Having taught mindfulness for twenty years, I’ve noticed {that a} particular sort of meditation observe has dominated the sphere for many years—classical mindfulness. Take note of your respiration, and when your consideration wanders, carry it again to your breath. It’s nice to observe this slim, object-focused, and effort-based mindfulness, however there’s additionally a mindfulness that’s wide-open, objectless, and easy. I name it pure consciousness.
Pure consciousness is a manner of training wherein your focus is on consciousness itself, moderately than on the issues you’re conscious of. It’s typically relaxed, easy, and spacious, and it could possibly elicit a profound sense of well-being. The time period pure consciousness invitations you to note or rediscover the notice that already exists and is obtainable to you at any second.
As a result of pure consciousness is tough to outline, it’s primarily acknowledged experientially. Let me offer you some markers for it. Experiencing pure consciousness can really feel like:
- Your thoughts is totally conscious and undistracted, with out doing something particularly to make your self conscious.
- Your thoughts is like huge open area, and every thing in it’s simply passing by.
- You’re conscious, however not recognized with the a part of you that’s conscious.
- Your thoughts feels at relaxation.
- You’re noticing that you’re noticing, and you’re abiding in that consciousness.
- Every thing simply appears to be occurring by itself.
- You are feeling a way of contentment not linked to exterior circumstances.
- You’re merely being, with out agenda, and this beingness creates a sense of timelessness and ease.
The way to Shift into Pure Consciousness
When you have an present mindfulness observe, let’s have a look at three deliberate shifts you can also make throughout your classical mindfulness meditation that time you towards pure consciousness. Upon getting evoked pure consciousness, you’ll be able to then strive pure consciousness meditations to delay and deepen your expertise.
1. Enjoyable Effort
Effort in classical mindfulness meditation usually means you rigorously and faithfully return your consideration to our primary focus, usually your respiration. Enjoyable your effort to shift into pure consciousness is a little bit totally different. It means you rein within the tendency to place your consideration in your breath or different objects, and simply be with the objects as they come up.
Many meditators concern that in the event that they cease making an attempt, nothing will occur. Or their thoughts will wander in all places in the event that they’re not making any effort to do one thing with it. However simply sitting down and never doing something wouldn’t be pure consciousness observe—it could be sitting down and doing nothing. Dropping or stress-free effort could be very totally different as a result of we’re tuning into the notice that’s already current, and so we don’t need to strive laborious to get there.
Additionally, you received’t essentially have a wandering thoughts since you calm down your effort after having labored laborious to concentrate. Consider shifting into pure consciousness like driving a bicycle. You pedal actually laborious, however then at a sure level you’ll be able to cease pedaling and coast. The bike stays upright, you’re nonetheless heading the place you wish to go, however you’re not working so laborious. In reality, it’s fairly exhilarating.
So what does stress-free your effort really feel like whenever you’re meditating? It seems like stopping the try to wrestle together with your unruly thoughts, preventing to carry it again to the current. As an alternative, you’re resting, stress-free, and exploring the notice that’s already current. It feels immensely joyful to cease the wrestle.
2. Broaden Your Consideration
In meditation as in life, your consideration might be narrowly or broadly targeted. You may consider consideration as like a digital camera. Generally you employ a telescopic lens to deal with one thing fairly slim, and typically you employ a panoramic lens to take a large panorama.
Whenever you meditate, you’ll be able to apply slim or panoramic consideration. An instance of slim focus can be attending primarily to a single object, like your breath. Panoramic consideration is huge open—you discover many issues at play or simply have a basic huge view.
Broad, panoramic consideration tends to be the kind of consideration current once we do pure consciousness observe. It doesn’t equal pure consciousness, but it surely does level us within the route of pure consciousness. As a result of most of us gravitate towards targeted consideration in each meditation and day by day life, opening up panoramically can invite in pure consciousness. It counteracts our traditional forward-focus tendencies and permits our minds to relaxation and reset, form of like a mind trip.
3. Drop Objects
As a practitioner of classical mindfulness, most likely crucial shift you can also make to ask in pure consciousness is to maneuver your consideration from an object to objectlessness.
