Attend And Anchor (Focus Out Circuit)

Connecting with your physical environment is a powerful way to reduce overwhelm and increase fulfillment. Discover what it means to be fully present with this “Focus Out Circuit,” learning to attend to sights, sounds, and physical sensations.

Transcript

The Bobby eltzi is the companion to JohnapprovedCredits Hammer Game Holden It's a new family in moisturizer So as we begin,

Go ahead and take your time to notice and appreciate your posture.

You might want to intentionally stretch out your spine a little bit and then let your whole body relax around your upright spine.

Now for just a few minutes,

Note everything.

Eyes open or closed as you like because we're just going to notice what comes or calls.

It's a very passive stance.

Every few seconds,

Really connecting with where your attention is.

Finding that sensory experience as completely as possible.

And whether it's inner or outer,

Stable or flowing,

Active or restful.

If you'd like to use labels to support concentration and equanimity,

You'll just have three labels.

Everything will fall under here or here or feel.

Here's what's most Flower Haste saying.

At this point at the beginning,

You might just be noticing that your attention is drawn to some sense categories more than others,

Some qualities of experience more than others,

But we don't need to analyze it or influence it.

Just appreciating experience moment by moment and then allowing it to go when it's ready completely without any effort to remember or to hold on,

But showing up fully for whatever experience presents itself next.

So now we're going to narrow our focus range a lot and really take a break from the inner system.

We're going to let all auditory and all somatic experience come and go,

In addition to any visual thoughts,

While we place our attention on purpose in C-out,

Which means you'll need to have your eyes somewhat open,

But they can be relaxed.

You can have your eyes just partially open.

You can allow them to be focused.

Just let your eyes be open in whatever way is most comfortable.

It could be that it feels fatiguing to have them mostly closed.

You can,

It's fine if you just let them move now and then,

Trying out more open and less open.

But the main part of your attention is going to be the contact with your visual experience,

What you see in your environment.

So you have two labels here,

C and rest.

You don't need to think really about which label is more appropriate,

Just whichever one seems to fit best in that moment,

Because we want as much of our attention as possible to be poured into your contact with that sense experience,

Rather than thinking about it or selecting a label.

Basically just,

If C is what pops up,

Your label is C.

And if a visual experience happens to strike you as obviously restful,

Then your label would be rest.

Some great opportunities might happen,

What your focus range is C out.

You might notice a little auditory thought trying to narrate or categorize something that you see.

So if you notice that,

That would be in distraction space,

Auditory thought.

You just return your attention again to see opportunities to strengthen concentration by returning equanimity,

By releasing sensory clarity,

By noticing.

When your attention is pulled away from C out.

So let's let go of that and feel free to let your eyes close if that feels good to you.

And we'll put all of our attention now into here out.

Noticing what comes or calls to you in sound space could be a noise in any direction outside of you.

It could even be quiet,

Possibly.

We could be drawn to a restful quality of sound or inside of sound.

You might be drawn to the flow of sound,

The movement,

Volume.

And whenever what you notice in here out seems active,

Your label would be here.

And if you happen to be drawn to any quiet,

Whether it's total quiet in a direction,

Or just a sense of quiet through or inside a sound,

If it seems restful to you,

Then the label is rest.

So let all visual,

All somatic,

And all mental thoughts,

All auditory thoughts come and go.

So we just won't pay any attention to it on purpose.

If you notice anything else vying for your attention,

We just place that attention again intentionally in here out.

Okay?

Here tends to be flowing,

So you can also keep in mind that no hear out can be a transcendent technique.

Any technique can be,

But it's okay to let your attention fall into a deep observation of spaciousness or expansion contraction in auditory space,

In your hear out space.

The labels are still here and rest regardless of what quality you're noticing,

Regardless of how deep or profound the experience may get.

So let's let go of here now and come into the physical body,

Feel out safe.

So we'll let now everything visual and everything auditory do what it will.

While our focus range is on physical sensation.

So also if you happen to get pulled by something emotional in nature,

When you notice that,

Use again.

Just turn your attention gently to the physical body.

This is kind of an interesting one see here and feel are all a little different than the field space generally has a more defined space,

It's more or less the space that your body takes up.

So you might notice that your attention is drawn from one place of activity to another,

There might be places of obvious pressure where you're sitting or where your hands are resting.

You might be drawn to an itch or a discomfort or your breath,

Any tension,

Anything like that that you notice you'd label feel.

If you happen to be drawn to experiences of clear relaxation,

Neutrality,

Absence of sensation in the body,

Those you would label rest.

But it's also fine if you happen to have a more global sense of your body,

Your attention may want to kind of relax into a more even coverage.

So there again,

You may have more of a sense that it's a feel and more of a sense that it rests.

Either one is fine.

So wherever your attention is drawn in regard to physical body experience,

Just looking to meet that experience as completely as possible to know it so deeply.

With a high resolution.

Okay.

So now let's combine these last three techniques that we passed through and bring them all together for focus out.

That means we'll need to open our eyes a little bit or all the way,

Whatever your body seems to want you to do,

But to let in visual experience in your environment.

We'll continue to leave thoughts and emotions in the background.

Let our attention freely float between sights and sounds in your environment and physical sensation.

It may at times want to stay with something for a little while,

That's fine,

It'll move eventually.

Good information,

Noticing where your attention lingers and where it doesn't,

Noticing whether it's more drawn to activity or rest,

Noticing in which modalities it notices more stability or more flow,

But not analyzing it,

Just being with it as it comes and then letting it go when it goes.

You can trust that anything you really need to know later will be available.

Your labels in focus out are see,

Hear,

And feel.

Whether active or restful,

We just use the simple label of the sense modality.

That is our understanding.

So again,

If your thoughts or emotions make a play for your attention,

We can just recognize that with a sense of lightness and liberation that now is the time to be completely free from interactivation.

It'll still be there later if we need it.

So now is the time to rest and anchor out in the physical world.

So now is the time to rest.

Okay.

Now let's take a few minutes at the end to come back to where we started.

Note everything.

This can be really relaxing because you no longer have to keep anything in the background.

There's nowhere that you need to be with your attention.

We're just going to notice where our attention is.

It may want to linger in outer experience because we've established a momentum,

Or it may be drawn to go right into inner now that it's been held back there for a while.

So you'll just let your attention freely float,

Inner or outer,

Eyes open or closed,

Active or restful,

Stable or flowing.

Everything is allowed.

You may just want to apply a label every few seconds to be sure you're attending to your sense experience.

So your only labels and note everything are see,

Hear and feel.

Okay.

And to get caught up in thought,

It can be so delightful to realize that you're already in your focus range.

All you need to do is apply a label to exactly where you are when you notice that you may have lost concentration for a moment.

It's perfectly fine.

That's how we build concentration.

So for just a couple more minutes,

Note everything.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Now,

As we wrap up this practice period,

You might just want to take a minute here at the end to notice any reward flavors,

Any sense of increased attentional skill,

A feeling of tranquility or patience or interest.

Let that be with you as you transition out of your formal practice.

Okay.

Reviews

Really enjoying these meditation techniques. You have such a simple, clear way of guiding