Meditation For Better Focus And Attention

The benefits of the gentle discipline in this guided meditation will be felt afterwards and throughout your day as greater stillness, greater focus, and less aimless thinking.

The meditation begins with meeting the thoughts and emotions with presence. It then transitions to a disciplined focus of the attention on the sensation of the body to break up the usual aimless thinking habit.

Transcript

So you can go ahead and close the eyes, And taking these first few moments, Just to become aware. So we're not necessarily doing anything, It's just to be aware of this moment. Rather than just thinking, Being identified with thoughts, We just become aware. And there might be different things that you're aware of, But really, Can you connect to the quality of this moment? Maybe a sense of ease, Or quietude, Or space. So the mind will be aware of sounds, Thoughts, Feelings. But awareness isn't the mind. So this practice is more and more just to become aware. The mind will automatically attach to that dog. So just making sure that you're not tensing up, Just staying nice and relaxed. Being easy, Feeling a sense of ease. So even without needing to try to relax, There's already somewhere, There's a sense of ease. It's just natural, It's always there. Somewhere where it's easy, Where there's no charge, No problem. And so there's no rush, There's nothing that we need to do or move on to. Just here. Noticing any thoughts. Thoughts are always wanting to think about something, Or what's next. So this is a sense of presence. And when there's no presence in the mind, This presence is here, It's here now. We don't have to try to create it. It's observing if there's emotions, Feelings, Thoughts. And the sense of presence is just aware of those. So there's a space here. And the mind can, The emotions can feel a bit panicked with that. With spaciousness, Openness, Because it's so used to being so tight. Just allowing this space, Being okay with this space. Sense of ease. Observing any reaction to that, Or some physical discomfort. Just noticing that, Because all these things will come up as distractions. Orienting your attention to some stillness, Space, Silence. Because we're bringing our attention to space and silence. It can actually make, Paradoxically, The mind and emotions feel claustrophobic. Because we're not, The reason is, Because we're not allowing them the full reign that they normally have. They normally just come in, Take over, Do whatever they want. But we're actually focusing on something other than them. So that kind of reigns them in a bit. So just being easy inside yourself. Relaxing. Being present with whatever you might be feeling, Whatever might be arising. And this is what's, This is the power of it. That changes it when we bring our presence to these things that arise within us. Meet them with our attention, Meet them with our presence. If you notice a sensation, You can put your attention there, If you find that helpful. Tingling in the body. So let's go ahead and do that now. If you want to bring your attention to, We'll start with the hands as usual. Bring your attention to the sensation in the hands. So we're giving the attention to something more tangible to put, To focus on. And by doing this, It's, We're not allowing our attention just to follow all of our thinking. Or whatever we're feeling. So there's a bit of a discipline in this. Because the mind is completely undisciplined. In most people. So just keeping the attention on the sensation inside the hands, The warmth, Tingling, Pins and needles. If your mind wanders off, Just bring it back. Any uncomfortableness, Any discomfort, Fighting with this inside, Just see it's not you. It's the mind or the emotions. You're the one observing it. That's really important. If you can see, If you can observe these thoughts or feelings, Then it can't be you. Because you're the one observing it. There's a sensation in the hands. Sensation in the feet. So really bring your attention to your feet as well. And really do it. Don't just kind of imagine it. Use your imagination. But actually really put your attention inside the feet to where that sensation is. So that you really connect with it. It's not just a mental exercise. Feeling the sensation. Noticing, Being aware if there's any resistance. You can be aware of the thighs. And see if you, As you're focusing on the thighs, The sensation of the thighs, To really, To be able to focus on them without having, Making, Without your mind making an image of the thighs. Just become aware of that as you're focusing on the thighs. Do you have a mental image of your thighs? See if you can just feel the sensation of your thighs without any mental image. Just a pure sensation. We don't need our mind's help with this. So it's just the blackness. That image is just the black. And you can be aware of the black as well. Consciously be aware of the black. No image, No thought. So this does take a degree of discipline. Not by force, Being forceful with it. A gentle discipline. So the sensation of the thighs. Direct sensation. If you're still seeing an image, That's fine. Just see if you can really get to the actual sensation though. You can include the bottom. Bottom and the thighs. Feel the knees. Just take your time with the knees. It might not be as noticeable at first. If you're really doing this, Then you can't think. Feel your calves. Now see if you can feel the whole lower body at the same time. It might be a challenge now, But you'll notice the benefits of it later after we're finished. Tension on the sensation of the whole lower body. It's really here, Not drifting off. Keeping your attention on the sensation of the lower body. Just notice how long you're able to do this. It might only be a second or two. You drift off again. Just notice that. Be really clear. See really clearly that, Ah, I can only do it for like a second and then I drift off again. Just noticing that makes it more conscious. Some areas of your lower body might be more difficult to actually get your attention in or feel the sensation in. Past injury or some sort of trauma. Some areas are more kind of dead, Absence of sensation. You can be aware of that. We're just doing this for another minute or two. Really keep your attention here. If you drift off, Come back. Bring your attention back to the lower body sensation. Really focus, Discipline for this last minute or two. Just keep your attention on the lower body. Don't allow your mind any latitude to move. Not through force or control. Just through observation. Just notice that. Bring yourself back. Your mind's getting more strong. Notice that. Good. When you feel ready, You can open your eyes. Just noticing how it is with your eyes open. Wiggle your toes. Stretch.