More Meta Less Clinging

That's Diana Winston's 2019 The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness. It's both disorganized and brilliant, as it explores an alternative to "classical mindfulness", the structured practice of focused attention. Winston says in the Introduction: "There are multiple ways to be aware: from the effortful to the effortless, from the narrowly focused to the wide open and spacious, from awareness of objects to objectless awareness of awareness." What a lovely summary of the entire enterprise!

The journey to Natural Awareness that Winston describes is gentle, meandering, rather first-person, and filled with delights. A few signposts along the way, starting in Chapter 6, "The Spectrum of Awareness Practices":

At one end of the spectrum is what we might call focused awareness practice. When we are practicing focused awareness, we're making an effort and focusing narrowly on an object—often our breath. When our attention wanders, we notice it has wandered and then return our attention to our breath (or other object of focus). Focused awareness practice is the classical mindfulness meditation practice most people begin with, and it is useful for training unruly minds. It helps us develop stabilization, concentration, and clarity of mind. ...

Next along the spectrum is what we might call flexible awareness practice, which is also taught within classical mindfulness meditation When we are practicing flexible awareness, our awareness has a wider field, rather than being narrowed to only one central focus (like our breath). Sometimes we flexibly move our attention to investigate other objects of awareness that pull us away from our main focus (such as a sound, a sensation, or an emotion) and then return to our main focus after a while. Sometimes our attention may appear to jump around from object to object, and we rarely return to a main focus. Effort is variable, attention is both broad and narrow, and we still focus on objects. ...

On the far end of the spectrum is natural awareness practice, which is not commonly included in classical mindfulness meditation. Natural awareness practice is usually effortless and objectless, emphasizing awareness of awareness. With natural awareness practice, we don't have to try so hard. 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 ...

After Chapter 32, in a Glimpse Practice titled "The Space Between Things":

While meditating with open eyes, shift into mindful seeing, softly gazing at what is in front of you and/or having an awareness of the periphery. Once you feel stably aware of the visual field, for fun, see if you can notice the space between the objects rather than the objects themselves. Don't focus on what your eyes are naturally drawn to, but instead on the space surrounding those things. Soften, relax, and connect with the space. What happens as you do this? Trust what emerges, letting whatever unfolds unfold. Relax and marinate in your discoveries.

In daily life you might try this glimpse practice outside under a night sky. Can you notice the space in between the billions of stars?

In Chapter 35, "Embodiment":

When people access natural awareness, they typically experience natural awareness as only right in front of them. There is nothing wrong with this experience per se, but it is incomplete. Natural awareness is actually directionless. It can be externally experienced in a forward-facing direction, but it can also be experienced in all directions—behind, above and below us.

Additionally, we can experience it internally, when we include our bodies in our natural awareness. All of the qualities we might notice in forward, externl natural awareness can be present inside our very body. We might feel spacious, soft, warm, relaxed, and any of the other facets of the diamond I talked about in chapter 11. Any of these qualities could be sensed quite strongly inside our bodies. Then we can make another step and sense natural awareness externally and internally simultaneously.

It is important for the awareness to become sensed internally, or embodied, because this shift allows us to function from the natural awareness. Natural awareness starts to feel more like an aspect of our physical body, not just an aspect of our mind. We can lead our lives from a place of embodied natural awareness, in which we are not merely a head with a body dangling from it.

Near the end of Chapter 38, "Caught or Free?":

Once many years ago, while practicing with one of my teachers, I asked a question: "How do you make natural awareness increase?" His response was, "Natural awareness doesn't increase. Clinging lessens." ...

In Chapter 45, "Intend Compassion":

Every morning when I meditate, I say a short meditative prayer to begin my practice. It is of Buddhist origin, taken from Shantideva, an eighth-century Buddhist monk and scholar. It goes like this:

For as long as space exists and sentient beings endure,

May I be the living ground of love for all beings.

In Chapter 47, "Don't Do It Alone":

It takes just one other person to create a community. ... You can discuss your practice, share questions, and explore how to implement natural awareness practices in daily life all by phone, video chat, or text.

All good — especially the emphasis on being gentle and loving-kind toward oneself!

_{(cf Wherever You Go, There You Are (2008-10-26), Being with Your Breath (2010-02-20), Fully Present (2011-02-14), Find the Beauty (2011-04-03), Bringing Back a Wandering Attention (2013-02-13), Mindfulness for Beginners (2013-07-18), Beginning Mindfulness (2013-09-22), Metacognitive Awareness (2018-05-19), Mantra - Be Meta, Be Open, Be Love (2018-11-11), ...) - ^z - 2024-12-03}