Settle in and prepare for an opening to life,
Or you could call it a peripheral vision meditation.
I invite you to really open up the vision in the corner of your eyes and really activate what you are seeing from the very far right and from the very far left.
You might have heard the term tunnel vision.
We want to really expand into the opposite of this.
Open up your vision,
Really see,
Appreciate,
Enjoy,
And really activate your awareness of what's around you and also what is in front of you.
So let's first focus on sight.
So look ahead and really see what's in front of you.
It could be pavement,
It could be something green,
It could be water,
And you might find yourself tempted to label this with a colour.
If it's pavement,
It might be grey or brown.
If it's green grass,
It might be green.
If it's water,
It might be blue,
But green or turquoise.
But now allow your gaze to be a little bit softer.
You can even tell yourself,
Today I shall judge nothing that occurs.
And see if you can open up your awareness to some subtlety in the colour.
Do you notice shades of blue or green?
If it's pavement you're looking at,
Do you see spots on the pavement?
Do you see a whole variety,
A tapestry of shades,
A mosaic of colours in front of you?
Even if it's just different variations of a colour,
You might label with one word.
Just really open up your awareness of sight.
What am I seeing?
And truly expand into a 180 degree vista in front of you.
There's nowhere else to be,
There's nothing to do.
We're simply activating an awareness of what is.
We're opening up our senses,
Opening up our awareness of all of our senses right now.
But let's stick with vision,
And notice any movement in front of you.
If you're outside,
You might see cars or boats.
If you're looking at water,
You might see people walking.
If you're looking at a street scene,
You might see leaves or branches dancing in the wind.
Notice all of the movement in front of you,
If there's any.
And allow it to just be.
Notice the speed that things are moving at,
Is there a variety of speeds?
If you see any trees or some of the leaves fluttering more actively than others.
And then just notice how different all the different shades of the colours are that you see in front of you.
If you're inside,
Notice the subtlety of colour in a painting or a poster.
Or even wallpaper or paint on a wall.
What are all of the colours in your environment right now?
And now let's activate the sense of sound.
What are you hearing?
Perhaps you hear a siren or a boat.
Perhaps somebody in your same apartment or home,
Or someone walking outside.
A siren,
A car going over a bridge.
I'm looking outside of water and I see a motorboat going by and I can really hear the sound of the motor,
But it's fluid.
Like we've learned about the body and our senses and our perception.
Open up to the awareness that things are not just what we label them with one word.
They're fluid,
They're juicier than that.
Even a colour isn't just green or blue or yellow,
It's shades.
And so begin to open up your awareness to the subtlety of sounds and notice that they have a beginning and a middle and an end to them.
So now I hear an airplane,
But it's not just airplane.
That sound really changes and evolves each moment.
Now activate your sense of taste.
If you've just eaten something or had a sip of something,
Do you notice that lingering taste?
If you recently brushed your teeth,
Can you taste the toothpaste as well?
It's so beautiful and relaxing and present to become aware of this particular sense.
This is part of our body experiencing life in this moment.
And notice the subtlety here as well.
Notice what you're feeling in this moment.
If you're sitting,
What does it feel like to have your seat on a chair or the ground or wherever you're sitting?
What is that experience of your body right now?
You can activate your body sensations and just do a very holistic scan of the body and feel what you're feeling inside right now.
And if you see people in front of you,
You can feel something in common with them.
A bit of the idea of non-self to know that they're experiencing body sensations as well.
They might not be as aware of them in this moment,
But everyone in your vision now,
If there are any people there,
Do have body sensations going on,
Taste and sight and smell and sound just as you're experiencing as well.
And so I invite you to continue with this opening to life or peripheral vision meditation,
Really opening up to letting everything just be as it is.
Become a witness to this extraordinary thing unfolding in front of you called life.
And if you're looking outside or if you are outside,
I invite you also to look up and notice the sky,
Which might have planes in it,
It might have trees reaching up into it.
But rather than labeling it as just sky and dismissing it,
See the juiciness in the sky,
Perhaps there are clouds there.
If it's daytime,
See if you can notice different shades of blue or gray.
If you can see clouds moving,
Really open up your awareness to the fact that the sky is changing.
Just like us,
We know that we can change our perception.
We can change our habits.
We can change our form.
We can change so much.
And that is true of everything in the Vista around us.
So enjoy noticing that and opening to life.
