In this week’s Guided Meditation, Mindfulness Teacher and Designer Toby Sora shows us how we can use distractions to increase our attention and sharpen our attention.
It may seem counterintuitive, but it helps to purposefully adjust to distractions and strengthen your ability to actually concentrate.
In today’s guided practice, meditation teacher Toby Sora introduces what he calls the “concentration algorithm.” This practice helps to quickly achieve deep focus by identifying the type of sensory experience that is naturally depicted and providing a structure of how to focus on it.
Note that this meditation includes a long pause of complete silence as part of your practice. Feel free to pause the recording if you need more time.
Use distractions to hone your focus
Read and practice the guided meditation script below and pause after each paragraph. Or listen to audio practice.
In this meditation, we explore what we like to call “concentration algorithms.” Take a little time to stretch and calm down. You can practice today’s meditation by opening and closing your eyes. Pay attention to your breath. You don’t need to breathe in any particular way. Just breathe at a natural pace. Please note that air is coming and going through the nose. Please note that your chest and belly are enlarged and you have a contract. If your attention wanders through thoughts, sounds, or other experiences, that’s fine. Make sure that distractions can come and go in and out of the background of your consciousness. Next, gently regain your breath. Check in now. What were you most distracted? Your neighbor was mowing the lawn and have you been distracted by the sound of the lawnmower? Or have you been distracted by the thoughts? This doesn’t have to be accurate. Please guess. Which of the following categories best describes what you were most distracted? If you had to guess, what did you most distract you? What category does that fall into? Options are anything other than vision, sound, physical sensations, breathing, mental images, mental talk, and emotional body sensations. Next, let’s switch techniques. For the next little bit, focus on what’s most distracting you. For example, if you’re distracted by the sounds of your environment, focus on the sounds. Or, if you’re distracted by a burst of mental talk, listen carefully. Sometimes, if we go to focus on it, the experience may end. For example, focus on the sound of your neighbor mowing the lawn, but turn off the mower. This is also very common in mental images and mental talk. We may notice flash bursts of spiritual stories and spiritual images, but when we try to focus on them, it runs off like a mouse when the cat enters the room. There are trial-designed real tricks of meditation trading. If the experience is finished when you go to focus on it, it’s fine. Focus on the corresponding state of peace. For example, if the sound disappears, focus on silence. If your mental talk disappears, focus on mental quietness. If your mental image disappears, focus on a blank mental screen. If you remember that you can always focus on a comfortable state of peace that you respond at any time, there is something to focus on. Keep this in mind as you keep focusing on what’s distracting you from your breath. Let’s check in again. What have you been most distracted since the switching technique? Remember, you can choose from sounds, physical sensations, mental stories, mental images, or emotional body sensations. Let’s switch techniques one last time. Focus on what’s distracting you the most. And if it stops, focus on the corresponding state of peace. For example, focus on physical emotions and, unless it stops, in that case, focus on emotional peace. Or focus on your mental story. Unless you stop, in that case you will focus on mentally quiet. Take some time to reflect before wrapping. Today we focused on a few things. What is the easiest way to focus on? There is no correct or wrong answer. We simply explore our minds and become acquaintances. Whatever is the easiest to focus on, remember it and hone it on focusing on it the next time you meditate. This is how the concentration algorithm works. It helps us to discover the types of sensory experiences that we are attracted to nature, and then gives us a structure in how we can focus on it.
