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meditation technics open awareness

from attention to consciousness

You have probably heard many times that meditation is to be aware. However, although we are all continuously aware of something, not all of us meditate. Being aware, being conscious, means experiencing colors, shapes, sounds, thoughts, emotions, sensations in the body and sensations at the level of the other senses. Our lives are continuous streams of sensations and impressions. The colors and shapes are constantly changing before our eyes. The space of sounds around us constantly vibrates. Sensations in the body transform from one to the other. The tastes and aromas change from sweet to bitter. Streams of thoughts endlessly intertwine with each other. Our lives are sensual rivers made of tiny droplets of experiences. And even when we have an impression that there is not much happening around us, we can be sure that our senses are constantly vibrating under the touch of the “outside world”. And even in dreams, our thoughts keep on creating entire worlds of virtual sensations.

Meditation is not only the awareness of this enormous river of sensations. Meditation is remembering the fact that at any given moment the mind is being continuously conscious of them. 

If a sensation we are experiencing at a given moment is, for example, a sound, meditation is not only experiencing the sound, but also being aware that we are hearing it. So in meditation we recognize the fact of hearing as such. 

Meditation is remembering the fact that at any given moment the mind is being continuously conscious

In everyday life, sounds, images and thoughts are a foreground on which we usually focus our attention. Rarely, perhaps even never, we’re paying attention to the fact that when we’re hearing a sound, there is a listening process involved, that when we’re seeing an image, a seeing process is taking place. We seldom realize the simple fact that when we think there is a thinking process going on. Usually, we are only interested in the content of the thought we think, the type of sound we hear, and the content of the image we see. The mere fact that the mental functions of hearing, seeing, or thinking are happening usually stays beyond our area of ​​interest. 

In the meditation process, we slowly become more and more aware of these mental processes. So when we see a red rose, we are interested in the function of seeing itself, if we hear middle C we are interested in the process of hearing, when we think of a white bear, we are interested in the process of thinking. Similarly in case of sensations coming from the other senses. When we feel our own heart pounding, or a coolness in a toe, we are interested in the very process of feeling. 

To understand this better, imagine that you are walking in the woods and you’re hearing birds chirping. Your attention gets captured by the beauty of the sounds, and for a moment you stop thinking about problems of your everyday life. You’re slowly submerging into a smooth, relaxed feeling. However, can we call such a state a meditative state? 

If we look at it through a prism of our reflections so far, we will see that mere concentration on sounds does not satisfy the condition of becoming a meditative state. In meditation, we should additionally recognize the fact that our attention is focused on sounds. In simpler words, in the meditation process, we recognize the fact that we are hearing the sounds, with the main emphasis being placed on the hearing process itself, not the type of sounds we hear. 

Each moment of recognition of where our attention is currently placed, is a moment of meditative awareness, or in other words, a moment of mindfulness – in meditative language we call it Sati. So a moment of mindfulness, a moment of Sati is a moment when we recognize where our attention is currently placed

A moment of mindfulness (Sati) = an experience (e.g. sound) + attention directed towards the experience (e.g. listening) + recognition of attention directed towards the experience (e.g. recognition of the process of listening)

For example, in this moment your attention, or at least part of it, is focused on the words you are reading. Do you realize this? You will most likely answer “yes” to this question, but did you realize that you were focusing your attention on the text just a few moments before? There is a high probability that the answer will be negative. This is a simple example showing the fundamental difference between a moment of Sati (a moment of meditative mindfulness, meditative awareness) and ordinary awareness. Meditative awareness is recognizing what the everyday awareness does, what the ordinary awareness used to carry out everyday life activities does.  

Awareness vs attention – what is the difference between seeing and looking?

