Open Awareness

So when you're ready, take a moment to settle in and get comfortable, resting the body in an upright posture. You can close the eyes or lower your gaze. And we'll begin by taking a few slow and steady breaths, breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth. Now returning the breath back to its natural rhythm and just allowing the breath to move naturally, nothing to control and nothing to force, just gently resting your attention on the breath. And feeling the breath, not thinking about it, but feeling the breath as it moves in and moves out of the body. And allowing the breath to be your anchor to the present moment. And when the mind wanders, which it will, just gently guiding the focus back to the breath. Now letting the breath fade into the background, beginning to bring your attention to the body, noticing any physical sensations present. If you notice any areas of tightness or ease, warmth or coolness, simply observing them. No need to change anything, just noticing and opening to what's here, with kindness and care, and bringing the mind back each time it wanders. Now gently letting go of the focus on the body and beginning to notice any sounds nearby or further away. Resting your focus and attention on what you can hear, the breath, nature, sounds of traffic, people, or even silence. Not judging the sounds, just noticing them, holding them in our focus. Letting go of any distractions, resting the focus on what you can hear. Now just gently letting go of sounds and guiding your focus to notice thoughts that are present. Maybe noticing if there are few thoughts or many, continuous thoughts, or maybe there's space between them, just observing them and allowing them to be as they are. Now letting go of that focus on thoughts and gently shifting your attention to the space of emotion. Without needing to name anything too precisely, noticing what emotion is most present for you. No need to fix or explain, just noticing and observing, and allowing your awareness to hold these emotions kindly and gently. And now we'll widen our awareness even further, letting go of any specific focus, and instead, becoming aware of whatever enters your field of awareness, breath, bodily sensations, sounds, thoughts, emotions, just resting in this open space of awareness, letting awareness be like a wide open field, spacious, receptive, awake. And then returning the focus back to the breath, back to the body, noticing the different sounds around you in your space. Taking a deep breath, and on the exhale, opening your eyes....