A shared practice
Open Awareness, Intermediate
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Created bySean Fargo
From Sean's awareness collection — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice10 min
Read along — the full script
Mindfulnessexercises.com. Open awareness. Let's begin by taking a moment to allow your body to settle in a comfortable position. Allowing yourself to relax. Feeling your feet and your body on the ground. Relaxing your belly.
Dropping your shoulders. Softening the muscles of your face and jaw. Relaxing the muscles around your eyes as you gently close them or look downward just to limit visual distractions. And today we'll be practicing open awareness, a practice that can give us the gift of being present.
Present for things like our thoughts, our emotions, what's happening in our relationships, but without getting stuck or hung up on them like we might normally do. Open awareness practice helps us to have a gentle matter-of-factness, saying to ourselves, "Oh, this is here right now. Okay, got it.
How might I use this? How might I need this in my life right now? How can I move forward in a way that's respectful or kind?" So we'll begin by taking a full breath in and a long breath out. Noticing the in breath and noticing the out breath.
Allowing the breath to settle now and to find its own natural rhythm. Letting your breath breathe itself. Trying not to interfere with the process and just noticing how the body moves in response to each inhale and exhale.
The chest expands, it relaxes. The belly rises and falls. And now gently expand your awareness to whatever is arising. You might notice thoughts, physical sensations, sounds all coming and going, all arising and passing away.
Letting go of any ideas about what you think this moment should be like and just resting with an awareness of how things actually are in this moment. Notice if you're aware of any changes in the body or the mind tensing up around your experience. And in this noticing, just gently letting go without judgment.
Coming back to this moment as often as necessary with kind, gentle awareness. Now, if it feels safe for you to do so, include any pain or discomfort in the body within your awareness. Inviting your awareness to acknowledge any discomfort.
We often resist feelings of pain and discomfort. So we can use the breath to help soften the discomfort. Breathing full, deep breaths. Acknowledging any discomfort in the body and remembering to breathe. And now inviting pleasurable dimensions in your awareness.
They might be subtle, like the feeling of the clothing on your skin or the felt sensation of your breathing. Maybe there's a cool breeze or warm sunlight. Pleasant sounds around you. With each breath, just returning to the simple, clear awareness of what's here now.
And as we near the end of this practice, bringing your attention back again to focus on your breathing. Letting your awareness of other things fade into the background. And finishing with a full, deep breath in and a long breath out .
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