Open Awareness Expansive Ocean Meditation

Open awareness is non-referential, meaning you don’t use breath or body to keep your mind focused. Those focal points are useful as first, but as you progress, they can hold you back. In open awareness, your attention rests with everything that arises. To this end, you meditate with your eyes gently open. Normally our eyes are trained to focus on a single object. Here, you softly take in everything in your field of vision simultaneously, particularly the periphery, the way you might gaze at a wide expanse of ocean. The practice of openness can feel challenging at first because our minds are so habituated to contracting—around our problems, our storylines, our ideas—but the more you practice, the more you realize that openness is actually your natural state, and contraction is the source of suffering. Openness is the key to your freedom.

This meditation is partly inspired by REVERSE MEDITATIONS by Andrew Holecek.

Music/audio: Eric Fischer
Photo: Sean Oulashin

Reviews

I came back to it today and will stay practicing open awareness for a while. I am intrigued by the peripheral vision effect and imagine that peripheral sound would be welcome as well (as if I sat by the ocean or in a forest.) Thank you for sharing this approach.

I have been practicing Shikantaza meditation for some time, yet Open Awareness in its same non referential approach is so different! I can see how sitting in a natural environment would be ideal. But for now, my attic space will do.
Thank you for all your gifts. May you be happy, healthy and free.

Interesting new insight. Can this be done with your eyes closed also?

Let this open awareness meditation perfume through out the day!
Wow! What a thought,,, 😊
Namaste 🙏