Developing Internal Awareness, Focus & Peace (An Intro)

A multifaceted practice of rhythmic breath and bodyscan to develop your awareness of your interior. Using your interoception to connect more effectively with your body-mind. An introduction to building awareness of the different signals in our body-mind and increasing our peace by improving our ability to focus and decipher what is noise and what is signal, and letting the noise/distraction pass. This skill enables us to make better choices to help improve our quality of life, wellbeing, and happiness.

Transcript

Emotional and social intelligence are important skills to develop to maximise wellbeing and happiness.

But before we can really build greater emotional and social intelligence,

We first need to be able to become more aware of the different signals that occur in our body-mind.

We need to build awareness of the signals from our interior before we can begin to understand and interpret them.

Because if we don't notice them,

How can we possibly understand them?

Once we become aware of the signals,

We can also find more peace.

By increasing our ability to decipher what is noise and what is signal,

And letting the noise or distraction just pass.

We can also find greater peace by recognising and becoming aware of the gaps in between the signals.

This practice is an introduction to building that awareness.

So sit comfortably either on a cushion or a chair.

Rest your hands in your lap,

Or if you prefer,

You can use a particular mudra that you find helpful for internal enquiry.

Now just gently bring the attention to your breath.

Just notice your exhale,

And notice your inhale.

Notice the pauses in between your inhale and exhale,

And between your outbreath and your inbreath.

Now begin to notice the length of your exhale and your inhale,

And the pauses in between.

And then begin to find your own rhythm that's comfortable for you.

Feel that rhythm naturally flow.

And I invite you to keep that rhythm throughout the whole of this practice.

Once you've found your rhythm,

And are comfortable keeping it,

I'd like you to begin to scan your body slowly from head to toe.

Just lightly notice all the main areas of the body as you literally scan down from your head,

Into your neck,

Into your shoulders,

Your arms,

And hands,

Your chest,

Your heart,

Your torso,

Your gut,

Your pelvis,

Upper leg,

Your lower leg,

Into your feet.

And down to your toes.

When you get to your toes,

Gently start the scan again from your head.

And I invite you to gently but mindfully repeat this body scan throughout the entire practice.

If you miss parts,

Don't worry.

You can pick them up on the next scan through.

As you scan your body,

Gently release any tension you notice using your breath.

Distractions will come in many forms whilst you're doing this.

And each time those distractions arise,

I would like you to simply notice them and label them.

In this practice we're going to label them very simply as either external,

Or emotions,

Or feelings,

Or thoughts.

Remember to keep breathing rhythmically,

And keep gently and slowly scanning your body.

Be kind to yourself as you scan your body,

And don't judge whatever you notice.

And likewise with your breath,

Should you lose your rhythm,

Don't judge it,

Just notice it,

And take some time to find your rhythm again.

So the practice has four simple parts.

1.

Breathe rhythmically.

2.

Conduct a steady,

Gentle,

Kind body scan.

And 3.

Label any distractions as they occur.

And 4.

Let them pass.

Let's take a look at the different forms of the distractions that may show up during this practice.

External distractions may happen frequently,

Especially if we are not practicing in a quiet spot in our home.

Distractions such as noises,

Smells,

Light and temperature changes,

Or even movement,

For example if you happen to be a passenger on a train or a plane.

If you notice these external distractions when they occur,

I'd like you to simply notice it's occurred,

And label it as external,

And let it pass.

Give it no more attention.

I don't want you to look for these distractions,

I would just invite you to label them if you do happen to notice them.

Once you've labeled them and let them go,

Just bring your attention gently back to your rhythmic breath.

Keep gently and slowly scanning your body.

The more you practice the rhythmic breath and the slow,

Gentle body scan,

The less you'll even notice external distraction,

As your attention will be focused more and more internally.

Let's take a look at other forms of distractions that may be showing up.

Whilst you are practicing you may be distracted by your own interoception,

Your internal senses that notice changes in your organs and internal systems.

For example,

A growling stomach,

Tense muscles,

Your lungs expanding and contracting,

Or maybe your pelvic floor contracting,

Or your heart beating.

When you notice any of these occurring,

I would like you to simply notice it's occurred,

And label them as emotion,

And let it go.

And gently bring your attention back to your rhythmic breath.

If you've lost your rhythm,

Take a moment to just find it again.

And keep gently and slowly,

Kindly scanning your body.

Noticing any distractions as they occur.

Let's take a look at another form of distraction that may be showing up whilst you're doing this practice.

If you will notice you are distracted by a combination of energy and motion,

Whose pattern you might recognise as say anxiety,

Discomfort,

Restlessness,

Or even excitement,

Hunger or thirst.

I invite you to just notice those and label them simply as a feeling,

And let them go.

For this practice don't worry about giving the feeling a precise label,

Just label it as feeling.

That is enough for now.

Keep breathing rhythmically,

And keep gently and slowly scanning your body.

Labelling any distractions that you notice as they occur.

Let's now look at the final form of distraction you may be noticing during this practice,

That of thoughts.

