Pure Awareness Meditation: How to Be in Consciousness
There are moments, sometimes brief, sometimes startlingly clear, when you glimpse the part of yourself that exists beneath all the noise. It might happen while you’re waiting for a kettle to boil, taking a walk, or simply exhaling after a long day. For a split second, the mind goes quiet, and something softer rises up. Spacious. Aware. Unmoving.
Across traditions, from Tibetan Buddhism to modern mindfulness, there is a shared idea that beneath all thought lies pure consciousness: a quiet, steady presence that doesn’t rise and fall with emotion. You might call it your true nature, your deeper self, or simply the “you” that remains when all the mental commentary fades.
This isn’t mystical.
It’s human.
You’ve already felt it, even if you haven’t named it.
Consider the space between your thoughts, the tiny pause before the mind leaps to the next idea, or the moment a negative thought dissolves before a new one forms. These gaps are small, but they’re powerful. They show you that awareness continues even when the mind stops narrating. They show you that you are not the noise; you are the listener. This is your true self.
There are many spiritual practices and pure awareness practices that help you access this quiet part of you, not as an escape, but as a returning.
Many people think meditation is about “clearing the mind,” but the truth is simpler and far more interesting: meditation helps you recognise the part of you that has never been cluttered. When you start to notice awareness itself, the spaciousness behind your thoughts, the whole texture of your inner world changes.
Stress still happens.
Negative thoughts still arise.
Life is still beautifully, imperfectly human.
But you no longer collapse into every mental ripple. You begin to experience a kind of soft distance; not disconnection, but clarity. The kind of clarity that lets you respond instead of react, or notice the deeper questions beneath your surface concerns.
And here’s the surprising part: you don’t need a monastery or a spiritual identity to access this. You don’t need to upload yourself into some perfect daily routine. You don’t need to know the language of Tibetan Buddhism.
You only need a willingness to pause.
To notice.
To look inwards with curiosity instead of criticism.
And if you’ve ever wondered what pure consciousness actually feels like, not as a concept, but as a lived experience, the answer is closer than you think.
It feels like the moment you stop fighting your thoughts.
It feels like the breath you didn’t realise you were holding.
It feels like space.
It feels like you.
There is a simple way to explore this, one that begins at the tanden, the quiet centre just below the navel, and from there expands into a sense of awareness that doesn’t need effort or control. It’s a transformative practice, yes, but it’s also a deeply natural one. Something in you already recognises it.
The more you touch it, the more life begins to change in subtle but profound ways.
You become less tangled in the mind’s chatter.
You meet yourself with more kindness.
You notice what matters.
You notice what doesn’t.
You return to your true nature, not by striving, but by remembering.
How Pure Awareness Helps in Daily Life
You might be wondering: this sounds beautiful, but what difference does it make when I’m dealing with actual life?
More than you think.
Pure awareness gives you a wider field of vision. It helps you see your experience from a steadier vantage point, where every thought or emotion doesn’t feel like a command.
In decision-making:
You notice the sensations beneath your reactions; the tightening that signals fear, the grounding that signals intuition, the heaviness that tells you a boundary is needed. Awareness clarifies what your body has been trying to say.
In relationships:
You pause before reacting. You hear the words behind someone else’s words. You respond with presence instead of old patterns.
In moments of overstimulation:
You recognise the rising intensity early and soften before you reach overwhelm.
In creativity and problem-solving:
You stop forcing answers and let ideas surface from a quieter place.
Awareness doesn’t remove difficulty; it removes the blindness around difficulty. And that alone changes everything.
The Science Behind the “Gaps”
The pauses between thoughts, the spaces most people never notice, are not just poetic. Neuroscience has been quietly observing them for years.
When the mind stops generating commentary, even briefly, activity in the default mode network (the part of the brain responsible for rumination, self-narration, and predictive looping) naturally decreases. These micro-pauses in mental activity are where researchers often see:
reduced emotional reactivity
increased clarity and problem-solving
improved emotional regulation
a shift into parasympathetic calm
Pure awareness practices strengthen your ability to access these moments consciously, rather than by accident.
You don’t make the gap appear; it appears on its own.
What you train is the ability to notice it.
And the more you notice, the more the nervous system learns to recognise safety in stillness rather than threat. This is why even a few minutes of resting in awareness can feel transformative. You step out of the predictive loop and into direct experience.
This is the foundation of spaciousness.
This is where pure awareness becomes real, not theoretical.
Learn How to Practise
If this idea of pure awareness speaks to you, if you feel that quiet pull toward your own deeper centre, you can explore it more fully inside Mindfulness Is Your Superpower: An Introduction to Meditation & Mindfulness.
Every week, I guide you through simple, grounded practices that help you shift from overthinking to presence.
You’ll learn:
how to rest in awareness without forcing anything
how to recognise the gaps between thoughts
how to soften negative thinking without suppression
how to find a steadier, kinder relationship with your inner world
You can join the course online anytime.
All lesson notes, guided meditations, and weekly practices are waiting for you.
If you’re ready to feel a little more spacious inside your own life, I’d love to help you find a path.