{"id":4487,"date":"2020-11-05T19:08:29","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T19:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/?p=4487"},"modified":"2021-09-19T15:23:27","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T15:23:27","slug":"where-to-focus-while-meditating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/where-to-focus-while-meditating\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to Focus While Meditating"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
You might wonder, as I did when starting, where to focus while meditating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the initial guidance I read didn’t appear clear in its instruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After all, it’s an esoteric practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often I felt I was simply sitting for 30 minutes doing nothing, with no clue if I was doing it right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If that resonates, read on, as we attempt to clear up any confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are multiple types of meditation<\/a>, each with different teachings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I haven’t trained in every approach, so in this article, we’ll cover what works based on my personal experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we start meditating, we’re learning to observe our mind and its inner workings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Often this is in response to what we perceive to be unhelpful thoughts, feelings and emotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you suffer from anxiety, depression, overthinking or stress, for example, you might have heard that meditation can help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That may be the case, but only as a byproduct of the practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we place our attention on these mental sensations, we slowly realise that they don’t define our identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By focusing on these phenomena, their power over us often diminishes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All-consuming negative thoughts, once observed impartially, begin to fade, revealing clear consciousness in their wake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Introduction-aside, let’s look at why it’s prudent to employ an object of attention for meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a couple of good reasons to have a focus on during meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Firstly, it’s easy to get sucked into the enticing machinations of our mind, especially when starting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You see, thoughts are a constant companion, comprising an unremitting chatter in our heads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Often they involve reliving the past or predicting an uncertain future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To observe this babble for the first time is unnerving, especially in rare moments of clarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When practising meditation, we frequently get become absorbed by these self-created storylines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before long, we’re reliving a childhood argument or planning where to go for our next holiday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These fantasies are immersive and habitually provoke positive and negative emotions, which have a high latency period, remaining with us for the rest of the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, it’s advisable to have a focus for our meditation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, an object we can return to when we become lost in thought and feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second reason to have a focus for meditation is to learn about the nature of our minds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Commonly, we perceive ourselves to be a little controller in our heads, directing events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We imagine ourselves as an observer, apart from that which is observed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But is that really the case? <\/p>\n\n\n\n By experimenting with where to focus during meditation, we can dispel the illusion of separateness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, everything is really just happening in the same place; the container we call consciousness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this way, we learn that there’s really no single source of attention, as it often feels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, there’s not one location for us, the subject, and another for our focus of meditation, the object. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s yet another mind-made illusion, with subject and object actually indistinguishable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In some ways then, the object of attention isn’t important, other than to illuminate their identical nature and oneness with consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are just a few examples you can use for starters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beginner and advanced meditators alike often focus on the breath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s a great anchor to allow us to become present, a reliable companion to return to each time we get lost in thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Repeatedly training our attention on inhalation and exhalation allows us to recognise when our minds begin to wander. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, we become more adroit and when experiencing overwhelm or stress during the day, we can recentre quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a constant background hum to sensation when we pay attention, in what often appears to be an electrical field of energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These feelings might present as tingling and numbness or even pain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You might notice tension and temperature change or note the difference in feedback between various areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using these sensations, you can experience this field of energy and work your way up and down the body, recognising variations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actively listening to sounds is a useful exercise, because it highlights what we often miss with other sensations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sounds appear spontaneously and come into being for varying amounts of time, before disappearing just as quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, like thoughts, we don’t control them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They simply appear in consciousness and then evaporate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Try to notice this, along with the nature of each acoustic, without mentally labelling the source of the sound as it arises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the previous examples revolve around receiving whatever arises, Metta<\/a> or loving-kindness meditation, encourages us to actively bring someone to mind and wish them well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It could be accompanied by a short mantra such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Often you can start with a loved one, for whom it’s easy to form such feelings, before progressing onto more challenging relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It can even be extended to your family, community and city for extra feel-goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\nReasons to employ an object of focus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Where to focus while meditating<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The breath<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The body<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sound<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A person or people<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Open awareness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n