p r ac t i c i n g t h e b a s i c w h e e l

o f awa r e n e s s

• Find a quiet place where you’ll be able to sit, lie down, or stand for about half an hour, uninterrupted. No
gadgets that will disturb you.

• Look at the diagram of the Wheel. The hub represents the knowing of awareness; the rim, the knowns;
and the spoke, the focus of attention.

• Focus on the breath to become centered. Let the sensation of the breath fill awareness.

• Shift your attention away from your breath and imagine yourself in the center of the Wheel, in the hub of
knowing, of being aware.

• Imagine sending a spoke of attention out from the hub of knowing to the first segment of the rim.
Focus attention on the sensation of hearing, letting awareness become filled with sound. Stay there
for 15-30 seconds.

• Let go of the sensation of hearing and move the spoke of attention over to the sense of sight. Continue
letting the previous sensation go and moving the spoke over to other sensations: smell, taste, touch.
15-30 seconds for each sense.

cont.
• Take a deeper breath and imagine moving the spoke to the second segment of the rim: the sensations
of the interior of the body. Begin with the sensations of the muscles and bones of the facial region, then
move on, one at a time, to the sensations of the head, neck, shoulders, arms, upper back and chest, lower
back and muscles of the abdomen, hips, legs, pelvic region. Now move to the sensations of the genitals,
intestines, respiratory system, heart, and whole body.

• Move the spoke of attention to the third segment of the rim, representing the mental activities. Invite
any mental activities—thoughts, feelings, memories—to come into the hub of knowing. Just be open to
whatever arises from the rim—or doesn’t arise. Stay here for a minute and a half.

• Again, invite anything from mental activities into the hub of knowing and pay special attention to how a
mental activity, such as a thought, first arises in awareness. The idea is to study how mental activities first
present to awareness, stay present, and then leave awareness. Stay here for a minute and a half.

• Take a deeper breath and move the spoke of attention to the fourth segment of the rim. Let awareness
become filled with those connected to you: those physically closest to you in the moment, then your
family and friends who aren’t in the room with you, then the people with whom you work, then the
people who live in your neighborhood, community, town, state, country. . . and the whole planet. Expand
that sense of connection to all living beings on earth.

• Find your breath again and ride its wave in and out. Now, taking a deeper and more intentional breath, let
yourself return your focus to your surrounding environment. Bring the practice to a close.

• After practicing the Basic Wheel, the Full Wheel practice with additional steps extends and deepens
the experience.

Daniel J. Siegel, MD

ON SALE 8/21/18

Learn more about

and the Wheel of Awareness at
drdansiegel.com