Introduction to Focus

Introduction to focus invites the listener to consider the way in which they approach building the skill of focus with the intention to act with kindness during the practice, to spend frequent short sessions in practice and to enjoy the practice. The session guides the listener through preparation to focus and then onto focus using the senses and the body as points of focus. Narrated in a calm Australian accent this may be useful for those who wish to improve their ability to focus and hold attention.

Transcript

Welcome to this session,

Introduction to Focus by Kirsten Doesle,

Still Potential.

Focus,

The practice of gathering and holding attention,

Requires training of the mind.

As with learning or training any new skill,

It is best to approach within these frameworks.

One,

The intention to be kind to yourself as you learn.

Two,

To practice for short periods often.

And three,

To enjoy the experience.

Kindness here in practice means that when you notice a loss of focus,

You acknowledge and reset attention with a kind tone of voice and words and attitude to yourself,

Just as you would if you were encouraging a baby to walk.

Practice,

The breath is an easy subject for frequent practice.

You may wish to remind yourself to practice by deciding to link the focus practice to something that you do regularly each day,

Or even by setting an alarm on your device.

The enjoyment aspect comes from engaging with a sense of curiosity and interest in the subject of focus,

Rather than a forced held attention.

We come to discover that most things can become fascinating.

In this track I use different subjects as focus for attention.

I also encourage you to notice how it feels when you lose attention,

Often a little fuzzy and dreamy,

And to notice how your best quality of attention feels,

Perhaps clear and open.

This recognition of sensing what we do want and also what we don't want,

And to be aware of how to shift,

Helps create mastery.

I invite you now to call your attention to your body as you find a comfortable posture.

I recommend upright position for focus session as it allows greater alertness than lying.

The best posture is with your spine upright and if possible unsupported.

You may wish to sit forward on an ordinary chair,

Feet flat on the floor,

Head tall as if being suspended from above.

However,

If this is uncomfortable for you,

Please tweak for comfort.

It is very challenging to focus on something else if pain is present.

Allow your hands to rest open in your lap.

Drop your shoulders away from your ears.

Did you notice the quality of your attention as you created your posture?

Were you fully attentive or was your mental activity somewhere else too?

No judgement here,

Just noticing.

Self-awareness is the first step to change.

To facilitate a gathering of attention to here and now and the subject of focus,

Consciously notice where your attention is tending to shift to.

Are you currently juggling many thoughts,

Things to do,

Things you might forget,

A worry list?

This step is preparing to focus.

Consciously and deliberately notice the issues that you are juggling and then one by one catch them,

Box them and put them to the side.

You're clearing the desk of your mind.

They're not gone for good,

Just minimised in the screen of your mind.

Do this quite deliberately now whilst I stay silent.

Transition now to use the senses as the subject of focus.

Invite your intention to bring focus to the sense of hearing.

Ready your apparatus,

Just like warming up your car.

You may even wish to say to yourself,

I'm about to listen with full attention.

Prepare to listen to the sound of the singing bowl.

Hear and register the start of the sound,

The tone and the timbre and the way the sound dissolves into silence.

No stories about the sound,

Just hear it.

The sound fades.

As that sound fades,

Stay with listening.

Be curious,

Notice silence and sound,

Tone and loudness from the sounds of life that surround you now or that I have included in this recording from the sounds around my space.

Do this with a light sense of wonder as if you had never experienced the sense of hearing before.

If your mind butts in with noisy chatter,

No thank you mind,

I am listening and your chatter is in the way.

Use your deliberate ability to redirect attention to sounds.

Now let that go.

Now open your eyes and use effort to look hard at something in front of you.

Find the detail with a sense of not wishing to forget any of the detail,

A forced attention.

Close your eyes and recall the image.

Now gently open your eyes,

Breathe out,

Let your body breathe in and this time simply allow the image in front of your eyes to flood easily to your awareness.

Receive the shapes and sizes,

Look with curiosity and wonder at colour and line.

Let your eyes wander the scene as if this is the first time you have been able to see.

Now close your eyes and once again recall the subject.

