This is a 15-minute open awareness meditation practice.
Open awareness is turning attention from just one experience to whatever experience presents itself.
No particular focus is held.
Instead,
Attention itself is the object of meditation.
Noticing a physical sensation in one moment,
A sound in the next,
A thought after that,
Whatever happens to show up.
Received without avoidance or suppression.
We'll begin by taking our meditation seats.
Sitting up nice and tall and straight.
If you're in a chair,
Maybe scooching forward just a bit and being on the edge of your seat if it's comfortable for you to do so.
But as always,
Take care of yourself.
Make the adjustments that are helpful and supportive for you.
Placing your feet on the floor.
Allowing the hands to come to some stillness on the legs or lap,
Wherever they happen to land is fine.
If it's comfortable for you to allow the eyes to close,
You can do so.
Or if you'd prefer,
If it's more stabilizing for you to have the eyes open just a bit,
A soft gaze,
You're welcome to do so.
We'll begin our practice by just checking in,
Noticing what's here right now,
The ingredients of this moment.
This is a kindly curiosity.
How am I doing?
With a gentle,
Gentle touch.
It's not an interrogation.
Just a surface read.
Checking in is an active attending to body and heart and mind.
Without having to get caught up in what's found.
So noticing.
What is felt in the body in this moment?
Without having to change anything,
But just notice.
Warming up this capacity you have to direct your attention,
Turning towards the heart.
Noticing what emotions might be present.
What's here right now?
And refreshing that gentle curiosity.
And shifting one more time to thinking.
The experience of that process.
Not having to get caught up in the content of thoughts,
But just notice,
Are they fast or slow?
And what's it like to just notice them without holding on or pushing away?
Once you have a sense of how you're doing in this moment from checking in,
Let's begin to bring our attention to one spot with home base for a few moments,
Getting familiar and accessible to that stability that it brings.
Homebase is a comfortable experience happening in the present.
It helps stabilize and be an anchor for attention and presence in this moment.
Homebase might be sensations of breathing wherever you feel them comfortably in the body.
Or if that's not something that's so accessible or supportive for you,
It doesn't have to be the breath.
It can be.
Listening to sounds in your environment.
Putting your attention on the bottoms of your feet or the tips of your fingers.
Homebase is a supportive,
Comfortable experience that's happening right now.
So take a few moments,
There's no rush.
No rush.
What can you get in touch with?
You feel.
That you can notice.
And when the mind wanders,
Invites you back.
What might that be for you in this moment?
Remember,
You can return to your home base at any time.
Sometimes surprising difficulties may show up that can be a little destabilizing.
It's OK to notice these with checking in.
Returning to home base.
And when you have that stability,
That balance,
Returning again to open awareness practice.
Open awareness can be somewhat challenging.
As we are now turning attention to attention itself.
Whatever it is that is noticed.
We are aware of it.
Acknowledge it.
And without clinging to it or filtering it.
Judging it.
Just experiencing it.
And in the next moment.
Perhaps a different experience presents itself.
Remember,
Our intention with open awareness is to just experience what's here,
Not having to change anything.
Build this ability you have.
To self-regulate.
To be with what is present.
Build your resiliency,
Not resistance,
But resiliency.
By being in the flow of this dynamic environment of this moment.
Today's practice will have more silence than other practices have.
During those silences.
Lean into.
Brighten your awareness of what's here right now.
Perhaps a thought in one moment.
An itch or an ache in the next.
Noticing an emotional tone.
Or just inhabiting silence.
And noticing what that experience is like.
Notice if habits present themselves or patterns during your practice.
If the mind tends to settle on home base and filter out the rest of your experience.
Noticing that,
Acknowledging it.
And letting that go too.
And allowing body,
The heart,
The mind to receive all aspects of this dynamic ecosystem this moment.
What's it like?
A little playful curiosity.
To what's presenting itself.
And every so often,
Just checking in,
Noticing how you're doing.
And making whatever adjustments may be helpful.
This practice may be challenging.
If you find yourself getting a little overwhelmed,
Come back to home base.
Find that connection in the moment that is supportive for you.
Brings a little balance.
And when you're ready,
Turn back towards open awareness.
And perhaps a gentle reflection,
What may be coming up most for you in your open awareness.
Maybe a sound?
Maybe a feeling or sensation.
Again,
Something to notice,
Acknowledge.
And then just returning attention to the practice,
To awareness itself.
If you find it helpful,
You may label each experience as it shows up.
Thought.
An itch.
Curiosity.
Sound.
Whatever it may be.
Tag and release each experience.
Noticing,
Too,
If judgments are showing up about experiences.
And perhaps that playful curiosity can help with that.
What's it like to just receive a sound?
Notice a soreness or a lightness.
Without having to change it.
Without having to.
Add on any aspect to it of bad or good.
Just experiencing it.
What would that be like?
And bringing attention from your open awareness practice.
And settling into home base.
Holding attention on that one experience.
Just a few moments to get in touch with that stabilizing influence.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Receiving sounds,
Whatever your home base happens to be,
This anchor for attention.
And shifting to check-in.
Again,
Just a light look,
A gentle peek at what's here in body and heart and mind.
And when you're ready,
If you've had your eyes closed,
You can open them.
Still being mindfully present,
Notice if the mind wanders right away.
And it senses the end of a meditation.
And allow your presence to continue.
Just shifting our awareness a bit into the body and listening in a different way to The body might want to move after some stillness.
Maybe a nice stretch,
Something well within your comfortable range of motion.
Remember,
You can continue with this practice informally,
Bringing a gentle curiosity to whatever moment you happen to be in.
Thank you for your practice,
Your time,
And your dedication.
