Open Monitoring Meditation - Long

Grounded in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), this meditation brings awareness first to an anchor point such as the breath, body, or sound. It then brings awareness step-by-step to the entire human experience, specifically our physical sensations, thoughts and emotions. In doing so, we can observe, in a curious gentle way, who and how we are today. With that knowledge, we can respond skillfully to care for ourselves and our communities by harnessing the wisdom of our body and mind.

Transcript

So wherever you're coming from before this moment,

Take in a little bit of time to arrive to arrive into this meditation that is focused on open monitoring or in other words it's training ourselves to not only place our mind where we choose to place it but also to bring our awareness and train our self-awareness into really what's present in our physical sensations,

Emotions and thoughts which are pretty much our entire experience of the world.

And so this meditation we first start with placing our minds on an anchor point which for many of us the invitation is for that anchor point to be the breath so that becomes the object of meditation.

As long as the breath is a place that is comfortable or safe for you to be with and if that's not the case for you,

You can choose an alternate anchor like maybe another part of the body like say the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet so that we're just there with the sensations maybe of touch or warmth or coolness.

Or another object of meditation if you prefer could be sound or lack of sound.

Also find your way to whichever anchor point you've selected and if it's the breath seeing if we can be there with the entirety of the breath noticing how deep or shallow it is or how fast or slow and seeing if we can be there for the entire arc of the in-breath and the out-breath.

And if your object of meditation is part of the body seeing if you can really be there just with that part of the body so what's being sensed in terms of comfort or discomfort for example or touch or lack of touch and is that sensation steady or does it change moment by moment?

And then if your object of meditation you've chosen is sound then being there with those raw elements of sound like the pitch or the volume how regular or irregular that sound is.

So whatever your object of meditation you've chosen just spending some time training the mind to be there with it right there with that breath or that part of the body or that sound.

And if the mind has wandered by now knowing you're in very good company just about everybody who's doing this meditation and noticing where the mind went if it did travel off did it go to the future the past does it usually go to the future does it usually go to the past just coming to know the mind meeting it with friendliness kindness without any judgment of where it went and inviting it back back to this moment to this breath or this part of the body or this sound or lack of sound.

In this relatively long meditation we're kind of luxuriating in the time that we're just here with ourselves here at this moment seeing if we can bring in perhaps the quality of effortlessness where we're not necessarily pushing really hard and we're not lazy either it's just that sort of in between where we're not too tight not too loose but we're just here with this object of meditation and that's it thoughts come and thoughts go noticing them as they arise and coming back back to the breath or the body or sound.

An element of mindfulness is kindness self-kindness and so even offering that towards your mind and yourself if it feels appropriate sometimes we can be pretty hard on ourselves around the wandering mind or where it goes or whatever it is and maybe seeing if we can meet ourselves with kindness and friendliness in this moment the body the mind are just doing what they're doing and can we kind of take them by the hand and guide them towards this present moment so that we're really paying attention to this object of meditation that we selected which is either the breath or a part of the body or sound.

So now that we've taken a bit of time to check in with our anchor point the next invitation is to shift awareness now to the body or the physical sensations and with all meditations the encouragement is to really trust your own wisdom more than the verbal instructions and the meditation itself so this includes your wisdom around placing awareness with the body and so if there's certain parts of the body that are you know overwhelming or maybe they've had a very difficult experience and doesn't feel comfortable to be there with those sensations it's okay you can just skip this part or return back to your anchor or even stop this meditation if that feels kindest and can always distract something else that is healthy like you know maybe it's making cup of tea or going for a walk or whatever it is and so just always really trusting your own judgment with any of the contemplations that are offered so that you're practicing that self-kindness so that with meditations we can shift into you know comfort zones or even growth zones that might be challenging and stuff but if we get into an overwhelm zone the invitation is to kind of like just pull back and and and shift the awareness to something else or take a break so you know you're comfortable with it the next invitation is to bring awareness to the body and physical sensations perhaps starting first with the awareness of the parts of the body that are in contact with the surface that it's resting on so maybe this is the soles of the feet or the sit bones or the back leaning against a chair for example so wherever the body's in touch with the surface that's resting on bringing awareness to those particular parts of the body and what's here and then if you like widening out the aperture in the physical sensations to bring awareness to what sensations are communicating the most loudly right now is it areas of comfort or discomfort or touch or lack of touch seeing what sensations arise in the body and noticing if those sensations are steady over time or if they shift moment to moment.

