Jeanne Corrigal: Choiceless Attention Instructions

Today we are continuing to open our meditation to include all aspects of our experience. In a method we call choiceless attention. In the beginning of our week we began the instructions by inviting everyone to find a home base in the body, the breath, or sound, a place to bring the attention, to direct the attention to, to support a stabilization of the attention. It's alright, it was alright, of course there was lots of other things going on but coming to this simple home base helps to stabilize the attention. And then gradually throughout the week we've been including other aspects of experience. We opened up to or directed the attention to Vedana and then to emotions and thoughts and to eating, tasting, seeing so that we have discovered that we can bring this mindfulness to all aspects of our experience. Throughout this we've still kept the anchor or the home base of the body breath sound as a place to come home to to stabilize the attention. If we got scattered or needed to to steady the attention. In the practice of choiceless attention we'll going to try and play with letting go of having, of directing the attention to anywhere in particular. So we'll give up or let go of having the home base as our place that we direct the attention intentionally and let the attention go where it is called. Attention has a very interesting role in our experience. There is a lot going on in every moment. And attention is that factor, is that aspect that lands on one particular aspect of experience. And we have been directing that attention. And so now we're going to let just let it go and see where it lands. Our job is to notice where it lands and be mindful of that. So just take a moment just now and just feel in. Just notice how attention moves from one aspect of experience to another. Just take a few moments and just feel in notice how that happens. There might be noticing a waiting, a waiting, a curiosity, a wondering, a breath, a sound. Of course the breath may be quite predominant or the body or sound the home base that you've been working with may be very predominant because we've been, it's familiar to us and we're in the habit of going there. So let the attention of course go to the home base if it goes and then when it moves notice where it goes and be mindful of that. And of course like other techniques or other times we're meditating the attention will get lost in thought or get or move away and get will lose our mindfulness and then mindfulness will come back. It's very interesting to notice that so when that happens notice that. I really enjoy noticing that I don't have to bring attention back. It establishes itself, mindfulness establishes itself. So there's no effort needed. Suddenly we realize oh awake again and then begin to just notice what's happening now. Where does the attention go now? The noting practice can be helpful to stay connected with what's happening and so if you find that's helpful please try that out. A little whisper in the back of the mind. Most of the experience, most of the attention is in what's happening and the note is a little whisper in the back of the mind. It's helpful to remember that this process is a very natural process. I've been noticing that people are, some people are standing in front of the center and watching the sunset. I'm guessing just watching the colors change. This naturally falling into this choiceless attention. If you've ever had a time when you've just watched or been in a nature place where you feel a bit relaxed and resting back just watching the light change in the sky or the waves on the water. Listening to the birds or the sounds of the breeze in the trees. Letting attention notice this movement and that movement and this sound. How it feels to be sitting on the earth. This is something that we just know how to do. It can be helpful to remember that experience in nature if it can support your body and your being to rest back and not try hard. Just let the attention naturally, easily, mindfully in a connected way know each passing experience. And so in the same way that we would watch the sunset or notice the trees changing, moving, the leaves on the trees, the birds calling. We bring that same kind of relaxed connected attention to our inner landscape as well. So inner nature, external nature is noticing these aspects of experience coming and going. Letting the attention move from one to the next as it moves naturally from this relaxed body, mind, heart. Might notice a sound then a tingling, the breath, a mood, a feeling tone. When the attention gets lost in thought and comes back, we can just ask what's happening now or tune in just without words to what is, what attention is landing on in this moment. Just from this relaxed, receptive, easeful way of being present. If you find yourself tightening up, trying hard to kind of be on top of the next experience, you can remind yourself of what it's like to be in nature, watching the ocean, listening to the trees and help the body remember that you know how to rest back, receive and be connected to these changing experiences. Just let the body rest back and then ask what's happening now. What's happening now? It can be interesting to be curious about whether within this changing flow of experience, it can be a sense of steadiness or continuity of mindfulness. Even when the objects are changing, there may be this sense of continuity or steadiness just in the mindfulness that can be with each rising, each experience. Friends, our invitation for the day is to play with this, choice of attention. See what happens when you open up like this. We'll still do the form of walking practices, of course, will be in our schedule, but let yourself open up and have a play with this, see what happens. You can always return to the anchor, the home base when you need to steady and then open up again and see what it's like to bring attention to our whole experience. Any questions about practice? Just a basic question. Could you explain or define Vedana as again? Yes. Vedana is translated as feeling tone. So it's not an emotion. It's a flavor that rises with every experience. So if we have a physical experience, there will be a Vedana either we that pleasant that experience will be experienced as pleasant, unpleasant or somewhere in between. We have a mental experience rises a thought or an emotion that thought or emotion will have a Vedana. The thought or emotion will be experienced as either pleasant, unpleasant or somewhere in between. The point isn't to get to pleasant Vedana. The intention is to be with the Vedana. Vedana rises. It's conditioned. It's how we respond to it that is in our influence. So can we notice unpleasant Vedana, give