G'day everyone!

I'd like to ask another "how to note" question.
I got the recommendation to note more quickly, so today I tried to speed things up...

What happened was like this:

"rising" (and still rising, I noticed an itch on the right side of my head) "itching"
(probably still inbreath) "rising"
(and definitely still itching on right side, my mind noticed an itch on left side of head) "itching",
(now noticing there is still itch on right side), "itching"
(again noticing itch on left side), itching,
(now noticing that outbreath is occuring with breast and abdomen falling) "falling"
(back to) "itching,
(and noticing pain )"pain",
(still falling) "falling"
(and thinking 'damn, is my mind just rushing to notice it all?') "thinking", and so on.

That is, as soon as I noticed my mind was somewhere, I tried noting it (several sensations at the time of one breath).
But as I was wondering at times... Was I just rushing to notice and just jumping around??? Or is this a way of doing it?


Also I have a hard time noting intentions, I most often note the "swallowing" of saliva for instance, as it is happening.
Any tips there?

Thanks to all of you helping us rookies!!

Regards,
Mike

hi mike,

sounds like you're doing fine. don't forget to the note the sense of rushing - 'rushing'.

do you also practise walking meditation? that may more easily give you a better sense of what noting intention is like.

tarin

Hi, Tarin!
Thanks.

I guess the reason for me asking is that "fast noting" makes me sort of play a game of "note as much as I can".
And the feeling I get doing this "noting pinball game" is markedly different from how I've done insight practice before, e.g. follow the breath, if something grabs your attention, notice it and go back to breath.
In this case, smaller things don't really "grab" my attention. My mind feels calmer here..?

But when trying to note fast, I try to note everything (not possible yet) that I notice, which fills my mind fast

Also, I see there is a difference in noting different things..?
When I note breath rising and falling, I am directing my attention to that area. The same, when I do walking meditation, I direct my attention to "lifting" and "putting". That is, this is an active focusing of attention, whereas the fast noting is more passive in that:
"my mind went there", "my mind went there" (i.e. noting pinball) and then sometimes I just passively notice I am breathing, and sometimes I actively redirect focus back to breath.

I don't know if these reflections make sense?

I don't do much of walking meditation (yet?), but sometimes. I also remind myself at times to note during everyday life.

Thanks again
/Mike

either way, done properly, will work, but fast, clear noting has been shown to work well for many people who haven't had much luck with approaches emphasising calm.




that's part of the idea - to do this exercise in the most efficient manner, you want to be completely, even overwhelmingly, engaged with it.



to do this exercise in the most efficient and well-rounded manner, you want to be able to work with both the passive and active forms of your attention's movement, and be able to keep noting through both regardless of whether you have to direct your attention or not (and, by the way, the mental act of directing attention is intention - worth noting).



yes, so carry on.



walking meditation, though lacking the ease and bliss which can arise during focused sits (and which almost inevitably serve as a sort of carrot on a stick for the meditator), can be surprisingly powerful and purposeful; i recommend doing more of it and noting the intention involved in it, as intention is generally easier for a beginner to observe while walking than while sitting.

tarin

Thanks a lot for all the info you gave me in this thread, Tarin!

Invaluable for me with this new approach (for me, that is) !

/Mike

I agree. My Mahasi-style teachers have always encouraged me to walk as much as I sit.

If observing intention is elusive, one approach is to stop and stand still for a while. Or even stop in mid step. The intention to start moving again will soon be obvious.

Mike

Thanks, Mike (from another Mike )

Hmmm... I could never actually find the intention. I was obsessed with trying to find it for a few days in Cause and Effect, but never succeeded. Then I saw one intention arise during early A&P stuff. It was the intention to become angry after hearing a loud noise while I was trying to concentrate; the intention arose dependent upon a non-verbal thought that contained the content of "That noise was bad and unpleasant because I'm trying to meditate now and it's distracting." It was cool, but as is typical of A&P stuff, I haven't encountered it since then even though I'd like to.

Equanimity, from what I hear, is a great time to see intentions arising, especially intentions behind mental phenomena like attention.

Thank you for sharing!
Interesting to see that you've got so far without actually having noted intentions.

I guess that means that I probably can get too intellectually stuck in what progress "should" look like

Regards,
Mike

As I wrote earlier, my fast noting has been consisting of "as soon as my mind wonders, I aspire to note it" (I often realize afterwards that I actually missed the moment and am noting after the fact, but I guess this is common in the beginning?).

Now I've been trying to note everytime I notice "rising", as in several times during an inbreath.
But when I do this it feels more of mantra recital, as in "how many times can I say to myself 'rising' during one inbreath".
Does this appreciation of actually noticing that the sensation of "rising" can be broken down into parts come by itself even if I am slow noting ("rising" once per breath, "falling" once...)?

I really can't see any beginning to see the "frames of the film" yet...

Thanks, guys!