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Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336867)

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PostbyCoyoteThuApr30,20157:21am

Several posters have mentioned the practice of setting up continuous awareness throughout
the day, and the benefits this has brought to their practice.
I have been trying to remain more aware throughout my daily activities recently, as this
seems like a goal that is both achievable and beneficial. I have some questions for those who
have more experience with this practice.
Which practice should I use? My usual mindfulness practice is the Mahasi noting technique,
but this is not really suitable outside of a retreat setting, due to the speed of daily life.
Other options include choosing a Satipahna such as mindfulness of postures or mindfulness
of the sense bases and sticking with it throughout the day, or a "choiceless awareness" that
covers all phenomena that arise and pass away this last option is my current practice, but
is there anyone here who practices the other?
At the moment, lapses in mindfulness are common. My practice here is to be aware of the
fact, and gently but firmly establish mindfulness again. I hope that with time this will become
less and less of an issue. Is there anything else that can be done, or is it simply down to
maturity of practice?
One difficult area is when trying to be mindful of something that isn't particularly wholesome
such as indulging in entertainment, especially when noticing strong lobha and the tendency
to want to not be mindful. I think this gets to the heart of what the practice is about in the
first place which is to bring awareness to your daily activities so right effort can move one in
the correct direction. I find that keeping mindful in this situation is unpleasant as I as
simultaneously want to give up being mindful and indulge, and also stop indulging and give up
sense pleasure! Given that this is a monastic practice i.e one that is aimed at the complete
eradication of craving, what should be my approach in this area as a householder? Perhaps it
is not suitable for one not necessarily looking for anagami/arahantship in this life. What do
you think?
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336871)

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PostbyacinteyyoThuApr30,20158:06am

I just want to share some techniques I find to be helpful.

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I use the breath as an anchor for mindfulness throughout the day, because it is always there
and knowing the breath can easily be varified by simply checking whether or not one is aware
of the breath.
Whenever thoughts tend to be distractive I add a meditation word to the in and outbreath in
order to supress discursive thinking or gain control over a train of thoughts, til the mind
settles naturally to a more relaxed state where thoughts come and go without being
distractive. Then I leave the meditations word only being aware of the breath again.
While walking I sometimes aline breathing and stepping and focus on the breath and the steps
being aligned.
When no more effort needs to be put into staying with the chosen object of focus I switch
from simply knowing that it is there or not there from looking closer and closer to arising
characteristics.
I noticed, that I cannot maintain a meditation word and write, think or talk on the other
hand I cannot write, think or talk while maintaining a meditation word. However it is possible
to keep the mind quiet with a meditation word while performing various bodily movements
and tasks without restrictions.
One has to try out things which work for oneself.
The awareness or mindfulness over the day fluctuates heavily depending on various factors,
ranging from stable minfulness with nearly no effort to maintain to a farscattered mind that
just doesn't want to settle at all.
I just see it as a lesson, that's the way the mind is and it can't be changed at will. However
one becomes skilled in arranging suitable circumstances that allow the mind to calm down.
best wishes and good luck with your practice,
acinteyyo
Lasteditedbyacinteyyo(./memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=469)onThuApr30,
20158:07am,edited1timeintotal.
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336872)

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PostbyPiinaanThuApr30,20158:07am

I'm sure you will get many different techniques. I'll just add one and why I use it.
In formal meditation, we generally have some 'primary object' that we return to such as the
breath. I simply use the 'sense' of energy in my body as a primary object to return to if I
become distracted during daily events, which happens a lot lol. Energy within the body is a
little bigger target to come back to than say, the breath sensation at the tip of your nose. So
how to become aware of 'energy'. I do something very simple: bounce energy around my body.
Start at a toe and 'bounce it up the leg, across the pelvis, and down the other leg to the
opposite toe. Then 'bounce' it back and forth. You can do this all throughout your body. Are
you really 'bouncing' 'energy'? It's just semantics. You just as easily could say you moving your
awareness, or scanning. This practice gives you awareness of the body while it engages in
activity. From there you can focus awareness on other aspects of what is arising and passing
away: sights, sounds, feelings, sensation, though, form. But if you 'get lost' (so easy to do) you
can just bring yourself back to awareness of energy within the body.
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336881)

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PostbyGoofaholixThuApr30,20159:23am

