Open Awareness Meditation

The following practice is an open awareness meditation that offers practitioners the space to open their senses to the aliveness of the present moment. By opening to the continuous rising and falling of phenomena with a kind and non-judgmental attitude, you are able to bring a sense of calm to the body and mind while connecting with the life that is here, and now.

I hope you enjoy it.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Sean and thanks for joining me.

And welcome to this open awareness meditation practice.

This meditation practice is known by many other names,

Such as open presence or choiceless awareness,

Just to name a few.

So if you have practiced those before,

Then this should fall right into alignment with those practices.

For this practice,

We will be cultivating our ability to be consciously aware of everything occurring in our experience without closing anything out.

So in other meditation practices,

We often place our attention on the single point of focus,

But for this meditation,

We will open ourselves up to whatever arises,

Whether that be sounds or physical sensations or thoughts and feelings.

And by opening ourselves up to whatever arises,

We open ourselves up to the continuous rising and falling and coming and going of phenomena.

In our regular day to day,

We are continuously surrounded by a vast array of phenomena,

Whether they are sights or sounds,

Smells,

Tastes and touches.

But I think it's safe to say that many of us do not know this,

The continuous coming and going of these experiences.

So in this meditation,

We will open our awareness up to recognize the continuous coming and going of life.

And we will use a very soft mental noting when we become aware of a present phenomenon.

When we notice a sound,

We will softly label it with hearing,

Hearing.

When we notice a physical sensation,

We will softly label it with feeling,

Feeling.

And when we notice a thought that arises,

We will label it with thinking,

Thinking.

No matter what the phenomena may be,

We will aspire to meet it with a kind and democratic tone,

One without judgment or bias.

A soft,

Calm,

Subtle voice.

And once we label our experience,

We will soften back into the open awareness and coming and going of phenomena.

So let's get started.

We'll begin by bringing yourself into a comfortable seated position.

This may be seated on a cushion or in a chair,

Coming to stack your shoulders over your hips and your ears over your shoulders,

And then sitting up tall,

Reaching the crown of your head to the sky as if there were a string attached to your head,

Softly pulling it upward,

Elongating your spine in an alert but easeful posture.

And you can place your hands on your thighs or you can let them rest gently in your lap.

And if it's comfortable for you,

You can let your eyes gently close.

If not,

Allow your gaze to settle softly about six feet in front of you.

The main goal here is to bring yourself into a position that supports your ability to sit comfortably while staying awake and present.

Now that you've been awake,

You can sit down and relax.

And if you're feeling comfortable,

You can sit down and relax.

Now that you've taken your seats,

Just give yourself a moment to settle into your body.

This may be the first time that you've stopped moving today.

So just take a moment to notice what is here.

How does the body feel?

Are there any obvious areas of tightness and tension?

And if so,

Can you direct some gentle breathing into those areas with an intention of softening?

How is the heart?

Are there any emotions present?

If so,

Can you simply notice them without trying to do anything with them?

Instead,

Can you just be with them?

And how is the head?

Is it relatively calm and quiet?

Or is the mind busy and jumpy?

Maybe it's spinning and sticky with thoughts about.

Whatever it may be,

Can you just take notice without trying to do anything with it?

Not trying to solve,

Not trying to grasp,

And not trying to push away.

And as you come to settle,

Allow yourself to bring your awareness onto your breath.

Notice the natural flow of your breath and how your body breathes.

If you need some help in stabilizing your mind,

You can bring a light labeling of your breath as you breathe.

So silently stating in on the in-breath and out on the out-breath,

Letting this noting be a light and delicate touch.

In,

Out.

As you breathe,

It is likely that your attention will drift from your breath.

And if it does,

Know that that is okay.

It's normal and expected.

When it does,

Simply take note that your attention is drifted from your breath and then place your attention back on to your next breath.

With the mind slowly softening,

You can begin to open your attention up to a more spacious practice.

First,

Opening yourself up to the sounds that are present.

Noticing the rising and falling of sounds most closest to you and the sounds that you hear in the distance.

Notice how you do not have to do anything to hear these sounds.

The sounds arise,

Are met by your ears,

And they are heard.

Without trying to judge these sounds or label them,

Without trying to push them away or hold on to them,

Can you simply label them in your mind as hearing?

Hearing.

And as one sound rises and another one falls,

You might come to notice a rising of sensation in your body.

Maybe the feeling of air on your skin,

Or texture of clothes on skin,

Or the pressure points of the surface beneath you holding you up.

Maybe you notice areas of slight tension and discomfort.

Not trying to seek out any feelings,

Not looking for a specific feeling,

Or trying to make a specific feeling happen.

Just noticing the sensations in the body.

And when these sensations arise,

Allowing yourself to notice them with an open awareness.

Silently noting them in your mind as feeling.

Feeling.

And then returning your attention back to noticing whatever is presently arising in your experience.

And so when a thought arises,

Can you let yourself notice that a thought is present?

Maybe you become caught up in the thought.

Maybe a thought about the sound,

A thought about a sensation in the body,

Or just something that you have on the mind.

And without judgment or bias,

Can you just come to label the thought silently as thinking,

And then return your attention back to what is present.

Remembering that the character and quality of this meditation is one of openness and effortlessness.

There's nothing that you're trying to make happen,

Nowhere you're trying to get to,

And really no way of doing this wrong.

You're simply opening to the present moment,

Noticing what arises,

And gently labeling it and letting it go.

And if at any point this meditation gets overwhelming,

Or you find yourself becoming frustrated or distracted,

Allow yourself to come back to placing your attention on your breath,

And stabilizing your mind for a few minutes,

Maybe watching the breath at the nostrils,

Or the rise and fall of the belly.

And then,

When you are ready,

Opening yourself back up to the wholeness of your present experience.

Effortlessly noticing what is here in this moment.

Remembering there is nowhere to get to and nothing to accomplish with this meditation.

You cannot get this meditation wrong.

You are opening up to your present moment,

And softly labeling your experience.

That is all.

And slowly letting go of the open noting,

And bringing your attention back into your body.

Taking a deep and full breath into the body.

And a long slow breath out your mouth.

And again,

A deep full breath through your nose.

Filling your body and then opening your mouth and letting your whole body exhale.

And slowly bringing yourself out of this practice.

Noticing how you feel in this moment.

Maybe you feel different than when you started.

Maybe there is a sense of softness or openness.

Maybe you don't feel much different at all.

Whatever your experience is,

Know that there is no wrong experience.

I encourage you to take this practice with you into your day.

Pause at times to open up to the fullness and richness of life around you.

And note what is currently in your present experience.

Thank you so much for joining me and for allowing me to guide you.

Thank you for making space in your life.