You’ve probably noticed that words “attention” and “awareness” alternate in the text. In a way, this is intentional. The word attention is often associated with a state of quite concentrated consciousness (awareness), such as the light of a flashlight or even laser light. Often, however, awareness is not that much focused. An example is playing an instrument (especially in a band) or driving a car. In both cases, the scope of attention is quite broad and includes many experiences simultaneously. Left hand movement, right hand movement, sound, rhythm, sounds of other instruments. Similarly, when driving a car, awareness of the engine operation, speed, what is happening on the street and sidewalks. We see that the mind is aware of many experiences simultaneously. 

So what is the difference between awareness and attention? Same as the difference between seeing and looking. If you sit on the couch and listen to music with your eyes open, your seeing is always happening, but you are not looking at anything special because your attention is focused on the sounds of the music. However, if you decide to reach for a cup of hot coffee on the table in front of you, your attention will shift from the sounds to the image of the cup, in other words, you will look at it. In both cases, seeing was happening all the time, but looking only occasionally. 

Thus, looking can be defined as attention moving in the field of vision (the field of visual awareness). Likewise, listening is attention moving within the field of hearing. In both cases, consciousness is passive and covers the entire field of vision and hearing, and attention is the active extraction (zooming / enlarging in some way) of a specific fragment of this conscious field.  

In the meditation process, we become aware of the movement of this attention. So if attention goes to the field of view, we realize that we are looking at something, if attention goes to the field of hearing, we realize that we are listening to something. When attention is shifted to the “field” of thought, we realize that we are thinking about something. In the meditation process, it is not very important what we look at, what we listen to or what we think. We are much more interested in the very fact that attention is focused on something. Thanks to this approach, we become in some way independent from the conditions in which we meditate. Because no matter what the experience is at a given moment, we are only interested in whether we know where our attention is. If we know it, we meditate, if we have forgotten it, we have stopped meditating. So it doesn’t matter if we experience a pleasant sound, a pleasant sensation in the body, or a pleasant sight. Both sounds, sensations in the body and thoughts can be pleasant or unpleasant, but as long as we maintain awareness of what the attention is directed to, we are in a meditative state, and that long the balance of the mind – samadhi, has a chance to grow. 

Samadhi – the stable mind

Samadhi is a stable mind. Samadhi is a state of balance in which the mind is able to maintain the recognition of the movement of attention for a long time. The level of this balance (the strength of samadhi) depends on the frequency of recognizing where the attention is placed. So, a stable mind is not a mind that has no thoughts or unpleasant sensations. A stable mind is a mind established in the process of recognizing the movement of consciousness, the movement of attention.  

The higher the stability of mind (frequency of recognizing attention), the greater the probability that the beautiful aspects of the mind such as deep compassion, love, joy, sense of unity with the world will have a chance to arise. These are natural expressions of increasing mental stability.  

Like a lotus flower that slowly opens when the rays of the morning sun fall on it, the mind also slowly opens to reveal its inner beauty under the flow of moments of awareness. Each sati, each moment of attention recognition is like one photon in the sun’s ray. If four photons fall on a lotus flower, it will not open. If we recognize where our attention is located fourfold, it is not enough to increase the level of samadhi (mental stability). However, an entire beam of photons kept on a lotus flower for a long time will slowly stimulate it to bloom. Likewise, if we recognize the movement of attention for a longer period of time, the mind will slowly open to reveal its natural beauty.  

From attention to consciousness – or why are we interested in attention at all? 

But why precisely observing attention produces such an effect?

 Because, as previously noted, attention is concentrated awareness (consciousness), and awareness (consciousness) is the very basis of mind and experience, thus the nature closest to us. To understand this better, let’s do a little exercise.  

Sit back comfortably, take a few deep breaths in order to relax and reconnect with your body.  

Now ask yourself what would have to disappear in order you lose your sense of existing, your sense of being?

Imagine that everything you own, everything material, all your clothes suddenly vanish. 

Do you still exist?  

Most likely you will answer yes. 

Now imagine that all the people you know, the country you’re in are disappearing. 

Ask yourself if you still exist? 

Probably you’d answer yes. 

Now imagine that all the social functions you perform, all your skills are gone. 