If you notice your mind has started to wander,

Or you start to ask questions or follow trains of thoughts,

Just gently notice that's happened,

And bring your attention back to your breath,

And notice and label it as a thought,

And let it go.

You may find your mind racing or jumping from thought to thought,

Or idea to idea.

When you regain your attention,

Just notice the thought,

Be kind to yourself,

Don't judge or criticise yourself.

Simply label it as a thought,

And let it go.

Bring your attention gently back to your rhythmic breath.

If you've lost your rhythm,

Take a moment just to find it again,

And keep gently,

Slowly and kindly scanning your body.

Labelling any distractions as they occur.

As each emotion,

Feeling or thought shows up to distract you,

Just label it and let it go.

As you focus on your breath,

Become the witness of what is going on within your system.

Do not be subject to it,

Do not be caught up in it.

Just see these distractions as objects,

And label them as they arise.

Notice the more you practice,

The bigger the gaps become between the distractions.

Notice the peace that arises in the gaps.

Enjoy that peace.

In this practice,

Don't focus on what the emotion or feeling was,

Or what the thought was.

That's for another day.

Simply label the phenomenon.

This practice is designed to simply make us more conscious,

More aware of what is going on inside of us,

And recognise the fundamental difference between those signals,

And be able to let them pass without judgement.

I'm not seeking for you to change anything or do anything about anything.

As long as you are safe,

And as long as you are well,

Just focus on your breath and your body scan.

Label what arises.

Don't chase it,

Just let it go.

And notice the peace in the gaps.

And really enjoy that peace.

And now I invite you to try this practice on your own.

I'm going to give you three minutes to focus on your breath,

Gently scan your body,

And label the things that arise.

And let them go.

You keep the rhythm in your body scan,

And I'll keep the time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Gently bring your attention to your cushion or your seat.

And just let your breath do its own thing naturally.

Let it find its own natural rhythm,

Don't try and control it.

Feel your body well grounded,

And when you're ready,

Open your eyes.

This practice is designed to help you build your interoception.

The ability for you to notice and sense what's going on inside of your body,

And begin to distinguish between the different phenomena that occur.

This sensing system gathers vital information which we all too often ignore.

Or just as unhelpfully,

On the opposite extreme,

We become their servant.

Unconsciously attending to their every-women call.

Being able to see and understand the different types of messages that our body-mind is giving us is an important first step before we can even begin to choose how to respond.

All too often we misinterpret messages as we only sense part.

For example,

Some people may get anxious when they feel their heart rate increase,

But they fail to realise that the heart rate fluctuates naturally and regularly with each breath within a normal range.

Occurrences outside of the normal range should be noted of course.

But without a sense or an awareness of what is normal,

How can we make that judgement?

Our heart rate can change for many reasons.

It can increase,

But is that from excitement or fear?

Or it can decrease,

And is that from boredom or contentment?

When we learn to improve our ability to notice what is going on inside the body,

We can begin to appreciate what is normal for us,

And interpret the signals better and respond appropriately.

By setting aside the external distractions and focusing inwards,

We can improve our ability to sense this important area of information which is often overlooked.

This practice is just the start of improving our awareness,

And finding the peace that occurs when we improve our ability to focus,

And improve our ability to notice,

Label and let the noise pass.

Being able to choose which signals to let pass,

And which to take note of is vital.

Misinterpretation can lead us to making inappropriate or poor choices,

E.

G.

Moving forward when we should move back,

And moving back when we should move forward.

As our skills develop,

We may no longer begin to identify thirst as hunger,

Or sadness as hunger,

Or excitement as nervousness,

Or anticipation as anxiety.

This may enable us to make better quality choices for our quality of life and our wellbeing.

Practising and building this skill of awareness is the vital first step before we build greater emotional intelligence or deeper psychological understanding of ourselves and our needs.

Regularly practising this simple skill can also stop us from being caught up in our emotions,

Feelings or our thoughts.

Being caught in a chain of destructive or unkind thought can be extremely painful,

Leading to a downward spiral of negative feelings,

And considerable suffering.

Being able to break that downward spiral in the moment by simply labelling emotion as emotion,

Or feeling as feeling,

Or thought as thought can be a very powerful first step in itself.

So I invite you to practise this on a regular basis,

And develop your skills of being able to create some space between what is happening within you,

And being able to witness it.

It's like watching a movie where your body-mind is the screen,

And all you are doing is calling out what you see on the screen.

It will start to help you to find the space that you need so that you can see the movie on the screen.

You will have all the information,

You will understand the story,

And you can figure out with greater clarity what to do next.

But it may help you not to feel with such intensity the anxiety,

The pain or the discomfort that the protagonist of the movie would normally feel,

And you might otherwise have felt.

You have greater clarity about what is really happening,

And it gives you a greater opportunity to decide on the best way forward.

May you be safe,

May you be well,

May you be happy,

And may you always live with ease and peace.

Reviews

Great meditation to help improve my interoception.

Amazing! Exactly what I was looking for.And so informative.
Thank you. 🙏

Super, thank you very much. Helps to build awareness. I ll keep this one 👌👌