This is mindfulness meditation for developing patient's awareness.
We tend to get fixated on obstacles that arise in our path from time to time and are unable to perceive a larger field of awareness that is available to us at any moment.
This guided meditation reminds us that the awareness is big enough to hold all our human experiences without resisting them and offers a way of tapping into it.
To begin,
Sit comfortably in a chair or on a cushion.
Adjust your posture so that it feels comfortable,
Stable and alert.
Once you found this balance,
Stop all movement.
Now invite your awareness to the foreground of your present moment experience.
Sense the stillness of your body,
The heaviness of the body,
Points of pressure and contact with the chair or the cushion,
Arms,
Legs,
Torso,
Neck and the head.
Notice the breathing that is happening on its own accord.
The air flowing in through the nostrils,
The air flowing out.
Sense how the inner muscles and the organs move and make space to receive the inhale and to let out the exhale.
Watch your breath for a little while.
Relax and soften any tense areas in the body.
Notice the Now notice your mental activity,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Feelings.
Notice the images,
The narrative,
The story that is unfolding.
No need to control or judge what is arising in your mind.
Notice how the experience is constantly changing.
Notice how the attention is moving from one phenomenon to another.
Thoughts,
Sounds,
Bodily sensations.
Notice the moments of forgetfulness,
Blankness,
Boredom or sleepiness.
All these experiences are okay and belong to this moment.
Now gradually bring your awareness back to your body and let it land on the surface of your skin.
It doesn't have to be any particular area.
See if you can sense your body as a solid shape and your skin as a shell that holds it in.
Can you sense the silhouette of your body and your skin as its outline?
Can you notice how the shape is separate from the space that it is contained in?
Can you notice where the shape ends and the space begins?
Can you feel your breath pressing against your skin when you inhale and soften on the exhale?
Can you feel the space that is inside your body and your head?
And now start gradually,
Mentally dissolving the outline that separates your body from the environment.
Feel your skin becoming porous,
Transparent.
Feel as if you are breathing through your skin.
Sense your breath extend past your skin and into the immediate space around it.
There is no need to strive to make it happen.
Just continue to slowly and gradually soften the shell of your body with each exhale.
And now let your awareness expand beyond your body.
First into the immediate surroundings and then as far as you want to take it.
A couple of feet away to the walls of your room or even outside your room or house.
Remember to include your head gradually dissolving the confines of your skull and expanding your head space.
Make room for your thoughts,
Feelings and emotions to float freely in and out.
As you expand your awareness like that,
Go only to the extent that you are comfortable without losing yourself completely.
The goal here is not to disappear into a thin air.
While your awareness stays expanded,
Sense the presence of your breath to help you stay connected and grounded.
Sense the space in you and around you as it seamlessly contains everything.
Body sensations,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Sounds near and far,
Movement of the air or people,
Objects and the space itself.
Sense the presence of awareness which is like an invisible glue that holds this entire experience together.
Float in the space of awareness and let the space float through you without any resistance.
Make it as big or as small as you want to,
To hold all the internal and external phenomena.
Be spacious,
Be open,
Be expansive.
Let the space float through you.
And now slowly start to come back.
Take as much time as you need to gradually guide your awareness back to the outline of your physical body.
Reconnecting with your breath,
The touch points,
Your skin,
Pressure,
Happiness,
Hardness,
And solidity of your body shape.
And as you slowly open your eyes,
Notice the lingering feeling of openness and space that you have created.
Feel it,
Notice it.
Where do you feel it the most?
In your head,
Body or both?
Can you notice if your surrounding space has become bigger or perhaps stay the same?
And as you go about your day,
See if you can notice the feeling of spacious awareness that can hold every human experience without resisting it.
