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Category: Connect
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Published: Saturday, 18 January 2020 20:52
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Written by Cherry
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We began with a short practice bringing us into the present by bringing attention to the body.
We then moved to an introduction to Diana Winston's description of awareness practices ('The Little Book of Being', p 29 - 30) where she describes a spectrum of practices through from focused awareness (our usual practice, often following the breath) to more flexible awareness, with a wider field, including choiceless awareness, and on to natural awareness, which is described as usually 'effortless and objectless, emphasising awareness of awareness.' Winston goes on to describe how, in natural awareness, 'our mind tends to rest in a place of ease, and awareness seems to happen on its own. Typically, attention is broad, and it doesn't focus on objects'. Winston is keen to emphasise that the spectrum of awareness practices is not a vertical hierarchy, but horizontal, with all practices related to each other.
We followed with a classical, focused meditation , beginning with three deeper breaths to encourage relaxation, then bringing attention to sensations of breathing in the body, followed by attention to sounds, always coming back to either the breath in the body or the sounds around whenever attention wanders.
We moved on to an expanded awareness, opening to allowing attention to move to other objects of attention so that when attention strays from the anchor, instead of bringing it back straight away, we keep our attention on whatever is taking it - a pain in the back, or a loud noise, or a troublesome thought. The instruction is to sense, feel, notice whatever has taken attention away from the anchor. When the new object no longer holds attention, then the attention can return to the anchor - until something else pulls the attention away and once again whatever it is that has taken it is sensed and felt, until once more attention goes and it is back to the anchor once more.
Beyond this, fully flexible awareness is practiced when, whilst attending to our anchor, we are aware of things happening in the background, but we do not focus on them. Then we can allow the background to become the foreground, and we pay attention to whatever is there - we listen to a sound, we feel a sensation, we pay attention to a thought. As Winston says, 'You can choose where to place your attention, or let the objects choose you, bringing attention to whatever is most obvious in any given moment' (p.69. If we need to we can return to our anchor at any time, to regain stability..
One way to move into natural awareness is by relaxing effort. Rather than putting our attention onto our breath or other objects, we allow ourselves to just be with the objects as they arise. Winston says ' So what does relaxing effort feel like in meditation? It feels like stopping the attempt to wrestle with your unruly mind, or bring it effortfully back to the present, and instead resting, relaxing, and exploring the awareness that is already present. It often feels like things are just happening on their own, and we're witnessing them. It can feel immensely relaxing and joyful to stop the struggle.' (p.73)
The practice ended by coming back to the breath once more, and opening our eyes.
We followed the practice with enquiry. There was a feeling of this being different, but with a sense of relaxation. By starting with 'classical mindfulness' there is clarity before moving into more spaciousness. One's anchor is always there to return to whenever there is a sensed need for more grounded-ness.
We then listened to part of a conversation between Sam Harris and Judson Brewer called 'Mindfulness and Addiction'' (Waking Up App). The continued use (of whatever) despite adverse circumstances" is the definition of addiction according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. This approach parallels the understanding of suffering according to Buddhism: the 'craving mind' can be especially associated with addictions. Cellphones here are described as 'weapons of mass distraction’. The conversation is a blend of up-to-date neuro-scientific study, especially regarding addiction, related back to Buddhist teaching on 'Dependent origination' (everything arises and is dependent on something else to exist) which JB links to our human tendency towards addictive, reward-based, craving, subjectively-biased minds. Mindfulness training, increasingly via apps, possibly using personalised neural feedback, can quieten that part of the brain (here the posterior cingulate cortex) called the 'Default Mode Network' where many of our habitual, personalised tendencies tend to reside, and then learning to open up to a less 'personal', more expanded mind, with less suffering.
We ended with a short practicer followed by a closing reading of William Wordsworth's poem,
'The world is too much with us'
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in nature that is ours:
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. - Great GOD! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn,
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.'
William Wordsworth
