MBSR Choiceless Awareness

A formal breathing meditation following the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) format. This practice is good for relieving stress and anxiety in times where you're feeling overwhelmed. Often referred to as open awareness or choiceless awareless.

Transcript

As we begin this formal breathing meditation,

Invite yourself to settle into a chair or a cushion,

Whatever is most comfortable for you.

Finding a position that is awake and alert,

Get not rigid.

Noticing your hands in your lap or by your side.

And either closing your eyes or downcasting them.

And just inviting yourself to settle in to this body in this moment.

Taking a couple of nice big deep breaths,

Feeling the breath all the way in.

And following the breath all the way out.

And then allowing the breath to settle into its normal rhythmic pattern of breathing.

Without trying to change it.

Just settling.

Now bringing the focus of your attention to wherever the breath is most prominent in the body.

You may notice it in the nostrils as it enters the nostrils,

Travels down through the body,

And then leaves the body through the nostrils.

You may notice the breath in the throat,

In the chest.

You may notice the breath in the lungs or the belly as the belly rises with the inhalation and falls with the exhalation.

Wherever you notice the breath in this body right now,

That is the focus of attention.

As you settle into this breathing meditation,

The only thing that you have to do is just be.

There is no doing.

There is experiencing the breath.

Fully and completely.

The breath is a very familiar object of attention.

Something that we experience every day,

Day in and day out.

Yet,

It is something we often do not pay attention to.

The breath is very familiar.

And yet,

Each breath is new.

Each breath is uniquely its own.

Following the breath all the way in,

The inhalation,

You may notice the slight pause or silence before continuing following the exhalation.

Really be curious about this breath.

Experience this inhalation,

This pause and this exhalation deeply.

And when the mind wanders,

As it most surely has already done,

Just firmly but gently bring it back to this breath.

This brand new yet familiar breath.

Not trying to manipulate the breath in any way.

Just experiencing it as it is in this present moment.

Bringing curiosity to the changing nature of the breath.

The breath may be short and shallow.

And then may be long and deep.

Changing and yet very familiar.

Tasting the breath as you would a delectable food item.

Savoring the breath.

Experiencing the breath all the way in and all the way out.

And then may be long and deep.

And then may be long and deep.

And now expanding your attention,

Your awareness to include body sensations.

What have you brought into this meditation in this body?

What is here?

You may wish to start at the feet and sweep through the body.

Moving up the feet and the legs.

Slowly moving up this unique and special body.

And just notice what is found in this body.

And when you find something of interest,

Something that's curious,

You may wish to stop,

Pause,

And experience that sensation.

You may find heat or tingling,

Tension,

Perhaps discomfort.

And when you pause to experience the sensation fully,

Try not to get caught up in the story around the sensation.

Just noticing,

Perhaps labeling,

Heat,

Weariness,

Fatigue,

Discomfort.

Without getting caught up in a story.

And if possible,

Staying with whatever sensation you're experiencing.

To experience any change in the sensation.

You may feel pulsating,

Throbbing,

Tingling,

All in the same body part.

Bringing an open curiosity to whatever sensation you experience in this present moment.

Sweeping throughout the body.

From the toes all the way up to the top of the head.

And every time you get distracted by a story or a worry in the head,

Just come back to a present sensation in the body.

Perhaps noticing the touch points of the body on the chair or the cushion or the feet on the floor.

These body sensations are always in the present moment.

Now expanding your attention to include sound.

Being open and receiving of sound.

Not searching it,

Not going out searching for sound,

But instead allowing sound to come and to go.

And observing,

Experiencing sound.

Paying attention to getting caught up in a story about sound.

Not needing to do that.

When that happens,

Come back to experiencing whatever sound is currently present.

Could be sounds from the outside.

Could be sounds from the body.

Noticing the pitch,

The tenor,

Perhaps the rhythm of the sound.

Allowing the full experience of the sound in this present moment.

Experiencing the ever-changing nature of sound.

How sound arises,

Perhaps stays a short time or perhaps a longer time.

