Welcome to this 30-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 a meditation cushion.
If you are sitting on a chair,
Making sure the back is straight,
We are sitting away from the back of the chair and the feet are flat on the ground.
If sitting on a cushion,
Then finding a position that fits for you,
Maybe a cross-legged position,
The head balanced on top of the spine,
And the hands can be placed on the laps or knees,
Palms facing up or down.
When you are ready,
Gently closing the eyes,
Or if you prefer,
Letting the gaze fall on focused on the floor a short distance in front of you.
The intention of this practice is to bring our awareness into all aspects of our present moment experience.
We bring our attention on different parts.
We start with our anchors,
The breath and the body,
And then move into sounds,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
And finally,
We open to the totality of our experience.
The attitude is accepting,
Non-judging,
And non-striving.
Simply allowing everything that arises,
Turning towards instead of resisting or fighting.
Now let's start with the open awareness meditation.
As we settle,
Just allowing the breath to enter and leave our body.
Simply breathing in and out,
Noticing that there is a beginning,
A middle,
And an end of each in-breath and out-breath.
And if we drifted off,
Noticing that and simply coming back to my words and the breath in a kind and non-judging way.
What does this breath right now feel like?
Now when we are ready,
Expanding our attention beyond the breath to include also the entire body sitting here,
From the soles of the feet to the top of the head.
What sensations can you feel in the body right now?
Maybe there's a temperature that you can sense or some pressure points against the floor,
The cushion,
The chair,
Maybe simply the air against your face or palms.
And if unpleasant sensations are here,
Simply allowing them to be,
No need to change or fix anything.
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 right now.
Noticing how sensations in the body too have a beginning,
A middle,
And an end.
When it feels right,
Now letting go of the focus of the breath and the body and now bringing our attention to the sense of hearing.
So what sounds can we notice right now?
What's available?
Might be sounds from inside the body,
From the room or from the environment outside the room.
There's nothing we have to do with the sounds.
Is it possible for us to simply be with them?
Recognizing that sounds come and go,
They have a beginning,
A middle,
And an end.
And we can just observe them,
Not having to interact with sounds at all.
And if our mind is somewhere else,
Then simply noticing this and bringing our attention back to the sounds right now.
What can you notice in this moment?
Maybe observing how the mind labels sounds,
Has opinions about sounds,
Likes or dislikes certain sounds.
Is it possible for us to simply observe the sounds and not having to interact with them,
Not having to personalize with them?
So simply allowing the sounds to be here,
They too will pass.
And when we are ready,
Allowing attention to shift from hearing and letting it expand this time into thoughts,
What can we observe?
Seeing thoughts not as a distraction,
But rather bringing your awareness to the thinking process itself.
Noticing how thoughts arise,
Stay briefly,
And then dissolve.
A beginning,
A middle,
And an end.
Maybe imagining that we are sitting in a movie theater.
And on the screen are our thoughts.
We can maybe then observe that thoughts are coming and going.
So one thought might be here right now,
But if we simply observe it from a distant point of view,
It will pass on and the next thought is coming.
So taking this distant view and seeing if it's possible for us not to identify with the thoughts,
But seeing thoughts simply as thoughts that we don't have to interact with.
Maybe labeling the thoughts.
Maybe simply saying,
Ah,
Thoughts are here.
Or berries are here.
Or this particular thought again is here.
Or a thought about X is here.
Simply observing and seeing what's happening next.
And when we drifted off,
Recognizing this and gently but firmly bringing our attention back to the thoughts in an accepting and non-judging way.
This is what strengthens our awareness muscle.
Drifting off and coming back in a non-judging,
Allowing,
And kind way over and over.
Letting go of thoughts and bringing our attention to emotions.
What emotion can we notice in this moment?
Perhaps frustration,
Anger,
Nervousness,
Or fear is here.
Maybe calm,
Peacefulness,
Happiness,
Or joy.
Or maybe nothing,
Just neutral.
And that's okay.
Whatever emotion is here right now,
That's fine.
And we are simply allowing ourselves to be with the emotion as it is right now.
Noticing if the emotion also seems to be having an impact on our body.
And in case we can feel it somewhere,
Simply becoming aware of that part,
Breathing into it and out of it and allowing it to be here.
Observing it.
Maybe bringing to mind the concept of a train station where the emotions are trains that arrive at the train station or leave.
Maybe pass through or stay away.
We are just observing what's happening,
Knowing that emotions have a beginning,
A middle,
And the end.
They come and go.
Is it possible for us not to get caught up in emotions and simply allowing them to be here?
If at any time emotions,
Thoughts,
Or body sensations become too uncomfortable,
Remember that you can always return to the breath or the places the body touches the ground.
Finding a safe harbor,
Focusing there until you're ready to venture out once again and simply noticing the emotions right now.
Moving now into an open awareness.
So we are not choosing to bring our attention to anything in particular,
But rather we are simply sitting here fully aware of whatever is presenting itself to us in each and every moment and practice simply being with it,
Allowing it to be here.
Noticing the whole of our experience,
The breath,
The body,
Sounds,
Thoughts,
And emotions.
Can we notice how things appear,
Stay a while,
And then move on?
A beginning,
A middle,
And an end.
And if we have drifted off,
Simply becoming aware of it,
Knowing that this is normal,
And then bring our attention back to this very moment in a kind and non-judging way.
What can you notice right now?
Simply being with whatever is here.
Is it possible for us to simply allow everything to happen while we are just observing it from a distance,
Not having to interact with it,
But allowing it?
And as we draw this practice to a close now,
I invite you to return the attention to your breath and body.
So grounding yourself right now,
Becoming aware of your entire body sitting here,
From the soles of the feet to the top of the head.
Becoming aware of the breath,
How the air enters and leaves your body.
Noticing sounds close by and far away.
And if it feels right,
Bringing some movement to the body,
Maybe wiggling the hands or toes,
Moving the legs or arms.
And when you are ready,
Opening the eyes and fully coming back to the room.
This Open Awareness Meditation is now complete.
