Elizabeth Yount

Erie, PA, United States

Natascha Van Dam

Tervuren, Belgium

kimpossible V

Santa Clara, CA, USA

Odalys Ruiz

Miami,Fl

Laura Starkey

Ricardo

Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico

Lauren

Cambridge, MA, USA

Mariloir

Gaillac, France

Jamila Knopp

Nelson, New Zealand

Emmanuelle Roques

Bordeaux, France

Maggie Rose

Monica Cote

Kathleen

Lincoln, United Kingdom

Lisa

New York City

Gigi AW

Nimbin, Australia

Louise

Liverpool

Peter

Indian Rocks Beach, FL, USA

Michaela Rizqallah

Bundaberg Central, Australia

Julie Markovitz

Expand your awareness like the sky to observe thoughts and sounds as they naturally arise and pass away.

Science

Psychology

Health & Happiness

Presence

MBSR

Mindfulness

English

The intention of this practice is to cultivate a large open-mindedness and give you the experience of how your awareness truly is. You’ll be opening your attention to an unfolding of sounds, thoughts, body, and breath.


Sky of Awareness

 Welcome to the sky of awareness meditation. Just getting in a relaxed and comfortable position. Either sitting or lying down. And beginning by just checking in, noticing what's here. Being aware of the positioning of the body. And also at this time of day, how the body is feeling. Noticing if there's any tension or tightness anywhere. Perhaps looseness, expansiveness, or maybe just neutral. If there is any tension or tightness and you can allow that to soften, you're welcome to do that. If not, just an awareness of it is a good start. Also being aware, where am I starting from emotionally in this moment? Noticing if there's any sense of stress or anxiousness, frustration, irritation, or maybe there's a sense of calm. Perhaps how that's being experienced in the body. Just this short period of checking in. Here's a short window of the day that you've chosen where there's nowhere to go, nothing to do, no problems to solve. Just being here. Beginning to also open up to the awareness of whether the mind seems busy and distracted and cluttered, or whether it seems calm and able to settle into being here. And as you're doing this, starting to become aware of how this body is just naturally breathing. And breathing in and just being aware of the breath coming in. Can even make a mental note to yourself in. Breathing out and just being aware of the breath going out as it's happening, breath by breath. Starting to rest awareness on this natural rhythm of being alive. Breathing in, breathing out, literally taking life one breath at a time. And you may have already noticed how easy it is for the mind to wander off, thinking about this, worrying about that, a memory, a dream, just getting caught in the story. And when you become aware of that, you're present in this space of awareness, a choice to just gently come back and open up to wherever we are in the practice, in this case, the breath. Now beginning to expand awareness out from the breath to include the room or the space that you're in, allowing awareness to expand as far as it is to the boundaries of this space if there are boundaries. Just noticing the sounds around. Sounds have this nature of appearing and disappearing, leaving no trace. And within this spacious awareness, they can just arise and fall naturally as they do. Expanding awareness even a bit further beyond if there are any boundaries that are there, beyond there to outside becoming as wide as the sky, allowing awareness to be as expansive and wide as the sky, allowing whatever sounds are here just to arise and pass away plenty of space for the hearing of sounds. This nature of appearing and passing away, opening up to the world of sounds. We've learned a lot about these Canadian cities isades, part of that range. And you may have already noticed that opening up to the world of sounds, the mind also begins to attach different images or stories to surround the sounds, just naturally arising, forming unforming. So within this vast open spacious awareness as wide as the sky, allowing for an awareness of these mental events, images, talking in the mind, holding it within your awareness just like you might hold something with an open palm, being aware of the transient nature of sounds and thoughts, and you just settling into this more fundamental open awareness, letting all things be. So, mental events, appearing, disappearing, appearing, sounds rising, falling. And you may have already noticed that opening up to the world of sounds, the mind also begins to attach different images or stories to surround the sounds, just allowing all things to be as they are. As you begin to also sense into this physical life, imagining the boundaries of the body dissolving within this vast open spacious awareness in addition to auditory events and mental events, there's also physical events, sensations arising within this awareness and shifting and passing away, pressure, pulsing, tingling, warmth, coolness, wetness, dryness, whatever is there. Settling into this space that is more fundamentally you, it's this open awareness, letting sounds, thoughts and sensations do what they all naturally do, come and go. Opening up to the transient nature of life. Now, the open awareness of becoming avant," And if at any point during this practice you find yourself lost, whether in thought or overwhelmed by the events that are here, you can always come back to the breath just as an anchor, grounding yourself into this moment and then widening back out from there. Just as an anchor morning. So, dropping the question in, if I am not these thoughts, if I am not these sounds, if I am not these sensations, then who am I? Perhaps I am the one who is listening. And so now intentionally bringing awareness out from this expansive sky of awareness, now narrowing it back just onto the breath. Breathing in, knowing that you're breathing in. Breathing out, knowing that you're breathing out. Breathing in, noticing how the whole body slightly expands. Breathing out, how the whole body slightly contracts. And in a moment you'll hear the sound of a bell and that bell will be the end of this practice. But until then, just acknowledging the active choice of taking this time out of your daily busyness to engage in this practice for your own health and well-being. This is an act of self-care and so in some way just acknowledging yourself for taking this time.