Can you still say that you exist? 

Yes. 

And now imagine that your body is vanishing, and only the consciousness, your thoughts and your emotions are left. 

Do you still exist? 

Yes. 

You may think that such a situation is impossible, but notice that a similar situation occurs when you fall asleep. From your perspective, the entire outside world, including the body, disappears. Even thoughts about your everyday identity disappear. However, as long as you dream about anything, you still have a sense of being, a sense of existing. Maybe you are not even human anymore, maybe you are a bird soaring in the skies, or maybe a she-wolf feeding her young, maybe you have no body at all and you are only a materialless consciousness witnessing events unrelated to you.

However, you still are, you still exist.

Imagine that even if there are no thoughts and no emotions arising in you, as long as consciousness persists for so long, you will most likely recognize that you are. No longer as a woman or a man, no longer as a representative of homo sapiens, maybe not a terrestrial being anymore, but you still exist , still are. 

And now imagine that the consciousness is gone, and not in such a way that it becomes silent and dark, because these are states that manifest themselves in consciousness as well, the very consciousness is gone. There is nothing, nothing at all. 

Do you still exist? 

I hope this simple example has shown you why awareness deserves our attention. It is much closer to us, closer to us than anything else that appears in it. Everything else is impermanent and volatile. Everything else is constantly changing, but consciousness itself seems to be unshakable, open, all-accepting and all-embracing. And it is the directing attention to this consciousness that causes its features to become more and more tangible, more and more visible. So called brahmaviharas, the beautiful aspects of the mind (metta, karuna, mudita, uppekha) have a chance to become apparent. 

Observing attention is a simple way that leads us to the observation of consciousness (awareness) as a whole. As you observe attention, it slowly relaxes and returns to the space of consciousness as such. However, we must remember that attention itself is awareness (consciousness). So it is enough to simply recognize its movements, simply remind ourselves of the fact that attention is always working ( always focusing on something), for the mind’s lotus flower to slowly  open and reveal its secrets to us.  

What does “observation of attention” actually mean?

But what does “watching the attention” mean? How can I become aware of where my attention is? What does attention look like?  

Remember that attention is not a thing, it is not something we can focus on. Rather, it is a function of the mind whose operation we can recognize. Observing attention is a momentary recognition of a fact that we are paying attention to something. So now if I look at my hands searching for the appropriate keys on my computer keyboard, I realize that I am looking, or that looking is happening. If, in turn, my attention goes to the thoughts that arise in my head as I write, I realize that I am aware of the thoughts. Similarly, if my attention catches sounds coming from behind the door of the room, such as the bustle of household members in the kitchen, I realize that I hear sounds. In this practice it is not important what I see, hear or think, but rather that hearing is happening, seeing is happening, and observing thoughts is happening.

Now let’s do a little attention recognition exercise. Remember to read the text slowly and make short pauses between sentences so that the exercise does not cause tension and unnecessary frustration in you.  

  
First bring your attention to the feeling of your feet, it may be a sensation of a slight chill in your toes, or maybe a feeling of your foot touching the floor. Now recognize the fact that you’re paying the attention. If this instruction sounds too confusing to you, just say in your mind, “I can feel my feet.” Slowly shift your attention up your body towards your face. Pay attention to whether your jaw is relaxed or slightly tightened. Again recognize the fact that you are paying attention (you can say to yourself, “I can feel the sensations from my face”). Now take your attention out of your body and notice the shape of the font that was used to write these words. Notice whether the corners in the font are rounded or sharp, and whether the font size is rather large or small.

Now recognize the fact that the process of looking is happening (in other words, that your attention is in the field of vision/ field of vision). If you wish, continue this exercise by directing the attention to any point of your experience. Try to feel into this movement of attention. Note that the attention is a bit like an invisible arm, with which you reach into various sensory spheres, touching the sensations, images, sounds, tastes, smells and thoughts that are present there. Note that sometimes the attention can be in more than one place at once. Perhaps then the sensations are a little bit less clear, but you can still be sure that your attention covers several of them. 

