Meditation For Beginners - Lesson 9

05:24

Meditation For Beginners - Lesson 9

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Beginners

In the earlier lessons, we used one main meditation object such as the breath, body, mantra, or sound. Open awareness meditation loosens that focus. Instead of choosing one experience and trying to hold onto it, we allow thoughts, sounds, sensations, emotions, and breathing to arise within the same field of awareness. In lesson nine of this beginner meditation course, I explain how to practise open awareness without simply spacing out or becoming overwhelmed. You will learn how to notice what becomes dominant from moment to moment, how to use light mental labels, and how to return to a stable anchor whenever the mind becomes too scattered. Thoughts change. Sensations change. Sounds appear and disappear. Emotions rise and move. But each experience is known. Beginner practice: Begin with one minute of breath awareness. Then widen your attention and allow sounds, sensations, thoughts, and emotions to come and go without selecting one as the enemy.

Choiceless Awareness Spacious Awareness Resting As Awareness Meditation Beginner Open Awareness Labeling Non Reactivity Metaphor Anchoring Metaphor Usage

Meet your Teacher

Kingston, ON, Canada

Meet your Teacher

Kingston, ON, Canada

Transcript

Hey everybody, Jason here. So in earlier lessons, We gave the mind one main object, The breath, The body, A mantra, Sound itself. So in this lesson, We're going to loosen that focus and practice what is sometimes called open awareness. You know, So instead of choosing one experience and returning to it constantly, We allow any experience to enter our awareness. Anything. So whether that be thoughts, Sounds, Sensations, Emotions, Breathing, Everything is allowed to come and go. Now you know this can feel extremely difficult at first so I recommend using the breath for the first minute just to get you going. So for this session, You know, Sit comfortably, Feel the body, Follow a few natural breaths as we've been practicing, And then let the mind settle as much as it's possibly going to settle. And then gradually start to widen your awareness, If you know what I mean, Right? So notice the pressure of the body against the chair, Notice the temperature, Feel the breath, Also start to notice sounds, Even notice the space around you. And then, If a thought appears, Include the emotion, Right? You don't have to choose between them anymore. So imagine that awareness is the sky and every experience is kind of like weather passing through it. So, For example, A thought is a cloud, An emotion is a storm, A sensation is a gust of wind. Some experiences yeah they're great right and some are uncomfortable and they really do suck but the sky doesn't need to chase or hold on to any of them it allows them to appear and then it allows them to to actually disappear so you know during this open awareness notice what grabs your attention right you know a sound may suddenly become super super dominant and then a sensation in the leg will happen and and then a thought, And then a breath, And the center of attention just keeps changing all the time. So your job itself is not to freeze it. Simply know what is happening, Right? What is happening? You might quietly label experiences like we've talked about before. Hearing, Thinking, Pressure, Warmth, And even breathing, Right? But you know, Keep the labels really light. You don't want some super technical label. You know, There's only, They're only there to actually help you recognize experience without becoming, Well, Lost inside of it. So, You know, If you become overwhelmed or scattered, You know, Return to one anchor, Just one, You know, Feel the breath at the nose or feel your feet or repeat the mantra and just remain there for several moments, Whatever that might be for you. And then open again when you begin to feel a little more steady, Right? Open awareness isn't, It's not about spacing out, You're not sitting there, You know, Vaguely waiting for the timer to end. You are actually alert, And you're noticing the changing movement of the experience. You know, One moment contains a sound, Right? The next moment contains a thought, And maybe the next contains an itch, And then maybe the next contains all three, You know? Nothing ever stays exactly the same. So, You know, This practice can begin to reveal that experiences are happening pretty much on their own. A sound appears without your permission, A thought appears without your permission, A sensation changes without your permission, And yet awareness knows each one of them, Right? So you don't need to answer the philosophical question of what awareness actually is. Just notice the experience of being known. So when anger appears, Yeah, It's known. And when calm appears, It is known. And when the mind is confused, Even confusion is known. You know, The contents change, The knowing always, Always remains. So don't turn this into another idea that you repeat. Experience it directly. You know, A sound appears, You know the sound. You know the thought. A breath occurs. You know the breath. For this lesson, Begin with one minute of breath meditation and then spend about four minutes allowing awareness to remain open. And let everything belong. And it's going to be tough because you're going to want to cling to those peaceful moments and don't do that. And don't reject the restless moments. The practice itself is not creating a perfect experience. The practice itself is becoming less afraid of experiences as it changes. Thanks for listening to this lesson. Namaste everybody.