Attention Meditation: Broad Focus

This specific meditation is designed to help you focus your attention very broadly, in order to train you to see the forest, instead of the trees.

This meditation is useful if you find yourself in a situation where it is hard to relax yourself. It is useful in the evenings when you need to relax and release, or when you have been focusing on something for a long time, have developed tunnel vision, and need a shift in order to be able to see the big picture again.

This is not a suitable meditation if you want to activate yourself, so don’t do this before you start your workday, your exercise regime, or if you find it hard to motivate yourself to do something.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. My name is Inge and it is my mission to bring you science-based insights about health, Psychology and meditation, So you can gain a deeper understanding about your practice. One of the main effects of meditation is that we train our ability to focus and refocus attention. Where we focus attention can have a profound effect on our cognition and our mood, And training attention can help you manage your internal state effectively. Where we focus attention, However, Can be very different depending on the type of meditation we do, And the health effects we experience may also be different depending on the meditation we do. Working from the assumption that in general a meditative practice has profound positive effects on your health, Specific effects of different types of meditation may be different to such an extent that if you don't know how meditation shapes your attention, The effects may actually be harmful rather than helpful. This meditation is designed to help you focus attention very broadly, In order to train you to see the forest instead of the trees. We can broaden attention in several ways, By focusing on objects that are far away from us, By gazing at the space between us and the objects we can see, Or by sensing waves of sensations in our body as a whole. In general, Meditations that help you to focus attention broadly, So non-specific and visually far away from you, Will help you to relax. So this particular meditation is useful if you find yourself in a situation where it is hard to relax yourself. It's useful in the evenings when you need to relax and release, Or when you have been focusing on something for a long time, You've developed tunnel vision and you need a shift in order to be able to see the big picture again. This is not a suitable meditation if you want to activate yourself. So don't do this before you start your work day, Your exercise regime, Or if you find it hard to motivate yourself to do anything. When you are ready, Let's begin. Take a deep and slow breath in, Hold it at the top, And then slowly exhale. Take a slow inhale, Hold at the top, And slowly exhale. Gently open your eyes if they were not yet open. Allow your eyes to rest on the objects in front of you and take your time naming them. You can say chair, Lamp, Laptop, Tree. Take a moment to name all the colours or shades you see in the objects in front of you. Slowly shift your attention away from the object, Towards the space in between you and the object. Gaze at this space. From there, Allow your attentional field to widen and expand into the widest corners of your oval visual field, Looking at everything all at once, But nothing in particular, Allowing everything, Colours, Light, Objects, To be received in awareness as a cloud of sensations. And if your attention gets grabbed by something, No problem. Notice when it happens and then shift your gaze back to the space between you and whatever you're looking at. And from there on, Widen your gaze and allow everything into your broad view. Close your eyes and focus your attention on any sounds you hear. First focus on sounds nearby and then on sounds further away. Name the sounds you hear coming in. Now broaden your attention to the experience of everything as one big sea of sounds, Noticing everything but focusing attention on nothing in particular. Allow your attention to freely float in this sea of sounds. Sometimes sounds will shortly surface, Only to disappear again in the big sea of sounds, Without you having to do anything. Just allow this process to unfold without actively anticipating anything. Just letting it all happen and be open to receive. Rest your attention on your breath. Notice the expansion of your belly on the inhale and the fall of the belly with the exhale. Notice the widening of the ribs on the inhale and the release of the ribs on the exhale. Notice the beating of your heart in your chest without trying to anticipate or force anything. Allow your attention to grow wider so you may feel the rise and fall of your belly, The expansion of your ribs and the heartbeat in the chest in full synchrony with the intensity of your breathing. Experience the whole process of breathing like waves on a shoreline, Feeling them roll in on the inhale, Break and pause in between and retreat on the exhale. Allow your attention to grow even wider, Letting your breath be felt in your whole body, Feeling the inhales like waves of sensations in your arms, Legs, Hands and feet, And feeling the relaxation of the exhales in your shoulders, Hips, Face, Allowing all sensations of the breath to be present and move in and out of awareness without trying to focus on any aspect in particular. Keeping your awareness wide and open and feeling the waves of sensations as they roll in and out of your whole body. Focus your attention on your thoughts. Thoughts can be visual, Auditory or verbal. It can be any idea or story or song that plays out in your head in images, Words or sounds. Perhaps now your task list comes up or a discussion with someone or simply just a face. You may ask yourself what the purpose of this meditation is or you may feel a pain in your knee that makes you wonder how much longer you have to sit. Now release your focus and just allow any thoughts to come up without paying particular attention to them. They just come and they go, Perhaps in synchrony or in a train. Allow them to surface without focusing on any one thought in particular. Just let thoughts surface into your awareness and sink back underneath your subconscious. Perhaps experiencing a constant sea of images, Words and sounds popping in and out of awareness. Not trying to make sense of them, But simply being open and aware and experiencing them all at once. Like watching a sky full of birds and clouds, Widening the view to all, Being aware of all of them, But focusing on slowly bringing your attention towards the end of this meditation and mindfully close your practice. If you found this useful and if you want to learn more, You have two options. First, You can listen to the Science Insight on Attention in Meditation, Which will explain the psychological and physiological effect of the four styles. This is useful for your practice because these four styles are often used interchangeably on meditation tracks without explaining their profound differences. Not understanding these differences may leave you more anxious after meditation, As opposed to more relaxed, More activated after meditation, While you thought it would help you sleep, Or more fuzzy while you thought it would help you perform better at work. Knowing more about this topic will help take your meditation practice to another level, Where you can use it to tune attention to your specific needs. Second, If you want to get better at each specific attention practice, I've created separate tracks for each one, So you can listen to each type individually. Thank you for being curious. Have a lovely rest of your day.