The Count - Concentration Practice Method

[Olive_Branch]

As Leo pointed out so thoroughly in his recent video, Concentration is a key skill to develop for those on the path of actualization or at all interested in consciousness work. It produces a positive feedback loop in relation to other mental exercises and is one of the most practical attributes to have at one's disposal in his daily life. I was reflecting on the role of concentration and the methods that Leo offered in order to hone this skill, and I came to realize that one of my own approaches is extremely effective in the pursuit of greater focus.

This is a technique I developed some time ago. The intent was to essentially 'force' a meditative state, for situations when for whatever reason my usual methods were frustrated. (Altered state of consciousness, high levels or restlessness or exhaustion, inability to sleep, etc) But the effects turned out to be much different - there is a good deal of mental fatigue during the process, but afterwords I felt a very powerful release, a bump of energy and general mood similar to how I felt after completing a long meditation session early on in my journey. I have been doing this in place of my regular meditation practice on occasion, aware of progress being made but also of how different it is than traditional methods. Only recently have I begun to realize that it is much more in line with the concentration practice Leo recommends; it is a tool to be used in conjunction with meditation rather than in place of it. They work together.

I've heard a proponent of Vipassana talk about taming the monkey mind. He said that the proper method was to give the monkey mind a job - namely, to watch the breathing. Whatever happens, as long as you are conscious of the breath - it is okay. This is a good method and time honored, but remember my technique was meant for times of greatest mental turbulence, when the chatter is so loud it can hardly be ignored. How easily your notice of the breath falls away in these situations. When the monkey mind is running wild, it will very quickly drop it's attention of breathing before you even notice it, because that process is essentially on autopilot anyways. No, for this method our job must be something a little purposeful: counting. 

I had this habit as a child of challenging myself to count as high as I could, when numbers were still magical to me. But this method isn't a simple breezing over of the number line conceptually - each integer must be noticed and carefully considered, skipping nothing. 

 

The method is this, 

Situate yourself in a comfortable position, in a quiet area. Your usual place of meditation will work just fine for this.

Close your eyes.

Begin counting, beginning at 1 (or 0 if you're like me and are more comfortable in a zero-index universe)

For each number you need to accomplish three things. 
1. Think of the number - your conception of it. 
2. See the number. You must visually see the image of the number you are on to move on. It doesn't matter how they appear to you, what color the text is in or what the background is like, or what font the numbers appear in. In fact you will notice all of these things changing of their own volition as you continue and your mind struggles to keep up. You just need to concretely and accurately see the digits of your current numbers.
3. Hear the name of the number. You need to say what it is inside of your head. You can use the common name ("one hundred fifty-seven"), or pronounce the sound of each digit non-verbally in sequence. ("one, five, seven")
4. Move on to the next number.

 

This sounds like an extraordinarily simple technique, and in a way it is. But I think you might surprised at how difficult it can become, especially in longer sessions. Sure, the first few numbers will fly by very quickly. It will probably take you less than a second for each one. But the difficulty increases as the numbers become longer and less familiar to you, and it takes all of your focus to know, form, and say the next one. There will be mental fatigue involved with this process. But remember, it's a workout - no pain, no gain.

Some things I like about this method:

Dynamic Concentration. This technique requires the whole of ones focus, but the object of that focus is always changing and is by definition, fresh and new. This makes it slightly easier for the mind to hold onto and not grow bored of as quickly. This is in contrast to the static concentration methods that Leo introduced to us - lingering on one thing for the whole time period. Those methods are extremely useful, but they are less engaging and don't provide any feedback. Also realize that everything in this world is ephemeral and constantly shifting. Anytime you need to activate and hold your focus in your day to day life, it won't be on something timeless and unchanging.

Self-Correcting. When doing Vipassana or a static concentration technique, it is often the case that you lose focus or begin maintaining a lower quality of focus without even realizing it until later on. We've all had moments in meditation where we become wrapped up in stories and our discipline breaks, and we aren't aware of the lapse until several moments have passed. With this technique, the Count is everything. If you lose focus or your discipline begins to wane you will notice IMMEDIATELY. There will be no delay, because without your entire focus your mind will be unable to conjure up and hold the next number, it won't know what to say or show or do, and you will instantly become aware that progress has stopped and your attention will be brought back to the technique. And if you find yourself unable to remember what number you did correctly last, there is nothing to do for it but to push yourself back a ways or to start over entirely. This may cause you some frustration at first but it is in fact a really powerful tool to watch when, how and how often your mind wanders and loses focus because of the responsive nature of the count.

Mental Fortitude. If you do this technique for long enough, you will begin to experience mental fatigue and it will become difficult to keep up. But this is how you know that you are pushing your mental wherewithal - that you're pushing your limits! Not to mention when you complete the session the feeling of relief and joy is palpable. You will eventually notice that tasks that might have been mentally taxing to you before becoming much more manageable as time goes on. 

This method has the feeling of a cardio workout. Sometimes you start feeling the burn a little earlier on, but once you're running for long enough it actually begins to feel weird to stop. Just anecdotally, my first time with this technique I only endeavored to spend a few minutes counting up to 500 - I ended up only being able to stop myself at the nice satisfying number of 1111. I didn't have a timer going this time but it was easily 25 minutes as I had been struggling and forcing each entry for several hundred numbers when I stopped. 

Optional Continuity. When you finish your session, simply write down the number you stopped at and pick it up from there next time. This ensures that each session is by definition new, and it also fosters a real sense of progress when you can see how far you've counted from the very beginning. Just make sure you don't make that the goal to the point that you neglect to thoroughly focus on the properties of each number as the technique requires. The difficulty will be always increasing, but slowly. For each additional digit you have to keep track of, you will have 10 times the amount of entries, and it will probably take you more than 10 times as long; it takes longer and longer to accurately form and say each number as they become larger.

 

That's all there is to it! I know this post has been rather long, I just wanted to be thorough. YMMV, but I find this to be a really effective tool for developing focus and concentration. Not to mention how much more comfortable it makes you with numbers! 

 

I would love to hear feedback on how the method might be improved, or how it works for anyone who gives it a shot. 

Edited April 3, 2017 by Olive_Branch

[Olive_Branch]

What a wonderful addition.  Thank you for that. 

 

This is the video of Leo's I was referencing, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sSxtR4psOoQ?ecver=1

[Pernani]

Awesome technique man! It gave me a boner, that's how good it was ?? probably chakras getting activated, I only counted to 400 though