Am I Doing The "do Nothing" Meditation Technique Right?

[carlos flores]

So I decided to start using the "do nothing" meditation technique leo talks about. However, since this is my first time doing it i'm not sure if it's being done right. 

I sat with my eyes open in my bed and did absolutely nothing, I had my eyes focus on a paint in the wall. I tried to not move as much as possible. My eyes would catch patterns on the paint, even though my mind itself was not looking for them. After 15 minutes my back started hurting, so I moved my back a little bit to feel comfortable (not sure how much of a big deal this was since you're not suppose to do nothing at all). I would also have thoughts about things, but I wasn't sure if I was the one creating this thoughts or it was my mind doing it by itself. in that situation, I wasn't sure if to stop the thought or let do its thing. 

Am I doing this right or is there something wrong or missing? will this technique have the same effects and benefits as meditating with your eyes close?

[ajasatya]

@carlos flores in order to practice "do nothing" meditation, you have to realize that you cannot do it right or wrong, because you are literally doing nothing.

why do even want the benefits of nothing done? just practice for the sake of it. practice for practice's sake itself. there's nothing to get from it.

[Esoteric]

Quote

Basic Instructions

1. Let whatever happens, happen.

2. Whenever you’re aware of an intention to control your attention, drop that intention. Now for the subtle points. There are two sides to understanding those subtleties. First, you need to understand what the instruction requires. (Yes, there is a very small amount of doing in Do Nothing. ) Second, you need to understand what the instruction does not require (but what you might think it requires and thus make something that’s easy into something that’s hard). Let’s start with the phrase “intention to control your attention.”

Sometimes your attention may be drawn to an experience spontaneously without control. The experience just happens. At other times, you may find yourself intentionally controlling the direction or content of your experience, trying to keep it on a certain thing or pull it away from some other thing. This is true of all sensory experience including thoughts (recall: in Basic Mindfulness, thought is defined as mental image, mental talk, or both simultaneously). Sometimes a thought just arises on its own. At other times, you may find yourself intentionally thinking about a topic, intentionally pulling away from a topic, or actively directing a thought after it has arisen spontaneously.

During a period of Do Nothing practice, if you notice that you’re intentionally directing your awareness, you drop the intention to do so. You do this whether that intentional direction involves an objective arising (such as sights, sounds, physical body sensations), a subjective arising (such as mental images, mental talk, or emotional body sensations), a restful state, or a flow state.

Notice that what you’ve been asked to drop is the intention to direct awareness. You’re not being asked to drop the thing that you happen to be aware of. So if a thought comes up spontaneously, you don’t have to drop that thought. But when you find yourself controlling that thought, drop that intention to control. Do Nothing never asks you to drop experiences. It only asks you to drop intentionally directing how your attention moves within experiences. And you only have to drop an intention when you happen to notice the presence of an intention, which may or may not be very often. So, when you Do Nothing, you may have a lot of sensory activity and you may go unconscious and get caught up in things quite a bit. That’s okay! Whenever you notice an intention to do anything about all of that, drop that intention.

But what exactly does it mean to “drop” an intention? It means to let go of that intention in that moment. So, dropping is not the same as getting rid of. The intention might immediately reappear over and over. That’s perfectly fine. But what if you cannot drop it for even a moment? Then you don’t have to! Here’s why. We’re going to define intention within this context to mean something that is totally voluntary. If you cannot drop it for even a moment, then, by our definition, it is not really part of your free will. It’s happening to you and you don’t need to drop it. Notice also that the instructions do not ask you to continuously check for whether you’re intentionally controlling your awareness or not. To continuously check for the presence or absence of such intention would itself create a continuous intention! When you Do Nothing you may notice intention to control your awareness frequently, occasionally, or hardly ever. Any of these possibilities is fine.

As you can see, anyone can do the Do Nothing technique “perfectly” because its goals are extremely modest. Of course, doing the technique perfectly does not mean that your experience of it will be pleasant, restful, or productive. That’s quite a different issue. A “perfect” period of Do Nothing practice may be essentially indistinguishable from a perfect storm of Monkey Mind.

 So, what to do when Do Nothing does nothing for you? Do something else! Basic Mindfulness gives you almost two dozen other focus options. A general principle is: • If Do Nothing makes you too spacey, try Noting for a while. • If Noting makes you too racy, try Do Nothing for a while. Now you can appreciate the initial phrase in the instructions: “Let whatever happens happen.” With this technique, there is no attempt to achieve any particular effect. If the Do Nothing approach happens to work for you at a given time, pursue it; if it doesn’t, don’t.

Here are some guidelines and encouragements I give when I lead people in Do Nothing practice.

• If you have an intention to get focused or settled, drop that intention. • If you have an intention to get centered or meditate, drop that intention.

• If you have an intention to stay with a good state or fix a bad one, drop that intention.

• If you have the intention to be clear or concentrated or in equanimity, drop that intention.

• If you drop into equanimity, good. If you notice you’re trying to find or maintain equanimity, drop that intention. • If you drop into clarity, good. If you notice you’re trying to find or maintain clarity, drop that intention.

• If you drop into concentrated space, good. If you notice you’re trying to find or maintain concentration, drop that intention.

• If for a while you have no intentions to control attention, good, just hang out for as long or short as that may last. • If you get dissociated or confused, let go of any intention to do something about that.

• If an intention to make sense of things arises, drop that intention. • Remember, if you cannot drop an intention, it’s not really voluntary by our definition so you don’t need to drop it.

• Remember, by definition, dropping does not require any struggle. If you have to struggle to drop it, you don't need to drop it. • If you find this centering, good, that’s a sign you’re doing it right.

• If you find this decentering, good, that’s a sign you’re doing it right.

@carlos flores From Shinzen's Five Ways To Know Yourself system. Full book can be acquired for free here: http://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FiveWaystoKnowYourself_ver1.6.pdf

Edited January 9, 2017 by Esoteric

[Azrael]

4 hours ago, carlos flores said:

Am I doing this right or is there something wrong or missing?

You'll have to stop your right/wrong-paradigm with meditation and this technique in particular. Throughout the practice you'll have phases in which your mind will go bunkers - meaning you have a lot of more thoughts then in your typical day - also your body will hurt sometimes or move by itself or you automatically begin to do other meditation techniques. I've literally experienced every state of mind I know with this technique, from the deepest boredom to sexual arousal to enlightenment experiences.

When I teach it to people I tend to just say: Sit down for x amount of time. The rest will come by itself. And it does.