Favorite ways to empty the brain

[mamza]

Hey, guys, been a while. Seems like it's longer and longer before I come back here each time. Anyway, the mind's been busier than usual lately. What's everyone's favorite ways to keep it clear? I'm a big fan of staring and breathing. Lately life has been distracting though, so I'm looking to expand the repertoire (again).

[laughter]

Oct 9, 2018 13:52:38 GMT -5 mamza said:

Hey, guys, been a while. Seems like it's longer and longer before I come back here each time. Anyway, the mind's been busier than usual lately. What's everyone's favorite ways to keep it clear? I'm a big fan of staring and breathing. Lately life has been distracting though, so I'm looking to expand the repertoire (again).

Hey guy. So there are two different ways I do this: either sitting with my eyes closed or walking somewhere outside.

When I'm sitting I deliberately direct my attention "inward" with the intent to watch thoughts as they form. As they form, I allow them to rise and fall without fueling them with any interest, but instead, try to make good on an intent to maintain an open and relaxed, but alert and empty awareness. It's important not to forcefully reject the thoughts as they arise, but instead, allow them to gently dissipate. What I find is that at first sometimes the mind will naturally lose itself in a train of thought -- and that seems to depend on how often and deeply I've been sitting in the days prior -- and when that happens, I simply allow that noticing to happen and re-establish the stated intent. Generally, over time, the mind gets quieter and quieter. Another, paralell focus of my attention is on how my body feels as I'm sitting. Usually, within about 10 minutes, the apparent alertness required to maintain the empty awareness dissipates into a natural effortlessness, and other funny changes in my perception will start happening -- alot like some of the ones you've described here in the past.

I prefer to do the walking on trails in the woods as the possibility for the mind to get distracted is less. The practice is very much informed by what ZD has written about ATA over the years. I'll set a deliberate intent to disregard any thoughts or emotions ... any movement of mind that seems to originate "from within" and instead maintain an open alert attention on my surroundings, on what I can see, hear, smell and on the breeze and temperature I can feel. As with the sitting, it's natural to find myself sometimes lost in a train of thought, and sometimes when the mind is really noisy what I'll do is look ahead to a tree or whatever sort of landmark is handy in front of me, and specifically form up an effortful concentration on the intent to maintain that outward focus, and not fall into a train of thought, at least between where I am at the time and when I reach the landmark.

All that said, I know you're not looking for advice generally here, but mine would be that this sort of practice is all well and fine, and there are lots of reasons to want to do it. But when is the last time you ever asked yourself why, exactly, you'd want to keep the mind clear to begin with?

[mamza]

Hey, laughter. Those are generally the things I tend to do as well. As for the last time I asked myself why I'd want to keep my mind clear, I'm glad you asked--it's been quite a while. I haven't really considered anything even remotely related to ____ since probably the last time I posted here. Most of the time I'm busy enough that I don't have time to even consider whether my mind is empty or not (or so I like to tell myself).

The rest of the time I find myself lost in thought, staring at the walls or the floors. Lots of irrelevant thoughts about things that never happened. Things that won't or couldn't happen. Fantasies, really. Then I realize "hey, I need to get up and ____." So I do. Things are fine either way in the end, sometimes I just want some peace and quiet.

...which brings us back to why, though, eh? Sometimes it feels like I'm a tennis ball bouncing between 'being ____' and not giving a damn. Might be a year before the next bounce, but sooner or later one of the two comes rolling back around.

Back to topic, though, I always found the feeling of my feet touching the ground to be....grounding. Ha. Sometimes the sensations feel like warmth, or deeper than they really are (physically, like a drill going into the ground).

[frustratedwanter]

I've been looking for something for a rather long time.
Extinction.
I look for what is looking.
What is behind the eyes?
There is nothing there.
That is the fact and I don't know what I hope to find.
The empty and unconcerned is empty and unconcerned.
My human is living a worthless life.
What is the point of existing if you think the point is not to be?
(Sacred "F" word) is here.
Hope I learn to be something worthwhile before I die.

[glimmer]

As Zendancer said around here somewhere.. in the morning “feet touch the floor” .. and they do, every morning, unless you sleep past noon. Seems like a good base perhaps, ah here again, feet on floor ...

[laughter]

Oct 9, 2018 22:19:02 GMT -5 mamza said:

Hey, laughter. Those are generally the things I tend to do as well. As for the last time I asked myself why I'd want to keep my mind clear, I'm glad you asked--it's been quite a while. I haven't really considered anything even remotely related to ____ since probably the last time I posted here. Most of the time I'm busy enough that I don't have time to even consider whether my mind is empty or not (or so I like to tell myself).

The rest of the time I find myself lost in thought, staring at the walls or the floors. Lots of irrelevant thoughts about things that never happened. Things that won't or couldn't happen. Fantasies, really. Then I realize "hey, I need to get up and ____." So I do. Things are fine either way in the end, sometimes I just want some peace and quiet.

...which brings us back to why, though, eh? Sometimes it feels like I'm a tennis ball bouncing between 'being ____' and not giving a darn. Might be a year before the next bounce, but sooner or later one of the two comes rolling back around.

Back to topic, though, I always found the feeling of my feet touching the ground to be....grounding. Ha. Sometimes the sensations feel like warmth, or deeper than they really are (physically, like a drill going into the ground).

Yeah, the Earth, the embrace, it's a feeling of connection. All the other senses offer the same opportunity. Is the bottom of your feet where the body ends and the Earth begins?

Thinking can be a useful tool, but it's limited in it's place. These sorts of questions, they have answers, but they will always elude and confuse the thinking mind. These questions, they do demand pursuit, and the only vehicle that can ever catch them is the quiescent mind.

[zendancer]

Last year I went to a retreat center where the recommendation for the silent sitting sessions was to relax and not do anything at all--just be. I found that to be quite pleasant.

For people who have what Zen calls "monkey mind" (incessant thinking) I suspect that it would be more helpful to do something like counting or watching the breath, listening to universal sound, or some of the other traditional meditation practices.

For people who can't sit still, or who don't like any of the traditional meditative practices, then Laughter's suggestion of taking a walk in the woods while looking and listening (ATA-T) might be most effective. Taking long walks in wilderness areas or parks also has the advantage of providing physical exercise which is always worthwhile. Sometimes when the body does a lot of walking, the mind will calm down much more than usual.

[mamza]

Well I could certainly use the exercise, but lately it has been causing my mind to spin faster. I guess something recognizes that it finally has nothing to distract it from spinning the way it usually does and goes for gold. It probably just needs to run its course.

Interestingly enough, having spoken to someone about it I find myself remembering to find the quiet space (so to speak) more. Maybe I just needed to notice the lack of noticing again. Old feelings and sensations are creeping back in, but they hold little interest for now.

I think a camping trip is in order. Nothing like a nice fire.

[laughter]

Oct 10, 2018 19:31:03 GMT -5 mamza said:

Well I could certainly use the exercise, but lately it has been causing my mind to spin faster. I guess something recognizes that it finally has nothing to distract it from spinning the way it usually does and goes for gold. It probably just needs to run its course.

Interestingly enough, having spoken to someone about it I find myself remembering to find the quiet space (so to speak) more. Maybe I just needed to notice the lack of noticing again. Old feelings and sensations are creeping back in, but they hold little interest for now.

I think a camping trip is in order. Nothing like a nice fire.

Hey, is that a double entendre? I hope it is!

[lolly]

Taking a week's break from social media might be an idea