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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Practicing Pure Awareness cont'd

The following practices are designed to help you experience pure awareness so you can increase your consciousness over time. The first practice is called Walking with Grace. This is the practice of being an observer of all things that happen to come into your field of vision, hearing, smelling and so on while you are walking.

To do this practice you want to walk in silence and just notice and observe, without giving names and labels to things. You can walk inside or outside but I suggest outside because of the greater variety of objects you can incounter. While you are walking, be alert and open to everything that is such as smells and sounds as well as things you see. If you smell newly mown grass, for example, don't say to yourself, "Mmm, the smell of new mown grass." You want to be able to let labeling disappear and just be in the moment of enjoying the smell of what is. If you hear a bird chirping, just let the name "bird" pass through you and simply learn to enjoy the sound. The makes of automobiles, the structures of houses, people (male, female, thin, fat, muscular), the names of plants (oak, elm, sapling), the names of animals (dog, cat, squirrel), are non-existent while walking with grace.

As you walk, walk as though are seeing the world for the very first time. Everything is bright and new with no names. Have the mind of a newborn child. When someone walks toward you, let the person be a signal to continue walking with grace. Make an effort to notice when your consciousness wanes into waking sleep, absorption and attention. Be like a child, awake, alert and full of curosity. See the world in a new light, full of wonderment and appreciation for everything that it is.

Next, we will take a look at another practice.

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