(MBSR) Open Awareness

A practice that guides us from settling in the breath and the body to gradually open to just being. A longer mindfulness practice for dropping deeply into the present moment. (And as usual, please don't judge your experience during practice - even if distracted or annoyed during practice there is still benefit!)

Transcript

Settling the body.

Often find it helpful this way from side to side to do a very gentle twist in each direction and to breathe into the possibility of sitting up just a little bit straighter,

Head level and balanced above the shoulders.

Noticing those shoulders and dropping them down and back so that the chest can be open and there's room for breath.

But not worrying too much,

Our body has a configuration and a shape to it that is uniquely ours.

So we work with the body as it is,

Just as we work with the mind as it is.

And inviting our attention to just slide down the breath,

Feeling the breathing towards the center of the body if possible.

And most importantly,

Feeling the breathing where it is truly a physical felt sensation.

Felt sensation and also feeling the use of the body nicely.

We can think about concentration practice and open awareness practices in terms of what is in the foreground and what is in the background of the mind.

Developing concentration practice,

We hold the object very clearly in the foreground.

So starting this 40 minute open awareness practice with the breath in the foreground.

And this is so helpful because it can support us in moving our attention away from its somewhat incessant interest in our thinking,

Opinions,

Worries,

And planning and so on.

It all has its place,

But it's maybe a little too much in the foreground for our health and our ability to be present with ourselves and others.

And so,

Feeling fully into the breath in the body.

And inviting that present centered awareness to radiate outwardly,

Feeling our connection with the room,

The moment,

The entire universe if you will,

As it is in this moment.

The breathing body right in the middle of all of that.

And as the mind is pulled this way and that.

By other mental objects,

Thoughts or sensations perhaps.

Giving those other mental objects a simple label so that there's a sense of greeting that which we are pulled to and being released from it.

You can imagine the label is sort of painted on to that object so that it can slip away.

Sort of a way of telling the cognitive mind that you're complete in your interaction with that object.

So just to greet a worry with the simple inner label worry or past or anxiety or planning.

Whatever seems to most easily fit without worrying about the label too much.

Sometimes being very general,

Just meeting any thought with the label thought.

And then dropping right back into the breathing.

Thank you.

Developing stability of breath and body and the ability to see thought or perception in this simple way with a label is one of the supports for equanimity.

So to notice the mind may have a sense of positive or negative,

Pleasant or unpleasant around different objects.

Not to be any more interested in one than the other,

Just to give the label and return to the planets.

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Little by little as we practice this,

More of our time spent in intimate contact with the experience of breathing and the inner distance that we travel when the mind is pulled to some other object,

Brings forward the label and returns,

That distance may start to get a little bit shorter,

A little bit shorter.

Never going far from the breath,

When we're practicing breathing and labeling.

And now allowing the awareness of breathing to be a little softer,

Perhaps feeling the breath in the wider context of the whole body and the space around the body.

Perhaps noticing,

Or emphasizing a little more,

The very end of the exhalation.

Very quiet place in the breathing cycle.

And when a thought or a sensation arises,

Let the label just be very quiet and simple.

Feeling that it's always possible to just settle a little bit more,

To simplify the mind a little bit more.

Being patient and gentle with ourselves,

If this,

Doesn't matter if this feels possible or not possible,

Just bringing forward the invitation and the intention to feel the breath very softly and quietly and label any other inner phenomena very quietly and simply.

Feels.

Very clearkaily crystal clear.

Ple gentler,

Please.

And allowing the breathing to drop a little more fully into the background.

And also letting go of the labeling practice now.

So now the effort is just being still,

Being balanced right in the middle of whatever is passing through awareness.

Without needing it to be one way or the other way.

Maybe a feeling like you've stepped off of the train of thinking.

Or just waiting patiently on the platform.

Allowing whatever is in the mind to just pass right through.

Slowly,

Quickly,

Noisily or quietly.

Just resting in awareness.

And then with whatever the experience is and not needing to even describe that experience to ourself.

It's possible with practice to settle into a feeling of just being.

