I’ve been meditating for a while and sharing this practice with others, and a common question I get is: how do I choose which meditation to do each day? Between open awareness, focus attention, body scan, loving kindness. And my answer has usually been that there is not really a right answer, and I recommend people to listen to their intuition or maybe make a schedule in order to practice all of them throughout the week or month.
I recently found out about the Wheel of Awareness. This is a meditation developed by Dr. Dan Siegel. For those who are not familiar with his work, I highly recommend it. Especially for the skeptical in the room. He is a psychiatrist (amongst other things!) and talks about the benefits of mindfulness in a very scientific way.
The Wheel of Awareness is a meditation that covers four areas: starts with focus attention (moving through our different senses), then it has a body scan, open awareness and finishes with a version of loving-kindness. His website has a 20 minute and a 30 minute version, both are free. And I find his voice and meditation guidance really comforting.
After a long period doing only silent meditation, I have been enjoying listening to Dr. Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness. Hope you do too!