Choiceless Awareness: Guided Sitting Meditation MBSR

This is a guided sitting meditation that is used in the traditional mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR). This track is a choiceless awareness meditation, which guides through sensations in the body, inviting you to observe your experiences—thoughts, emotions, sensations, and surroundings—without judgment or preference. Unlike focused attention meditation, which directs awareness to a specific object (like the breath), choiceless awareness allows your attention to flow freely, resting wherever it naturally lands.

Transcript

Welcome to the guided sitting meditation.

In this sitting meditation we are aiming to develop several different capacities.

A capacity to be more fully present in our lives by setting aside the doing of our lives and allowing ourselves for a time to just be.

To just be with things as they are with patience and with steadiness.

Learning to see what is actually happening as opposed to what we think is happening.

By doing this practice we can become more fully who we are.

Learning that we are indeed fully intact and that there is no need to change anything.

This is a way to tap more fully into our lives.

To experience more the fullness of our lives.

And so with that inviting you to assume a posture of wakefulness and ease.

One that supports a practice whereby your posture is alert and awake.

Attending to the angle of your spine.

Perhaps sensing into the weight of your seat on the chair or the seat beneath you.

And beginning by attending to the breath in the belly.

The rise and the fall of the breath in the belly.

Sensing into the quality of the breath here as the belly expands and then contracts.

Just being with this breath moment by moment.

Riding each breath as a surfer would ride a wave.

Breath by breath.

Allowing this breath to guide you moment by moment.

Tapping into the understanding that each breath is a unique breath.

A new breath.

A breath that has yet to be breathed.

Something to experience fully.

And recognizing that the mind will wander.

It will wander off and project out into the future.

It will ruminate about the past in some way.

And that is what it does.

It thinks.

And so rather than getting caught up in the content of the mind wandering,

Just gently guiding yourself back to this breath.

Experiencing it fully.

The inhale and the exhale.

You may find it more supportive to bring awareness to breath in the chest.

Feeling the breath flow in and out of the chest.

Feeling it help to expand the chest.

And noting the way in which the chest contracts,

Constricts.

Or you may find it more supportive to note the breath in the nostrils.

Coming in and down the throat,

Across the nostrils.

Noting the subtle air that leaves the nostrils as it crosses your upper lip.

The coolness of the air there.

Wherever it is that the breath is most accessible to you in the belly,

In the chest,

Or in the nostrils,

Bringing awareness to this place.

And engaging with the breath here as though your life depended on it.

As though there was nothing more important in the world to do right now than to ride the waves of the breath on the inhale and in the exhale.

Staying fully present here with the breath.

Allowing it to guide you,

To anchor you in this present moment,

Moment by moment.

Noticing the tendency for the mind to pull away,

To pull attention away into some thinking.

Not getting caught up in that thinking,

Not judging it as good or bad.

Just noting that it's happened,

Noting that you've gotten pulled away.

Simply touching it even and then returning yourself,

Guiding yourself back to the breath.

The breath in this location of the belly,

The chest,

The nostrils.

Recognizing that each breath is unique.

Each breath has something new to offer.

Bringing attention to that moment where you inhale fully right before you exhale.

What does it feel like there?

In that moment when you fully exhale before you inhale.

Sensing into the quality of the breath in these places.

Anchoring awareness in the present moment by way of the breath.

A gentle attending to the rising and the falling of the breath.

Bringing the mind back to the breath again and again and again.

Where is attention now?

Noting the nature of attention,

Guiding it back to the breath if it's wandered away.

A gentle guidance back.

Doing it with kindness,

Not judging the tendency to wander.

But instead just reminding attention here back to the breath.

The belly fills,

The belly empties.

It rises,

It falls,

It expands,

It contracts.

The nostrils open.

Inhale,

Exhale.

Feeling the coolness of the air across the lips.

The chest expands,

It contracts again and again.

Inviting you now to notice the weight of the body here.

The weight of the body in the seat.

Just sensing into the weightedness of the body.

The feet on the ground if you're sitting in a chair or if you're on a cushion.

Your legs on the cushion.

Your bottom on the cushion.

And beginning now to expand attention out from the weight in the body to the whole body.

