Exploring Intention/Intention & Freedom

In this guidance, you’ll learn to better recognize the hallmarks of intention as it arises and then practice letting it go. This “do nothing” technique can sharpen awareness and facilitate a sense of lightness and the taste of liberation.
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Transcript

F sketches out a Million So go ahead and take a minute to settle into your posture.

We'll be particularly relaxed today about where your attention is while you're settling in.

Maybe just notice whether your attention is settled in the body or if it's going,

Checking on the environment,

Checking on thoughts.

Now we'll do like a two-step sensitizing exercise before getting into do nothing.

So in do nothing,

There's this technique instruction about if we happen to notice intention,

Then we drop it if we can.

It can really help to spend some time with intention,

Not being quick to drop it.

So that's what we'll do first.

So for example,

If you can be very,

Very still and have an intention for a minute here to not move at all,

Except for movements that are involuntary.

So you can go ahead and breathe,

Go ahead and don't try to control your eyes.

But otherwise,

If you can hold perfectly still,

Not moving your head,

Not moving your fingers,

Not responding to an itch or a discomfort.

And let your attention now just explore that intention to see if it can locate what sense modality or what combination of sense modalities are involved in that intention.

And this is different for everybody.

You might reliably feel something in the body almost like a lean or a holding of the breath or beginnings of some muscles and fibers in the body tensing up and gathering.

There might be a subtle here in like something that's going to resolve into a voice giving you direction.

It might be the beginnings of a see in making some kind of a plan,

A visual plan.

Still defined as good here,

If you have a sense that it's an intention,

Then let's assume it is.

Because we just want to use this opportunity to soak into the sense experience of this big,

Subtle thing that we call intention.

So that we can sensitize to it a little bit,

Recognize it more easily.

Let's fabricate a couple more intentions before we start letting them come up on their own.

Let's say not like this second.

But in a moment,

We'll turn our hands up so that your backs of your hands will be on your lap somehow.

And then we'll curl our fingers and to make a fist.

But not quite yet.

So you know that's going to happen.

And notice what that does to your sense experience as it starts to resolve in a certain place as though it's gathering energy.

Maybe in your forearms or your belly.

You might have visual images that you might not.

And then I'm going to count down from three.

And when I get to zero,

Just slowly turn your hands on their backs.

And close your hands into all the while watching for the intention to do so.

How do you know in your sense experience that your attention is being directed?

So three,

Two,

One,

Zero,

Feel free to go as slowly as you want to if you can feel or sense intention in any way so you can get familiar with what that's like.

And then as you're about to close your hands into fifth,

And what sense modalities does that intention arise?

That's an intention to control your attention.

The controlling your attention in order to seemingly make something happen.

So physical movement like that is more of a gross way of finding intention to control attention.

So then let's try something that's a little more subtle that doesn't call for movement of the body.

So let's say that in a couple of minutes,

We'll suddenly switch to putting some of our attention on the breath.

So definitely don't do it right now.

You can switch just keep your attention on your hands or to my voice.

And then I'll count down again and we'll suddenly switch to using a lot of your attention to track your breath.

What I really want you to watch for is how you know how do you know you're switching there's a sense experience that we call intention.

So when I get to zero,

Switch as slowly as you want to so you can really explore how intention arises for you.

Move a good chunk of your attention to a breath focus.

And three,

Two,

One,

Zero.

Not only was there an intention to control your attention toward the breath.

Now you have a continued intention to keep your attention on the breath.

It's that underneath layer,

Surface layer of your attention on the breath,

An underlying layer intending to do so.

Now relax for a few minutes and see if you can notice then notice when another intention arises.

You don't have to see them all.

We have intentions all the time that we don't notice.

But if you're just paying attention right before you move your body or your mind.

There's a subtle experience usually,

Usually subtle that we call intention.

And because this is a warm up exercise,

You don't need to drop it.

You can soak into it.

You may have no intention intimately.

For example,

You may have things that you know you typically do during practice.

If there's a part of your body that tenses that you relax often,

If there's an adjustment that you know that you make,

You can watch that area.

And instead of just making that movement automatically,

Stay with the intention before the movement.

You may find sometimes then that the movement may happen on its own,

Non volitional.

Or it may not,

The intention may dissolve.

When either one of those things happen,

That's where the taste of liberation is available.

And the reason why do nothing for many people can become a fun,

Lighthearted,

Joyful technique is because these little bubbles of liberation are available throughout.

Every time we happen to be there when something just happens on its own,

Including intention resolving on its own.

That's right.

Okay.

Now if it still feels too vague or if you want to play with it later on,

You can always slow down your breathing intentionally.

Then you would be able to note both,

In theory,

The intention to slow your breathing and the intention to breathe again when it becomes uncomfortable.

Thank you,

Cinema.

Now we'll do another step in the sensitizing exercise,

Which is still noting.

We're going to note intention and then let it go.

So it's a little different from do nothing because we're looking for paying attention to intention to control our attention.

You can note it,

Acknowledge and focus and then let it go.

Okay,

So it's different than do nothing because in do nothing we don't go looking and we don't note intention.

So try that now and if you'd like you can even use a label intention.

If you want to label to yourself each one that you find.

So and what does dropping anything really mean?

It's removing your attention from it.

To back off of that intention.

So so this is where things too can start to get a little funny like they tend to and do nothing because if your sensory clarity gets pretty sharp while you're intending to drop intention you'll notice that there's this funhouse mirror effect that that could go on indefinitely.

Intending to drop an intention,

Needing to drop that intention.

See if you can let go of all of them if that happens.

Just like backing up with your attention with your hands up.

It can be so freeing,

So delightful to find out that if you drop intention things happen anyway.

Life doesn't stop.

So again to beg the question whether all this volition that we take for granted as necessary whether it really is necessary and therein lies the great ease that's available in do nothing.

So now let's do the technique for a few minutes.

So in do nothing you are absolutely passive.

You don't note,

Go looking for anything in particular.

You also don't try to stop yourself from it if that happens.

You just hear things happen or they don't.

You have only one job if it happens to come across your desk.

If it happens to come across your awareness that you notice an intention to control your attention.

Then you drop that if you can.

That's all.

So you could rest here for a long time and not notice any intention to control your attention and have a very productive practice period.

It could also be completely lost in thought or unconscious and technically be doing the technique perfectly although that would be less productive.

So isn't it wonderful to not have to be good for a little while.

If you have the intention to control your attention even to be a good meditator now your job is to drop that.

There's nothing to do.

Know where to be.

Call off the search.

So you can keep your eyes closed or open them a little bit if you really want to go for sharp contrast.

And now we're in a noting technique every few seconds acknowledge note label focus.

Here.

You'll recall that all of your sense experience is in this focus range.

So if there's some thinking or residue or remnants from do nothing,

That's fine.

Just note what sense category they're in.

Recycle them into your see here field practice.

Okay.

It could seem to take a lot of energy or it could even seem easier than ever after trying to work with something so ill-defined.

See here feel can be almost a relief.

You know exactly what the rules are.

Exactly what to call things.

Now let go of that and do nothing.

Okay.

So many things may come up.

There could be a scrambling,

Trying to figure out what to do.

There could be a total freedom and fun and relaxation.

It could be a struggling to pay attention and then to let go of that intention over and over.

No wrong way.

There's absolutely nothing to do.

Nothing to do here except drop intention to control your attention.

If you happen to notice it.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Open your eyes,

Paying attention to what that feels like.

And then the combination of sense experience is happening for you as you end your practice period.

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Gentle, supportive guidance, pointing to a subtle and mysterious component of experience