What is Living Aware?
At the heart of Living Aware is awareness – our natural capacity to be present to ourselves, our experience and the world around us with greater clarity and openness. A simple invitation that can be life-changing.
Meditation and mindfulness offer practical ways to cultivate this capacity, but awareness extends beyond meditation. It can become a way of living – helping us recognise habitual patterns, see more clearly, respond rather than react, and experience a greater sense of connection with ourselves, others and life.
The questions below explore what we mean by awareness, how it relates to mindfulness and meditation, and how these practices can support us to make transformational shifts in perception and in everyday life.
What is Awareness?
“Being aware of the full dimensionality of present-moment experience, with open-hearted curiosity.”
– Lydia Vorona
Paying attention to the moments of our life with open-hearted curiosity is an extraordinary way to live.
Awareness is our natural capacity to notice what is happening – within us and around us with greater openness and in the present moment.
Developing awareness of awareness can help us:
- notice thoughts, feelings and sensations more clearly
- recognise habitual patterns and reactions
- step back from automatic responses
- see situations from a broader perspective
- respond with greater clarity and choice
- feel more present and connected in everyday life
- understand a new dimensionality to our life
Awareness isn’t something we need to acquire. It is an innate capacity that can be recognised, cultivated and brought more fully into everyday life. A deep internal resource already available to us.
The results can be life-changing.
Below you’ll find answers to some common questions about awareness, mindfulness and meditation.
+ What is mindfulness — and how is it different from awareness?
+ What is meditation — and do I have to stop thinking?
+ What if I find meditation difficult — or don’t have much time?
+ Do I need previous experience — and where should I begin?
+ Is meditation religious or spiritual?
+ What is MBSR?
+ What are the benefits of meditation and awareness?
+ Is meditation suitable for everyone?
+ Why learn with a teacher rather than just using an app?
+ What does it mean to become aware of awareness itself?
As meditation deepens, something subtle can begin to shift.
We usually pay attention to the contents of our experience — thoughts, emotions, sensations, sounds and the world around us. But we can also begin to notice the awareness in which these experiences are appearing.
Rather than simply being aware of something, we become aware of awareness itself.
Contemplative traditions have long pointed to this awareness as something fundamental to our nature — an underlying presence that is already here, rather than something we need to create or achieve.
This deeper exploration is an important part of Aware Living and The Aware Body. It is also central to the nondual understanding underlying iRest Yoga Nidra.
For some people, meditation begins simply as a way to manage stress, sleep better or live with pain — and that may be exactly what is needed. For others, practice gradually opens into a deeper enquiry:
Who – or what – is aware?
There is no need to arrive at an intellectual answer. The invitation is to discover through direct experience.
Watch Jon Kabat-Zinn talk about The Power of Awareness
[VIDEO: Jon Kabat-Zinn — The Universal Power of Awareness]
Will awareness meditation help me control my thoughts?
Awareness training explores how the mind works and offers skills to become more aware of your experience in the moment. By becoming familiar with the patterns of your mind, feelings and actions, you are better equipped to navigate thoughts of negativity and self-criticism. This self-awareness opens up more choice and options for responding to situations rather than reacting habitually. Control is not the goal of mindfulness however more choice for where you place your attention will contribute to working with thoughts and emotions in a more productive and effective way. Participants report that they are able to engage with all the experiences life brings, both joyful and the difficult. Rather than trying to avoid or escape sensations awareness offers a path to turn towards these with surprising and unexpected results.
Will awareness meditation make me more passive?
No, awareness meditation training is a very active process of self-regulation. It is about developing an investigative type of mindfulness. Training and practising in this way allows you to be better equipped to choose with how you would like to interact with people and the world around you and equip you with the capacity to change your relationship to life.
Are there any potential risks in doing a living aware meditation course?
You are encouraged to take your own authority with all the meditations offered in the program. Some courses include gentle movement which may be difficult if you have injury or are experiencing pain. Please practice self-care, working within your limits. For some participants becoming more aware of the inner experience can lead to a perceived increase in conditions, it may appear that stress, anxiety, pain or depression seem to worsen temporarily. There are always options for how to practice so please speak with us if you are experiencing difficulty. Learning new skills and changing existing habits can take time, we encourage you to continue with your practice so you can experience the benefits the program offers. Research shows that symptoms of stress, pain, anxiety and depression most often reduce as the programs progress.
Exploring Awareness
Awareness is more than a meditation practice. It offers a different way of experiencing ourselves, our relationships and the life unfolding around us.
In this short conversation, Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, explores the deeper dimension of awareness and what it can mean to become more fully present to our lives.
