Day
01

The Power of
Orienting

TRANSCRIPT

“That’s the biggest gift I can give anybody: “Wake up, be aware of who you are, what you’re doing, and what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming ill.” – Maya Angelou

She is so right!

The audio lessons for Day 1 The Power Of Orienting revolve around self-­awareness and awareness.

For me, self-­awareness is being present to your inner experiences and being able to “scan” and “track” what is going on inside, whereas awareness is having “an awareness of your surroundings” and being present and “orienting” to that which is around us.

Find out what you can do to bring awareness to your body and your surroundings while listening to these tracks – try to bring all attention to the lesson and resist any urge to multi-­task (fold laundry, check emails, etc.).

Practice Tips

  • Listen to Audio #1 first (13 minutes). This is your introductory lesson to get you prepared for orienting.
  • Then do Audio #2, “Basic Orientation” (11 minutes).
  • I’ve also included Audio #3, Mini Orientation (5 minutes) so you have a shorter version to play with. Sometimes it’s good to vary our practices, as the “brain” will anticipate the familiarity and think “Oh, I know this already.” In others words, this is to “shake it up a bit.”

Suggestions for this lesson:

Here is a simple script to bring some self­-awareness and awareness to your body and how you sense its contact with your environment:

If you are sitting:

Simply notice your butt on the chair. If your back is against the back of the chair, sense the pressure and contact you make with your back and the seat. There is no need to change how you are sitting, unless of course you sense the need to re­-adjust to make yourself more comfortable. Just notice.

If your feet are on the ground, simply pay attention to the pressure of each foot. Notice your breath. Don’t change it – just notice it.

If you are standing:

Bring your attention to your feet. Shift your weight a little bit from the left to right foot. Perhaps even move a few steps forward or to the side, or take a few steps back. Move your toes a little bit.

Maybe even try both body positions, sitting, and then standing.

This simple exercise of paying attention to the physical sense of your body and how it contacts your environment is you orienting to your body and surroundings.

Share Your Experiences:

Is scanning and pausing to notice your environment something you do on a daily basis or hourly basis? Or maybe never? (Be honest!)

What do you think would happen if you started to find small subtle ways to scan and pause throughout your day?

Would you be willing to experiment and find more moments throughout the day to orient?

Audio Exercises

Audio #1
Introduction to Basic Orientation

(Duration – 13:15)

Listen
Read
Audio #2
Basic Orientation

(Duration – 10:48)

Listen
Read
Audio #3
Mini Basic Orientation

(Duration – 5:22)

Listen
Read

COMMENT BELOW AND SHARE!

  • Was this first lesson of orienting and bringing conscious attention to the external environment new to you or is this something you consciously practice already?
  • Did you find orienting soothing? Or was it a bit agitating? Know that your response and experience is the right one and we’d love to hear about it!