The Wheel of Awareness

Goal

The goal of this exercise is to help you expand awareness from yourself (being aware of internal experiences) to your outer worlds (being aware of external experiences) so as to have a full and encompassing sense of connection and knowing.

Introduction

In this mindful awareness practice, you will visualise a wheel; and this wheel has a central hub, an outer rim, and four quadrants in between. In this metaphor of how the mind is structured, the hub represents our experience of awareness, and the quadrants represent anything we can be aware of, including sensory awareness (i.e., what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch), bodily awareness (i.e., what we can sense physically), mental activities (such as emotions, thoughts, memories, and urges), and our sense of connection to things outside ourselves (such as other people and other things). The purpose of the practice is to cultivate a full sense of connection and awareness to both yourself and the world around you.

Step 1: Visualise the wheel

Find a comfortable position. Either sitting on a cushion on the floor, or in a chair. Allow your spine to be straight and long, and let your shoulders drop, relaxed. Rest your hands in your lap, and gently close your eyes as you proceed to visualise each quadrant. Become aware of the rhythm of your breathing, simply noticing it exactly as it is.

First quadrant: Connect to the five senses

Turn your attention to the top, left quadrant, which houses your five senses.

  • What can you hear?

  • What can you feel?

  • What can you smell and taste?

  • Now gently open your eyes for a moment... What can you see?

Second quadrant: Connect to bodily sensations

Turn your attention to the top, right quadrant, which houses your “sixth sense”, which is the inner sensations of your own body.

  • Scan your body from head to toe, becoming aware of any and all physical sensations throughout.

  • Tingling, heat, tension, numbness… Take your time to move through each body group.

  • Just notice these sensations, being curious, just observing.

Third quadrant: Connect to mental activities

Turn your attention to the bottom, left quadrant, which houses the activities of your mind itself, including your emotions, thoughts, memories, hopes, beliefs, dreams, attitudes, and intentions.

  • Simply become aware of everything that is entering your mind at this moment.

  • What thoughts and feelings are showing up right now?

  • Do they come up suddenly or gradually?

  • Do they stay constant, or fade in and out?

  • Are there gaps between the different mental activities, or do these exist as one long stream of consciousness?

Fourth quadrant: Connect to others

Turn your attention to the bottom, right quadrant of your wheel, which houses your sense of connection to the outside world.

  • Notice the sense of connection to the people physically closest to you right now.

  • Expand this sense of connection to people further away.

  • Tap into your sense of connection to your loved ones, wherever they may be right now.

  • And widen your sense of connection step-by-step to include those who live in your neighborhood, city, country, continent, in the whole world, and finally to all living beings on earth.

Hub: Awareness of awareness

Turn your attention to the center of the wheel, the hub, which is where your awareness stems from.

  • The hub is the ‘you’ that has noticed everything so far in this practice - the part of you that is observing, listening, looking, focusing, sensing.

  • Take some time here, as cultivating this “awareness of awareness” takes practice.

Step 2: Reflection

Now take a look at the wheel of awareness and reflect on what you noticed. Write down as much as you can remember from each of the four quadrants and from becoming aware of awareness itself (the hub). There are no wrong answers here! Everyone’s wheel of awareness experience is unique.

 
Wheel of Awareness.png
 

  • Quadrant 1: Mental activities - I observed…

  • Quadrant 2: Interior of the body - I observed…

  • Quadrant 3: Touch, taste, smeel, sight and hearing - I observed…

  • Quadrant 4: Interconnectedness - I observed…

General thoughts:

  • How did you feel at the end of the practice?

  • Did you learn anything new about yourself?

  • When do you think this practice would be usefully applied in your everyday life?

Melinda Hoyer