ourselves some space, use the foundation of the body to experience it, to explore it? And in that can we give ourselves some space between the experience which is unpleasant and the ill will or grasping which can arise after Vedana if we don't see Vedana. Very often if we're unaware of Vedana, the reaction rises very quickly. It's kind of like they're glued together. Vedana and aversion, unpleasant aversion can come very quickly. But if we give ourselves space, we begin to understand, oh, there can be unpleasant without the automatic move slide to ill will. And this is powerful because then we begin to understand freedom. Oh, can be with this unpleasant experience without clinging. So it's a very rich area. Thank you for your question. Thank you. I've never heard the phrase choice less attention, but I'm very familiar with Krishna Murti's choice less awareness. It seems to me like awareness is a state of being and attention is like a doing. So and it's like attention is something that arises to awareness which is always there without any doing. So I just wonder if you could comment on that. Yeah, we use this term choice as attention very consciously because it is the attention that is choice less. We're not directing the attention and in this practice really allowing we're really moving from the understanding that knowing consciousness rises with each event, each experience, sense store, sense contact, knowing rising. So with each event with each experience consciousness is coming together with what's happening so that that experience is known. And so that's what we are playing with in this practice, being able to work or notice that attention and how it's moving. I guess I had an observation that once you I opened it up to choice less attention, my thoughts drifted less. Like I stayed in the anchor more and I had to encourage myself like now you can think. You can go on to the you know the rabbit hole of thoughts that I was trying to stop this whole week. So it was weird. I felt more in control and more tied to my anchor when I got the permission to go down the rabbit hole. I don't know if that's something you guys have experienced or seen others do. Yes, definitely. Yes. So that's a great just great to notice. Sometimes we get a little tight when we're we think we have to stay on the anchor and some people can find this practice very freeing like that. So that's wonderful. So you can you can experiment with this feeling like free to bring choices attention in and just let yourself be present with what's here. And it sounds like you're saying that you're going down the rabbit hole less when you're trying not to go down the rabbit hole. So when I was yeah when I had the permission to go down the rabbit hole, I stayed tied to my anchor of breath. Right. And it's like thoughts were seizing and like seizing to exist. I was not getting lost in thoughts and I had to encourage myself. Now is the time you can get lost in thought. Alright. Maybe I can make a little distinction. Not exactly giving encouragement to get lost in thought and to think and not really giving permission to think and get lost in the rabbit hole. More to still continue with the practice of noticing thought as a way of not getting lost in the rabbit hole. So we're not just a distinction. We're not really giving that permission to get lost in the rabbit hole. We're still working with thought wisely. So noticing thought or noticing the pattern of thought so that we're still noticing that there's a difference between thinking and getting lost in the rabbit hole and thinking about the thought. But it's very interesting that when you have this permission that the strength of your practice, the strength of your mindfulness is just naturally not getting lost in the rabbit hole. Now you don't have now it sounds like it's just coming as second nature now. Is that makes sense? Yeah. It's beautiful to notice that. That's the stability of your mindfulness now. Okay. This is a question akin to the battling question. And that is about pointing one's feet towards the Buddha is not to be done. And I've heard that so did the etiquette. And it's hard to take that one seriously. If I were in a Buddhist country, I would be more careful with that. I don't understand why here it's a thing. And that's not pointing feet toward the Buddha. Yes. Yes. Okay. Well, you know, actually, we have that in indigenous tradition to and actually I've never really asked the elder why. And so I don't and I'm myself. I was it. If you need to do that for your body's comfort. Go go ahead. Energetically, there's I'm trusting that there is a reason anything. Yeah, Carol. So I'll just repeat that just so everyone can hear Carol thing. Yes, it's a tradition in the Buddhist countries, but we're not trying to bring it here and we haven't had the instruction that instruction to avoid that. So that's not something we're trying to import here. That's good to hear. I went to the office about sitting using two Zapatans to sit like this. And I said, fine, fine, what you need, but don't point your feet towards the Buddha. Okay. All right. She got she got some instruction from the office to not point her feet towards the Buddha. So Carol said go with what Carol said. Thank you friends and thanks for clarifying. That's a that's a very helpful helpful. All right, friends. Some announcements for today. Well, actually, we'll want to say that Alexa will be sitting in with me for the practice groups today. And secondly, I want to just offer a small PS to the talk. I felt that I needed to say last night that the practitioners whose stories I shared last night, I had asked for permission from them to do so. So I wanted to say that in the hall. Also didn't name the song, which I think is at oversight. It's the I heard that from the Resistance Revival Chorus. And it's a black gospel tradition. No song. So I'll put that in the Darmacy. Just it's important to note that I'll put that in the Darmacy description description. And lastly, and most importantly, we are in the very heart of the retreat now. And it's really, really helpful at this point to honor all of the effort and sincerity that you have put in to your practice. And you're in a time in the retreat where you are, we all have developed some Samadhi. And so this time of the retreat is very helpful to hold it with care and respect for your work and for the work of the Sangha. So really want to honor today as a precious day of practice. Tomorrow we have a whole day of practice. And so remembering of course to hold remember our noble silence and our commitment really honoring your dedication, your practice and how you have carried yourself to this moment. And so honoring your day of practice have a rich day of exploration.