The Ground of Awareness

To understand how Awareness grows, it's helpful for me to begin with the understanding that perception is concretized by attention. In the Zen embodiment circles that I lead, we've been exploring the role of perception in Awareness.

One of the techniques I've been sharing is what I have taken to calling the ‘SET Protocol’. A mindfulness exercise of bringing curious non-judgemental attention to the sensations (S), emotions (E) and thoughts (T) being perceived/Being perceives, as they are experienced moment to moment. As a practice, I simply name what is being experienced; e.g 'sensation', or 'thought', or it could be a mix i.e 'feeling&sensation', and in naming the experience, it situates it in Awareness. I come to an experiential knowing of all that is possible to be experienced.

It is often easier to notice changes in my body or capabilities when it comes to embodiment practices. The ability, for example, to hold (or get into!) postures I couldn't previously assume, muscle tone where previously there was none, or sitting for longer durations with more ease.

Subtle changes can be more difficult to discern. To the casual observer I may indeed look exactly like I did yesterday, but through intentional Awareness cultivating practices, I attune to the experience of being in body/embodied in a Non-Ordinary way. This is an intimate practice, but in the circle, in community, I am growing in awareness of body (S), heart (E) and mind (T) relationally, and this has been a portal into feelings of unity with the indivisible Other. You, Me. I, You. And Life, this experiencing in Awareness.

By shifting from the position of the experiencing 'I', to that of the observing 'I', I gain an expansive view of my inner landscape, able to see clearer the rise and fall of all that is being experienced. This is the ground of Awareness.