your physical sensations. What happens when these throw you
off balance because they trigger undesired emotions? Just put
your attention on that experience while you are watching. In all
likelihood, a film’s stimulants are similar to whatever unbal-
ances you in daily life.
Stay present and alert. Watch your responses with inter-
ested, curious detachment. Bring your inner attention to a
holistic bodily awareness (a felt sense). This means you are
aware of “all of you” — head, heart, belly, etc. Once in a while
you might notice a certain sensation or emotional response
from your subtle, always-present intuitive core. After a while
you might let yourself get totally absorbed by the movie for a
while and forget about anything else. Notice your sensations
when you come back to awareness of yourself.
Another entryway into conscious awareness is to observe
how the movie images, ideas, conversations, and characters
affect your breath. Notice its shallowness or fullness; its speed
and quality. Do not try to change or control it. Do not analyze
anything while you are watching. Be fully present with your
experience.
If, at any point during this process, you start feeling
annoyed with the “split awareness” of the movie and yourself,
just let yourself focus on the film alone and forget about every-
thing else. Most likely you will find the experience beneficial
anyway.
If you experience emotions that you find uncomfortable,
first try to identify the physical sensation associated with this
emotion (such as a knot in your stomach if you feel anxiety,
etc.) and try to “breathe into” the physical sensation. This
might seem strange if the sensation is a tension in your shoul-
der for example. It is still possible though to “breathe into” a
pain in your shoulder. Just imagine your breath flowing from
your lungs into your shoulder. Although it is just an image, the
mind/body works in mysterious ways. In most cases you will
notice that your difficult emotion soon dissolves. This practice
will prepare you for coping with similar feelings in real life.
“Thinking is only a small
aspect of consciousness.
Thought cannot exist
without consciousness, but
consciousness does not
need thought.”
Eckhart TolleWatching Movies With Conscious Awareness 53