So that in a way all of our usual stuff,

Even the helpful object of breath awareness,

Is allowed to drop into the background.

Alberta.

And then the skill here,

The dance here,

Is if the mental objects start to become a little sticky again,

They will.

Bring forward awareness of breathing a little bit.

Rest in the breath,

Especially in the exhalation.

And most hopefully if we can feel it deep in the belly.

And once we feel reestablished,

A little more settled again,

And just letting that breath awareness sink away back into the background.

The foreground is just an openness to whatever arises without grabbing onto any of it.

Kind of very restrained,

Cool but kind interest in the unfolding of each moment.

Even letting go of the idea of there being something called a moment.

Just being in awareness.

This practice is not a kind of withdraw,

It's not a going inward.

It's just a simple practice of being.

So to notice if you're scrunching the face or taking any particular posture physically or emotionally in reaction to experience.

We're not trying to pull away from anything,

Nor are we trying to reach out for anything.

It can be a very helpful experiment to do this particular practice with eyes open.

This can help liberate us from any earlier conditioning around this type of practice being a sort of withdraw or trying to push ourselves into any particular state.

Practice having eyes open and not engaging in visual interpretation,

Just letting the sensory field be another aspect of this moment of awareness unfolding.

Include lots of thoughts moving through the mind or fewer.

It really doesn't matter.

What matters is working on our stance,

Our relationship to that thinking.

To open the hand and just allow it to be,

Allow it to pass through,

Not to assign any particular significance to different topics or patterns of thinking and emotion.

Just being with what is,

With stability,

The cool kind interest,

But not too interested.

You can call it what you want.

We may at times experience periods of less thinking,

Some inner state we might call calm or peaceful or we might not.

Maybe later we will or maybe never we will.

The deeper learning here is not to use meditation to affect some subtle desire or not so subtle desire to change the subjective experience of mind but to practice this openness,

This acceptance,

This just being with what isness.

There's a little skill to it.

Just noticing when we're tilting into some pattern,

Some adding on to our experience with additional judgments or comments.

And when that happens as it will,

Bringing forward a little more breath awareness,

Could return to the labeling practice for a while with very simple labels.

Future,

Past,

Thinking,

Fear,

Whatever it is.

Not as a way to correct an imbalance,

But as a way to respond to that habitual resistance we all have to just being present.

And once it feels like a little bit of shifting towards stability,

Then in the open awareness practice,

To just let go again a little bit of breathing,

Of labeling,

Turning up the possibility of just being with whatever is here.

Reviews

Very awesome💯

Perfect. Excellent guidance. Good amount of silence between. A new fave

Thank you, beautiful pacing. I return to this meditation when I'm feeling especially skittish in my open awareness sittings. Just the right amount of guidance... loved this!

Excellent - Thank you very much 💫🌏🌱 I love the silence in between ❣ greetings from Germany 🌏

This was awesome. Just what I was looking for. There is a tiny bit of background noise but that is how life is, didn't bother me at all.

Simple yet effective
Thank you!!

So beautifully guided. Becoming more aware of the many different experiences and finding being, so peaceful. Thank you for sharing 🙏🧘‍♀️

Thank you for a wonderful practice. Very clear guidance, one of my favourite intro to open awareness. Would love the teacher to re-record without the train sounds, or to bring our attention to the train sounds coming and going.

Outstanding experience! Very soft and comfortable with great guidance. I have done this practice many times and enjoyed every one of those. Thanks

Great meditation to practice open awareness. The prompts are gentle and help me gently return to focus and being. I really enjoy the guides voice.

I liked this. Some guidance, plenty of quiet pauses to work on breath. Thank you.

Thanks. Even with some disruptive coughing I had a few sublimely peaceful passages while maintaining a soft focus on the present.

So helpful. Great timing. Comforting voice quality. Thank you

Good meditation! The trains in the background are sometimes soothing and sometimes distracting.

Very pleasent meditation

Perfect. Thank you for the guidance.

Helped me reach an amazing insight. Blessed by this meditation! Thank you

Really good meditation for going deep

Wise guidance throughout with regard to just being :)