Six Anchors
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Overview
Mindfulness is ultimately about letting everything be just as it is. Most of us live highly distracted lives. Our school work, our jobs, our social lives all make demands on our attention. There’s a lot of talk about this today, with concerns about the effects that our technologies have on our minds, but distraction is not new. If it were, contemplative and meditative traditions from thousands of years ago probably wouldn’t have placed so much emphasis on concentration practices!
To help the mind find some stability as it learns to observe what comes moment-to-moment, non-judgmentally and open-heartedly, we can use anchor points. Remember that we’re not trying to force anything. If you’ve ever been on a small anchored boat, you know that the boat still has enough slack to move. Depending on conditions, one might leave more or less slack. But the goal isn’t to keep the boat totally motionless. We want to keep it from being swept off out to sea. The same goes for these anchors for our attention.
Like the movements of the sea, thoughts and sensations will tug at our attention. Every time they do so, we just gently bring the attention back to the anchor.
Practice
Before we begin, let’s start with three deep, cleansing breaths to settle the nervous system a bit. You might count the in-breath - 1, 2, 3, 4 - and the out-breath - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. After the third breath, take a moment to just settle in. Make any adjustments you need to in your seat to find a posture that is at once dignified and relaxed. You might sit against the back of your seat or scoot forward to sit more upright. Take a moment to just check in and see how your body feels right now. Tense? Relaxed? Hot or cold? Tingling?
Feet
Bringing your attention now to your feet. You might feel points of contact against the floor or in your shoes. Just letting your attention rest there.
If you’ve been pulled away by a thought or another bodily sensation, it’s no problem, just gently bring your awareness back to the feeling of your feet on the ground. (Repeat a few times).
Hands
If you’re ready, let your attention come to your hands wherever they are, feeling the finger tips, the knuckles, maybe the air against the backs of your hands.
As your rest your attention on the sensations in your hands, the shape or your hands might begin to dissolve into a cloud of sensations.
If you’ve been pulled away by a thought or another bodily sensation, it’s no problem, just gently bring your awareness back to the feeling of your hands. (Repeat a few times).
Breath (Belly)
If it feels right, you can gently bring your attention to your belly. Is there any tightness there? Or is it soft and loose? Can you feel the coming and going of your breath, a rising and falling? See if you can rest your attention on the coming and going of the breath. You don’t have to control the breath, just let it be as it is.
Is each breath the same? How closely can you attend to the changing sensations in the belly as the breath goes in and out?
If you’ve been pulled away by a thought or another bodily sensation, it’s no problem, it’s what the mind does, just gently bring your awareness back to the breath in the belly. (Repeat a few times).
Breath (Chest)
If it feels right, you can gently bring your attention to your chest. Is there any tightness there? Or is it soft and loose? Can you feel the coming and going of your breath, a rising and falling? Expansion and contraction? See if you can rest your attention on the coming and going of the breath. You don’t have to control the breath, just let it be as it is.
Is each breath the same? How closely can you attend to the changing sensations in the belly as the breath goes in and out?
If you’ve been pulled away by a thought or another bodily sensation, it’s no problem, it’s what the mind does, just gently bring your awareness back to the breath in the chest. (Repeat a few times).
Breath (Nostrils)
As you like, you might bring your attention the the sensations of the breath in the nostrils. What does that feel like? Do you feel coolness and warmth? A fluctuation in temperature? Again, you don’t have to do anything at all, no need to change the breath. Just let the breath come. Let the breath go. It could be shallow or deep, tight or loose. Let it be as it is and rest.
If you’ve been pulled away by a thought, a memory, a worry, or another bodily sensation, it’s no problem, just gently bring your awareness back to the feeling of your breath at your nostrils. (Repeat a few times).
Visual Field
Now we’ll move onto the visual field. Even with eyes closed, there is still seeing. Gaze into the darkness behind your eyelids as if gazing into the night sky. You may notice variations in light and shadow. You may notice colors. Look without labeling.
Again, every time you catch yourself in a daydream, just notice it and then come back to the gaze.
Sounds
If you’re ready, let go of the breath, and listen to the sounds in the room. You might pick a sound and rest your attention there, or just be open to the whole soundscape around us. See if you can listen without labeling or analyzing the sounds you hear.
If you’ve been pulled away by a thought or a bodily sensation, it’s no problem, it’s what the mind does, just gently bring your awareness back to hearing, back to the sounds in the room. (Repeat a few times).
Discussion
- How is it with you now?
- What was the experience of that practice like?
- How were your thoughts?
- What did it feel like in your body?
- Did any emotions come up for you?