The mind is capable of being aware of whatever it needs to, that's it's job. Instead of
expending energy trying to be mindful "of this" or "of that" just be aware of the awareness
itself. Notice when you are aware and present to whatever is currently happening, notice
when that is or has been weak, notice when you haven't been aware and have suddenly
"come back".
This sets up a feedback loop that reinforces in the mind that it awareness itself that is
important, once there is a momentum with that established there is more opportunity for
wisdom to arise.
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336938)

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PostbydhammarelaxThuApr30,20158:24pm

Coyote wrote:
Several posters have mentioned the practice of setting up continuous awareness
throughout the day, and the benefits this has brought to their practice.
I have been trying to remain more aware throughout my daily activities
recently, as this seems like a goal that is both achievable and beneficial. I have
some questions for those who have more experience with this practice.
Which practice should I use? My usual mindfulness practice is the Mahasi noting
technique, but this is not really suitable outside of a retreat setting, due to the
speed of daily life. Other options include choosing a Satipahna such as
mindfulness of postures or mindfulness of the sense bases and sticking with it
throughout the day, or a "choiceless awareness" that covers all phenomena that
arise and pass away this last option is my current practice, but is there anyone
here who practices the other?
At the moment, lapses in mindfulness are common. My practice here is to be
aware of the fact, and gently but firmly establish mindfulness again. I hope
that with time this will become less and less of an issue. Is there anything else
that can be done, or is it simply down to maturity of practice?
One difficult area is when trying to be mindful of something that isn't
particularly wholesome such as indulging in entertainment, especially when
noticing strong lobha and the tendency to want to not be mindful. I think this
gets to the heart of what the practice is about in the first place which is to
bring awareness to your daily activities so right effort can move one in the
correct direction. I find that keeping mindful in this situation is unpleasant as I
as simultaneously want to give up being mindful and indulge, and also stop
indulging and give up sense pleasure! Given that this is a monastic practice i.e
one that is aimed at the complete eradication of craving, what should be my
approach in this area as a householder? Perhaps it is not suitable for one not
necessarily looking for anagami/arahantship in this life. What do you think?

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Try to observe a pleasurable meditation object like a nice feeling of rapture or joy or any
other jhanic feeling, you can get it by sincerely wishing happiness for all beigns or a particular
person you really like, smiling while you observe the feeling is a great help as well.
Smile all the time
dhammarelax
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336940)

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Postbymikenz66ThuApr30,20158:44pm

Here are some of the observations I've made before:

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=21193#p299395
(http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=21193#p299395)

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=19237#p269172
(http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=19237#p269172)

For me, the objective is to have continuous awareness of whatever arises, and whether or
not it is skilful, but not in such a "tight" way as is possible on a retreat or "formal" seated or
walking meditation.

Mike
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336944)

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PostbyCoyoteThuApr30,20159:33pm

mikenz66 wrote:
Here are some of the observations I've made before:
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=21193#p299395
(http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=21193#p299395)

http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=19237#p269172
(http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?t=19237#p269172)

For me, the objective is to have continuous awareness of whatever arises, and
whether or not it is skilful, but not in such a "tight" way as is possible on a
retreat or "formal" seated or walking meditation.
Mike

Thanks Mike. There seems to be a divide between some teachers/approaches that stress that
progress in the practice is automatic as mindfulness and understanding increase, and those
that suggest a more proactive approach. There also seems to be a difference in how some
understand the boundaries and function of understanding, effort and mindfulness and how
these are tied together with ethical aspects of the path such as precepts and the divide
between unwholesome and wholesome intentions.
For example, what if I notice myself attempting to break a precept? Surely understanding,
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effort and mindfulness should be tied together in such a way to prevent that happening
rather than keeping mindfulness separate from the ethical implications? Depending on one's
definition one might see this as being the function of either one of those (or all three), but it
is nevertheless what practicing the path means, I think.
It's a confusing topic made even more confusing by the fact that as a nonmonastic, one's
intellectual understanding of what one should do might not be at the same level as what one
is prepared to do. Meaning that there is frustration when I notice, due to deepened
mindfulness, where intentions can be brought in line with the practice but I am either unable
to unprepared to do so. Which is just more to be mindful of...
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336945)

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PostbyWriThuApr30,201510:00pm

I'll give my perspective as well...although maybe my method is cheating the mindfulness

system a bit

But if you get the benefits your'e looking for, then keep it up!

