Range of Awareness – Open awareness

Range of Awareness: Open awareness

Today we will continue our exploration of Range of Awareness. We will use this concept as a filter to help us regulate our attention as we uncover the richness of our lived experience. After suggesting that Range of Awareness can be applied to all aspects of Patañjali’s eight-limbed yoga path, we tried a very simple concentration technique to feel one of the many options in Range of Awareness along the dimension of attention. Today we will continue to move along the dimension of attention, but instead of focusing on a single experience or phenomenon, we will expand into the experience of open awareness.

For this exploration, the idea presented by Patañjali in Yoga Sutra 1.3 of the witness abiding in her own true nature can be quite useful. We have tried a similar exercise before from the perspective of feeling our true nature. We also explored this idea in the episode where we compared awareness with its content. Today we will dive into the experience of open awareness.

Let’s start with a simple working definition: Open Awareness is the experience of being open to whatever the moment brings, both externally and internally. There is no need to explain, describe, or decide whether we like or dislike what we are observing. We simply notice.

It is useful to begin by choosing a place where we feel safe and where we can minimize distractions so that we can develop our ability to be in open awareness at a gentle pace.

Find a comfortable posture where you feel supported enough that you can be very relaxed, yet still want to be aware. …. Take a few moments to clarify your intention for this practice, something like, “I am exploring the range of my ability to concentrate,” or “I am practicing my ability to notice without reactivity by resting in open awareness”… Notice the sounds and noises coming from outside the building you are in… Your mind may want to label, identify, or describe the sounds, instead notice the sounds themselves without adding any content or commentary… …. There are probably a variety of sensory inputs that you perceive, such as the sensations of touch through your skin, sensations related to temperature, texture, just notice the sensations…there may be scents, aromas, and smells in the room you are in…consider sensing them without having to elaborate…your eyes may be open or closed, regardless, you may be sensing some stimuli through your eyes, feel them…practice sensing without having to identify, describe, or explain…

Something else you might notice in open awareness is the emotions flowing through your space of awareness…you can choose to feel the emotions…you can notice them and just let them flow…just allow this moment to be as it is…
Sometimes when we are in open awareness we may notice an unconscious tendency to tense up…some areas that are likely to tense up are your forehead…your eyes and the area around your eyes…some of us tense up our jaw, lips or mouth….our neck and shoulders also tend to accumulate unconscious tension….

In open awareness we are simply witnessing whatever is happening, this may include our thoughts, memories, one suggestion is not to mind anything you notice…
Another useful suggestion is not to take anything you experience personally, just notice, feel and sense…

Of course, we may find ourselves distracted, which is ok, just choose to return to open awareness whenever you notice yourself being distracted….Remember that noticing that we are being distracted is already a sign that we can distinguish between our awareness and its contents…in other words, we notice when our awareness goes from being fully open to focusing on one of its contents, an idea, sensation, emotion or memory. As we notice, we can choose the level of openness of our awareness…

Allow your awareness to rest, no need to focus on anything in particular…just be open and notice everything that is happening…there is no effort, just awareness…let everything go and just notice the changing thoughts, sensations, emotions, perhaps your mind is following a line of thought, allow it to do so…just notice and welcome whatever you are noticing, aware of what is happening, yet without any need to control it….

Now take a few moments to let everything go, relax and do a few rounds of easy and enjoyable inhaling and exhaling. Notice how you feel…is it possible that your mind is calmer and you feel more at ease now than before this exercise?
Would it be useful to grow in our ability to modulate our awareness so that we can choose to focus on an idea or object or just be in open awareness?
What happens if you try this exercise several times? What do you notice?

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This is an excerpt from the book Unravel the thread: Applying the ancient wisdom of yoga to live a happy life

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