Did you sense a difference in focus through effort and focus through interest and leaning into the subject with curiosity?

Now transfer your focus to your breath.

Focus can be wide or narrowed.

We begin with a wide awareness of your breath.

You might sense the expansion of your belly with your in-breath,

Movement of your ribs,

Perhaps your upper chest moves with breath.

You might feel a passage of air.

You may notice that one breath is slightly different to the next.

You may be aware of a little bit of discomfort as you breathe.

You might notice a swelling out around your back body as you breathe.

Feel the physical sensations of your breath with a wide awareness.

And when your mind takes you away,

As soon as you notice this distraction,

Check how it feels to have the wandering mind.

Then celebrate yourself for noticing.

Welcome your attention kindly back to the breath.

Notice how it felt to be focused.

Notice how it felt to be wandering.

Stay with your breath but now bring the focus in narrow.

Gather your attention to the sensation of the passage of air in and out of your nostrils.

Curiosity.

Ah,

This is the temperature.

I notice that fizzy fuzzy feeling as the air passes in.

Perhaps notice if one nostril feels the same as the other.

Check the speed of air moving into your nose.

Observe the tide and time of your breath at your nostrils.

Do you sense a slight flaring of your nostrils?

Can you discern the exact moment when breath becomes air and air becomes breath?

Narrowing focus.

And each time you wander,

Ah,

This is how my wandering mind feels.

Thank you mind.

I'm fascinated by breath right now.

Well done to notice and well done to deliberately guide your focus back to breath.

Notice the quality of attention that is focus.

How is it to you?

Sharp,

Bright,

Open,

Clear?

Now let that go.

Free your mind.

Let it run like a kite.

Let it zone into fuzziness.

Draw back now.

Gather your interested attention to your body.

Sense your right foot,

Then your left foot,

Then both feet.

Feel into your right leg,

Your left leg,

Both legs together.

Notice the sensations from your front body and the back body,

The whole of your trunk.

Sense your right arm and hand,

Then your left arm and hand.

And notice both at the same time.

Feel your neck and your throat,

Your head,

Your face.

Sense the internal trunk area,

The organs,

The gut,

The heart space,

The throat.

Now notice your whole body.

Be in your body.

What is here now for you?

How does it feel?

Is it a body part that calls your attention?

You may choose to bring the focus into one spot or to keep it wide.

Feel the difference.

Zoom in on a spot.

Pan out to the whole of your body.

Play with your focus lens,

With your body as subject for the next few moments.

Zoom in,

Zoom out.

And let that go.

As we transition from this journey to focus,

If it was light and enjoyable for you,

Let that land.

Short periods of practice will lead to mastery.

Subjects to practice are all around your environment.

Begin to invite a little movement.

Open your eyes.

Deepen your breath.

And transition yourself back to this moment in your day.

I wish you well in your strengthening the muscle of focus.

Thank you.

Reviews

I enjoyed this practice. It includes some interesting ideas and tweaks that I’ve not experienced with others. In particular the “putting in a box” items the mind is being drawn to. The zooming in and out of focus was a different approach, that I will definitely need to spend more time with! ☺️ Nicely done, thank you! 🙏🏻

This is just the right speed, length and landed on a perfect ending. Thank you!

Wow! I love this script. It addressed everything I was thinking about, with so much uncanniness it made me laugh. Well done!

i was feeling so anxious and was unable to settle down and focus at work. this meditation brought me all the way back to balance.

An interesting exploration to ' just be'

Very well guided. Found out how much more practice I'd need to stay focused! Thank you!🙏

I love this practice! It’s perfect for my always busy mind! You provided some unique ways to help me focus. I will practice these techniques again & listen to you often. Thank you 🙏

Great introduction to focus

Very helpful I still struggle to focus on a meditation about focus .. but I’ll keep trying :)

I really enjoyed this. Especially, since I am interested in strengthening my focus. This provided great tips for that. I do wish, the microphone used for recording, was brought closer to the teacher. She sounded a bit far away. Many thanks! 🙏

Great, thanks ! It felt very nice, I will bookmark it