So opening awareness up to all of the body.

Allowing this to be the focus of our attention.

The whole body.

And noting that there is likely a tendency for the mind to turn towards a part of the body.

And just noting that tendency.

Not getting caught up in that part of the body.

But rather just holding the whole body in awareness.

No need to do anything about where the mind goes.

Just allowing awareness to be held here.

Held here in all of the body.

An open awareness.

A whole body awareness.

You may notice the tendency for sensations or feelings to arise,

To persist,

And then to go away.

The nature of these feelings to come and go.

Just noting that as you keep awareness in the body.

A whole body awareness.

Noting that tendency for the mind to turn towards a part of the body and just reminding yourself there's nothing to do here.

Gently guiding yourself back to this whole body anchor.

Bringing a curiosity,

A curious attention to the whole body.

And now you may have noticed as we've sat here with this whole body anchor that there is an unpleasant sensation in the body that has emerged.

Or something that has been there for some time or has just appeared.

And inviting you now to manage this unpleasant emotion in some,

Or unpleasant sensation in some way.

In one of two ways.

Inviting you to either keep awareness in the body,

Choosing to shift in some way,

And staying with the body and noticing the effect that this has.

So you can simply shift a bit in your position.

You can move your hands slightly.

You're sitting in a chair,

You can just sort of like move your body somewhat.

Another option is to go towards this sensation with gentleness.

Having it be the focus of your awareness for a moment.

Bringing awareness to this place and resting awareness there.

And exploring what is there to be known about this particular sensation.

Is there pressure?

Is there heat?

Is it prickly?

Is it soft?

Smooth?

Tense?

Is it hard?

And of course remembering to bring attention to the breath as a refuge whenever you need it.

As it is there for you as an accessible anchor.

If you need to turn away from this unpleasant sensation at any point in time.

And continuing to be with this unpleasant sensation for a moment.

Now expanding awareness back out to the whole body.

And beginning to attend now to sounds.

Sounds in the environment or sounds even in the body.

Inviting you to begin with sounds that are closer to you.

These are ones that may be in the body such as the breath or other sounds within the body.

And attending to the quality of those sounds.

As they enter the ears.

Just noting the quality.

The mind will likely try to tell a story about what it is that it's hearing.

Label it in some way.

Rather than doing that,

The invitation here is to notice sound just as it is.

Just hearing what's there.

What can be known about sound?

Opening up from sounds in the body now to sounds that are further away.

Further in your environment.

Allowing these sounds to anchor you.

To anchor your attention here in the present moment.

Moment by moment.

And just as before the mind will likely pull away into a story.

And just acknowledging that that's happened and guiding your awareness gently back to these sounds.

What can be known about sound?

The space between sounds.

The texture,

The quality of sound.

The volume,

The pitch.

The continuous nature of sounds.

A vibration,

A fizz or a flicker.

Letting sounds come and go.

Hearing what arrives at the ears.

Sounds arise,

They persist,

And they fade away.

Not guiding yourself to any particular sound.

But just expansively accepting,

Receiving sound.

As it comes to you,

As it enters the ears.

Noting its tendencies again to arise and persist and then fade away.

The invitation now is to transition from sounds to thoughts.

Bringing awareness to thoughts.

Resting awareness on thoughts for a while now.

And again,

Noting the tendency for them to arise and persist and fade away.

Just like sounds.

What can be known about thoughts here?

Bringing that curiosity to thoughts.

That perspective of witnessing thoughts.

Witnessing what's there to be known.

Not getting tangled up in the thoughts,

But noticing the quality of thoughts.

There may be some thoughts that are ones that you're familiar with,

That tend to reoccur in patterned ways.

Other ones that are more novel.

Whatever it is,

Bringing the same quality of attention to every thought that emerges.

Noting the thought and how it comes,

Persists,

And fades away.

Resting awareness here in thoughts.

What can be known about thoughts?

What's here to experience?

Bringing a curiosity as the watcher,

As the witness of these thoughts.

Noting their tendency to come,

Persist for some time,

And then fade away.

Some stories follow these thoughts.

Then they have a strong pull.

Just noticing that story.

