Since I was a little kid, I have been practicing the Western convention of beginning my writing in the upper left corner of a piece of blank paper laid out in front of me. My wordprocessing programs pile characters along a line from that point to the right edge (minus a margin) and then jump back to the left margin for another line of characters. You know the pattern:
I only bother with this to explain where I get my focus point patterns from, as far as I know. They might come from the way my little sister treated me, for all I know.
To select a visual focus for a meditation session, usually 8-10 minutes, I look for a right angle with this layout:
This would normally be the lower left corner of a piece of writing paper. The point where the two lines meet would be the origin on a Cartesian graph. From the origin "up", we have the positive segment of the Y axis and from the origin to the right, we have the positive segment of the X axis. I like to work with positives and I like to use a habit to get started. In many inside settings, such points are easy to find. One that is not too high nor too low and is likely to be stable during my 8-10 minutes will work nicely.
I make it a habit to use something that does not itself emit light but a point that is easy to see and one that I can recognize and find again if my mind and eyes wander, which they often do. I want something that is not too bright nor too dim. I keep my eyes focused on the origin.
It doesn't have to be a geometric point where lines meet. I find it is much more helpful, at least for me, if I use something to look at, somewhere to anchor my sight. The usual advice is to consciously breathe in and slowly exhale, staying very much focused on each breath. When my eyes are tired, I can follow my breath with closed eyes but that can encourage falling asleep or at least dropping sharp focus on that origin point.
Doing this staring at a point while gently but persistently dismissing the many thoughts that try to get started is mind training. It is the activity that students, physicians, coaches, special forces, thinkers, those in pain, those that want to happier are all doing regularly. During the meditation, it works best to just look and breathe, not to justify the activity at that time or recall really good jokes or anything but sit and stare/breathe.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
