The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness

by Culadasa (John Yates)

With your eyes closed, you’ll find the two main sensory stimuli are sounds and sensations ori...

Next, allow your attention to tune in to and range freely among any of the sounds, bodily sensations, smells,...

Within this holistic panorama, the one limitation you place on movements of attention is to remain ...

Staying present is extremely...

While noises and bodily sensations all occur in the here and now, thoughts about them (beyond just noticing and recognizing t...

Observe bodily sensations objectively, not identifying with them as “mine.”

STEP TWO: FOCUS ON BODILY SENSATIONS

STEP THREE: FOCUS ON BODILY SENSATIONS RELATED TO THE BREATH.

STEP FOUR: FOCUS ON SENSATIONS OF THE BREATH AT THE NOSE.

The goal for Stage Two is to shorten the periods of mind-wandering and extend the periods of sustained attention to the meditation object.

Willpower can’t prevent the mind from forgetting the breath.

Nor can you force yourself to become aware that the m...

Instead, just hold the intention to appreciate the “aha” moment that recognizes mind-wandering, while gently but firmly redir...

Then, intend to engage with the breath as fully as possible without losin...

PRACTICE GOALS FOR STAGE TWO

Stage Two marks the beginning of the process of training the mind as you try to stay focused on the breath.

There are two primary goals for Stage Two:

shortening the periods of mind-wandering,

and sustaining attention on the breath for ...

The obstacles at this Stage are forgetting, mind-wandering, monkey-mind, and impatience.

When you start this Stage, your meditations mostly consist of “interrupted continuity of mind-wandering.”

That is, most of your time is taken up by mind-wandering, interrupted by brief periods of attention to breath.

You’ve mastered this Stage when episodes of mind-wandering are brief, while your attention to the breath lasts much longer.

THE PROBLEMS OF FORGETTING AND MIND-WANDERING

Forgetting means we forget the meditation object, as well as our intention to focus on the breath.

Mind-wandering is what happens after we’ve forgotten what we were doing: the mind will wander from thought to thought, often for a long time, before we “wake up” to what is happening.

We place our attention on the breath, but the mind produces distractions.

Alternating attention scans these distractions for something more interesting, important, exciting, intense, or novel.

Interest and importance are judged according to the perceived ability to increase pleasure or decrease pain, cause happiness or unhappiness, or impr...

When something captures attention, the breath is abandoned and...

When attention tires of one distraction, it moves to another, usually through...

This kind of mind-wandering is the main obstacle you’ll wor...

Still, stable attention is useful for survival, so we all have that inherent capacity as well.

In other words, evolution has not selected against stable attention, even though we’re not as strongly predisposed to use it.

When we meditate, we’re training and strengthening this inborn bu...

When attention is accompanied by greater awareness, we have strong mindfulness, meaning we can refocus and stabilize our attentio...

Awakening from Mind-...

Even though you were preoccupied with something else, some unconscious part of your mind made you consciously aware that you were supposed to be attending to the breath.

During meditation, however, if you return to the breath as soon as you realize you’ve lost it, you’ll miss a key opportunity for training the mind.

Awakening to the present is an important opportunity to understand and appreciate how your mind works.

You’ve just had a minor epiphany, an “aha!” moment of realizing there’s a disconnect between what you’re doing (thinking about something else) and wh...

The process that discovered this disconnect isn’t under your...

It happens unconsciously, but when the “findings” become conscious, you have an “aha!” moment...

The way to overcome mind-wandering is by training this unconscious process to make the discovery and bring it into co...

Simply take a moment to enjoy and appreciate “waking up” f...

Savor the sense of being more fully conscio...

Cherish your epiphany and encourage yourself to h...

Conscious intention and affirmation powerfully influence our un...

By valuing this moment, you’re training the mind through positive reinforcement to wake you up...

Directing and Redirecting Attention