[roncraigMember]

Hello BG,

You stated that “I still struggle with being able to feel much in terms of bodily sensations.” Let me ask you, right now as you read the next words, are you breathing in or breathing out? If you could answer that question maybe the description that I give below might be helpful. If not, maybe using a mantra might help.

I don’t know if the technique I use will be of value or not but I will explain what I do to develop concentration.

First, I do Culadasa’s Six Point Preparation (but I added a step to hold myself in loving-kindness). I have memorized: PM Drop Hold GED

Posture
Motivation
Drop worldly concerns
Hold self in loving-kindness
Goals for sitting
drop Expectations and Judgements before and after sitting
I commit to work Diligently during this sitting

After doing the Preliminary I place my attention on the breath.

(1) If the mind is scattered:

after I observe the beginning of the in-breath, I say to myself “in breath”
after I observe the beginning of the out-breath, I say to myself “out breath”

After the mind has calmed a little:

after I observe the beginning and the middle of the in-breath, toward the end of the in-breath I say to myself “in”
after I observe the beginning and the middle of the out-breath, toward the end of the out-breath I say to myself “out”

(2) When even more calm, drop the self-talk and I just focus on the sensation of the breath entering and leaving the nostrils.

When my attention leaves the breath, I gently but firmly bring my attention back to the breath.

(3) When I am even more calm, observe the beginning of the inbreath, the middle of the in breath, the end of the inbreath, see if there is a space between the inbreath and the outbreath, observe the beginning of the outbreath, the middle of the outbreath, the end of the outbreath, the space between the outbreath and the inbreath. (If I make the commitment to see the beginning of every in breath, usually my mind will stay with the breath for a while and I will know that I am in the middle of the inbreath and this sort of continues.)

Note: There may be a time when my mind is in such a state that it is difficult to watch the breath. During those times I begin by watching the chest expand and contract with each breath. But, I still do the self-talk. After a while I will be able to change your focus to the sensation of the breath.
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Once the mind has been calmed, one can do a serenity meditation or insight meditation.
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Sometime when my mind if very scattered, I spending the entire meditation sitting doing my self-talk, “inbreath, outbreath, inbreath, outbreath, inbreath, outbreath.”

If my explanation as to what I do is helpful good. If you don’t find it of any value, that’s fine. But know that I am sending metta and wish you well on this adventure toward awakening.

[roncraigMember]

Michael Dunn states in his response above, “Checking-in will be conceptual at first, and that is also fine. The more you practice, the more raw it will become.” I am just beginning to work with the “checking-in” technique and I think that labeling would be helpful, rather than just sensing a vague, indistinct, state of mind. But I’m not sure what I am actually looking for. Could someone given me a list of things that I might observe when I check-in?

[roncraigMember]

Since your oriiginal post was in October, you may have resolved your difficulty by now but I thought that I would still share what I do to calm my scattered mind.

(1) If my mind is scattered:

after I observe the beginning of the in-breath, I say to myself “in breath”
after I observe the beginning of the out-breath, I say to myself “out breath”

During this time my attention is not on the breath for very long. It is actually on the mental monologue that I am having with myself. Nevertheless, for a short period I do actually feel the sensation of the breath.

(2) After the mind has calmed a little:

after I observe the beginning and the middle of the in-breath, toward the end of the in-breath say to myself “in”
after I observe the beginning and the middle of the out-breath, toward the end of the out-breath say to myself “out”

During this time I am feeling more of the sensation of the breath but still some of the time my attention is on the mental monologue going on in my mind.

(3) When I am more calm I feel: in breath, out breath, then say to myself 1
In breath, out breath, then say to myself 2
In breath, out breath, then say to myself 3
In breath, out breath, then say to myself 4
1,2,3,4
1,2,3,4
etc.

(4) When I am even more calm, I drop the counting and just focus on the sensation of the breath entering and leaving the nostrils.

(5) When I am even more calm, I observe the beginning of the inbreath, the middle of the in breath, the end of the inbreath, the space between the inbreath and the outbreath, the beginning of the outbreath, the middle of the outbreath, the end of the outbreath, the space between the outbreath and the inbreath.

[roncraigMember]

Blake, thanks for your reply. Your comments are helpful. Ron

[roncraigMember]

I am wondering if I am interpreting a couple of issues correctly.

Question 1:

If something is unconscious, it is just the sub-minds doing what the sub-minds do and I am not aware of it.

If something is conscious it is either peripheral awareness or attention.

If something pops into consciousness and I don’t “lock onto it” and investigate it, it is just peripheral awareness. If I do “lock onto it” and investigate it, or let it lead me into another thought associated with that object (which would be a distraction), then that is attention.

The thing that is confusing for me is, when something happens in the periphery of my senses – in the periphery of my sight for example.

Consider the window to my left right now as I am typing this question. While I am typing this sentence, the window is in a position so it is in my periphery but I am oblivious to it, unless I think that I want to allow myself to “see” it out of the corner of my eye.

Do I need to intentionally bring an object into peripheral awareness; otherwise, it will only be an “object” in the unconscious sub-mind? Is this how I strengthen my peripheral awareness?

Question 2:

If the answer to Question 1 is “yes, and I do need to bring an object (or choose an object) to be in my peripheral awareness, it seem that my choices would be sights, sounds, smells, tastes, body sensations, and thoughts. I suppose that eventually I could bring all six sense objects into my peripheral awareness but right now that seems a little overwhelming. Do I start by bringing just one category (sights for example) into peripheral and then add additional categories until I am peripherally aware of everything?

Question 3:

Would it be helpful to practice strengthening peripheral awareness in my everyday life rather than just when I am doing my meditation practice?

Question 4:

The importance of peripheral awareness:

I understand that if I have peripheral awareness I will be able to catch subtle dullness before it becomes gross dullness.

But, I am wondering if another important function of peripheral awareness might be that, when I am meditating and I am watching the five aggregates and I observe something arise and pass away, I need both attention and peripheral awareness. Say I hear a door that is slammed shut. I clearly hear the sound arise and pass away. But, I need peripheral awareness of the “knowing” that I just experienced the arising and passing of an object of attention. In other words, there is a difference in being aware of the content and being aware of the process. Does being aware of both of these require both attention and peripheral awareness?

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