When to "stay with" sensations?

Let's say you're noting about once per second and there's a particularly prominent set of sensations, like the unpleasant sensations associated with your leg falling asleep. You can just note "unpleasant" and move on to something else, or try to zero in on all of the individual sensations that make up this experience, all the individual tingles or needle-like pains. You could also try to watch these sensations to see if they stay the same, intensify or weaken. Just curious: When is it appropriate or advisable to stick with a set of sensations and try to penetrate them in this way? Just whenever you feel like doing this type of investigation, or whenever they loom large enough to be a distraction? Thanks for any help...

Just my own experience:
Usually I just observe how awareness jumps from sensations to sensations, how it jumps from the breath to the itch, from the itch to the pain and back to the itch.

Hi Joel,

Anything is a legitimate object of attention, so you can't go wrong. Generally speaking, when you are sitting, if you are able to stay in one place and watch a sensation deconstruct itself into its constituent parts, that is ideal; it allows you to go deeper into concentration while still clearly objectifying the sensations.

Practicing in daily life, on the other hand, e.g., while driving or at work, you need the skill of skipping around from one object to another as they arise. This keeps you alert and in the game while still being mindful. It isn't practical or even a good idea to become highly concentrated while doing some daily life activities. But it's all good; it's just as important to clearly objectify experience in daily life as it is while deeply concentrated in formal sitting meditation.

Kenneth

"Generally speaking, when you are sitting, if you are able to stay in one place and watch a sensation deconstruct itself into its constituent parts, that is ideal ...
Practicing in daily life, on the other hand, e.g., while driving or at work, you need the skill of skipping around from one object to another as they arise. "

Thanks, Kenneth. At a certain point, there seems to be be an inclination to stay with the object(s) until this deconstruction happens, so I'll start working with that--at least, on the cushion.

"... watch a sensation deconstruct itself into its constituent parts, that is ideal..."

Yes. Staying with one object and deconstructing it is really, really helpful, IHMO. I've described my first experiences of that here a bunch of times but I don't think you can emphasize it enough. Being able to "see" what's really happening as the mind creates and processes the things that arise in awareness will bring your practice along faster, at least it did for me.

Dependent origination 101.

Edit: spelling

This is an interesting thread.. I find it highly relevant for my practice as well Joel,
I don't mean to hijack your thread but, I've got a question:
Lets say I start with observing the breath: there is the breath itself coming and going, the vibrations around the nostrils, the buzzing at the third eye, the whole body itself buzzing (even if the focus is on the breath) and mental processes which arise one after another,
When you say 'staying with one object and watching it deconstruct itself into its constituent parts' , how would that apply if I'm watching the breath? ignoring the rest and staying with it even when other things are known, or stay with something until it deconstructs and then move on (which sometimes happens quite fast)?

The general idea is to watch the object, as best you can (as it does happen very, very fast) go from being a simple contact with your senses (touch, taste, sound, sight, thought) until it passes away. There are distinct steps you can discern along the way from the initial arising to the passing away. This was always easiest for me in regard to sound or touch but the process can be observed with any of your six senses. If you want to use the breath then try to track the process from the time you sense the out breath at the base of your nostrils or on your upper lip. What happens in your mind after that first sensate experience?

Otherwise you can use some other object, but yes, you have to ignore anything else that arises in order to stay with just one object.

I would add that the "size" or scope of the object varies depending on what state or stage you happen to be in at the time. When you are in 1st jhana territory, the focus is very tight, e.g., a pinpoint itch on your cheek, or one tiny spot on your abdomen. This corresponds to the 2nd phase of chicken herding:

kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/Jhana+and+Ñana

At that level, you have to make an effort to stay with an object while ignoring other objects that are competing for your attention.

But the scope of the object gets progressively larger as you move through the phases. (Note that you may move through all of the phases of concentration in each sitting, so your understanding of the technique has to be very dynamic so that you can let it all unfold naturally.) When you are deeply concentrated in the equanimity nana/4th jhana, for example, the object includes the entire perceptual field. You don't have to ignore anything, because it is all one big compound object, with nothing excluded. As long as you keep a "soft and flexible mind" (isn't that a Dogen-zenji quote?) you will naturally gravitate to a very tight and exclusive focus or a very wide and inclusive focus and everything in-between as a natural consequence of moving up and down the jhanic arc.

edit: typo

Kenneth and Chris,
Cheers for the help, it's very helpful indeed.