Focus Methods in Mindfulness
Presenter:
Shinzen Young
Time:
8:32
Summary
Shinzen shares that the mindfulness meditation being taught by various teachers can be broken down to the focus methods of free-floating, inventory, and even coverage. He then talks about the advantages and disadvantages of each, how one might decide to use each of these mindfulness strategies, and how these methods relate to the "five ways". Filmed at a group process in Jan. 2010 at the Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, C.A.
Transcript
When we look at the whole field of mindfulness, all the different ways that mindfulness is taught, uh, and so forth, uh, you know, by different lineages, teachers in general, we can classify, um, the focus method. In terms of, um, are they just letting the attention sort of go wherever it goes? I call that free floating and then, you know, being aware where it is going.
Are they saying, okay, we're gonna systematically sort of scroll through the possibilities and then start again? I call that inventory, or are we gonna try to cover all the possibilities at once? I call that even coverage. Easiest to understand with regards to the body, but can be generalized to any sensory experience.