And each time the mind wanders if it does wander seeing where it went it's good information about ourselves and how we are who we are always observing the mind without any judgment with curiosity and continuing to invite it back to the object meditation which in this moment is the body or the physical sensations.

For anyone who's achieved mastery and something they've always studied that field really carefully and come to know it really well and part of what we're working with here is around mastery of the body and the mind or you know awareness of the body the mind and the ability to really care for it and harness it to serve ourselves and our communities and so part of what we're doing here is coming to understand the body better and how it is today and in doing so we can care for it better and by caring for the body more it allows us to care for others in turn because the body's healthier and perhaps better taken care of so here we are just exploring the body and the physical sensations right now seeing what's arising in a non-judgmental curious accepting kind of way the body's just the way it is in this moment and can we allow it to be that way.

Perhaps noticing what's being sensed in the body now and if it's similar different than what was being sensed when we first began.

Yes.

And so then if you like we can start to bring our awareness to monitoring another part of this human experience which is the sensation of sound.

And so some of you may have started with this as your anchor point and if so it'll give you an opportunity to deepen your practice with it and for those of us who haven't spent time with sound yet during this meditation it's an opportunity to bring awareness towards that soundscape.

And so in many ways sound,

You only have so much control over it moment by moment and it's in many ways like a story unfolding.

And so what is unfolding in the soundscape in terms of you know those raw elements of sound like how high or low the pitch is or how soft or loud it is or how near or far away and can we be there with those raw elements themselves rather than our mind giving the sound meaning like it's you know a car going by or someone talking or footsteps or whatever it is can we actually just be there with those fundamental elements of sound like the pitch and the volume and whether it's rhythmic or atarithmic.

So it's a minute time to be there with the sensation of sound or lack of sound.

Each time we notice that the mind has wandered that in itself is a moment of mindfulness because we're present to what is.

And so we can even celebrate it a little bit and notice where the mind is and then invite it back to this sound or lack of sound.

Over time if we're able to be still and present we can perhaps notice that the mind starts to settle kind of like one of those snow globes that we shake up and then put it on a table and the snowflakes settle out leaving behind the crystal-clear fluid in the snow globe.

So can we allow all our extraneous thoughts to settle out and here we are present with this moment and this sound as it appears and shifts and changes and stops.

And then the next invitation if you like is to start to bring awareness to the feeling tones or the emotions and maybe even first starting with just like the valence of the feelings like if they're predominantly positive or neutral or negative.

Knowing they might blend across all three and there may be elements of all three but is there one that's more predominant in this moment and we just bring some awareness where we're here we're training ourselves to be here with the emotional tone.

The emotions have wisdom to them and they're giving us a message and so it's all part of how we interpret and navigate the world and ourselves is through our physical sensations but also through our emotions so can we train ourselves to be here with the emotional tone right now noticing it's positive or neutral or negative.

And then if you like even silently naming this specific emotion that's present whether it's peacefulness or anger,

Boredom,

Love,

Whatever's here.

Silently naming it,

Noticing it,

Seeing if it shifts and changes moment to moment while also really respecting your own limits too so that if emotions are overwhelming it's okay to pause this meditation or stop the meditation or return back to say your anchor point of the breath or part of the body or sound and then if and as you're ready you can always venture back out again.

Just noticing if the emotions are similar or different in this moment compared to when we began a few moments ago.

Noticing if the emotion being felt now is a common one that's felt or if it's unique.

Offering lots of self-kindness to whatever emotional tones are here.

Just coming to know ourselves a little better without any judgment about what emotions we have but come and understand them and be there with them and observe them to see if they shift and change and evolve or if there's steadiness.

If the mind goes elsewhere just observing it and bringing it back.

The mind travels a million times we just bring it back a million times just like everyone else the mind wanders that's what it does and can we notice what it does and train ourselves to place it where we choose to which in this moment the invitation is to place the concentration on the emotional tone coming to know ourselves just a little better this constellation of emotions that is here in this moment and this next moment.

