Open Monitoring

In this 5-minute practice, Laurie guides you through open monitoring to find your center and ground yourself in the day. Meditation quiets the voice in the head and shifts how you experience the moments in your day. It’s about detaching from the internal chatter and observing what’s happening in your mind and body with a wider, kinder perspective.

Transcript

And let's just start with bringing attention to the breath.

Noticing the inhale and the exhale.

It's always nice to start with the breath because it stabilizes the mind.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And now,

Let's expand our attention to sound.

Can you hear any sounds in the room?

Or in the next room?

Just noting sound.

And now you can expand your attention or your awareness to include any sensations in your body.

Is there any,

Maybe a feeling in your feet?

Maybe you can feel the rise and fall of your chest with the breath.

The belly,

Sometimes there's sensations or feelings there.

Maybe the hands.

Dry or moist.

So just being aware of the body.

And now expanding your awareness to include any images or thoughts that are in your mind.

And you can label those,

You can note those.

We're learning to be the witness,

The observer of what's happening around us and inside of us.

Maybe you're noting planning.

Or maybe there's images you can name.

Noting is just an easy skill to cultivate that helps us tune in to what's happening in our present experience.

And now,

If you're willing,

See if you can go even further expanding your awareness to noticing your present experience.

To taking all of it in.

Any sounds,

The body,

Any emotions that are present,

Thoughts.

You're just observing with a curiosity and a kindness what's happening right now.

It's like you're behind the waterfall where you're watching the water come down,

You're watching your own present experience.

So let's bring attention back to breathing.

Just resting the mind on the breath.

The inhale,

The exhale.

I'm going to sound the bell and you can bring attention to sound and listen to the sound of the bell all the way to the end.

And then slowly open your eyes.

Reviews

Just right for a busy Monday morning. Many thanks for putting my feet firmly on Mother Earth.

Wonderful! Quick and effective😊

Perfect! Thank you, Laurie! Namaste. 😊🙏💕

Lovely thank you 🙏🏻💜

A kind of quickie that teases us to want to hear this section in full context!
Very helpful.
I especially enjoyed the waterfall metaphor.
Thank you for this.
M

That was great. I am very open and aware today.

Really nice! Gonna repeat this ... ☺