If you feel out of balance, like you’re just getting through your life, try a meditation on the Wheel of Awareness. This consciousness-expanding tool is the starting point for meditating to create a greater body, spirit, and mind connection.

What is the Wheel of Awareness?

The Wheel of Awareness is a meditation tool created by Dr. Dan Siegel, a psychiatrist who also leads the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. The purpose of the tool is to expand consciousness and ultimately improve overall wellness.

The Wheel is a metaphor and a visual representation of how the mind operates. At the center or hub is the experience of knowing things, of being aware. Along the edge, or the rim, are all the things you can know, categorized into four groups:

• The five senses, touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight
• The sixth sense, interior body signals
• The seventh sense, mental activities like thoughts and feelings
• The eighth sense, interconnectedness, your connection to others and nature

As you meditate using the Wheel of Awareness, the purpose is to differentiate all the things you can know while also linking them. This should expand and integrate your consciousness, leading to greater balance, harmony, and flexibility.

Try This Wheel of Awareness Meditation

To do any meditation, find a quiet spot where you can sit comfortably and without distractions. Picture yourself sitting at the hub of the Wheel of Awareness. Focus on the idea that from this center, you will open your mind and become more aware. Start by focusing on your breaths and letting any thoughts flow through you.

When you’re ready, visualize sending a spoke from the hub to the five senses area of the rim. Experience and be aware of each of your senses. Focus on what you can smell, see, and hear. Feel the sensation of sitting on a surface, the temperature in the space, and the air around you.

From the five senses, move the spoke to body awareness. Do a body scan, becoming aware of each part of your body and how it feels. Tense and relax muscles. Feel your heartbeat and lungs as they expand and contract with each breath.

Now, move the spoke to mental activities. Recognize thoughts and emotions as they arise. Don’t reject, judge, or try to block any of them. Let them flow right through you. Be aware of what you think and feel, but know that they do not define you.

Finally, move the spoke to connectedness. Think about everything in the world to which you connect: family, friends, acquaintances, nature, community, and even the planet and the universe as a whole. Feel the awareness that you belong in this connected world.

To finish the meditation, move the spoke back into the hub and focus on continued awareness. It might help to switch focus back to breathing. Relax and take your time until you are ready to end and move on with the rest of your day.

Any kind of meditation can improve your well-being. Try working with the Wheel of Awareness or any of the hundreds of guided meditations available on the BetterSleep app. Making meditation a regular practice will improve your sleep and other aspects of mental and physical health.