This is a guided open awareness meditation,
What we also call the practice of presence.
You can practice this meditation sitting,
Lying down,
Standing or walking.
Come into a comfortable and upright position.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Have your knees and feet separated and your feet flat on the floor,
Creating a stable triangular base between your feet and the chair.
Keep your back straight and upright,
Not touching the back of the chair.
If you need any back support,
Don't let this take you out of line.
If you're sitting on a cushion,
Create a stable triangular base between the cushion and your knees resting down.
Keep your back straight and upright.
Sway your body gently from side to side and forwards and backwards to help you find your balance point,
Finding a sense of relaxation and uprightness.
Put your hands together in your lap,
Your spine is straight and long.
Lift your shoulders up,
Roll them back and release them down in a relaxed position.
Your head is straight,
Tucking your chin in slightly as if you're holding a tennis ball beneath your chin.
The back of your neck is long.
Keep your eyes closed or half open,
Lowered with a soft gaze.
Mouth closed and tongue resting softly against the roof of your mouth.
Breathing through your nose if you can or your mouth if you need to.
Become aware of the sounds around you.
Know that you are here and now.
Become aware of the weight of the body and the contact with the chair or the cushion.
Allow yourself to feel the sensations of the breath at the lowest point in your body where you can feel the effortless rising and falling of the breath.
If you can,
Feel the breath down in your abdomen.
We are not trying to change or control the breath.
Just follow the relaxed and natural stretching and sinking in your abdomen.
Now allowing the awareness to expand.
Keeping your mind open.
In this openness there is a lot of space.
Space for every sound,
Thought,
Memory,
Feeling or sensation to come and go.
We treat it all the same.
We don't judge.
We don't hold on to it.
We don't push it away in any way.
This practice is simply to notice,
To observe whatever arises in awareness.
Anything that wants to come can come.
Anything that wants to stay can stay.
Anything that wants to go can go.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
It's normal to get distracted by thoughts,
Memories or feelings.
When you notice you are distracted,
Just gently bring your awareness back to the open space of this presence.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
If your mind is very busy and it keeps getting distracted again and again,
It's okay to focus on a few breaths to help your mind settle.
Once it's settled,
Go back to the open presence.
Over time,
You will get more familiar with this totally open awareness.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
There is no focus whatsoever.
There is no aim whatsoever.
There is no right.
There is no wrong.
Simply notice and observe what is happening.
Try not to get involved with all the processes of life coming and going.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
This openness,
This presence,
Is like the sky.
Sometimes there are lots of clouds.
Sometimes it's completely clear.
The sky remains the sky,
Spacious,
Open and free.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
Thoughts and feelings are like clouds.
They come and they go.
Try not to get carried away by them.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
We are simply present and aware of it all.
When you notice you are distracted,
Just gently bring your eyes to the sky.
When you notice you are distracted,
Just gently bring your awareness back to the open space of this presence.
Let it all come.
Let it all be.
Let it all go.
Very simple.
Thank you.
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