Hello,
I'm Girija.
This practice.
Will help you to achieve equanimity.
Stability and calmness.
That enables you to progress.
With your yoga meditation.
And really helps you throughout life.
So this practice is known as becoming aware of open awareness.
I say we're becoming aware of it because we're learning it,
But the practice itself is called open awareness.
We'll first become aware of awareness itself.
This is a practice where you become aware of your own nature of the mind.
The mind is not the thoughts and the emotions and all the choppy waters.
The mind is often.
.
.
Described as like an ocean,
Or even better,
The sky.
So va!
And unmove.
And yet,
So much passes across it.
It remains unmoved.
And if we look at the analogy of the ocean,
Deep,
Deep down in the ocean.
All sorts of unseen treasures are there.
And that is the case with our true fundamental nature of consciousness.
All our higher,
Better,
More powerful qualities lie deep below the choppy waters.
Thought and emotion.
The most wonderful thing about this practice is that.
.
.
You realise that.
.
.
You're always in touch with this fundamental nature.
It's not something that's a long way away from you,
Or that you can only achieve after many years of trying.
This awareness is with you always,
And it's not that difficult to get into touch with it.
So let's begin.
First of all,
Let's move our hand like this.
Now or we can just lift the arm like this Now if we lift our arm or move our hand Are you aware that you've lifted your arm and that you're moving your hand?
If you're aware,
Say yes.
If you're not aware.
.
.
I think you're probably aware.
If you've lifted it when I've asked you to lift it,
You must be aware.
Okay,
So you're already aware.
You just weren't aware that you were aware.
To show to ourselves that we are aware.
Of R.
Knowingness.
That we're aware of what we're doing,
That we are aware.
Say it yourself.
I know.
That I am moving my arm and I can feel aches and pains.
Tensions and even nice stretchy feeling.
I know that I am feeling this.
I know that I am lifting my arm.
And now,
Go a little more subtle.
Try to notice.
What that knowingness is apart from the action of the arm.
So if you put the arm down.
And you can feel.
I know that I feel.
A sensation of relaxation here.
Now I'm going to just Be aware.
Of that knowingness.
I am aware.
Of this.
I've slightly.
.
.
Taken myself away from the sensation.
And the engagement in the action.
To being slightly stepped outside of that.
It's like.
.
.
You're in a river and the river is rushing round you.
And you're swimming and splashing.
And then you get out of the river and you watch the waves and everything go by.
And you're watching it.
That's being in a state of awareness.
Rather than as a state of immersion.
In the choppy waves of the consciousness,
On the surface of consciousness.
So let's just rest in our knowingness for a moment.
So we know that we have these sensations.
I know that I know that.
I'm aware of that.
And I'm just going to sit,
Becoming aware of my awareness.
And as you're doing this,
You will notice that you have no thoughts.
Nor perceptions.
You may not even feel any sensation because you're concentrating on awareness.
On knowingness.
And now to move to rest in that awareness.
The practice.
That makes this so much easier.
Is to take a very deep breath.
And then let it out,
Just as if.
.
.
You've had a great day.
Exertion and you sit down all puffed out and you go Like that.
And then at the end of that out breath.
You'll notice that there is a gap.
Before you take in your next breath.
To just breathe.
That tiny gap.
Just be aware of that gap and rest in it.
Even as you breathe in normally.
It's almost like you have a memory of that gap.
Rest in that.
Just as you breathe normally.
Your eyes can be closed.
Your eyes can be looking slightly ahead,
Down and slightly ahead.
Just resting.
In that awareness.
Breathing normally.
Now,
If a thought creeps in.
Or a strong sensation.
As soon as you're aware of that.
That's great.
Because you can then bring your awareness back to that.
Pure state of mind.
What we may call non-conceptual awareness.
So that it has no object.
So we're not looking at something.
We're not studying.
Um a belief or thought.
An inner object or an outer object.
With just resting.
Gently.
In a state of awareness.
And keep bringing the mind back to that.
This practice can be done for just one or two minutes to begin with.
And then.
.
.
You'll probably find that you'll naturally want to extend it.
I hope you enjoy this practice and I hope it will be useful to you.
See you again soon.
Namaste.
