Derek's Practice Notes

I sat down to do the noting for an hour.

After perhaps 35 minutes (of course, I don't know the exact timing) I became aware that I was able to observe the noting taking place.

It was as if I was watching the noter -- like watching a person who both was me and yet was not me.

Five minutes later, the "I" seemed to explode for a couple of seconds before reassembling. At this point, it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps "I" was not as important a person as I had always assumed!

This jolt disrupted the noting for perhaps fifteen minutes afterwards. Only toward the end of the sit did things calm down and I began methodically noting again.

Keep it up...

Thank you!

Hmmm... Very provocative report, Derek. Eagerly awaiting future installments!

Kenneth

Ooh, sorry -- didn't mean to be provocative, LOL!

This morning it occurred to me that the verbal noting is too crude a tool to capture what's really happening. Swallowing involves multiple sensations of wetness and muscles tensing and untensing. Even a simple inbreath is comprised of multiple subsegments and sensations. To describe it with the single word "rising" doesn't do it justice.

Derek, think of noting as a feedback device rather than a tool for the intellect to capture what is going on. If it is noticed, that is what is important, the noting keeps you from getting off on a tangent.