Becoming Aware

This hands-on user’s guide to the groundbreaking Wheel of Awareness meditation practice featured in the New York Times bestseller Aware takes readers step-by-step through a twenty-one-day journey to discover what it means to be truly present and aware in our daily lives. In today’s increasingly fast-paced world it can be difficult to find moments to catch your breath, regain inner balance, and just . . . be. This simple yet profound guide shows readers how to strengthen their minds by learning to focus attention, open awareness, and develop a positive state of mind—the three pillars of mindfulness practice that research shows lead to greater physical and mental well-being. Psychiatrist and cofounder of the Mindsight Institute, Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., created the science-grounded meditation practice called the Wheel of Awareness to unlock the power of the brain to integrate its many functions and develop internal resources that lead to an enduring sense of calm and quiet. Packed with guided meditation instructions, practical exercises, and everyday tools and techniques, Becoming Aware meets readers where they are and offers a simple program to enhance our inner sense of clarity and even our interpersonal well-being.

This book searches for the sources and means for a disciplined practical approach to exploring human experience. The spirit of this book is pragmatic and relies on a Husserlian phenomenology primarily understood as a method of exploring our experience. The authors do not aim at a neo-Kantian a priori 'new theory' of experience but instead they describe a concrete activity: how we examine what we live through, how we become aware of our own mental life. The range of experiences of which we can become aware is vast: all the normal dimensions of human life (perception, motion, memory, imagination, speech, everyday social interactions), cognitive events that can be precisely defined as tasks in laboratory experiments (e.g., a protocol for visual attention), but also manifestations of mental life more fraught with meaning (dreaming, intense emotions, social tensions, altered states of consciousness). The central assertion in this work is that this immanent ability is habitually ignored or at best practiced unsystematically, that is to say, blindly. Exploring human experience amounts to developing and cultivating this basic ability through specific training. Only a hands-on, non-dogmatic approach can lead to progress, and that is what animates this book. (Series B)

Lisa Garr wants you to stop going through the motions in life. She wants you to become aware. Her mission on her internationally syndicated radio program, The Aware Show--and now in her first book--is to inspire positive growth in all areas of life and bring conscious conversations into everyone's living room. Lisa's own story is remarkable. Several years ago, she suffered a traumatic brain injury during a freak biking accident that rendered her unable to speak or rely on her short-term memory. She not only used cutting-edge EEG techniques to heal but also set out to live a different life than the one she was leading in her pre-accident days. Lisa used this experience as a wake-up call and decided to transform in every way possible, including marrying her true love and giving birth to their daughter. Today, the woman who couldn't even say a few words is a radio and Internet sensation with a massive, swiftly growing audience and multimedia platform. Now she brings the lessons she has learned from countless interviews with inspirational, spiritual, and new-thought leaders to the pages of this book. She discusses how she's applied them to her own life, and explains how you can, too. Lisa will show you how to: - Use what she calls brain-nastics to help you repattern your brain for optimal function - Create what you want on multiple levels and become a Conscious Catalyst for change - Overcome stress; make your health a priority; and learn to be a better parent, partner, friend, and co-worker - Get back on track when you encounter a roadblock--or when life seems to hit you on the head (as it did her!) Join Lisa on an inspiring journey of positive growth. As you learn to become aware and use your own maximum wattage, you'll find that life is full of amazing possibilities!

New York Times bestseller · This groundbreaking new book from New York Times bestselling author Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., introduces readers to his pioneering, science-based meditation practice. Aware provides practical instruction for mastering the Wheel of Awareness, a life-changing tool for cultivating more focus, presence, and peace in one's day-to-day life. An in-depth look at the science that underlies meditation's effectiveness, this book teaches readers how to harness the power of the principle "Where attention goes, neural firing flows, and neural connection grows." Siegel reveals how developing a Wheel of Awareness practice to focus attention, open awareness, and cultivate kind intention can literally help you grow a healthier brain and reduce fear, anxiety, and stress in your life. Whether you have no experience with a reflective practice or are an experienced practitioner, Aware is a hands-on guide that will enable you to become more focused and present, as well as more energized and emotionally resilient in the face of stress and the everyday challenges life throws your way.

Everybody is aware, all seven billion of us. We are aware of thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions. All people share the experience of being aware, but relatively few people are aware that they are aware. Most people’s lives consist of a flow of thoughts, images, ideas, feelings, sensations, sights, sounds, and so on. Very few people ask, 'What is it that knows this flow of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions? With what am I aware of my experience?' The knowing of our being—or rather, awareness’s knowing of its own being in us—is our primary, fundamental and most intimate experience. It is in this experience that the peace, happiness and love for which all people long reside. The happiness we have sought so long outside of ourselves, in situations, objects and relationships, turns out to be always present and available in the simple knowing of our own being as it truly is. The knowing of our own being shines in each of us as the experience ‘I am’ or ‘I am aware’, or simply the knowledge ‘I’. This obvious, familiar and intimate experience has no objective qualities and is, therefore, overlooked or ignored by the majority of people. This overlooking of our own being is the ultimate cause of unhappiness. What is the nature of the experience of being aware or awareness itself? The exploration of this question is the subject matter of this book and the essence of the Direct Path to peace and happiness. * * * The Essence of Meditation Series presents meditations on the essential, non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions, compiled from contemplations led by Rupert Spira at his meetings and retreats. This simple, contemplative approach, which encourages a clear seeing of one’s experience rather than any kind of effort or discipline, leads the reader to an experiential understanding of their own essential being and the peace and fulfillment that are inherent within it. Being Aware of Being Aware is the first and introductory volume in The Essence of Meditation Series.

Lisa Garr wants you to stop going through the motions in life. She wants you to become aware. Her mission on her internationally syndicated radio program, The Aware Show—and now in her first book—is to inspire positive growth in all areas of life and bring conscious conversations into everyone’s living room. Lisa’s own story is remarkable. Several years ago, she suffered a traumatic brain injury during a freak biking accident that rendered her unable to speak or rely on her short-term memory. She not only used cutting-edge EEG techniques to heal but also set out to live a different life than the one she was leading in her pre-accident days. Lisa used this experience as a wake-up call and decided to transform in every way possible, including marrying her true love and giving birth to their daughter. Today, the woman who couldn’t even say a few words is a radio and Internet sensation with a massive, swiftly growing audience and multimedia platform. Now she brings the lessons she has learned from countless interviews with inspirational, spiritual, and new-thought leaders to the pages of this book. She discusses how she’s applied them to her own life, and explains how you can, too. Lisa will show you how to: • Use what she calls "brain-nastics" to help you repattern your brain for optimal function • Create what you want on multiple levels and become a Conscious Catalyst for change • Overcome stress; make your health a priority; and learn to be a better parent, partner, friend, and co-worker • Get back on track when you encounter a roadblock—or when life seems to hit you on the head (as it did her!) Join Lisa on an inspiring journey of positive growth. As you learn to become aware and use your own maximum wattage, you’ll find that life is full of amazing possibilities!