to mind.
Where you are the train station and the emotions are trains.
The emotions are trains,
So they come,
Stay a while and move on.
And you are simply observing them,
Allow them to pass by.
Moving on now into open awareness.
So not choosing to bring your attention to anything in particular,
But simply sitting here fully aware of whatever is presenting itself to you in each and every moment.
Simply noticing the whole of your experience.
The breath,
The body,
Sounds,
Thoughts and emotions.
Everything is changing all the time.
And also everything has a beginning,
A middle and an end.
So maybe just looking at those things from a distant point of view and not getting caught up in it because things change all the time anyways.
Noticing how things arise,
Stay a while and dissolve.
A beginning,
A middle and an end.
And as we slowly draw this practice to a close,
I invite you to return the attention to the breath and the body.
Becoming aware of the entire body sitting here from the soles of the feet to the top of the head.
From the soles of the feet to the top of the head.
Now opening up your awareness to also include sounds near and far.
And then starting to introduce some movement,
Maybe wiggling the hands and the feet.
Maybe tilting the head from side to side.
And just start to move and stretch in whatever way feels good to you right now.
And then gently opening the eyes and coming back into the room at the present moment right now.
The open awareness meditation is now complete.