At times I've tried to do the regular notation of what I'm experiencing as per the Mahasi
technique you mentioned, and I found that I couldn't find time to actually pay attention to
the actual meaning or function of anything I was doing and it used up all of my mental energy.
Headaches and fatigue ensued. Although it did give me a pleasant sensation of
depersonalization and peacefulness. Yay.
What has always worked for me in my two years as a Buddhist for insight and calm is to simply
pay attention to whatever I'm doing. This is a little hard to describe because this isn't quite a
mental action but a state of mind. You're carefully paying attention without talking to
yourself i.e. doing the noting. Some Buddhists will say this is cheating, I say this allows you to
actually focus on what you're doing instead of making sure you talked to yourself enough.
Your mind actually notes things automatically if you're really paying attention to what is
going on and what your mind is doing. When you pay attention to breathing or moving your
arm or typing on your laptop, your brain actually has a subtle "voice" recognizing the action.
Just be aware and pay attention. Understand what you're doing and pay attention. That is
enough.
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336949)

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PostbyDhamma_BumThuApr30,201511:26pm

Wri wrote:
I'll give my perspective as well...although maybe my method is cheating the
mindfulness system a bit
then keep it up!

But if you get the benefits your'e looking for,

At times I've tried to do the regular notation of what I'm experiencing as per the
Mahasi technique you mentioned, and I found that I couldn't find time to
actually pay attention to the actual meaning or function of anything I was doing
and it used up all of my mental energy. Headaches and fatigue ensued.
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Although it did give me a pleasant sensation of depersonalization and

peacefulness. Yay.
What has always worked for me in my two years as a Buddhist for insight and
calm is to simply pay attention to whatever I'm doing. This is a little hard to
describe because this isn't quite a mental action but a state of mind. You're
carefully paying attention without talking to yourself i.e. doing the noting.
Some Buddhists will say this is cheating, I say this allows you to actually focus
on what you're doing instead of making sure you talked to yourself enough. Your
mind actually notes things automatically if you're really paying attention to
what is going on and what your mind is doing. When you pay attention to
breathing or moving your arm or typing on your laptop, your brain actually has
a subtle "voice" recognizing the action. Just be aware and pay attention.
Understand what you're doing and pay attention. That is enough.

I don't think that is cheating at all. I believe that the "automatic noting" is actually what we
should work toward. As we get better at noting and awareness, phenomena and the noting of
it arise simultaneously. At least that's how I think it will develop.
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Re: Continuous awareness in daily life (#p336953)

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PostbyWriFriMay01,201512:27am

Dhamma_Bum wrote:
Wri wrote:
I'll give my perspective as well...although maybe my method is cheating
the mindfulness system a bit
looking for, then keep it up!

But if you get the benefits your'e

At times I've tried to do the regular notation of what I'm experiencing as

per the Mahasi technique you mentioned, and I found that I couldn't
find time to actually pay attention to the actual meaning or function of
anything I was doing and it used up all of my mental energy. Headaches
and fatigue ensued. Although it did give me a pleasant sensation of
depersonalization and peacefulness. Yay.
What has always worked for me in my two years as a Buddhist for insight
and calm is to simply pay attention to whatever I'm doing. This is a little
hard to describe because this isn't quite a mental action but a state of
mind. You're carefully paying attention without talking to yourself i.e.
doing the noting. Some Buddhists will say this is cheating, I say this
allows you to actually focus on what you're doing instead of making sure
you talked to yourself enough. Your mind actually notes things
automatically if you're really paying attention to what is going on and
what your mind is doing. When you pay attention to breathing or moving
your arm or typing on your laptop, your brain actually has a subtle
"voice" recognizing the action. Just be aware and pay attention.
Understand what you're doing and pay attention. That is enough.

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I don't think that is cheating at all. I believe that the "automatic noting" is
actually what we should work toward. As we get better at noting and
awareness, phenomena and the noting of it arise simultaneously. At least that's
how I think it will develop.

Thanks for sharing your view. There is a certain monk on youtube that gets particularly
aggravated when people ask him if they really need to be noting everything they do, to which
he says they must or they're just being lazy. However, I find the practice fruitless in the long
run for lay life, especially when you already have heightened awareness as your baseline. I
think it works to get you in to the general idea of self awareness because you really have to
push yourself. But at some point it just becomes an unnecessary burden for the mind which
holds you back, and when you find the freedom and lightness you have from automatic
awareness, you suffer far, far less.
At some points I feel like "am I really being a good Buddhist here?" and go back to trying to
note every single thing I'm doing, until I find it something only a monk with a very simple life
could keep up. And where does it end? Do you need to note your blinking? Note every time you
move your eyes? But just heightening the basic energy of awareness you become aware of
everything...you feel everything. But trying to tell yourself every single thing just becomes far
too much for lay life.
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