Open Awareness
Instead of resting on one thing, you rest on everything: sounds, sensations, thoughts, arriving and passing, without grabbing any of them.
Known in the research as open-monitoring meditation, and found across contemplative traditions. Where Breath Awareness narrows, this one widens.
How to do it
- 1
Sit comfortably, upright but at ease, and let the eyes close or soften.
- 2
Begin with a few breaths to settle, then let the breath fall into the background.
- 3
Now open. Let whatever arises come into awareness: a sound, an itch, a feeling, a thought. Notice it, and let it pass.
- 4
Don't chase anything and don't push anything away. You are not looking for something. You are letting things be seen.
- 5
When you realize you've been pulled into a thought and carried off, that noticing is the practice. Open again.
- 6
Sit for as long as you came to sit. Then simply stop.
Sit with it
Use the timer if it helps, or ignore it and just sit. There's nothing magic about any length, and there is no streak to keep.
What this is not
- It is not about having no thoughts. Thoughts are some of the weather you're watching, not a failure of the practice.
- It is not about analyzing or solving what comes up. You notice it and let it move on.
- It is not a performance of calm. Some sits are busy and loud, and that is still the practice.
- It is not a skill to rank yourself on.
Sources & notes
Where this essay makes a factual claim, here is what it rests on, and what that evidence does and doesn't settle. Contemplative teachings and our own interpretations are labelled as such, not dressed up as science.
- Open monitoring is a distinct style from focused attention.Review
Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(4), 163–169.
A widely used framework distinguishing focused-attention from open-monitoring practice. A conceptual model, not a verdict on outcomes.
- What brain-imaging research does and doesn't show about meditation.Review
A careful review. It reports changes associated with practice while flagging small samples and methodological limits in much of the field.
- On going gently.Our synthesis
Attention Science note.
Opening to everything can occasionally surface difficult feelings. If that happens, you can always return to the breath, open your eyes, or stop. If you have a history of trauma, consider working with a teacher.
The thinking behind it
Mindfulness vs. Concentration: Not the Same Thing9 min