Basic awareness practice,
Feeling tone.
Start by taking a moment to settle and relax before you begin.
Find a comfortable sitting position and listen to what the body needs,
Shifting position to be comfortable and balanced if necessary.
Begin by bringing attention to the body in relation to the space it's in,
Sensing the room and any objects around you.
You attention to the entire body as it sits here and now move the attention to the breathing process in the whole body breathing naturally leaving the breath to find its own rhythm you and come back to the sensation of the entire body you bring to mind your reasons for doing this basic awareness practice on feeling tone what's motivating and inspiring you to engage with this process of inner development you this practice is to help you recognize feeling tone as it arises and become aware that feeling tone is not fixed but that it changes over time the practice will also help you build basic awareness by practicing awareness of the breath in the body it will also encourage you to question your life and open up to possibilities of change and fulfillment helping you build a picture of what your potential might be what may be helping you develop your potential and what may be limiting you at the moment feeling tone also known as affective valence is more basic than emotion it's a subjective evaluation of any experience on a spectrum of pleasant to unpleasant with a neutral midpoint these feeling tones are automatic and instantaneous evaluations of our experience for example maybe you see a flower and have a very subtle pleasant feeling tone or you might hear shouting and experience a very subtle unpleasant feeling tone or maybe you see a piece of furniture and you feel neither a pleasant nor an unpleasant feeling tone just a subtle neutrality feeling tone is a felt sense but much subtler than emotions or physical sensations and emotions build on these initial evaluations these will then lead you to act according to these initial evaluations they are physically and instinctually conditioned responses in other words they are based on past experiences you automatically evaluate all your experiences in every moment along this spectrum including sensations thoughts fantasies and emotions however the pleasantness or unpleasantness of an experience is a conditioned reaction and not in the experience for example cake might taste good when you feel happy but not so good when you feel annoyed it's also important to consider what conditions your evaluation of your experiences knowing your feelings are neither inherent in the object or other people nor in you since you are changing too for example you may have disliked a particular food as a child but now as an adult you like it if your aim is long-term in a happiness for all you need to develop basic awareness of these feeling tones and learn to notice them as they arise so that you can dis identify from them and through practice eventually recondition them so they are more beneficial to you and others becoming aware of feeling tone is an important part of understanding more about your experience which can lead to the freedom to make skillful choices about what you think say and do close your eyes in a moment you are going to open your eyes and try to identify the initial feeling tone that arises from whatever you first look at and whether it is pleasant unpleasant or neutral open your eyes you what did your eyes land on you Now try that again.
Close your eyes.
Open your eyes.
What did your eyes land on this time?
What feeling tone did you identify?
Take a moment to think about why you had this reaction.
Is it because the feeling tone is inherently part of the object?
Or is it a conditioned reaction from previous experience?
Or could it be based on your current mood or attitude?
So is the feeling tone inherently a part of what you looked at?
Now,
Letting go of this exercise,
Prepare to look at feeling tone in regards to your physical posture,
Where you will try to identify feeling tone changing from pleasant to neutral to unpleasant in this next exercise.
Start by taking time to find a comfortable sitting position with the back straight,
Not too tense,
Letting the head tilt slightly forward and resting it comfortably at the top of the spine,
Keeping the eyes open or closed and changing that during the practice depending on what feels right.
If you have your eyes open,
Resting the gaze in front without focusing on anything in particular and relaxing the muscles around the eyes and the jaw,
Tucking the chin in slightly and adjusting to what the body needs during the practice,
Shifting that position to be comfortable and taking some time to take three deep breaths.
Becoming aware of any disturbing attitudes in the mind,
Any worries or frustrations and putting them aside for the duration of the practice.
Ask yourself why you are doing this practice.
The benefits of doing it and the disadvantages of not doing it and consider who might benefit from you doing this practice.
And keep in mind this practice is to help you recognise feeling tone as it arises and that feeling tone is not fixed but that it changes over time.
Now bring the attention to the body.
Can you identify a feeling tone accompanying your experience of the body?
Is it positive,
Negative or neither?
Now try to stay as still as possible and try to notice if the feeling tone changes in any way.
Still trying to stay as still as possible as you hold your attention on the body and noticing if the feeling tone is changing in any way.
And finally releasing your attention from the breath and bringing your attention to the body.
And so what was that like?
What did you notice?
How easy was it to notice the feeling tone?
Were you able to notice it changing?
Did it appear that your evaluation was part of the body?
For example,
The body felt positive,
Negative or neutral.
Or were you able to separate the physical experience of the body from the feeling tone?
What would you have normally done when sitting for an extended period of time?
How often do you think you have these immediate positive,
Negative or neutral evaluations?
Are you usually aware of feeling tone in daily life?
Why might bringing basic awareness to your seemingly instantaneous reactions and where they come from help you?
And how might this awareness help in daily life?
And remember we are using the image of the spiral to show how certain personal qualities build on and reinforce each other in an upward spiral towards positive potential,
A positive reinforcement spiral.
Likewise certain personal qualities also build on and reinforce each other in a downward spiral,
A negative reinforcement spiral.
So using your learning from the previous practice on feeling tone,
Simply note whether this may be helping you develop towards the top of the spiral or if it may be limiting you towards the bottom.
Finally taking a moment to reconnect with your posture.
Rebalancing,
Relaxing and gently releasing any tension if necessary.
Feeling aware of the body breathing.
Taking a moment to recall your motivation for doing this practice.
Looking to mind what you've experienced and learned in this practice.
Have you discovered anything about yourself?
And have you begun to cultivate any helpful qualities or overcome or let go of any unhelpful qualities?
How might this practice be beneficial and meaningful and contribute to the welfare and well-being of yourself and others,
Your family,
Friends and those close to you,
Those who inspire and nurture your positive development and all living beings and the environment they rely on?
And as this practice ends,
Try to carry this with you wherever you go by recollecting it occasionally.
