From Inside-Out, To Outside-In

We tend to live from the inside out. Acting from inside our bodies, thinking from inside our heads. Outside-In Mindfulness turns all of that on its head. Space holds the body. Mind hosts thoughts. Silence is the arena for sounds. Life vibrates with emotion. Start living mindfully from the outside in and experience the natural freedom and wholeness that follows.

Transcript

Relax into the present moment with a nice open awareness,

Accepting and allowing whatever we find in the present moment and to see if we can do this for what's happening internally as well as externally.

Using that same welcoming and open awareness for our thoughts and feelings,

For our body and our breath and for the environment and sounds around us and outside of us.

And seeing ultimately if we can,

By approaching all these different things in the same way,

Get a sense of the wholeness of the present moment that includes ourselves and all our inner experiences as well as our outer perceptions and see if we can experience all of that as one unified experience.

So allowing ourselves to become part of this moment,

Perhaps even letting go of the idea of being separate and apart from our environment and feeling that connectedness with everything that's happening in this moment.

So we can break that down into a few different areas to begin with and then see if we can bring it all back together at the end.

So I'm going to start by inviting the sensations of the breath to take centre stage within my open awareness.

And I'm going to be interested in exploring the physical sensations of my breath in the body.

My aim as I become aware of the breath is to see if I can keep out of the way of the breath and allow the breath to breathe the body naturally,

Spontaneously,

Just as the breath wants to.

So not getting in the way or interfering with the breath in any way.

Bringing it into the body and letting go as I breathe out.

So I can experience the breath not as something that I'm doing,

But just as an experience that's happening within my awareness.

Let's see how we may be able to apply this idea of moving from inside out to outside in with the awareness of the breath.

So if I feel like I'm inside my body and I feel like the breath is outside,

I can feel like I have to make effort to make the breath happen.

That I am taking the breath in and pushing the air out from the centre of this experience of the breath.

Let's see if I can shift that experience to outside in.

So initially I get a sense of the whole body,

So not just the breath but feeling the presence and the location of the whole body.

So not being aware of one part of the body or another,

But getting a sense of the whole body.

So almost as if I'm locating the centre of my awareness just a millimetre behind the body.

So the whole body is just in front of my awareness and I can feel the whole body right there with me.

And I feel the weight of the whole body and allow it to be supported.

As I do that I can have that feeling of really letting go of the body.

I'm not holding on to the body,

Not holding on to any muscles,

Just relaxing,

Letting go,

Allowing the body to be just as it is right here,

Just in front of my awareness.

Keeping it nice and simple and light,

Nice open awareness,

Just feeling the body as it is and seeing if I can get a sense of the whole body rather than this part or another part.

And getting a sense of the space around the body.

So there's space behind me,

Space in front of me to either side,

Below and above.

That feeling of allowing the awareness to open up,

Widen,

Broaden.

So I've got a sense of the space within the room between the walls,

Floor and ceiling.

Experiencing the space of my awareness to be together with this space,

Physical space around the body in the room.

Experiencing the body being within the space of the room and within the space of my awareness.

So rather than experiencing myself as being somewhere inside the body,

I'm experiencing the body as being inside my awareness,

So inside myself.

So the body is within me rather than me being in the body.

I find this really helps me to relax the body more deeply,

So I feel I can just let it go and allow it to be resting in this open space.

In a sense,

It's a feeling of detachment from the body,

But actually I'm really a lot more present with the body,

A lot more aware of the body and attentive to it.

So I feel the body more because it is within the sphere of my awareness.

In a sense,

I'm also detached from it as I'm identifying with the space of awareness,

Not with the body,

And just allowing the body to be within the awareness.

So returning to the experience of the breath from this position of space of awareness and feeling that the air of the space of the room is within my awareness and in turn is breathing the body.

So there's me,

The awareness,

Then the air and the space of the room and then the breath in the body.

