Hello,

I have tried reading all posts related to noting speed and precision but still couldn't find an answer to this question. (Maybe I missed some)

How does the mind gain speed and precision to move to higher stages?

At the moment my practice is slow noting once every 3-4 secs based on the speed of sensations. Yet my mind goes into a lot of calm states where I cannot find anything to note. Even if I note "confusion", "searching"...still doesn't help.

Is it that sensations are not arising or that my mind is not fast enough to detect them? If the latter, what is the solution?
I tried going through a vocab list and doing samatha first but no success.

Hoping to move from 3C to A&P.

Many thanks.

Focus on sensations that are obviously moving and note everytime you see it changing.

Rising&falling of the breath in the abdomen; how many !Bip! can you note in one in-breat? Beginning and ending? How many in between? It's mostly a matter of training.

Sounds obviously change very quickly as well, there are a lot of stuff to note there

If you are more interested in the body, my suggestion is to focus on the more sensible areas, wich are,in order; feets, hands, lips, genitals; avoidthe genitals if it feels uncomfortable; if you don'tnote any sensation in the beginning, just stay there those partsf thebodybecome sensible quite quickly, you'll have plentyof noting material there if you just wait some time; focusing there is also doing great stuff for you energy body, btw.

However, if you are interested in the A&P, noting 24/7 is essential.

.In daily life, when you are moving, observe how the viual field is constantly changing; that's very easy; if you eyes are closed, note how the stuff behind the eyelid if moving, and note it as quickly as you can.

You might use the external senses as home-base to return to in daily life when there is nothing to note; So, the posture, sounds, sights, they can always be noted.

You can also decide to change focus between sense doors:-breath, sound, sight, sitting, sound, sound, sight, walking...

Is that useful?

Make sure you're noting "doubt", "indecision", "confusion" when the noting stalls. Have bare awareness of phenomenon before you note. Note any "rehearsing", "planning", "thinking", "imagining". A good thing to do is to note all day and notice how "imagning" makes you feel in your body especially in regards to likes and dislikes. Do this while you are following any of your habits.

Ultimately practice and time will make you better at it. Labelling will never be as fast as the sensations but bare awareness of the sensations is the most important part. Labelling allows you to see how one phenomenon can affect another making you react. If your having trouble coming up with labels you can study the 4 foundations of mindfulness and make a large list of the things that happen for each foundation and practice just 1 foundation at a time until you are good at each one then note anything as it happens. The consciousness (knowing part of the mind) is registering this stuff but you have to acknowledge it and fully experience it. The knowing part can see things like "interest", "attention", "intention to pay attention". The imagination part likes to project on top of things to find what is addictive or aversive so it can react. Your job is to see the reaction, avoid spinning in thoughts about why you like or dislike something (clinging) and keep consistent. As you get disenchanted with fixation/addiction/wallowing/rumination those mental habits start to atrophy and mental peace is more common. You want the amygdala to react to what is happening now as opposed to mental movies because it will react to things that aren't happening.

You can switch between noting with verbalizing/ping-pong noting with others/silent noting with just bare awareness with acknowledgment (Daniel might use a beep or use "uh-huh")

Here's a good summary of noting and some of the pitfalls:

Gil Fronsdal - noting

That really helps and sums it up. The visual field in daily life is an interesting one. I think I got the theory now and should put some serious time in the practice especially off the cushion. thanks.

Very helpful. thanks. Do you know where I can find a good translation of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta?

Is there anyone here who does NOT like the Ven. Analayo's translation? From what I can tell, even if it sits on the shelf for months, when a person starts to read it, they like it or some part of it. I think it's in German also. Not sure what your first language is...

I would agree with that recommendation. Every chapter is good.