Try to include the entire field of vision in front of you. You can start from recognizing the lines of text you are reading now. Keep looking at them for a few moments, recognizing the very fact that you are looking. Now allow the awareness to cover the entire screen on which the text is displayed. It is certainly much harder for you to read while trying to keep all the screen in your field of vision, but use this exercise to recognize how your attention widens and narrows alternately depending on whether its focused on the entire screen or just a line of text.

Now try to widen the attention even further allowing it to cover the area around the screen. Try to capture the edges of your field of vision while keeping your gaze fixed at the screen. Notice that the attention has become very broad in a sense it has become one with the field seeing itself. Looking has become one with seeing, or attention has become one with consciousness. If your eyes start feeling tense, you can narrow them a little in order to relax. 

Remember, seeing always happens as long as your eyes stay open. All we do in this exercise is recognizing this simple fact. If you want, you can rest in this state for a while. You can pay some attention to the widening and narrowing of the field of attention. Note that the field of vision does not depend on what it is covering. It may be the space of the room you are sitting in, or an ocean view from a cafe on a clif. 

Continue this exercise while checking you’re not getting tense. 

Make sure you’re not trying to turn the attention into something solid, a sensation, a form, something that you could focus on, get hold of, something that you could feel or touch. Attention is a function, it is seeing, not a sight, it is hearing, not the sound itself, it is tasting, not the taste, it is feeling and not the felt. Note that we are so evolutionarily focused on the object of attention that we often lack words that would clearly indicate the difference between the object of attention (e.g., a sensation of a chill in a toe) and the attention as such (e.g., feeling the sensation in the toe). Remember, attention is an activity, it is an action, not an object, not a thing. 

This understanding of meditative awareness / mindfulness has far-reaching consequences. It turns out that it does not matter what is the object of our attention, i.e. what our attention is focused on (breath, a tingling  sensation in a finger, or the sound of a car passing by). The fact that we recognize where our attention is is crucial for the meditation process. So, as long as we are able to recognize the simple fact that mind’s attention is focused on something, it can shift anywhere from object to object, from experience to experience.

For example, when walking in the forest, attention may be focused first on various sounds, then it may shift to the sight of fresh leaves on the trees, and then to the uncomfortable shoes we wear, and then jump to thoughts about a trekking trip we did 15 years ago. The objects on which the attention is focused differ greatly from each other (they appear in different sense-spheres). As long as we recognize the directions in which attention itself goes, we will continue to hold ourselves in a meditative state. However, if the story of our trekking trip absorbs us to such an extent that we forget that we are thinking (stop recognizing attention), the meditative state will be interrupted.

From this perspective, meditation seems incredibly easy. There is no need to force the mind to pay attention to a single selected sensation. You only need to recognize the very fact of seeing, hearing, feeling or thinking to strengthen the meditation process.

Over time, recognizing awareness becomes easier for us, it becomes our second nature, although it sometimes happens that attention may need a little bit more control. In the next few posts, I will try to present a few ways to facilitate observation of attention and awareness.

Categories
open awareness

Small mind- Big mind

Rabbit – duck

What do you see? A duck or a rabbit? The perception continuously shifts. The precepts of the rabbit and the duck are competing for the space inside consciousness. Or rather, the perception creates either a percept of a duck or a percept of a rabbit. If one plays with it for a while, one may notice that the emergence of a given percept (duck or rabbit) depends on where the attention is placed. It’s possible to move the attention around the cues in the picture in order to develop better control over shifting perception. Now the question arises, Is it possible to hold both percepts, the rabbit and the duck, in consciousness at the same time? Trying to do so can get quite frustrating. Seems like the mind is designed in the way that it has to choose only one of the percepts at a given time. In other words, the perception can create a percept of a rabbit or a  percept of a duck only. 

