If you’re familiar with my meditation teaching, you’ll know that I’ve emphasized the concept of “soft eyes” for many years. “Soft eyes” involves three key practices: relaxing the muscles around the eyes, keeping the focus within the eyes soft, and being effortlessly open to whatever arises in your entire visual field.
When you do these three things, your mind generally becomes quieter, your body relaxes, and your breathing slows down and deepens, moving more into your belly. Then, when you turn your attention inward to what’s happening in your body, you’ll find that you can sense sensations all over. The movements and sensations of your breathing can be felt throughout your body, making the experience of breathing much richer. Consequently, your mind becomes calmer for more extended periods.
This approach makes it easier to deepen your meditation practice. Instead of battling through distractions daily to find a few moments of calm, you can become calmer almost instantly. This method usually works well for me, but sometimes it doesn’t, especially when I’m chronically tired. Lately, this has been happening because of a new puppy that needs to go out during the night, cutting into my sleep time.
When I’m feeling especially distracted or tired, I use some phrases to keep my mind focused. Distracted thinking pulls your attention away from your immediate bodily experience and into your imagination. The phrases I use help redirect attention back to the present experience.
The timing of these phrases is essential, and you’ll need to figure out what works best for you. Repeating a phrase before each breath might feel overwhelming, so give yourself time to connect with your experience by simply observing the sensations of breathing. For instance, after saying phrases like “body alive” and “meeting everything with tenderness,” stay with the experience of breathing for two or three breaths or maybe even more.
Adjusting the frequency of the phrases is crucial. If you start getting distracted, shorten the intervals between phrases. If things are going smoothly, you might space the phrases out more. If you find that you’re staying with the body without getting distracted, you might even drop the phrases “body alive” and “meeting everything with tenderness” and just use “eyes soft” and “eyes kind,” leaving some silent breaths in between.
Avoid using the phrases mechanically, as that can lead to distraction. Keep changing the frequency and order of the phrases to stay alert, focused, and calm. Sometimes, I rearrange them to see what works best.
I’ve integrated this practice into my jhana teaching and practice. Jhana refers to a state of meditative absorption. In the first level of jhana, some thinking can be present, and this kind of thinking can steer you toward a deeper bodily experience.
Feel free to experiment with these tools and let me know how they work for you.
Thank you for your question. During my first Vipassana course with Mother Sayama, I experienced immense joy, bliss, and contentment. However, subsequent courses with Goenka’s assistant teachers felt hollow and mechanical. I need more warmth and feeling. Can you recommend a Jhana teacher in eastern Australia (not Ajahn Brahm)? I feel confident of success with all my meditation experience. Thanks. With metta, Roderick.
Hi, Roderick.
Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any jhana teachers in eastern Australia. The change from your initial experience of joy to a more mechanical practice might not be related to your teachers. It’s possible your attitude during meditation has shifted. If jhana spontaneously arose initially, you may now be grasping for it, which can be counterproductive.
Here are a few suggestions that might help:
1. Trust yourself and de-mystify the jhanas.
2. Don’t grasp after the jhana experience. Instead, be playful and notice what comes up.
I hope this helps bring some life back into your practice. Often, the joy and aliveness are already there; you just need to notice them. Do less, notice more, and be playful.
Hello again Bodhipaksa. Thanks for your reply and helpful comments. De-mystifying jhanas and trusting oneself sounds like good advice. But it can be difficult to shake the idea that others know more! I’ll try spending more time meditating to deepen concentration, relax, soften up, and smile more. Maybe I’ll do another retreat to deepen my practice but follow my own path to enhance samadhi. With metta, Roderick.