Online MBCT/MBSR Lesson 5

Mindfulness of Breath, Body, Sounds, Thoughts, Feelings and Choiceless Awareness

We begin this week with a 40-minute Mindfulness of Breath, Body, Sounds, Thoughts, Feelings and Choiceless Awareness meditation.

  • The meditation begins with the Mindfulness of Breath, Body, Sounds and Thoughts practice from last week
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  • We then bring awareness to our feelings and emotions and pay attention to how we're experiencing them through our body
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  • We then expand our awareness into a wide, open, choiceless awareness: rather than focusing our attention on any particular object such as our breath, body, thoughts, etc., we allow any aspect of our experience to pass into and out of our awareness

The video below describes what we mean by choiceless awareness:

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Clip Art by Vectortoons CC BY-SA 4.0

 

Because it can be difficult to sit comfortably for 40 minutes, there is a brief period of mindful walking in the middle of this meditation. The walking also serves to re-focus your mind and can help you maintain your concentration better once you return to a sitting posture.

Mindfulness of Breath, Body, Sounds, Thoughts, Feelings and Choiceless Awareness

Before starting this meditation, make sure you have a cushion or chair to sit on, and a clear path where you can do some mindful walking out and back in a line, or in a circle around where you sit. When you're ready, start the audio file below:

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Once you've finished the meditation, complete the Mindfulness of Breath, Body, Sounds, Thoughts, Feelings and Choiceless Awareness Worksheet on the next page.