Deep Open Awareness Meditation Guide: Step-by-Step Practice
Deep Open Awareness Meditation
Deep Open Awareness meditation is a beginner-level practice designed for profound inner work. This 20 minutes session guides you through a structured sequence that cultivates present-moment awareness and inner calm.
Duration: 20 minutes | Level: Beginner
Benefits
- Enhances cognitive flexibility and creative thinking
- Cultivates acceptance of present-moment experience
- Strengthens the capacity for choiceless awareness
- Develops metacognition and witness consciousness
- Reduces reactivity to thoughts and emotions
Preparation
Find a space that feels safe and welcoming. Whether indoors or outdoors, ensure you can maintain your chosen posture without strain. A blanket nearby can help if you tend to get cold.
Step-by-Step Guide
- Settle Into Presence
Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths to arrive in the present moment. Let your body settle and your mind begin to quiet.
- Release Focus
Unlike focused meditation, here you release any specific object of attention. Simply sit and be aware of whatever arises in your field of experience.
- Notice Without Grasping
Thoughts, sensations, sounds, and emotions will arise. Notice each one as it appears. Do not follow it, push it away, or hold onto it. Simply witness.
- Label Gently
If it helps, softly label what arises: thinking, feeling, hearing, sensing. This light labeling creates space between you and your experience.
- Rest as Awareness
Begin to identify less with the contents of awareness and more with awareness itself. You are the sky, and thoughts are the passing weather.
- Include Everything
Expand your awareness to include everything at once: your body, the room, sounds, thoughts, emotions, the space between objects. Hold it all with equanimity.
- Close with Integration
Take three conscious breaths. Appreciate your capacity for open, non-judgmental awareness. Carry this quality of spacious presence into your next activity.
Tips for Practice
- Use guided meditations when starting out, then gradually transition to unguided practice.
- If you fall asleep during meditation, try sitting upright or practicing at a different time.
- Bring a quality of curiosity to each session rather than expectation.
- When emotions arise during meditation, welcome them as part of the practice.
- Consider joining a meditation group or class for community support and accountability.
What Research Says
Studies using fMRI show that open monitoring meditation strengthens the anterior cingulate cortex and insula, improving metacognition and emotional awareness.
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