Mindfulness Meditation-Focused Attention And Open Awareness

Focused attention and open awareness are two main practices in mindfulness meditation. This track introduces the practices of focused attention and open awareness and guides you through alternating between the two, including how and where to place your attention. This is the practice accompanying the class, Mindfulness Meditation.

Music: "Kindness Speaks" composed by Music Of Wisdom.

Transcript

Begin by finding a comfortable position.

Allowing your body to settle.

Sitting upright with your back straight and a natural curve in your lower back.

You can close your eyes or gaze downwards to minimize visual distraction.

Let your belly relax.

Your shoulders relax.

Today we're doing a meditation that alternates between focused attention and open awareness.

In focused attention,

We keep directing our attention back to the breath.

In open awareness,

We expand our awareness to include whatever is arising with an attitude of curiosity and spaciousness.

Taking a full breath in and a long breath out.

Now allow the breath to find its natural rhythm.

Your breathing is like an anchor as you observe what's happening around you.

And as you do that,

You can decipher yourself if you want to increase the awareness of the breath or if you want to dial it down and increase your awareness to the overall environment around you.

Right now in open awareness,

Your thoughts,

Sensations,

Feelings will come and go.

Some will float by like clouds in the sky.

And others will try to hold on to you.

And now just try to notice whatever is arising.

Watching them appear and pass away.

As you start to feel distracted,

You can ground yourself by focusing on the breathing again.

Now bring your attention back to focus on the breath.

And letting the awareness of the expansive other things fade into the background.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Focusing on the sensation of air,

The feelings of her nose,

The horizon full of her belly.

You can also follow one complete cycle of breathing in and out.

The inhale,

The exhale.

Following the phases of inhale and exhale is your focus attention on your breathing.

Now take a moment to appreciate your effort in doing this practice.

Remember that you can connect with a sense of open awareness as you go through your day.

And also come back to the focus attention on breathing to find calm and groundedness in your body and mind.

Let's finish this practice of focus attention and open awareness by taking a full breath in and a long full breath out.

You can open your eyes.