🔼: [[💡 Dharana]] #### Focus & Concentration Focus is our ability to pay attention to something. Concentration is our ability to stay with it. - [[🔑 Motivation follows Focus]] - [[🔑 Focusing on something can increase the likelihood of the outcome]] - [[🔑 The mind can only hold so much]] - [[🔑 Attention is like a spotlight; Awareness is like candlelight]] - [[🔑 Multitasking fractures our Focus]] - [[🔑 We are what we practice]] ##### Effortful Concentration A [[💡 Parts|Part]]-driven limited internal resource which can be strengthened through various practices. The effortful focus that gets strengthened is that of a [[💡 Parts|Part]], often noticed as a kind of mental contraction or grip. We can usually sense this part in the head and behind the eyes when we're trying to focus on something and ignore distractions. ###### Effortful Concentration and "Distractions" Traditional [[🕯️ Meditation 🧘]] practices which strengthen the Effortful Concentration [[💡 Parts|Part]] teach us the same steps: 1. Hold our attention somewhere (usually a [[💡 Meditation Anchor|meditation anchor]]) 2. Notice when we've been pulled away or distracted 3. Gently and kindly bring our attention back to our object of focus > [!Example] > When we want to read, we direct our mind to the text. > Then we hold our attention on the text. > Then we can get [[🛡️ Distracting|distracted]], so we involuntarily release the text. > Then we direct our mind toward the distraction. > Then we continue to hold the distraction in our mind until we notice we’ve become distracted. > Then we release the distraction. > Then we re-direct our mind to the text and hold our attention there again. > [!tip] Problems with Effortful Concentration > By understanding how Effortful Concentration works, we can use various techniques to both strengthen it and mitigate distractions. A great number of mediation practices specialize in this, at least as they're ordinarily taught. They are somewhat effective, but they cause a lot of inner-conflict or even [[💡 Polarization|polarization]] because we're often [[💡 Blending|blended]] with a focusing part who's wrestling with other [[💡 Parts|Parts]] and brute-forcing them out of the way, which I generally don't advise and do not teach. This can even turn into something like [[🛡️ Spiritual Bypassing]]. > > <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9_HSPFqHOu0?feature=oembed" height="113" width="200" style="aspect-ratio: 1.76991 / 1; width: 100%; height: 100%;"></iframe> ##### Effortless Concentration A [[Qualities of Presence ☀️|Quality of Presence ☀️]] which rises naturally during a [[Flow State]] or an [[🕯️ Unblending|unblended]] state and requires no effort to maintain because [[💡 Parts|Parts]] are relaxed or trust us to handle things. It’s experienced as a kind of [[☀️ Calm]], open groundedness or an absorption – a relaxing in and with, rather than constriction around. [[🔑 Presence is effortless and always here]]. %% [[💡 Samadhi|Samadhi]] %% ###### Addressing Parts During Concentration Practices [[🔑 Parts use our minds and bodies to get or distract our attention]] — either deliberately or accidentally through their interests, concerns, fixations, or preoccupations. When we find ourselves pulled away from our object of focus (and we definitely will), we can acknowledge the [[💡 Parts|Part]] who did the pulling – these are [[🕯️ Mindful Moments]]. Sometimes we’re lost in thought for a long while before noticing it, which tells us we were [[💡 Blending|blended]]. Sometimes after we do realize it, we might feel annoyed, or like we're a bad meditator, or forcefully snatch our attention away from the thought and back to the anchor — *that is also a [[💡 Parts|Part]]*. [[🔑 Presence is effortless and always here|🔑 Presence is effortless]] and can [[🔑 All Parts are welcome exactly as they are|🔑 welcome all Parts exactly as they are]]; it is parts who effort. To treat our thoughts and feelings as something to be moved away from or ignored, as is ordinarily taught in many eastern traditions, is a mistake. 1. Sometimes [[💡 Parts|Parts]] are just daydreamy. They're wondering about or interested in something – a meal, a conversation, a song, something without much urgency or emotionality. We can ask those [[💡 Parts|Parts]] for space to continue with what we're doing for the next x number of minutes (depending on the length of the practice), and they will often say yes. We then naturally become [[💡 Focus & Concentration#Effortless Concentration|effortlessly focused]]. 2. Sometimes the [[💡 Parts|Part]] is actually concerned about something. A worry, an important task, something that was forgotten and needs attending to. When this happens we can ask the [[💡 Parts|Part]] whether they would be willing to give us this time to continue the practice with the promise of hearing them out immediately after. I like to meditate with my fingers on a keyboard and type whatever the concern is. I notice the [[💡 Parts|Part]] relax because they know they're "on my calendar" and won't be forgotten. 3. Some [[💡 Parts|Parts]] may be feeling agitated or spaced-out during the practice, and that may trigger [[🛡️ Criticizing]] [[💡 Protector Parts|Protector Parts]] or make them want to stop or avoid the practice. [[🛠️ Concentration Course-Corrections]] can help them feel more energized or relaxed and make the practice easier. Minor course-corrections make quite the difference here. We can also generally lower our [[💡 Cognitive Load|Cognitive Load]]. 4. Sometimes our [[💡 Parts|Parts]] need our attention right this second, in which case we can stop and move to [[🕯️ Parts Practices]]. We're likely to find ourselves effortlessly focused on whatever Part most needs our attention. 5. [[Become absorbed]] in the object of focus. 6. Try 5+ minutes of focusing on a [[🛠️ Yantras|Yantra]], then move back to the original object of focus. %% Our mind feels remarkably different depending on what kind of concentration we're approaching a practice with. | | Effortful Concentration | Effortless Concentration | | :-----: | :---------------------------------------: | :-----------------------------------: | | Direct | we point our attention at something | a coming to, glancing at, noticing of | | Hold | grasping, holding, constricting around it | a presence, being with, absorption in | | Release | the grasp is released | an easeful turning away | %% ##### Concentration Practices [[🔑 Meditation can be either Presence-led or Parts-led]]. - [[🧘 Samatha Meditation]] & [[🧘 Vipassana (Insight) Meditation]] - [[🧘 Trataka (Fixed Point Gazing)]] - [[🧘 Pratyahara]] - [[🧘 See, Hear, Feel]] - [[🧘 See, Hear, Feel Good]] - Counting the Breath (inhale, count 1, exhale count 2, inhale count 3, etc. up to 10, then start over) [^1]: [[👤 Loch Kelly|Loch Kelly]] - Effortless Mindfulness | Elevating Consciousness Podcast #30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuya9OjR04 40:53