So the body is the last part of that chain,

Working from the outside in,

Space of my awareness,

Space of the room,

The air of the room,

The breath,

The body.

So nothing has changed except my point of view.

The body is the same,

Feels the same,

The breath is the same.

I'm just holding all of that now,

Just in front of me,

Just within my awareness.

So rather than being in the body,

The body is within me.

And I can just sit back and watch.

Watch the body being breathed by the breath within my awareness.

Let's see if we can take the same approach.

So again,

Maybe our usual way of experiencing things is to feel like we are inside our minds and inside our thoughts and the thoughts are happening around us,

Outside of us,

Emanating in some way from us,

Out into the mind that's around us.

Let's first just be aware of the experience of thinking and just notice the thoughts coming and going,

Inviting them into the center,

The foreground of awareness,

Allowing everything else just to be in the background.

And how does it feel to be thinking and being aware of those thoughts as you think them?

Maybe getting a sense that the thoughts just occur and arrive without any effort or consideration.

You don't have to make effort to create a thought or remember to think.

We can just sit back and notice thoughts arrive all by themselves.

We can get a sense of mental space around the thoughts just like the physical space around the body just by being aware of that physical space.

Now we can quite easily go beyond the limits of the room.

There's no physical boundaries to mental space.

We can get a sense of the space outside,

To the horizon and beyond all around us and up to the sky and beyond above us,

Really opening up that awareness,

Noticing there are no limits,

No spatial limits to our awareness.

Whatever physical limit we become aware of is within our awareness.

Our awareness isn't limited by it.

If we see our mind as this vast open arena,

At least as spacious as the horizon and the sky,

Then the thoughts maybe become a lot less significant,

Less of an impact.

And how we're feeling as compared to this vast open physical and mental space.

They're quite small.

They're just allowing the spontaneously occurring stream of thoughts to flow in this much broader,

Wider open space of the mind.

And even this vast open space of the mind is also within our awareness.

So our awareness is greater still.

Our awareness is unlimited,

Empty,

Still and silent.

All activity,

All change happens within it.

So if we start with this space of awareness,

Then there's the theatre of the mind and then across the stage,

One after the other,

Our thoughts passing by.

So from the outside in,

Awareness,

Mind,

Thoughts.

And again,

Just as we could really let go and allow the body to be completely relaxed when we experienced it from the space of awareness.

So too we can allow our mind to completely relax as we experience it from our awareness.

As we just allow the breath to happen to the body,

We can just allow the thoughts to occur to the mind.

So completely effortless.

Just allowing the thoughts to come and go as they will.

Experiencing everything happening within our open awareness.

Mind and body,

Thoughts and breath.

All happening inside of us within the open space of awareness.

I'll leave about five minutes without commentary.

Just relaxing into being present with the body and the breath.

Allowing in to being present with the mind and the thoughts.

Allowing the breath and the thoughts to flow freely.

Allowing the body and mind just to be as they are.

Letting them go within the unlimited space of our awareness.

Allowing the breath and the thoughts to flow freely.

Allowing the breath and the thoughts to flow freely.

Allowing the breath and the thoughts to flow freely.

Allowing the breath and the thoughts to flow freely.

Allowing the breath and the thoughts to flow freely.

Rather than experiencing myself to be in the body and in my mind.

Having a nice open and light awareness.

Experiencing my body and breath,

My mind and thoughts to be happening within my open awareness.

I'm on the outside,

Everything else on the inside.

I'm on the outside,

Everything else on the inside.

I'm on the outside,

Everything else on the inside.

Okay,

So when you feel ready you can bring the meditation to an end.

Taking a few deeper breaths in.

Moving the hands and feet.

Taking a bit of a stretch and move the body and just open your eyes when you're ready.

Take a few deep breaths,

Taking in the inside.

Reviews

If you can follow this, and then practice it, This is life-changing

🌿✨💜✨🌿 Very powerful. Thank you. Xxx