Expanded Awareness Meditation

In this meditation, Sally Kempton expertly leads us into a state of expanded awareness by guiding us deep into the body, the senses, the breath, and the mind. With over 4 decades of meditation teaching and practice, Sally's transmission is palpable.

Transcript

You're sitting in a firm and comfortable posture.

Your hips and thighs and sitting bones are grounded,

Heavy,

Sinking into your seat.

Your spinal column rises like the trunk of a slender birch tree from this firm base up through the crown of the head.

Your shoulders have softened down your back.

Your belly is soft.

Your neck is soft.

Your face is soft.

Your breath moves easily in and out through your nostrils.

Attentively,

Delicately,

Begin to explore the sensations within and around your body as you sit here with yourself in this moment.

Notice the sensations in your thighs,

In your hips,

The contact between your body and your seat.

Be aware of the sensations in your feet,

In your ankles,

In your knees.

Feel the sensations in your lower back,

Your belly,

Your chest,

Your upper back.

Feel the sensations through your body.

Feel the touch of your clothes against your skin.

Notice how the air feels against your face.

Listen to the sounds around you.

Let your awareness open to take in all the sounds.

Without naming the sounds,

Without holding on to any particular sound,

Let your awareness open to sound.

Be aware of the louder sounds,

My voice.

Be aware of the subtler sounds,

The background sounds.

Be attentive to the softest of all the ambient sounds,

The subtle hum within the silence between sounds.

Bring your attention inside your body.

With your inner tactile senses,

Feel your way into the sensations in your belly.

Without judging any of the sensations,

Notice what your belly feels like from inside.

You're observing.

You're attentive.

Your awareness moves lovingly through the body,

Noticing the sensations that arise in the heart,

In the neck,

In the forehead.

Feel the symphony of sensations inside your body.

Let your attention center in the breath,

The whole arc of the breath,

The arc of the inhalation,

The arc of the exhalation.

Where does the in-breath go in your body?

From where does the exhalation arise?

You're not trying to change the breath.

You're not trying to breathe.

You're simply letting yourself be aware of the flow of the breath.

It flows in.

It flows out.

You're anchored in the flow of the breath.

Now become aware of the field of your mind.

Be aware of the thoughts that arise and subside inside your consciousness.

Notice how some thoughts dart up,

Swim through your awareness,

And dart away.

Notice how others become a picture or a mood state.

You're simply with the thoughts,

Not following them,

Not pushing them away,

Simply observing.

Some thoughts grab your attention.

Some thoughts float by.

Observe them all with their different flavors.

Observe the deeper currents of mood or energy,

Pleasurable feelings,

Uncomfortable feelings.

Simply be aware of what is passing through the field of your mind.

You're not trying to change any of this.

You're simply being with it,

Holding this experience of being with yourself inside your awareness,

Your attention.

Now in this moment,

Be aware of the whole flow of your experience,

Aware of the sounds,

Aware of the sensations in your body,

Aware of the sensations in your body,

Aware of the breath,

Aware of the thoughts and feelings passing through your mind.

Now for a moment,

Become aware of your own awareness.

Pull your attention back to observe the inner knowingness that lets you perceive all this.

Turn your attention around and focus it on the inner spaciousness that holds all these thoughts,

All these feelings,

All these sensations.

Focus your attention on attention itself.

Be aware of awareness.

Now bring your attention back to the breath.

Follow the breath as it flows in and flows out.

The breath is your anchor.

It moves gently on its own.

There's no need to try to breathe.

No need to draw the breath in or push the breath out.

Breathing happens naturally.

Let the breath happen.

If you notice that your breath feels jerky or tight,

If different feelings arise as you center on the breath,

Notice them.

Be aware.

And very gently let these sensations or feelings flow out with the exhalation.

Let your awareness anchor itself to the breath,

Each breath,

Breath by breath.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

There's no need to follow the thought,

No need to push it away.

Simply label it,

Thinking.

And bring your awareness back into the breath.

Awareness of the breath.

Rest in the breath.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

And bring your awareness back into the breath.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

And bring your awareness back into the breath.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

As thoughts come up,

Label each thought,

Thinking.

Reviews

More like life itself. Every aspect to focus on is part of they bigger picture and they watcher too

Definitely great for beginners, it helps a lot to maintain and comeback to awareness.

Lovel meditation through the body, breath, mind, senses, resting with awareness.

Namaste🙏

Than you for this very professional and clearly guided experience. I will save it to do again when my “RLS” doesn’t interfere. By the way, I really liked the gentle series of chimes that brought this to closure. 🙏

Great

I remember this meditation from years ago. Loved it then, love it now. 🙏 Durgananda..

Total immersion into awareness. Found the instruction to be aware of awareness itself quite profound.

Awesome,I love the soothing voice and the crystal vase ending is just divine. Would have loved to have longer the bells going longer, much longer pls.

That was fantastic. Thank you for this. The peace and serenity of the spaces between the guidance allowed for total awareness

Fantastic! The way she led my awareness from the far external to deep interior to meta awareness was the best meditation experience I have ever had.

Beautiful and heart opening. Thank you Sally ❤️🙏🏻

Absolutely beautiful!

Thank you so much Sally, for putting some of your meditations on Insight Timer! What a treat to be able to practice with you. Your level of expertise opens the door for deep feelings of grounded-ness and peace. I thoroughly enjoy them.

So smooth. Such flow. It’s as if you are in my mind and body with me, gently deepening the practice.

Really gentle and perfect pace. Very Relaxing.

Beautifully paced. Put me into a meditative state and left me there. The closing bells were sweet sounding and provided a mood enhancing finish. 🙏 Thank you.

Took me far, far away! So lovely!! Thank you! 🙏🏼💜💫

Astoundingly relaxing and soul searching