Using Broad Awareness To Enhance Mindfulness

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- Ch: 07 of Mindfulness, A Guidebook to the Present Moment -

‘In deep meditation the flow of concentration is continuous like the flow of oil.’ - Patanjali

Until this point, we have only looked at mindfulness meditation with the concept of focused attention in mind. When meditating, if we notice our attention wandering, we gently bring our focus back to the meditation object again and again. This approach works fine, but there is another layer to the practice that can help you to stay focused and mindful for longer and far more effectively.

‘Broad Awareness’ operates in tandem with your attention. It picks up on any potential distractions, whether they be thoughts, feelings, emotions, moods, memories, physical pain, sounds or any other worldly interferences, before they totally shift your attention.

Where focused attention is like looking through a microscope, broad awareness is scanning the environment. Without scanning the environment, the person with their eyes looking down is at risk of being taken by surprise, and subsequently no longer attending to their chosen object of study. People could approach, animals could stalk, or other dangers may arise, and the unsuspecting person would be completely blindsided. Yet if they had the dual capacity to both look down the microscope and scan for danger, they would be safe to continue their study indefinitely.

This is what a broad awareness does for us. It highlights potential distractions before they draw our attention away from our meditation object. Suitably notified, our focused attention can stay on the meditation object. On its own, focused attention may be laser sharp, but it may also be unable to maintain itself for long. We may find the focus of our attention repeatedly changing with no one directing it.

Like focused attention, the dual use of broad awareness is a skill that can be developed with practice. The more we meditate, the better our skills will become at both remaining focused, but also gently vigilant in regard to noticing potential distractions before they take our complete focus away from our meditation object.

Broad awareness in meditation is akin to our peripheral vision when playing a ball sport. In general, we are focused on the task at hand, following the play, the position of the ball, and the people around us. Yet our peripheral vision is always on and ready to highlight any potential dangers or opportunities. It lets us know when we are close to the boundaries, where the ground is unstable, and when someone is approaching from the side. With this knowledge, we can make appropriate micro adjustments while keeping our attention directed towards the ball.

It is this same awareness that enables us to navigate our way through a crowded street while talking on our phones. Our focus may be on the call, but our peripheral vision (and hearing) is constantly scanning the environment and reporting back. This process enables us to keep walking unimpeded, without the loss of our primary point of focus, in this case on the call.

To activate our broad awareness, set the intention to do so at the beginning of the meditation session.

For the next ten minutes I will use broad awareness to gently highlight any potential distractions before they shift my focused attention away from the breath.

Then, while meditating, commit 90% of your mental energy to your meditation object but leave 10% scanning the environment. This scan should be more like a radar blip and less like a search through binoculars. That is, we are wanting to be alerted to potential distractions, and not go hunting for them. There is a risk that such a hunt will result in a loss of mindfulness; instead of just discovering a potentially distracting thought, we fall into it and become distracted. So, when your broad awareness does discover a potential distraction, use the labelling technique described in the section ‘The Real Practice’, and return your focus back to the breath.

During meditation, your focused attention may look like: ‘in breath, out breath, in breath, out breath’. At the same time your broad awareness will be gently noting: ‘Thought’ … ‘Memory’ … ‘Itch’.

Let’s give broad awareness a try.

Meditation:   Broad Awareness
1: Sit down in a comfortable position and start a timer for ten minutes.
2: Set your intention to use broad awareness during this session.
3: Draw your attention to the sensations of the breath, entering and leaving the nose.
4: Set your broad awareness to scanning for, then gently labeling, any potential distractions.
5: If your focused attention wanders, gently return your focus back to the breath.
6: Repeat for the duration of the session.

So how did you go? Were you able to utilise broad awareness to better maintain your focused attention on the breath? Remember, this is a skill that will take time to develop, but one that will certainly add to your mindfulness practice. I would like you to add this concept of focused attention, combined with broad awareness to each of your mindfulness meditations from now on.

A pleasant side benefit from enhancing your broad awareness is the increasing ability to notice your moods during the day. You will be less prone to moments of flash anger, sadness or jealously. Those emotions will still arise and will still impact you of course, but you will get better and better at seeing them coming before they take over. Being forewarned, you will be in a better place to practice self-care and other interventions that will stop you from acting in ways you may later regret