Two Attention-Training Practices
In the exercises in this book you are learning to strengthen both your task attention (so you can stay focused on whatever you are trying to accomplish) and your self-observational ability (so you’re better able to notice what is happening in your mind and body while you’re doing whatever you’re doing).
Mindful Breathing
Box A.1 summarizes the mindful breathing practice, which can help you to develop stronger task focus. As I explain to my students, this practice is simple but not easy. It is simple: You begin to focus your attention on the sensations of your breathing (the in-and-out movements that arise as the lungs take in and expel air). And when you notice that your attention has wandered away to something else, you bring it back to the breath. But it isn’t easy: Because the mind has a strong tendency to wander, we need to be patient, bringing our attention back again and again.
You needn’t practice mindful breathing to do the work in this book. As I explain at the end of Chapter 3, you will actually be achieving some of the same results in Exercise 2, by bringing your attention back to your email when you find yourself wandering away. Still, mindful breathing is one of the simplest practices you can do to strengthen your attention. (I do a version of it every morning.) My students sometimes find it helpful to take ten or fifteen minutes for mindful breathing before they go online.
. . .
Adopt a posture that is both relaxed and alert
For example: Sit upright in a chair, feet firmly on the ground, hands folded in your lap, eyes either closed or lightly open.
Begin attending to the sensations of your breathing
Identify a place in your body (your belly, your chest, your nostrils) where you can feel the physical sensations that arise as you breathe in and out.
Notice when your mind wanders away from the sensations of the breath
Inevitably, you will lose touch with the breath. When this happens, briefly notice where your attention has gone (to future planning, to a memory of an event from years ago, to an imagined dialogue with a friend?).
Bring your attention back to the breath
Once you’ve noticed that your mind has wandered, return to the sensations of the breath. However many times your mind wanders away, just keep bringing it back.
. . .
There is also a variant of the exercise that is both simple and easy. All you need to do, at any moment of the day, is to take two or three conscious breaths: simply focus on the in-and-out movement of the breath, making an effort at the same time to relax your body. It’s easy: who can’t sustain their attention on their breathing for two, three, or four breaths? The hard part is remembering to do it.
The Mindful Check-in
In our rushed and production-oriented culture, we tend to be focused on “getting things done.” This often means focusing more on the goal we’re trying to achieve than on our actual moment-to-moment experience while we’re working toward it. The mindful check-in practice is meant to counter this tendency, asking you to notice what is happening in your mind and body while you’re online. As explained in Box A.2, it asks you to explore your breath and body, your emotional state, and the quality of your attention. (The actual order of the questions isn’t as important as taking each one in turn, dwelling on each one long enough to see what you can discover about your current state of being.)
When I introduce this exercise in the classroom, I present it as a guided meditation, asking students initially to close their eyes, if they’re comfortable doing so. I then pose each question in turn, giving them several minutes to answer it. The best way to understand this practice is of course to do it, and so I suggest that you take a few minutes to answer these questions for yourself right now, as you’re reading these words.
. . .
What is the quality of your breathing?
What is the quality of your breathing: Is it shallow or deep, fast or slow? Are you holding your breath?
What is going on in and with your body?
What is your posture like (are you upright, slouched, or lying down)? Where do you feel tension or pain? Are parts of your body numb?
What is your current emotional state?
Are you feeling up or down, excited, bored, anxious, . . . ?
What is the quality of your attention?
Is your attention highly focused, or scattered, or somewhere in between?
. . .
What is the quality of your breathing? Take a moment to notice the current rhythm and pattern of your breathing, but don’t try to alter it (although some change may naturally occur during this period of observation). Is your breathing currently fast or slow, shallow or deep? Are you holding your breath? Or are you perhaps having trouble even noticing your breathing?
What is going on in and with your body? How are you sitting, standing, or lying down? Are you holding yourself in a comfortable position? Can you notice places of tension or pain (in your neck or shoulders, for example), or places where you are currently numb to sensation? Overall, would you say that you are feeling relaxed or tense?
What is your current emotional state? You may find a word to describe your current state, such as “delighted” or “bored.” Or trying to find a verbal label may get in the way of just sensing your current mood. Then too, you may not be able to identify your emotional state, either verbally or nonverbally. In this case, does the quality of your breathing or the state of your body (which you examined in the first two questions) give you any hints about your current emotional state?
What is the quality of your attention? How focused or distracted are you at the moment? Answering the three previous questions may have been hard because it has been challenging to focus on them, and thus to pay attention to your breath, your body, and your emotions. (If this is the case, just knowing this, recognizing the current state of your attention, is itself an achievement.) Or you may be in a state of greater settled and focused awareness.
The mindful check-in can be done just as I’ve outlined it here, as you sequence through these questions over the course of a few minutes. But after you’ve gained some familiarity with the process of turning your attention inward in this way, it can also be done in a more abbreviated form: You simply ask yourself, “How am I feeling right now?” and notice which aspects of your current mental and bodily experience are most salient.