External Meditation

This is an open-eye meditation designed to help regulate your nervous system while staying present in the world around you. Using soft gaze, visual awareness, and steady breathing, this practice explores how widening your attention can create a sense of safety and grounded presence.

Transcript

Hello, Welcome back. I'm Sarah, A somatic facilitator and coach, Here to help you build nervous system resilience so you can live up to your fullest potential with ease and confidence. I'll be guiding you through meditation, Breath work, Visualization, And deep rest so that you can explore the pause between where you've been and where you're going. Welcome to Liminal Space. Today's practice is a little different. This isn't a meditation where you close your eyes and retreat from the world. This is a meditation for staying, For being here with eyes open, With steady breath and anchored awareness. Sometimes it can feel too much to focus on the sensations within, So this is for those days where it feels better to allow your energy to pour outward for your awareness to locate externally. This practice is best done seated, Perhaps your feet are grounded on the floor. So just finding that comfortable position now. Let your spine lengthen, Not rigid, Just awake. A feeling of being upright but not uptight. Your hands just rest somewhere natural. We'll begin to soften our gaze, Not staring, Not sharply focused. Just allowing your eyes to rest on something simple in front of you. A wall, Plant, Candle, A corner of the room. Finding a single point of focus, What we might call our drishti in yoga, Our gaze. And although your eyes are open, Your attention is relaxed. Just take a slow inhale through your nose and a soft exhale through the mouth. You arrive, You've landed here physically. And again, Just take that inhale, Your ribs widen. And again, Exhale, The body softens. And as you focus on that single point, Notice the difference between looking at something and letting something be in your field of vision. The space between your eyebrows soft and the muscles around your eyes relaxed. Let your peripheral vision gently expand. Instead of narrowing your focus, Widen it. See the space around the object. The light, The shadows, The subtle movement. Let your nervous system register that there is space here. And as your vision widens, Notice your breath naturally deepen. Peripheral awareness and safety are closely linked. When the body feels safe, Vision widens. Take a few moments here. Now, Without closing your eyes, Shift parts of your awareness inward. Feel the soles of the feet on the earth. Feel your weight of your body. Feel the contact between you and the surface beneath you. You are here. Let your breath move low into your ribs. A slow inhale. An unforced exhale. And as you sit here with your eyes open, You may notice thoughts. Planning, Judging, Worrying, Commenting. That's okay. Instead of fighting them, Practice seeing them the way you see the room. You're present with them, But you're not consumed by them. And let thoughts just move through your awareness like the objects in your visual field. Nothing to fix, Nothing to push away, Just noticing. Your breath is steady, Your gaze is soft, Your body is grounded. Now allow your awareness to widen even more. Notice sounds in the room. Notice sensations in your body. Notice the quality of the light. Notice the smells in the air. And notice that you are the one observing. There is experience and there is awareness of experience. Rest as the awareness. Open. Spacious. Unclenched. And then draw your attention to something small in your environment. Maybe the edge of a table, A texture, A flicker of light. Recognize how quickly the mind wants to label it. And then slowly shift your gaze to something else. Observe the transition, The movement, The subtle shift in perception. Life is made of these micro transitions. Breath to breath, Moment to moment. Practice staying regulated as things change. Nothing dramatic, Just noticing, Shifting, Breathing. And perhaps ask yourself now, Has anything shifted? Is your jaw softer? Are your shoulders lower? Is your vision wider? You have just practiced regulating your nervous system without withdrawing from the world, Without retreating inward. This is the work, Not escaping life but meeting it differently. How would your day feel if you moved through it with this quality of awareness? Softer eyes, Steadier breath, Wider perspective. Let that question settle. And then take a slow inhale through your nose, Nice and gentle. And a slow exhale through the mouth. And when you're ready, Notice your next natural blink. Remember, The liminal space and the transitions are just as important as the destination itself. Rest well, And I'll see you next week.