No need to get tangled up in thinking.

Just sitting here in this breathing body,

Noticing thoughts.

You may even notice that some thoughts have feelings that accompany them.

A range of feelings may accompany these thoughts,

Such as happiness,

Fear,

Joy,

Anxiety,

Anger,

Sadness.

Just as you've brought that curiosity to thoughts,

Bringing that curiosity to those feelings.

Noting where they occur in the body.

The quality of the feeling.

And of course,

Its tendency to arise,

Persist for some time,

And fade away.

Bringing a kindness to oneself as you engage in this practice.

Sitting here in this breathing body,

Noticing thoughts and feelings.

Some thoughts have a strong pull.

Some tend to return again and again and again.

No need to get tangled up in thinking,

Tangled up in feeling.

Just sitting here again in this breathing body,

Noticing thoughts arise,

Persist,

And fade.

Feelings accompany these thoughts,

Arising,

Persisting,

And fading away.

What is there to be known?

What is there to be observed?

What is there to be curious about,

Open to?

Anchoring awareness here in thoughts and feelings.

Guiding awareness back again and again as it wanders away.

Always coming back here to the anchor,

To the anchor of thoughts and feelings.

The quality of thoughts.

Their nature of coming,

Staying around for some short time,

And then passing.

Inviting you now to move from the anchoring of awareness in thoughts and feelings to an open presence.

Being with whatever arises as it arises,

And allowing that to be the focus for a moment.

Or until something else arises,

And then drawing attention to it.

Being aware that this is happening,

This tendency for something to arise,

To note it for a moment,

And then to bring attention to whatever else arises,

And being aware of that movement in attention.

Being aware that this is happening.

Not choosing an anchor,

But allowing awareness to be boundless as it is.

Open to whatever arises.

And if this ever becomes too much,

Remembering that you can always go back to an anchor in the body.

You can go to open presence in the body and open awareness of the body as a whole.

You can go to sounds,

Thoughts or feelings.

Whatever feels more accessible.

But right now,

Engaging in this choiceless awareness.

Awareness of whatever emerges.

Allowing that to be the focus of your attention.

Until it passes,

Until it fades away.

And then attending to whatever emerges next.

In this way,

We become a big blue sky.

Our awareness is like a big blue sky.

And these thoughts and feelings and sensations,

They're like the clouds in the sky.

And they come and they go and they pass by.

Not affecting this broad awareness,

This broad blue sky.

Just momentarily obfuscating a view.

Just momentarily passing along.

And so not grasping at one particular sensation or thought or feeling.

Just noting its presence.

Noting it being there.

And noting its nature to arise.

To persist.

And to fade away.

Allowing the quality of our awareness to be choiceless.

What is there to be known?

What is there to be experienced here?

In this practice of choiceless awareness?

Rather than anchoring specifically on one sensation.

We're allowing our awareness to be open.

Just as it is meant to be.

Boundless.

Letting sensations,

Thoughts and feelings come.

Bringing awareness and attention to them for a moment.

For as long as they're there to be experienced.

And then allowing it to go.

Allowing it to pass.

Until there is something else to be attended to.

Open to whatever arises.

Noting the tendency to grasp towards an anchor.

And just gently guiding awareness back out again.

Not using any one thing as an anchor.

But just noticing whatever emerges.

And bringing awareness to it.

Inviting you now to bring your anchor back out.

Bring your anchor back to your breath.

So moving from this choiceless awareness to a more narrowed focus of attention to the breath.

Again,

This could be in the belly,

It could be in the chest.

It may even be in the nostrils.

And just for a short time here.

Bringing awareness to the rising and the falling of the breath.

Riding the waves of the breath.

Just as a surfer would ride a wave on the ocean.

Moment by moment.

Allowing the breath to anchor you to this moment.

And as we begin to close this practice,

You may want to bring some appreciation to yourself.

For engaging in this practice.

An appreciation of this time that you spent.

Developing these capacities to be more fully present in your own life.

Again,

Setting aside that time to not do,

But rather to be.

Practicing with things as they are.

Seeing what is actually happening.

Remembering that we are fully intact,

That there's nothing to change.

Tapping into the fullness of our lives.