Small mind –  big mind

Now, let’s become aware of the sense of self, the small mind. Let’s stay with this percept for a few moments. Now, let’s shift the attention to the perception of the big mind.  Now again the small mind, and then the big one. Its exact situation, isn’t? The feeling is very similar to the one you get from the rabbit/duck picture.  The attention is moving, different precepts emerging. One is the small, boring, slightly annoying sense of self, another cool, calm, spacious big mind. But… similar to the duck rabbit illusions, this too is just an emerging percept, just something that the mind conjures ad hoc, in the very moment.

The percept that is dominating, that stays longer or more often within the consciousness, conditions what we think the reality is and conditions our responses to it. If you like eating ducks, and consider rabbits cute, depending on what percept is emerging your emotional response will be different. You may get hungry seeing a duck, or you may get a loving feeling seeing the rabbit. 

Similar in the case of the small and the big mind. If the perception of the small mind is dominating, emotional responses and related actions differ from those that would have taken place if the perception of the big mind was present. 

The question that comes next is, how to hold both of them, or is it possible to hold both percepts in the consciousness at the same time? Or is it needed at all?

Categories
open awareness

Dead cat and a leaf

Sometime ago I was cycling to town. Suddenly I saw the body of a dead cat, probably killed by a car. As I was approaching the carcass, my whole body reacted with disgust and all related emotions and thoughts. As I was getting closer, suddenly my perception shifted. It wasn’t a dead cat anymore, it was a big dry leaf. The emotion of disgust disappeared, the negative thoughts had gone. The mind and the body had understood, without any thinking involved, that it had been just a leaf, nothing more, nothing to fear or avoid. All this process had happened automatically, without any intention involved. The mind had been gathering more and more data about the object, and the perception of it had been shifting according to the amount of data defining the object. When the perception shifted, the mind and body reactions changed accordingly.

Some optical illusions are a result of purposely limited information. The creator of an illusion withdraws certain information/data from a picture, leaving only the cues that lead to a wrong interpretation of the picture by the perception of a viewer. When that missing information is revealed to the viewer later, the perception automatically shifts and the viewer’s mind understands that it was subjected to an illusion. Then, when the data is withdrawn again from the picture, the perception flips back to the previous, ‘deluded’ state. The viewer intellectually recognizes that she experiences an illusion, but her perception stays on the ‘deluded side’.

This process is nothing uncommon. It is happening all the time. Our minds are continuously proceeding data from different senses, and our perception is being shaped and shifts according to the amount of data the mind gathers. Perception of ourselves and of the world we live in. Based on this perception our body and mind reacts with happiness and sorrow, with love and anger with liking and disliking. Based on this perception, we define ourselves and our place in the world.

The attention of the mind moves around the senses, allowing the perception to organize data into percepts. If we focus our attention on something (a good book or a movie) to an exclusion of the outside world, the perception of the outside world ceases or becomes very limited. With this limited perception, our reactions to the outside world will change as well. We might react with fear or anger to certain sounds, sights or touches that would bring about an entirely different reaction, if we were paying attention to the world (let our mind gather the sufficient amount of data). Similar situation takes place when we pay entire attention to the storyline of our thinking. This thinking becomes a good movie (can be a love story but can be a horror movie as well) that takes our attention away from the other senses causing a shift of perception of what is actually happening. This movement of mind’s attention, conditions our perception and therefore our reactions to the experience. Like in the case of the dead cat or an optical illusion, the mind with the limited data perceives the world in a ‘deluded’ way. That brings about a whole range of misreactions (misunderstandings) on the emotional level. The only way to move out of this, is moving our attention away from the thinking process and allowing the mind to gather data about the present experience. Constant flow of sensory data describing the present experience will gradually shift the perception of what is actually happening. And that shift of perception will bring about deep relaxation on the emotional level. The dead cat will become a dry leaf. There will be nothing to fear, nothing to run away from…

