Aussie Meditation

Pop culture references to mindfulness make it hard to get a clear picture of what it means to be mindful.

Is it another way to describe having some ‘quiet time’ like it seems to be in some schools?

Is it sitting and watching a video of the sea as an aged care facility once claimed?

Is it just a fancy way to describe being calm or relaxed?

Curious?
Confused?

Fair enough.

Contemporary culture references (and definitions) don’t do it justice and don’t hint at its extraordinary capacity for supporting happiness and transforming our experience of the everyday.

So..what is Mindfulness?

The word Mindfulness describes 3 things:

Mindful Awareness
Techniques/practices that develop the Skills of Mindfulness Awareness
Applying Mindfulness Skills to specific goals

What Is Mindful Awareness?

If you have had any exposure to mindfulness you have likely heard a definition that is something like:

Present centred, non-judgemental awareness.

The definition has always seemed vague to me – especially in terms of how you go about practising Mindfulness.

This blog draws upon the work of Shinzen Young, founder of the Unified Mindfulness System. Unified Mindfulness is a modern mindfulness system which has grown from the intersection of contemplative practice and modern science. It was created by and for scientific research into mindfulness meditation. The System includes a unifying framework which draws together contemplative practices from across all traditions to understand the shared skills involved.

Unified Mindfulness defines mindfulness (mindful awareness) as:

3 attention skills (Concentration, Sensory Clarity and Equanimity) working together.

The 1st Skill Of Mindfulness – Concentration

Contemplative traditions from across time have engaged in meditation practices which develop the skill of concentration. These practices help you to be able to focus on what you choose when you want to. To support developing this skill many meditations (but not all) will give you an object to focus on.

Examples of these might be:

physical sensations of breathing
external sounds including music
external sights
internal sounds (such as a mantra)
internal image (such visualising light)
emotional sensations in your body

The 2nd Skill Of Mindfulness – Sensory Clarity

Sensory Clarity is the ability to track and explore your sensory experience in real time. In other words ‘as it is happening’. To help us exercise this skill while meditating we explore the qualities of a sensory experience. This will vary depending on the sensory experience involved but it could include things like location, intensity, volume, pitch, does a sensation move/change/interact with others. There are many qualities you could choose to notice and explore.

Sensory Clarity Example 1

You are listening to music and you notice:

changes in pitch and volume
the music appeared to trigger visual thoughts and emotional sensations in your body

Sensory Clarity Example 2

You are feeling emotional after an interaction at work. When you focus on your emotional experience you notice that it includes:

visual thoughts
self talk
emotional body sensations

We can do a mindfulness meditation technique that allows us to focus on emotional experience and to observe visual thoughts, self talk and emotional sensations in the body.

Separating (deconstructing) an emotional experience into these sensory components with meditation can have a radical impact on reducing the suffering we feel from emotional or physical pain.

This strategy is an important one in mindfulness.

Sensory Clarity – Example 3

You are taking a walk through a park and you notice:

the feeling of the sun on your back
the sound of the birds and the breeze moving through the trees
the beautiful colours of the autumn leaves and the way they fall to the ground
your emotional reaction to the beauty of this setting

Sensory Clarity has made you more aware of the details and beauty around you and also highlighted how good you feel having noticed it. You focus on that good feeling with Sensory Clarity exploring the details of that experience as it rises and falls.

It strikes you how much richer this experience of your morning walk feels compared to your normal when you’re lost in your thoughts or scrolling on your phone.

The same skill that helps us suffer less when dealing with unpleasant experiences also helps us feel a greater level of fulfilment from pleasant experiences.

The 3rd Skill Of Mindfulness – Equanimity

Equanimity is the ability to let your sensory experience come and go without push or pull. In other words we don’t push down/suppress the sensory experiences we don’t enjoy nor cling to those we do. You’re learning not to fight yourself but instead practising not interfering with sensory experience as it appears, lingers or passes away.

With equanimity we discover that:

pain still hurts but it bothers you less (reduced suffering)
pleasure deepens – it is more satisfying (increased fulfillment)

With equanimity we can learn to deeply appreciate any sensory experience – unpleasant, neutral or pleasant.

How To Develop The Skills Of Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation techniques (Mindful Awareness Practices – MAPS) are exercises to practise and develop the attention skills of mindfulness.

A technique has 2 important components.

A Focus Range – what sensory experience/s you’re going to concentrate on
Instructions which include how you’re going to concentrate

Some common focus range options were mentioned earlier. They included the movement or sound of the breath, a mantra or sensations in the body.

Any sensory experience can be the focus of a mindfulness meditation! You can choose to concentrate on one or on multiple sensory experiences in a single mindfulness meditation. You may only be familiar with meditation practices which practise Sustained Concentration on a single focus object. An example of this is breath meditation where you might choose to focus on the feeling of the air moving across the tip of your nose. When you get distracted you just bring your attention back.

Many mindfulness meditationsuse Momentary Concentration. This involves focusing on a sensory experience intensely with high concentration for a short period before moving to the next one.

We call these small moments of intense concentration ‘Noting’. Noting Practices allow a meditator to include multiple sensory experiences within the chosen focus range of a single practice.

Examples Of Mindfulness Practice

You are alone standing at a lookout and you decide to focus on what you see around you.
- You note many things that you see as you look across the valley (Concentration).
- You detect details such as the shape of these objects, their colour, are they still or moving (Sensory Clarity).
- You let your thoughts come and go in the background (Equanimity).

You are sitting on a train and you decide to focus on the sounds that you hear around you.
- You close your eyes and note the sound of the other passengers’ conversations as well as other sounds you hear (Concentration).
- You detect details like the moment words begin and end, the space between words, the rising and falling pitch of the voices, the sound of the train moving across the tracks and the variations in that sound (Sensory Clarity).
- Sometimes you notice your attention is drawn by someone walking past your seat. You welcome those experiences (Equanimity) but return your attention gently to what you hear.

You’re walking home after an intense day at work. You decide to focus on an unlimited range of sensory experience using the Unified Mindfulness See, Hear, Feel Technique.
- You note a variety of experiences including sounds that you hear around you and inside your mind, the sights you see around you and in your mind, and physical sensations including emotional ones (Concentration).
- You detect details in these experiences including things like location, intensity, and are sensations changing, moving or interacting with other sensations (Sensory Clarity).
- As your attention moves between experiences you notice that thoughts of your day trigger some emotional reactions. You welcome it all (Equanimity).

As you focus on the thoughts and emotions and note each in turn you notice that the emotion has lessened. You have an insight into how best to deal with the situation moving forward..

You decide to focus on visual experience both around you AND in your mind during your 3 minute walk between buildings at work. You note various experiences both inner and outer (Concentration). You detect details about these experiences (Sensory Clarity) and you allow other kinds of sensory experience to go on in the background as you focus on what you see (Equanimity).

Try This 5 Minute Guided Meditation Focusing On The Sounds And Silence Around You.

Learn More

Do you want to really understand the skills and practice of mindfulness?

There’s nothing better than experience that is supported by an experienced and certified teacher.

What Is Mindfulness?