And then it departs.

All without any involvement from us.

It comes and it goes.

Bring attention to any tendency to hold on to sound or turn away from sound.

And when your mind has been distracted,

Gently but firmly bring it back to experience sound.

The sound that is right here in this moment.

Right here.

Right here.

Right here.

Right here.

And now bringing attention to mind states.

What is going on with the mind right now?

Bringing that focus of attention to thoughts.

Observing these thoughts without getting wrapped up in them.

There is no need to get wrapped up in the thoughts.

As if you were looking at a beautiful sky filled with clouds.

And you're observing the thoughts as if they were clouds.

Allowing the clouds to come and to go.

Just noticing.

And when you find yourself getting caught up with the thoughts,

Just bringing yourself back to observing the thoughts.

No need to be harsh with yourself for getting caught up.

Just noticing.

And coming back to observe all these thoughts.

There are times when the sky is filled with many clouds.

And there are times there may be only one or two clouds.

Just like the mind,

It can be busy with many different thoughts.

And sometimes it can be very still with clear skies and no thoughts and no clouds.

Oftentimes thoughts generate emotions.

And again,

The sky can get very filled with clouds.

And observing the emotions just as observation of the thoughts and the clouds.

Just observing them.

Allowing the emotions to come and to go.

Allowing the thoughts to come and to go.

Just as sound would arise and depart.

So too do thoughts and emotions arise and depart.

With no need to get tangled up with them or create a story.

Just observing.

It may be helpful to label thoughts or emotions.

To keep the observing eye.

When noticing,

When you're planning or worrying about the past.

Or planning for the future.

Just notice planning.

Planning.

Or labeling an emotion.

Worry.

Happiness.

Anger.

And letting the clouds come and go.

Without any involvement from you.

And let the clouds come and go.

Now if you wish,

And if you so choose,

Choosing to focus on whatever object of awareness arises in this present moment.

Whatever is most prominent in this present experience.

It may be the breath.

It may be body sensations.

It may be sound.

Or thoughts or emotions.

As you focus on whatever arises,

Experience it deeply and directly experience all that is in the present moment.

Without holding on to it.

Without changing it.

Allowing that experience to change with the comings and the goings of whatever arises.

Perhaps noticing the ever changing present moment.

And when something,

Some object of awareness departs,

Opening up to the next present moment experience.

Bringing curiosity to whatever is arising right now,

Right here.

And let the clouds come and go.

And every time the mind wanders,

As it will over and over again,

Bring it back to whatever is in the direct experience of this moment.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

Bringing attention to the ever changing nature of what arises and departs.

Bringing curiosity to whatever is found right here.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

And let the clouds come and go.

And every time that mind wanders,

And you bring it back to whatever is most prominent right here,

Right now.

You are building that muscle of attention,

Building that ability to focus and to stay in this present moment.

And let the clouds come and go.

And now bringing that attention,

That focus of awareness back to the breath.

Back to this familiar,

Yet very new,

Brand new breath.

Following the inhalation all the way in and all the way out.

Being with the breath,

Experiencing the body being breathed.

Knowing that whenever the mind is worrying about the past or planning for the future,

The breath is always in the present moment,

Can always be the anchor to bring you back to right here and right now.

And let the clouds come and go.

And as this formal practice ends,

You may wish to bring this curiosity of this,

Of this dynamic of the ever-changing nature of what is in this moment with you as you go throughout the rest of the day.

Always remembering,

Connecting to the breath brings you to this moment.

Thank you.

Reviews

Well paced, good content. Well developed to allow for 40 minutes of guided content.

One of the best meditation about thought and present moment that I've never made. A great thanks for that 🙏💝

Secular mindfulness at its best. Wasn't looking for it but near the end I experienced a profound release of stress. Almost like an altered state. I will be back.

Excellent! The direction to connect to the breath was very effectively led. I particularly liked the suggestion of labeling wandering thoughts as planning, worrying, etc. It helped both to notice the thought and to set it aside. Nice long pauses between directions were effective.