MIDL 15min 11 / 20: Observing Attention Move 2

New to MIDL? 15 Minutes of Mindfulness is an introductory series to the MIDL 52 Mindfulness Meditation Trainings. 11/20 is the MIDL Mindfulness training in the the skill of observing when attention moves away from the meditation object to train the First MIDL Pillar of Flexible Attention. Practice daily for one week before moving to the next exercise

Have a question? Insight Timer Group: MIDL Mindfulness in Daily Life with Stephen Procter. Private question? [e-mail]

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Stephen Proctor.

During this mindfulness exercise we'll be using a technique to observe how our attention moves to thought and how our awareness of thought affects it.

If you just start out by taking a meditation posture.

Now close your eyes over lightly.

Relax your jaw and place your tongue behind your two top teeth.

Now gently take a deep breath in and as you're breathing out allow yourself to relax.

Now start to be aware of the feeling of your body sitting or lying down.

Start off by noticing that throughout your body there's a feeling of heaviness.

Also allow your awareness to sink down to the place where your body touches the chair or the floor.

Hold this feeling of heaviness in touch in mind continuously and notice every time your attention wanders away from it.

Now gently place one hand in the other touching them lightly together and laying them in your lap.

Bring your awareness to the touch of your hands.

Not squeezing your hands but just holding them lightly.

Start to become aware of the sensations of touch between your hands.

Hold that touch of hands in mind continuously and notice every time your attention wanders away from it.

As your attention wandered off acknowledge it and come back again to the touch of your hands.

Now we're going to set up a barrier from which to observe thinking.

Keep your hands gently in mind and at this point stop thinking.

Don't think.

Relax and see if you can observe the moment that thinking begins.

Now we're going to set up a barrier from which to observe thinking.

Have you wandered off to thought?

If so acknowledge it by silently saying thinking,

Thinking.

Then gently bring your awareness back to the touch of your hands.

Keeping the touch of your hands in mind and at this point stop thinking.

Don't think.

Relax and see if you can observe the moment that thinking begins.

Now we're going to set up a barrier from which to observe thinking.

Keep your hands gently in mind and at this point stop thinking.

Is there thinking present?

If so acknowledge it by silently saying thinking,

Thinking.

And gently bring your awareness back to the touch of your hands.

Now for the next exercise we're going to remember our hands.

And see if you can notice not only the moment that thinking begins,

But can you also notice the moment it ends.

Keeping the touch of your hands in mind and at this point stop thinking.

Don't think.

Relax and observe what happens.

Keep your hands gently in mind and at this point stop thinking.

Is there thinking present in your mind?

If so acknowledge it by silently saying thinking,

Thinking.

Did you notice the moment ended?

What does it feel like now the thinking has dissolved?

Bring your awareness back to the touch of your hands.

And at this point stop thinking.

Don't think.

Relax and observe what happens.

Keep your hands gently in mind and at this point stop thinking.

Is there thinking present in your mind?

Acknowledge it with a silent label thinking,

Thinking and observe the moment it ends.

What's the experience now that there is no longer thought present?

Bring your awareness back to your hands,

The touch.

For this next exercise see if you can notice the moment the thought begins,

But also don't use labels.

Just observe the thought when it's present and see if you can actually notice the moment it ends.

And at this point stop thinking.

Don't think.

Relax and observe what happens.

What's the experience now that there is no longer thought present?

Is there thinking present?

Just observe it.

Now I'd like you to bring your awareness back into your body,

The feeling of heaviness,

Of touch.

Open up your awareness and start to be aware of any sounds around you.

Allow the sounds to come into you.

And when you're ready you can gently open your eyes.

Be aware of seeing.

Be aware of just being in the room.

Take care of yourself and goodbye.

Reviews

Wow. That was really difficult. I couldn't stop thinking. How can one not think if one doesn't concentrate on the breath. I also only noticed the thought when I was already in it and the end as I realised I was thinking so told myself to stop. This one is going take practice as I find it a little confusing 😕.
I was also really hot and had a pressure pushing down on my face. 🙏☺️
Day 1. Day 2. Day 3. Day 4. Day 5. Day 6. Day 7.

Wow I found that to be a little intense. Thank you for guiding me on this journey Stephen.

Excellent as always, though this was the first time I’ve been explicitly told to not think and not label during vipassana and this proved very hard to do. Loads more to learn I guess! Thank you for your sessions Stephen!

Day by day each meditation is more intense - what a perfectly brilliant way for me to start my days -

Very practical exercises and good experience

Thank you! I felt very supported. Curious to try this exercise alone, without prompting.

A very good practice for observing thoughts appearing (and disappearing)! Thank you :)

This meditation really helped achieve a separation from thoughts as they arose and passed.

For me, this meditation exercise with a bit conflictual. Knowing that the mind cannot hold a negative thought, when I hear the phrase “stop thinking, don’t think“ my mind recognizes that the focus is now on thinking. I am uncertain of what the motivation is behind offering such guidance. I’ll continue to work on this series of exercises. We’ll see what comes out of it.

Another day of this exercise. I feel like I’m going to be on this one for quite a while. Thoughts of people who say can’t stop thinking which is why they can’t meditate come to my mind. Many images of their recurrent thoughts come to me. I am able to notice that thoughts drift away and it’s more of a blend with new awareness than abrupt cessation of a thought.

This is a great series.

I continue to struggle with the concept not thinking, recognizing when thinking begins or ends. What I do recognize Is that by the end of the session I am in a different emotional state, with a different sense of awareness of myself in the space around me.

This meditation is about observing attention wander to thoughts. While our attention is on the feeling of “hands” we are instructed to stop thinking and notice when a thought arises and then when it ends. I noticed that while my attention is on my hands I am thinking very much about all the feeling in my hands. When I was instructed to stop thinking I still had an awareness of my hands but was not evaluating what I was experiencing. I also got a feeling of pleasure in my body whenever I stopped thinking about my hands or any other thought that came up. What does this mean?

The training is working. When I started I couldn't not think at all, and now I hardly think during the exercise. My daily focus and discipline have improved too. Thank you Stephen! 🙏

Thank you, Stephen, for this training that has built a level of awareness and control that I had never experienced to this degree! I've noticed that this is more difficult when I'm tired. Do you know why that is and might you have any suggestions? Maybe if I practice more, I'll be able to access it even when tired?
Thanks!

This is an excellent meditation. I really feel a new person. Thank you, Stephen. 😊

I find the act of observing without consciously thinking about my observations to be difficult, but it was excellent for highlighting how easily we drift into thought without noticing. Thank you.

Great when I don't have much time 👍

Challenging but rewarding session, thank you for this excellent series.

I wish I had done these series years ago when I started meditating.

Another wonderful mindfulness lesson. My hands grew quite warm and tingly as I focused on them. That warmth seemed to help me stay anchored. Although some thoughts did sneak back in, it was the warmth that kept bringing me back to Mindfulness. Thank you Stephen.