Welcome to the Choiceless Awareness practice.
The basic instructions for this practice are to simply let whatever happens,
Happen.
And just letting go of any intention to control your attention.
So simply allowing your attention to naturally guide itself throughout this practice.
And so we're going to start off by grounding into the practice by focusing your attention on where your body is in contact with the surfaces beneath you.
Before we gently move into the practice of letting go of the intention to direct your attention in any particular way.
And starting off now by adopting a comfortable seated position.
And closing your eyes if that feels okay,
Or perhaps having an unfixed gaze out in front of you.
And just gently guiding your attention to the sensations of where the soles of your feet are in contact with the floor beneath you.
Simply noticing those connection points,
Maybe the sensations of your feet against your socks or your shoes.
Those points of connection,
Touch,
Pressure between the soles of the feet and the ground beneath.
And bringing your attention to the sensations of your body against the chair beneath you.
Noticing the weight of your body as you rest in contact with the chair.
And observing the connection of your sitting bones and the seat of the chair.
Those points of touch,
Contact and pressure.
Now,
For the next few moments,
Gently guiding your attention to your breath.
Noticing where you are experiencing your breath most vividly in your body right now in this moment.
And knowing this place in the body where you sense the breath most intensely can be an anchor point for you to return to whenever you feel overwhelmed or thoughts are crowding your mind.
So you can always return to this anchor point of your breath throughout this practice.
And as we start the Choiceless Awareness practice,
We are simply sitting,
Dwelling in the present moment and becoming aware of whatever arises without choice or preference.
So allowing your field of awareness to open up to whatever arises in the landscape of the mind,
The body and the world around you.
Just being as awake and as open as you can be without getting carried away with thoughts or emotions.
Simply letting emotions or thoughts arise,
Be present for some moments and allowing them to move through and beyond our awareness as they fade away.
Letting go of the intention to focus on any particular object.
Simply resting in awareness,
Effortlessly observing whatever arises from moment to moment.
Perhaps the breath,
Body sensations,
Thoughts,
Emotions.
Perhaps the senses,
Sight,
Sounds,
Smells,
Tastes and touch.
Simply observing whatever arises for you.
Just sitting,
Observing,
Not holding on to anything and not looking for anything.
And just expecting nothing as well,
Clinging to nothing.
Just pure awareness itself,
Attending to the entire field of present moment experience.
And now in this moment,
Noticing what is arising,
What is here now.
Noticing how what is here now might shift,
Change and fade away moment by moment.
So simply noticing without any preferences,
Any decisions or choices to be made,
Without any particular way to be.
If the mind becomes too scattered at any time,
You might come back to the breath to study your focus and then letting go of your focus of attention on the breath and coming back to the state of simple awareness.
Allowing your field of awareness to open to whatever arises in the landscape of the mind,
The body and the world around you.
Just being as awake and as open as you can be.
Remembering whatever is occurring in the body,
Mind and senses.
The task is to simply observe its ever-changing nature.
The comings and goings of aspects of experience.
The arising and shifting and subtly changing and moving on.
Moving through and beyond,
Moment by moment,
Over and over.
As you breathe with it all and simply allow yourself to be.
Permit this silence,
This stillness to be just as it is.
And reminding yourself there is nowhere to go,
Nowhere to stay fixed on.
And nothing in particular to do or to aim for or achieve.
Just simply being in the moment and allowing yourself and the world around you,
As you are experiencing it,
To be just as it is,
Right now.
Simply focusing on whatever is occurring in this moment.
We're going to very gradually start to bring this practice to a close.
Observing the natural rhythm of the breath,
Sensations in the body.
And in your own time,
Slowly opening your eyes if they aren't already open and gently bringing this practice to a close.