Categories
open awareness

working with noise

First open your eyes. Now while keeping your eyes open imagine yourself as an empty space in which all sounds are happening. They come and go. They pass through the empty space of your body. None of them can harm you. The noise of passing cars and motorbikes, the horns, the voices of people. All of them are happening inside the empty space which is you. Check the reaction of your mind. Is it trying to push away any of these sounds? Is it getting tense or stressed by the sounds around? If yes don’t worry. Just recognize the tension and try to find a relax pace around the tension. Allow the tension to be there. After few moments you might notice that the tension slowly lessens. The mind slowly relaxes. Try this approach with the sounds around. See how the mind reacts to them. Is it getting tense, does it trying to push away or block the sound? Remind yourself that the sounds are nature. They already had happened. You can not do anything about them. Your mind already registered them. So even the noisiest sound is already in the mind. Trying to push it away will not work. It will only bring a tension to the mind. Nothing more. And create more stress.

Categories
open awareness

what is your flavor?

Can you tell what is your flavor?
How do “you” taste?
The trees taste like my mother.
My new trousers taste a little bit like a friend that wears similar ones.
But how do you taste from inside?
How do “you” taste for your own consciousness?


But what is this flavor?
How does it taste?
The taste of life is coca-cola,
So this one is easy…
But the taste of me?

Sometimes the entire world tastes like me,
Only humans inside taste different.
Their bodies taste like me,
But their faces different.
Often, nature tastes like my mother and sisters,
After that, like me.
But then all world tastes more like a woman
Than a man.

Familiar tastes like this, not familiar like that.
Knowing tastes like this,
Not knowing like that.
Being tastes like this, not being like that.
Blue tastes like this,
Red tastes like that.
Something tastes like this,
Nothing tastes like that.
Real tastes like this,
Not real tastes like that.
Being right tastes like this,
Not being right tastes like that.
Being interested tastes like this, not being interested tastes like that

Big boiling soup of continuously shifting flavors

Boiling
Soup

Is your black tasting like mine black?
Is your not seeing tasting like mine not seeing?
Is your pain tasting like my pain?
Is your “I” tasting like mine “I”???

Do you taste like me?

Categories
open awareness

reading exercise

This is an interesting exercise that helps recognize how the mind is creating concepts.

While you’re reading these words, you probably can hear an inner voice in your head voicing them out. You can see that there is some feeling, some identity attached to this voice. Although it’s your mind reading, the voice seems to be a voice of someone else. A voice of someone who wrote this text. Of course, you probably cannot know how the author’s voice really sounds like. But your mind is still giving you an impression that there is someone talking to you. Someone else with a certain personality. Certain life on its own. It is important to recognize that all this is happening only in your mind. Your mind is creating this impression, this feeling that someone other than you is talking to you these words.

Actually, the whole reading process is a little bit similar to listening to someone else talking.  In reality, all this is projected by your mind, it’s mere an impression created in your mind by your mind. This is one example of how the mind creates concepts. In this case, a concept of someone else talking to you these words. (It’s quite interesting that even if you write something on your own, your mind starts to create a feeling, a concept of a person who writes and that feeling, that impression is quite different from the other impression of a person who witnesses the whole process and rereading the written text later on.)

Try to recognize this feeling, this impression. Try to see how different it is from the impression or the feeling of ‘I’ that is doing the reading. Notice that both these impressions are created by the same mind. By you. The division between the reader (i.e. you) and the writer (i.e. the voice talking to you in your head) is fully conceptual, virtual. But still, there is this persisting feeling that there is someone else talking to you at this moment…

Categories
open awareness

self punch

Relax and notice any attempt to self punch or to judge yourself. Recognize the mental and emotional pain it brings. Imagine that you are or your awareness is a guardian standing in front of the door to your heart and self punching  activities are some malicious beings or forces that are trying to invade your heart. You are a skillful martial art master who is dispelling these forces by labeling them “self punch”. Notice how the quality of your mind state changes when you label these self punching activities of the mind.