Practice day materials
Core practice: Receptive awareness
We identify with our bodies - we recognise ourselves in photographs and say 'that's me!' But is it? We also talk about 'my body', as if there's a 'me' who 'owns' the body somehow. We can also observe the body, like we can observe other things which are not 'us'.
Question: If you had a different body, would you be a different person? What if it was only a little bit different, like you had different coloured hair? What if it was very different?
Exercise: Distinguishing between thoughts and feelings.
We talk about 'mind and body' - so if we aren't the body, perhaps we're the mind? So what goes on in the mind? Many types of activity - thoughts, feelings, memories, likes and dislikes, the whole process of turning sensory information (patches of colour etc.) into named objects with histories and emotional associations. So is this mind us? Again, though, we have the same problem - we can talk about 'my thoughts', 'my feelings' and so on, and we can observe these things like we can observe other things which are not 'us'.
Question: If you had different mental activity, would you be a different person? Different thoughts? Different feelings? Different memories?
Exercise: Investigating mental activity.
A very fundamental part of our sense of self is the notion of 'volition' - that we can make choices and follow through on those choices, that we can act in the world in ways that align with our intentions. But how does this process work?
Question: If you made different choices, would you be the same person? If you ate different food? Had different friends? Lived in a different country?
Yet, despite how fundamental to our sense of self this process of choosing is, it doesn't always work perfectly.
Question: Have you ever made a choice and not followed through on it? Have you ever tried to make a new habit, or break an old one, and struggled to pull it off?
Exercise: Investigating choosing.
We've looked at the body, mental activity, and even our ability to make choices. In all cases, we've been able to observe these things - to objectify them. So who is doing the observing? What is this 'Witness', as it's sometimes called?
Exercise: Pointing.
Exercise: Exploring the properties of your awareness.
- Sit in a comfortable, relaxed meditation posture.
- To begin, bring your attention to your breathing.
- When you're ready, open your awareness to include the whole body.
- Finally, open your awareness to include everything in your experience, whether 'inside' you or 'outside' you.
- Rest here, observing whatever comes and goes, not trying to change anything, simply seeing what arises from moment to moment.
- Sit in a comfortable, relaxed meditation posture.
- Begin in the same way as the receptive awareness practice described above.
- When you have settled fully into open awareness, you are ready to begin working with the question.
- On your next out-breath, silently ask yourself 'Who am I?'
- On the in-breath, simply remain open and receptive to see what comes up.
- On the next out-breath, ask the question again, and continue in this manner.
We identify with our bodies - we recognise ourselves in photographs and say 'that's me!' But is it? We also talk about 'my body', as if there's a 'me' who 'owns' the body somehow. We can also observe the body, like we can observe other things which are not 'us'.
Question: If you had a different body, would you be a different person? What if it was only a little bit different, like you had different coloured hair? What if it was very different?
Exercise: Distinguishing between thoughts and feelings.
- Close your eyes.
- Visualise your hand (think about your hand).
- Feel the physical sensations of heat, pressure etc. in your hand (feel your hand).
- Go back and forth between thinking and feeling until you are absolutely clear on the difference.
- Who is the 'me' that this hand belongs to?
We talk about 'mind and body' - so if we aren't the body, perhaps we're the mind? So what goes on in the mind? Many types of activity - thoughts, feelings, memories, likes and dislikes, the whole process of turning sensory information (patches of colour etc.) into named objects with histories and emotional associations. So is this mind us? Again, though, we have the same problem - we can talk about 'my thoughts', 'my feelings' and so on, and we can observe these things like we can observe other things which are not 'us'.
Question: If you had different mental activity, would you be a different person? Different thoughts? Different feelings? Different memories?
Exercise: Investigating mental activity.
- Think about what you were doing when you got up this morning.
- Notice that you can become aware of your thoughts, and that they come and go.
- Notice that your feelings and memories also come and go.
- Notice that it feels like 'you' are always there, unlike the mental activity you're observing.
- Who is aware of these thoughts and feelings?
A very fundamental part of our sense of self is the notion of 'volition' - that we can make choices and follow through on those choices, that we can act in the world in ways that align with our intentions. But how does this process work?
Question: If you made different choices, would you be the same person? If you ate different food? Had different friends? Lived in a different country?
Yet, despite how fundamental to our sense of self this process of choosing is, it doesn't always work perfectly.
Question: Have you ever made a choice and not followed through on it? Have you ever tried to make a new habit, or break an old one, and struggled to pull it off?
Exercise: Investigating choosing.
- You're going to tell a story. I'll give you the starting point, then you have to answer some questions. Observe the process of thinking up new ideas and making choices. Where do the thoughts and decisions come from?
- 'Once upon a time, there was a person who lived in a town.'
- What is the person's name?
- What is the town's name?
- Does this person like living in this town?
- What happened next?
- Who is making these choices?
We've looked at the body, mental activity, and even our ability to make choices. In all cases, we've been able to observe these things - to objectify them. So who is doing the observing? What is this 'Witness', as it's sometimes called?
Exercise: Pointing.
- In this exercise, you're going to point at a series of different things. Whatever you point at, focus your full attention on that thing, and try to see exactly what it's like, in as much detail as possible.
- Point at an object across the room from you, some distance away.
- Point at your foot.
- Point at your knee.
- Point at your chest.
- Point at the place where people look when they talk to you. What's back there?
Exercise: Exploring the properties of your awareness.
- How big is your awareness?
- What shape is it?
- Where is your awareness located?
- Does your awareness come and go?
- Is your awareness inside your body, outside it, or both?
- Who is aware?