Meditation 2,
Opening the Mind.
So beginning this meditation with the eyes open,
Sitting in a place where you can see an area of wall,
Preferably a relatively clear area of wall on which you can pick an imaginary spot that's roughly at eye level or slightly above.
So taking a moment to do that now.
Let your eyes rest comfortably on this spot and you can now begin to focus all of your attention on that imaginary spot putting all of your attention onto it and really striving to keep your mind intently focused.
And after a while as you continue to concentrate on this spot you may begin to notice that everything else in the room becomes a little dark or fuzzy or blurry as if you're developing a kind of tunnel vision.
And this kind of tunnel vision is very common in the way that we work and in the way we often pay attention to things by making a willed effort.
Often we'll be focused on just one thing like working on a computer,
Watching TV,
Talking to someone or just thinking and we'll stop noticing other things.
And this leads to a kind of inner tunnel vision where the mind is obsessed with thinking about one thing.
And of course this is the source of a lot of our stress and anxiety.
So as you continue to focus intently on this spot you may also notice physical tensions developing.
Tensions perhaps in the neck and jaw,
In the arms and hands and in other parts of the body.
And this also is connected with willed focusing and with that inner tunnel vision I talked about.
But there's another way for us to look at things and I'd like you to experience that now.
So keeping your eyes on that spot,
Begin to broaden your field of vision.
Noticing more and more of what's on either side of that point so that soon you're paying attention to what you can see out of the corners of your eyes on each side.
And you can take your awareness even further around behind you than that.
All the way around 360 degrees.
Of course I'm not suggesting that you really can see behind you but you can use your sense of hearing or spatial awareness to be aware of what's behind you as well.
And as you stay in peripheral vision you may notice that your breathing has moved lower down in your chest or perhaps into the belly and maybe slowed down or become deeper.
That the muscles on your face are relaxing,
Perhaps especially your jaw muscles and you can encourage those muscles to relax even more by consciously letting go.
And if you were to stay in peripheral vision for any length of time,
You might find your hands beginning to feel warm or even your feet.
But it may be a bit too soon for that to have happened just yet.
And if you normally have a lot of inner dialogue,
Notice now what happens to that as you stay in peripheral awareness.
Often we find that the mind becomes calmer as we stop focusing gnarly and broaden out our field of awareness.
So when you go into peripheral vision you seem to activate that part of your nervous system that calms you down,
Slows you down and lets your mind and body and emotions come back into balance.
While world focusing,
Tunnel vision,
Activates the stress response.
And now while keeping that sense of openness and receptivity to the world around you,
Letting your eyes gently close,
Continuing to notice the sense of space,
The sounds around you.
Just being receptive and opening to what's there.
And perhaps you may want to let the sensations of the breath in the belly provide a soft focus with no activity except being aware.
And so you can just sit for a while being completely open to the space around you until you feel ready to move.
You
