Wise Concentration

The funny thing about mindfulness is that
 even though it takes effort and solid intention,
 it’s also deeply relaxing.
 
 I used to think that focusing on my breath was some combination
 of dreary, boring, and hard.
 Now I’d say, it’s none of those things.
 It’s pretty interesting - 
 sometimes the breath is interesting, but equally often, 
 what’s interesting is how wild my mind is. 
 
 And it’s also easy, when I remember to relax.
 Which is really what mindfulness is all about:
 breathing in and waking myself up,
 then breathing out and relaxing.
 
 Sweet practice for any time, 
 but especially for this not-so-easy moment.

Transcript

Hi everyone, it’s Judi Cohen, and this is Wake Up Call 459. I’ve been talking about a foundational of mindfulness, the Eightfold Path – the path to freedom from suffering, or, the path to happiness – and here we are at the 8th step. Just to review, there are two wisdom elements of the Path, the steps of wise view and wise intention; three ethics elements, the steps of wise communication, action, and livelihood; and three elements that are about calming and focusing the mind, also called Samadhi: the steps of wise effort, wise mindfulness, and wise concentration.

So, wise concentration: I’m going to share my experience with this step. And just to say, my experience is basic. I have friends and teachers who can talk about deeper stages of concentration, which are called the jhanas. But my closest friend who can talk about the jhanas because she’s experienced them, says her teachers have asked her not to talk about them, maybe because they can’t really be talked about? So I can’t share what the jhanas are like, which may be the point or is actually always the point with mindfulness: we can each only share what we’ve experienced.

The point of wise concentration at its basic stage, though, and as I’ve experienced it, is to calm and focus the mind. Which, if you think about it, makes sense: when you’re concentrating, in the colloquial sense, like when you’re threading a needle or listening closely to what a child is saying, isn’t the mind focused and calm?

But for me, when I’m not doing something that requires that kind of concentration and I check in, plenty of the time the mind isn’t calm. Which doesn’t mean I’m feeling frantic or even excited. It just means that there’s chatter in the mind.

Which is fine because chatter in the mind is a pretty ordinary and maybe universal state. I’m writing the Wake Up Call and a thought arises, “Uh oh, where’s the puppy. I haven’t heard from him in a minute or two, he must be up to something.” So I look around, and I spot the puppy and he’s fine but I also see the dried mangos in the jar and I think, “yum.” And then I get one and it tastes delicious but then the question arises, “Will this spoil my dinner? I’m making a good dinner tonight.” Which triggers the thought, “Darn, I can’t believe I forgot the mushrooms! I wonder if my partner can go out and get them?” And so on.

Maybe you can relate, because what I just named is such an ordinary snapshot of the chatter in the mind. But I’d also say, this is not a snapshot of a concentrated mind. It’s a snapshot of a scattered mind. 

I once heard a story about the great teacher Thich Nhat Hanh peeling an orange. The person who watched him do it said Thay, as his students called him, was so joyfully focused on that orange, and so relaxed, that it was an inspiration to watch. I can remember when my daughter was tiny, watching her play with her toys: looking at them, picking them up, tasting them of course, all the time so focused and also completely relaxed. 

Those two qualities – focus and relaxation – are the basics of concentration. And just like mindfulness, it’s a training: with wise concentration, we’re simply training ourselves to settle and relax, and then to focus from that place. I find that it’s possible to do this most easily on a retreat, where there aren’t any distractions and I have the privilege of not having any responsibilities for that week or two or three other than sitting, walking, eating, taking care of my body, and listening to the teachers, all in silence. Those conditions - silence, sustenance, self-care, and the dharma, or great teaching – make it easiest for me to move into a basic level of concentration.

There are various concentration techniques and I encourage you to look around on your meditation timer or with a local or online teacher if you’re interested, and especially if you’re interested in deeper stages of concentration, to find a teacher specifically for that. But for what I’ll call basic “concentration cultivation,” my practice is simply to follow each breath from beginning to end, remembering to relax a little bit more on each out-breath.  And for me, relax both the body and the mind. 

Relaxing my body is always interesting because it’s often the case that once I’ve done a body scan and invited relaxation throughout my body, some part begins to tense back up. If that’s your experience as well, I find it’s very supportive to simply go back and re-issue the invitation to relax, to whichever area that is. For me it’s most often the jaw, the toes, and the belly – or that’s what I’m aware of anyway. 

Relaxing the mind can be challenging because I find that chatter in the mind to be inherently UN-relaxing. But this is just a matter of letting go of the chatter and not getting frustrated with myself, or if I do get frustrated, not getting frustrated with myself for getting frustrated, and continuing to go back to the central invitation to let go. And I find that the more I practice letting go of whatever thoughts or stories seem so compelling or seductive, the more I notice a kind of motor memory (even though it’s the mind) of the felt-sense of how relaxation feels in the mind , and the easier it is to let go of the chatter the next time.

The benefits of concentration that’s a combination of relaxation and focus are big. I notice that loud noises don’t startle me much, changes in plans aren’t as disconcerting, difficult people don’t upset me as often, and when I smack my elbow or some other body part, usually – unless it’s a really big smack – I can relax with the pain rather than getting mad about it. And the benefits carry over into the bigger picture, too, like not getting overly triggered by the news or what someone says at a party and that feels terrible. The mind and body are relaxed, focused, and recollect the sense of wise concentration available in formal practice, and remain relatively stable both because of that recollection, and because its manifestation in the present moment stops the mind, or discourages it anyway, from spinning out.

I’m sharing this because I’m hoping you’ll see the benefits of cultivating concentration. Wise concentration in the law could be transformative: defenders and prosecutors less triggered by one another and staying present, relaxed, and focused, together; family law, immigration, public interest, and corporate lawyers being relaxed and focused and even imparting calm to their clients; a political system that isn’t triggered seemingly all the time; maybe even a world full of humans that can relax and focus.

Because this relaxation and focus, or wise concentration? It creates space for good things to arise. It creates space for kindness to substitute in for aversion of all different flavors (irritation, derision, scorn, impatience). It makes room for gratitude to take the place of fear and greed. It perks things up and brings alertness to moments of confusion and apathy, but also brings a sense of peace to moments of agitation and anxiety. And because it lifts up our best qualities and our ability to see the best qualities in others, it’s a great reminder that we’re all in this together and that our practice really matters, in a powerful way, to everyone.

Let’s sit.

Mailchimp Blurb (also for Podcast)

Wise Concentration, Or, What Happens When We Learn To Relax

The funny thing about mindfulness is that
 even though it takes effort and solid intention,
 it’s also deeply relaxing.
 
 I used to think that focusing on my breath was some combination
 of dreary, boring, and hard.
 Now I’d say, it’s none of those things.
 It’s pretty interesting - 
 sometimes the breath is interesting, but equally often, 
 what’s interesting is how wild my mind is. 
 
 And it’s also easy, when I remember to relax.
 Which is really what mindfulness is all about:
 breathing in and waking myself up,
 then breathing out and relaxing.
 
 Sweet practice for any time, 
 but especially for this not-so-easy moment.