Objects of meditation are, merely put, the stuff you deal with, such because the breath, physique sensations, feelings, ideas, or sounds. Specializing in objects and attending to them is mostly how we stay our life as properly.
Objectless consciousness is whenever you focus much less on the objects of consciousness and as a substitute deal with the consciousness itself. Objects will come up in your meditation—ideas, feelings, sensations—however your focus is on the notice itself.
Experiencing Objectless Consciousness
When individuals tune into objectless consciousness, they have an inclination to expertise it in three other ways.
It’s that wherein every thing is contained. “Our thoughts is just like the sky,” it’s typically stated, “and every thing in it’s like clouds floating by.” Whenever you flip your consideration to the sky-like nature of your thoughts, noticing the boundless area round issues, you expertise a discipline of huge consciousness wherein every thing is contained. Some individuals expertise objectless consciousness on this manner.
It’s that which is aware of. Most of us are used to specializing in objects once we meditate. However what occurs whenever you make the shift to noticing that which is conscious—to in search of the knower? For those who begin looking for the knower, what do you discover?
As you discover issues, you can even discover the factor that notices issues. You may take your consideration from an outward deal with objects and switch it inward, as should you have been reversing your consideration. You progress from that which you’re conscious of to that which is conscious of what you’re conscious of.
It’s that which simply is. Generally in objectless consciousness you expertise a deep felt sense that you’re conscious. You’re right here, totally current, and every thing appears to be occurring by itself. It might really feel like this consciousness is unshakable, that it’s spontaneously current, and that there’s nothing you are able to do to cease being conscious. It doesn’t matter what is going on, together with ideas, you’re totally and uncompromisingly conscious.
Apply: Expertise Your Pure Consciousness
I invite you to offer pure consciousness a strive. Deliver to it a spirit of experimentation and curiosity. Benefit from the course of. And belief your self—should you suppose you’re coming into the territory, you most likely are.
Listed below are just a few “glimpse” practices which you could insert into your classical mindfulness meditation. I like to recommend concentrating your thoughts for some time by noticing your respiration after which shifting over to considered one of these practices:
Recollection
One of many easiest methods to entry pure consciousness is thru reminiscence. Let your self keep in mind a time whenever you felt awake, linked, peaceable, and expansive—in a state of “beingness.” Don’t strive too laborious. Let it come to you in a easy manner.
Now keep in mind the way you felt on the time. What did your physique really feel like? How about your coronary heart? See should you can invite in a full-bodied expertise of the reminiscence. Recall particulars: sight, scents, sounds, and every other sensory expertise.
Now discover what is going on within the current second. See if a way of beingness is current for you, simply by your imagining a previous expertise. What does that beingness really feel like? Connectedness, ease, presence, leisure? Let your self relaxation right here.
Broaden Your Discipline of Consciousness
Start with expanded listening—listening out to the far reaches of your listening to. When you’ve expanded your listening, open your eyes and broaden your imaginative and prescient. Let your field of regard be expansive, noticing the area between issues and viewing peripherally. Then broaden your physique consciousness. First discover your again physique. Then start to broaden additional out, sensing the sphere round, above, and under you in 360 levels.
At this level, your senses of listening to, sight, and feeling ought to all be expanded. From right here, you’ll be able to start to play with that enlargement. Are you able to keep expanded but in addition really feel embodied? Can you may have simultaneous internal and outer consciousness? What predominates?
Whenever you discover your self tensing, simply calm down your physique. It is likely to be attainable to remain linked to just one discipline (sight, sound, feeling), or maybe you’ll be able to really feel all of them concurrently. Relaxation on this consciousness for so long as you would like.
Thoughts Like an Ocean
Think about your thoughts is like an ocean. On the floor are uneven waves and turbulence. These are the dramas you get caught in: ideas, fears, feelings, and tales. Think about sinking under the floor into the infinite depth. Deep within the ocean is a boundless stillness that’s utterly undisturbed by the turbulence above. Are you able to join with this deep tranquility? As soon as you’ll be able to sense it, see should you can relaxation there for some time.
