Wheel Of Awareness

This practice is derived from the work of Dr Dan Siegel and helps you to deepen your awareness of your internal and external experience and become aware of your observing self.

Photo by Clint McKoy on Unsplash.

Transcript

The Wheel of Awareness Imagine a wheel with a central inner hub and a rim around the edge.

The inner hub represents awareness and the rim represents anything that we can be aware of.

The wheel is divided into four quadrants.

The first represents the information that comes in through our five senses.

The second represents the feeling of the inside of the body.

Any sensation that we have from the inside.

The third quadrant represents our mental activities.

Thoughts,

Emotions,

Feelings,

Beliefs,

Ideas,

Urges.

Any of the content of our inner experience.

And the final quadrant represents our connection to the world around us.

To those near and far.

To those we know and those we don't.

And our connection to all living beings on our planet.

Begin by closing your eyes or softening your gaze.

First bring your attention to your breath.

Noticing the air moving in and out.

Through your nostrils.

Your throat.

Your chest as it rises and falls.

And noticing your abdomen expanding as the air comes in and softening as the air comes out.

Letting your awareness notice any aspect of your breath in this way for a few moments.

And just sensing the breath brings you to this inner hub of awareness.

The central receptive place of clarity and tranquility.

Much like being beneath the surface of the ocean.

Beneath the waves where it's calm and clear.

The hub represents spaciousness and being open and receptive.

And imagine from this inner place of awareness being able to send a spoke out from the hub to the edge of the rim.

We'll begin in the first quadrant with the five senses.

Sending a spoke out to anything that you can hear.

Let any sounds around you fill your awareness.

Now imagine moving the spoke around a little bit more to the sense of sight.

Open your eyes a little and let the light coming in through your eyes be the focus of attention.

And let anything that you can see to fill awareness.

And imagine moving the spoke a little further now to the sense of smell.

Allow any scent you can sense fill your awareness right now.

Now moving the spoke further to the sense of taste.

Letting any tastes fill awareness.

And now to the sense of touch.

Anywhere where skin is touching clothing,

The floor,

Other skin,

The chair.

It's allowing the sense of touch to fill awareness now.

And now taking a deeper breath,

Allow the awareness of the five senses to fade.

Bring your attention back to the breath for a couple of breaths in and out.

And to the underlying hub of awareness.

Now sending awareness out to the next quadrant of the rim,

To the interior of the body.

Starting with the facial area,

Letting the muscles and bones of the face fill awareness.

Now moving attention to the muscles and bones in the scalp at the back of the head.

And then moving attention to the neck and the throat area.

Noticing that the sensations inside the body may be very subtle.

Maybe just a warmth or a slight sense of vibration.

It may be difficult to feel much at all and that's normal.

Just allowing your attention to move through your body in this way.

And finding it just the way it is for you.

Now letting attention move to the muscles and bones in the shoulders.

The elbows.

The wrists.

And right down to the ends of the fingers.

And now bring attention to the muscles and bones in the upper back and the chest.

And now moving attention downward to the lower back and the abdomen.

Then moving further downward to the hip region.

Then down both legs.

Thighs.

Knees.

Ankles.

Feet.

And to the end of the toes.

And now moving attention to the pelvic region.

Beginning with the genitals.

Then moving attention inwards to the pelvic organs.

And the intestines.

Allowing that gut sensation to fill awareness.

Then moving upwards to the interior of the lungs.

And now centering attention in the area of the heart.

And now letting attention move to the whole of the body.

Allowing all of the muscles,

Bones and organs to fill awareness.

And now taking a deeper breath.

Allow the awareness of the interior of the body to fade.

Bring your attention back to the breath for a couple of breaths in and out.

And to the underlying hub of awareness.

Now sending awareness out to the next quadrant of the rim.

To any mental activities.

Any thoughts or feelings.

Emotions.

Thoughts.

Memories.

Images.

Beliefs.

Attitudes.

Hopes.

Desires.

Any of the mental activities that are present inside.

Often in other exercises when we are focusing on the body or the breath,

We allow thoughts to come and go as much as possible.

Noticing ourselves being distracted and then coming back to the source of our focus.

For this part of the exercise we are going to do the opposite.

We are going to invite our mental activities into awareness.

So for the next few moments invite any mental activity into the hub of the mind and notice how that feels.

Now see if you can notice how these mental activities are formed.

See if you can study the nature of them.

What are they like when they first appear?

And then once they are present,

What are the characteristics by which they stay present?

Are they constant?

Moving?

Vibrating?

Still?

Noticing the quality of how they are formed in your mind.

And then as they leave your awareness,

Notice how they leave.

Do they just fade away?

Do they suddenly disappear?

Are they replaced by some other activity?

Is there a gap between one activity and the next?

And what does that gap feel like?

The invitation here is to study the architecture of mental life.

Noticing the comings and goings of mental activities.

Seeing how things come in and out of mental awareness.

So for the next few moments see if you can study how things are coming and going in your own mind.

Now take a couple of deep breaths and allow this part to come to an end.

And gently now bringing the spoke of attention to the final quadrant of the wheel.

This is the part that represents our sense of relatedness,

Connection.

Our life beyond our physical bodies.

Start just by sensing into your connection with the people who are close to you.

To those who are important to you in your life.

Now opening that sense of connection to your wider circle of friends.

Then widening to others that you know.

Those you work with or come into contact with in public in some way.

Then moving that sense of connection out to people who live in your neighbourhood,

Your community.

Then to those who live in your town or city.

To those who live in your county or state.

And now to those who live in your country.

And now see if you can widen the sense of connection out to all human beings who live on the planet.

And then see if you can include all living beings on the planet.

And now knowing that the intention to send out positive concern to others and compassion out into the world brings health not just to others but also to ourselves.

With this knowledge in mind,

Sense this connection to all other living beings and see if you can send out wishes of kindness and concern.

Wishes of love and connection out to all living beings.

And knowing that those positive wishes to others are also important to send to our own inner worlds.

See if you can send wishes for happiness and health,

Safety and wellbeing inside to yourself.

And now taking a deeper breath we let this journey around the wheel come to an end.

And you can just allow things to come to a close here or you could try this one final step if it feels right.

Sensing the breath,

Sensing your inhale and exhale.

Allow yourself to enter the hub of awareness.

And this time imagine sending out the spoke of attention again.

Although this time instead of going to the edge of the rim,

Imagine that spoke bending around back on itself and coming back into the hub itself.

So you are paying attention to the hub,

Inviting yourself to be aware of awareness itself.

I invite you to try this for a few moments and see what this is like for you.

And now take a deeper breath and allow your awareness to follow your breath in and out.

Bring your awareness back into the room and let your eyes open whenever you are ready.

End of exercise.