Focused attention and open awareness.
Let's begin by just taking a moment to sit comfortably,
To allow your body to settle in.
To find that comfortable position that allows you to sit upright with spine straight.
With the body relaxed and noticing the natural curve in your back and your spine.
Sitting comfortably,
Whether you're seated on the floor or on the chair or even if you're standing.
Whatever position you are in,
Make sure you're comfortable.
You're relaxed but you are not rigid.
You're softening the body and you're relaxing.
You can close your eyes if you prefer to relax and concentrate more or you can have them slightly open.
Looking in front of you,
Maybe looking through things,
Not at things,
And relaxing the face,
The jaw,
The tongue.
Now let the belly and shoulder relax too as you're sitting comfortably.
Releasing any uncomfortable tension in your shoulders and your back.
And find that comfortable upright position.
Chest is relaxing and the belly is resting.
Today I will guide you through a meditation that alternates between focused attention and open awareness.
In focused attention,
We keep directing our attention back to the breath.
We keep coming back to the breath and become like our anchor,
Our home,
Our place that we can connect with our breath and let go of everything.
In open awareness,
We expand our awareness to include whatever is rising with an attitude of curiosity and spaciousness.
In open awareness,
We might explore and feeling some thought coming,
Some emotion might rise,
Some could be joy,
Happiness,
Love,
Some could be fear,
Tightness,
Stress.
Whatever we experience,
The open-mindedness,
The open-mindedness of the breath,
Stress,
Whatever we experience,
These thoughts,
Emotions,
Feelings,
We want them to be with the attitude of curiosity and spaciousness.
We want to be in this open awareness without any judgments,
Without any comparing or analyzing.
In open awareness,
We want to just watch and see what's coming,
What's going,
Without holding on any of these emotions or thoughts.
Before we start,
Take a full breath in and a long breath out with ease and relax.
Now allow the breath to find its natural rhythm in and out.
As you're breathing,
Feel the breath as an anchor for you to come back to it at any time.
As you observe what's happening around you,
As you allow yourself to notice whatever is rising,
You can decide if you want to stay with a certain sensation or feeling that's coming,
Going,
And it feels comfortable,
Or you're observing these thoughts and sensations with awareness,
Without any judgment.
In open awareness,
Thoughts,
Sensations,
Feelings,
Sounds will come and will go.
Some might be very light,
Like the light clouds in the sky.
They come for a few seconds and then they disappear.
And other sensations,
Feelings,
Thoughts,
Sounds,
They might be a little heavier when they stay around.
But whatever is rising,
Just notice them in open awareness without judgment.
Without analyzing this awareness,
Why they're coming,
Why they're going.
If you start to feel distracted and comfortable with these sensations,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Sounds,
You can ground yourself by focusing on the breath again,
Then returning to open awareness when you're ready,
When you feel you're centered and you're calm.
Now bringing your attention back again to focus on the breath.
How does it feel to take a deep,
Full breath,
A nice,
Long exhale?
Letting awareness of other things,
Uncomfortable or sticky thoughts to fade away or to be at the background,
Creating equanimity.
No pulling,
No pushing on these thoughts.
Let them go.
Breathing in deep and breathing out relaxing.
You can always bring focused attention to the breath by following one complete cycle of breath.
Deep breath in,
A long exhale.
Take a moment now to appreciate your effort today in doing this practice.
Remember we are working with the wondering mind.
The intention is to teach the mind to become calm and will become aware of these thoughts that are coming and going.
We invite the attitude of gentleness,
Lightness,
Curiosity,
And the feeling of letting go of anything that's sticky,
Anything that is taking our attention away from being here in this present moment.
You can always come back to your breath to stay centered and focus in this moment.
Remember that you can connect with a sense of open awareness as you go through your day and come back to the focused attention to the breath,
To find calm,
Peace in the body and in the mind.
You can always go back and forth in open awareness to what you're experiencing and when you get stuck you go back to your focus on your breath.
You can take a moment and practice this in your daily life activities.
You can even incorporate this practice of focused attention and open awareness when you're eating.
You can notice how with focusing on the sensation and the sounds of eating you can bring a present feeling of being connected in this present moment,
The experience of the taste of the food,
The textures,
The sounds of eating.
You can always go back to your breath to relax and enjoy the sensation of what you're experiencing.
So this practice,
It could be applied anytime during the day,
Focused attention and open awareness.
I want to thank you for taking your time and practicing with me.
Thank you.
