MIDL: Skill In Transitioning From 'Doing' To 'Knowing'

In this meditation Stephen Procter guides you in how to transition from the focus of your attention to background peripheral awareness as a foundation for insight and doorway to jhana. As attention during mindfulness of breathing progresses it is necessary to switch effort from the 'doing' of attention to the 'knowing' of awareness. This MIDL Meditation Skill helps you to develop sensitivity to this transition by observing the difference between attention and knowing, by switching your focus between the centre of your attention and your peripheral awareness.

Transcript

And during this meditation we'll develop the skill of transitioning from doing our attention to knowing our object meditation.

You start out by taking your meditation posture,

One palm in the other resting in your lap,

Thumbs lightly touching,

And allowing your eyelids to gently close over,

Allowing them to relax,

Feeling that relaxation,

And taking some slow gentle softening breaths to soften and relax to establish your mindfulness.

Now,

Bringing your awareness to the touch of your thumbs,

Just feeling that point of touch,

And creating a stream of remembering in regards to that touch,

Keeping that water one point of touch within your mind.

Observe the gentle effort to keep that point of touch within your mind.

This focus on the touch of your thumbs is the centre of your attention.

Notice the energy levels increase as you keep this point of touch within your mind.

Now,

Become aware of your peripheral awareness in the background.

The background sounds,

The touch of air on your skin,

The touch of your clothing.

Notice how that point of touch is in the foreground of your attention.

Paying attention.

Now widen your focus to taking your peripheral awareness.

Aware of distant sounds.

And where are the touch of air on your skin.

Keeping the focus of your awareness wide.

Notice how this wide focus of awareness comes to the foreground.

And the touch of your thumbs goes into the background.

This wide open focus is the knowing function of your awareness.

Now changing your focus to bring the touch of your thumbs to the foreground of your attention.

And the touch of your thumbs goes into the background.

As you remember this touch notice the doing within your mind.

Notice why your attention is focused on the touch of your thumbs.

Your peripheral awareness goes into the background.

And the touch of your thumbs moves to the foreground.

Notice the effort and energy to remember that touch.

Now becoming more aware of the background peripheral awareness.

And the touch of your thumbs goes into the background.

And opening your peripheral awareness allowing that background to come to the front of your attention.

Notice with this wide focus of awareness the effort to do and the energy within attention is dispersed.

Notice that the touch of your thumbs is still the center of your attention but it's in the background.

And the open awareness is in the foreground.

Notice your effort now shifts from doing the meditation to knowing your present experience.

And the touch of your thumbs moves to the front of your attention.

Be playful and shift between knowing and doing.

Eventually resting within the knowing function of awareness.

And the touch of your thumbs moves to the front of your attention.

And the touch of your thumbs moves to the front of your attention.

Being so present.

And the touch of your thumbs moves to the front of your attention.

And the touch of your thumbs moves to the front of your attention.

Now bringing awareness back into your body.

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

Thank you for spending this time meditating with me.

Take care of yourself and have a wonderful day.

Thank you for spending this time meditating with me.

Reviews

What an amazing experience in being aware. Felt a bit like training yet had very peaceful and mindful elements. Gratitude for creating and sharing 🙏

Peaceful and gentle - and also comforting that i recognise this voice years ago, before apps.

Excellent meditation guidance leading to a very peaceful awareness. Thank you.

A simple but very effective practice! Thank you so much 🙏🙏

Wow thanks Stephen this is super helpful. I felt much more relaxed and spacious in my brain and eyes (even tho they were closed) when pulling back to awareness. I could really sense the difference in how much more intense single point "doing" feels. Moving back and forth created a tangible contrast.

Great guidance to go from local physical awareness to knowing and expanding out beyond the physical body.

This meditation was very helpful in finding a way for my inner world and the outer world to meet, something I have long struggled with. A good one to practice.
In Gratitude🙏🏻

I didn’t get it and then I did and then I didn’t….will need to revisit this many times! 💜♥️❤️💜♥️

Wonderful. Thank you!

Great guided meditation. Allowed me to become very open, attentive and relaxed at the same time. Thanks Stephen

Always excellent. Thank you for being a great teacher.

Short and sweet. More gentle awareness. Helps to bring mindfulness to every day activities. Many many thanks for new revisions and practices. ☮️💖🙏🖖

Always a thoughtful and useful exploration of the subtlety of mindfulness. The shift from doing to knowing is so powerful.

Always wonderful

Excellent as always. I’ll need to redo this a few times to become more aware of the transition between doing and knowing. Stephen, you’ll probably also want to edit the ending where you say the same thing twice.