7 THE SPECTRUM OF AWARENESS PRACTICES

Go to a window with a busy, active street scene outside of it—one with lots of cars. Or you can imagine this scenario in your mind’s eye.

Look out the window. First, make an effort to focus on one car. Follow it as it enters your view out the window and then exits the other side. Choose a few more cars and observe them in this way.

Next, rather than following one car from one side of the window to the other, notice other cars in the scene, one by one. Focus with some effort, but not as intensely as before. Then let your attention go to whatever grabs it, in no particular order. You might notice a blue sedan, then a plumbing truck, then a minivan. Where is your attention drawn? Watch with curiosity as the vehicles grab your attention.

Finally, look out the window again and take in the whole view in front of you. Instead of focusing on any one vehicle or multiple vehicles one by one, can you notice, really, pretty much everything? Can you even notice aspects of your view that might not be in the foreground—like the road or the sky? You may not notice the scene with a lot of specificity, as you did in the earlier views, but can you observe the whole scene in a spacious, relaxed, seemingly effortless way—and still notice the complexity of the many things happening in front of you? Stay here for a while.

As a bonus, see if you can even notice the part of you that is aware of the scene in front of you, looking through the window at the whole view. Can you become aware that you are aware of looking? This part is tricky. Some students report a dissolving of the viewer or sense that they are both perceiving the scene and part of the scene.

This exercise helps you see the different ways you can be aware: focused, flexible, and natural, in that order. Different types of awareness practices cultivate each of the three types of awareness. When you put them on a continuum, you can see how they relate to one another. In this book I will concentrate primarily on natural awareness practice, but will also include the other types of awareness practices, since, as this continuum shows, they are related to one another. They’re just employing different ways of being aware. I call this continuum the spectrum of awareness practices.

The Spectrum of Awareness Practices

A spectrum with three types of awareness practices looks like this:

This is the technical part, so hang in here with me. 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. As you can imagine, it often takes a lot of effort. Focused awareness practice is like tracking a single car as we look out a window.

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. Flexible awareness practice, in our window analogy, is attending to whatever vehicle grabs our attention as we look out the window.

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. In our analogy, natural awareness is sitting back and taking in the whole scene simultaneously and without focusing on specific vehicles, even turning our attention to awareness itself. Despite not trying to focus, we can effortlessly be aware of the scene.

These three types of awareness practices are not fixed points on the spectrum; there are degrees of each practice, and they blend into one another. There may be other variations along the way, but these three are the main ones. They are different ways that our meditation practice can manifest itself at different times. Sometimes they occur in combination, as if you’re doing several things at once.

The most important thing to know is that awareness practices fall on a horizontal spectrum, not in a vertical hierarchy or in levels, and are thoroughly related to one another. And they differently emphasize degrees of effort, focus, and objects, as we will talk more about throughout the book.

I often use a single three-step guided meditation practice to teach students about these three individual awareness practices. I teach them in this way, not because one awareness practice is better than another, but because I think it is helpful to have a single set of steps to move our attention from focused awareness (with which meditators are most familiar) to natural awareness (with which meditators are usually least familiar). Flexible awareness practice is a great intermediary step, as it combines elements from each of the other awareness practices at the opposite ends of the spectrum. I’ve included my three-step guided meditation practice in the appendix, so you can try it yourself.

Sailing, Diving, and More

Here is my favorite analogy to describe the spectrum of awareness practices. It came from a student who has been meditating for some time.

Focused awareness practice is like being a sailor who is trying to keep a sailboat on course. The sailor adjusts the tiller left or right to navigate where the boat is heading. If it goes off course, he moves the tiller accordingly. The sailor has a destination and is working to reach it. He may feel mastery, purpose, and clarity.

Flexible awareness practice is like being a scuba diver. The scuba diver is underwater, eyes wide open, observing the array of fish, coral, and plant life that swim by or float in front of her. She can adjust her depth and amount of oxygen to investigate a particular fish, perhaps; she can also relax in one place and notice what drifts through the sparkling water in her field of vision. Scuba divers often describe a deep sense of peace and awe at the exquisite variety of undersea life.

Natural awareness practice—well, it’s sort of like being the water itself.