Practice 2 · The Field and the Spotlight

Alright… let's begin.

Step 1 – Settle In

Find a position that is stable yet comfortable. Close your eyes. Hold them shut till we are done.

First, just notice your breath. Don't fix it. Don't force it. Let it be just as it is.

Now take a quick inventory. How's your mood today? Is your head heavy, like a dark room with no lights? Or restless, like a flickering light that does not know whether it is on or off?

Whatever you see, just observe. This is the soil we are going to work with.

Step 2 – Moving the Spotlight

Suppose that you are a warm beam of light, and you can turn it to any part of your body.

• First, light up your feet and legs; feel them on the ground.
• Move that light up your lower back and stomach.
• Then your chest, your shoulders.
• Pour it down your arms, into your hands and fingers.
• Take the light to your jaw; see whether it is light.
• To your tongue.
• To your senses, and the gentle darkness of your closed eyes.
• Finally, focus on your breath… then your ears, hearing the world beyond you.

This, right here, is the power you have. The ability to decide what you will focus on.

Step 3 – The Main Practice

Now, bring your attention to the breath. Notice the inhale filling your lungs. Your belly swelling… then falling. Cool air in… warm air out.

Begin to count: “One” as you breathe in. “Two” as you breathe out. Go on till you reach ten, and start over again at one.

When your mind wanders, and it will, just observe where it has flown, say lightly “not now,” and lead it back to your breath.

This is the horse-and-rider dance: the horse runs to the edge of the trail, wondering what the bushes are. The rider, steady, calm, just brings it back. No whip. No fight. Just guidance.

Step 4 – Ten Minutes in the Field

Here we shall stay ten minutes, tending this inner soil. Sit in silence for ten minutes.

Halfway through, remember: it doesn't matter if your attention wandered a hundred times. A hundred times you came back, and every coming back is a seed in the field.

Step 5 – Returning

Free your mind of the breath. Give up your hold on it gradually, as you would return a worn instrument to its stand.

Breathe two or three deep, natural breaths.

Before opening your eyes, check in again:

• How does your body feel now?
• Has your mood shifted?
• What's the current state of your mind?

When you're ready, open your eyes gradually, letting the outside world enter, bit by bit.

What we have just done might not seem like much… but like the dripping of water into a jar, it will fill quicker than you believe. You are creating something stronger than attention: the power to decide where your mind is, each time you realize you have strayed and returned.

Reflection

• Did your attention wander? (Of course it did, it's supposed to.)
• Were you able to bring it back?
• Did you feel the motion of moving your mind, like a spotlight, to where you want it to shine?
• Did you sense how this is building a muscle, one rep every time you return?

Today, you have plowed the ground a little deeper. It's not perfect, it's not “done,” but it's ready for the next seeds we'll plant together. Keep showing up. The field will change. The horse will be more attentive. And the way ahead will clear, bit by bit.