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 specific meditation is designed to help you focus your attention on external stimuli,
Things you see,
Hear,
Smell or feel that happen outside of you.
This particular meditation is useful if you find yourself overly focused on bodily sensations,
Such as your breath or heartbeat,
Your thoughts or your feelings.
Generally,
When we are in a stressed,
Panicky or anxious state,
It may help to get out of our head for a moment and become mindful of our external environment.
You can do this meditation in your home or at work,
But you can also do it outside,
Or you can experience a larger variety of external input.
When you are ready,
Let's begin.
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 colors or shades you see in the objects in front of you.
Allow your attention to rest on one object rather close to you in this space,
The closest one you can see.
Notice the play of light,
Color,
Shape.
Keep your gaze fixed on the object.
No matter what happens around you,
You stay locked and explore every tiny little detail of this object.
And if your attention wavers,
No problem.
Simply bring your attention back to the object.
The practice is to focus and refocus.
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,
Colors,
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 focus on a very specific,
Reappearing or continuous sound in your environment.
Focus all your efforts at keeping your attention on this one sound.
Filter out any other incoming sound.
And if your attention wavers and you get distracted,
No problem.
Simply guide it back to that one sound.
Pay 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.
Slowly bring 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.
