Welcome to Open Awareness Meditation with Laurie Kegg Morrell.
Open Awareness,
Sometimes referred to as Open Monitoring,
Is a meditation that allows us to notice and observe what arises and passes through our mind.
We are cultivating an ability to be consciously aware of what is happening in our lives.
We're simply noticing what comes and goes,
The nature of our thoughts as they enter and disappear,
Physical sensations,
Sounds,
All with curiosity and without going into any story or judgment.
Now let's meditate.
Find your comfortable seated meditation position,
Either on a chair with your feet flat on the floor,
Or sitting on a cushion or the floor,
Hands resting comfortably on your lap,
Spine nice and long,
Chin tucked,
And gently closing your eyes,
Bringing your awareness to your breath.
I invite you to take three long,
Slow,
Deep breaths,
Starting with an inhale to the count of three,
Noticing the gentle pause at the top of your inhale,
And a long,
Slow exhale,
Noticing the pause at the bottom of your exhale,
And completing two more long,
Deep breaths in your own time,
And returning to your natural breath pattern,
And settling into your body.
Notice how your body is feeling.
Notice any thoughts.
Bring your full awareness to this moment.
Notice your breath,
The cool air of your inhale through your nostrils,
And the warm air with your exhale,
And begin to steady your mind.
And when your mind wanders,
Come back to your breath,
Noticing your inhale and your exhale.
Now begin to open up to a more spacious practice,
Noticing sounds,
Not pushing them away.
Simply label them as hearing.
You may notice a sensation in your body.
You can label that as feeling,
And return to simply noticing the sensation.
As thoughts arise,
Simply notice the thought and label it thinking.
Without attaching or going into a story,
And return to the present moment.
Welcome everything,
Noticing and labeling whatever arises,
Observing the contents of your mind from moment to moment.
Noticing the thought,
Keeping your awareness on the thought until it passes and a sound or sensation comes into your awareness.
Noticing the fluctuations of your mind,
And should you find that you are attaching or going into a story about a thought or a sensation,
You can always return to your breath,
And going back to your open field of awareness.
This is an effortless practice.
Noticing from moment to moment,
Bringing your attention back to your body.
Notice how your body is feeling,
And in a few moments,
You'll hear the sound of three bells signaling the end of meditation,
Taking your time to come out of meditation slowly.