Let's just talk about the And so then,

I feel like we can start to shift what we're monitoring to monitoring the thoughts.

And so here it's almost like we're sitting on the bank of a river and the river is flowing by and maybe there's a little stick floating on the surface of the water and it flows down around the rocks and the little whirlpools and bumps along,

Carried along down beside us while we're sitting on the bank just watching it float by.

And so can we allow the thoughts to float on by like that so that we're noticing the thoughts arising and carrying along and maybe being replaced by new thoughts or maybe there's a pause between thoughts.

So taking a bit of time to just step back and sit on that riverbank and watch the thoughts drift by.

Okay.

So here we're training ourselves to take a step back a bit like for many of us when our thoughts arise they can feel like they're just like awesome we need to be acting on them but they're just thoughts and we can act on them if we choose to but we can also just let them pass by as thoughts so can we train ourselves to monitor those thoughts and be aware of them and to also have the freedom about whether we act on them or not and whether we want to continue them going down that particular path or if we feel like it would be a benefit for us to place our mind somewhere that's healthier for them to be but here we're just practicing that self-awareness of the thoughts and seeing if we can observe them as they travel along kind of like that stick floating in the river while we sit on the back watching it go by.

Perhaps noticing the content of the thoughts in this moment and seeing if this is a pretty familiar place for them to be or if they're somewhere fresh and new or somewhere between and we're observing it with curiosity and self-kindness without any judgment just coming to know our thoughts a little better and where do our thoughts tend to dwell and when they're somewhere fresh and new it's interesting to notice too.

Yeah.

If you like maybe just noticing how busy or how quiet the thoughts are in this moment compared to how they usually are and again there's no like great way for them to be in this moment.

We're just coming to know them a little better.

It's a little bit like you know if we buy a home we often get a home inspection done by a professional where they look at every element of the home whether it's the electrical system or the heating system or the siding,

The roof,

And then once we know it we can know how to care for the home and we know what the home most needs and so that's what we're doing in this meditation in this moment we're inspecting the thoughts but inspecting them with kindness and curiosity and not judging them for what they are just coming to know them a little better and once we know them there's often important information there for us and we can harness it to care for ourselves and care for others.

So what is here in the thoughts in this moment and how busy or quiet are they?

Hello.

And so if you choose the next opportunity is to broaden out to an open monitoring practice where we bring our awareness to whatever arises in either the physical sensations or the emotions or thoughts and that is in many ways the entirety of the human experience coming in through those domains of physical sensations that might be touch or hearing or smell or taste or general physical sensations or emotions or thoughts so the invitation here is just to open up to all of those areas and maybe see what's communicating is it in one of those three domains is it a blend of all three and is it steady or shifting moment to moment and in doing so we're training ourselves to be here for every single moment of our life whether it's the boring moments which can suddenly be not so boring if we bring our awareness deeply to it or can we be here in the difficult moments and also all the wonderful moments and in doing so can allow us to grow and build wisdom and to be truly present for what is and what is here in this moment in the physical sensations emotions thoughts what is arising you taking a moment to see what's being experienced here in the physical sensations emotions thoughts seeing what's similar different now compared to when we began this particular contemplation you you even taking a moment to notice how physical sensations and emotions and thoughts are feeling at this point in the meditation compared to when we began how things evolved how are things similar knowing there's no right answer to this it's just information that we're noticing with kindness you and then if you like as we're starting to come towards the end of the meditation the invitation is to bring our awareness back home to where we began this meditation which is on that anchor point the one that we selected that's either the breath or a part of the body or sound so taking some time to come back home to that anchor point that's there with you every moment of the day and seeing what's here with this breath that's never been breathed before what's here with these physical sensations in this part of the body that have never manifested in quite this way with this particular setup of molecules and cells and that part of the body sharing their experience or what is here with this particular sound or lack of sound that has never been sounded before you you and so as this meditation starts to come towards an end it's taking a moment to be there with that anchor point to be here with these physical sensations and emotions and thoughts to be there with this self and noticing what arose for you in this meditation and seeing what would be a skillful response to what arose and as the meditation comes towards a close inviting you to set an intention to move forward with whatever those skillful next steps are you