out-loud noting

I have been advised to try this practice, and I realize that I really don't know how to approach it. So I'm posting a query. I asked kacchapa on his own practice thread and he suggested throwing it open to the group, in the hopes of getting input from a number of different people. Here it is, then: precisely how does one go about doing this? What kinds of words/phrases should a person say out loud? Is it best to work with one category of input--bodily sensations, thoughts, sounds--or everything together? If people would be willing to describe what they do in detail I would be grateful. Thanks, Laurel

Hi Laurel,

Check out the home page where I list possible things to note. Generally speaking, use one-word notes. The categories are the four foundations of mindfulness, also on the home page. You can do any category in isolation, or any of the four categories in any order. You can do two categories at once (doubles), or triplets, or quads. But the main practice, after you are clear about the categories, is to note randomly at all four foundations, as they arise.

See if you can get together over skype with someone who already knows the technique! It's fun and engaging, a great way to meet new people, and it leads to awakening... that's quite a package!

Kenneth

Thanks! I'm sure it will feel awkward at first, but I'll give it a try.

I wasn't sure about verbally noting at first either, Laurel, but it's very effective and is a wonderful way to improve noting technique. Working with someone else on webcam is also very useful and can be a really good laugh, there's quite a few people on here who do this regularly.

Here is some vocabulary that I posted on another thread:

pulsing, pressure, throbbing, tingling, fizzing, tightness, tension, warmth, coolness, cold, aversion, irritation, touching, frustration, speculating though, imaging thought, scenario spinning thought, planning thought, reflecting thought, mapping thought, evaluation thought, judging thought, pain, numbness, fear, trepidation, anticipation, clinging, holding, investigating, curiosity, interest, boredom, excitement, desire for deliverance, hearing, seeing, hardness, softness, brushing, tickling, itching, burning, vibrations, piercing, happiness, contentment, joy, amusement, association thought, remembering thought, calmness, stillness, peace, expansion, contraction, rising, falling, smoothness, abrasiveness, desire, spaciousness, ease, stretching, intending, mugginess, claustrophobia, worrying thought, uncertainty, doubt, self-criticism, self-congratulation, progress thoughts,

I left out an important one though: "rehearsing thought". I use this for whenever I'm thinking about what I'll say about my meditation later, either in an interview on retreat, in my journal on this forum or to Kenneth in our next session. It's a very useful label!

Hey, Laurel!
Just to sort of rehash what's already been said
I was very unsure at the beginning how to do it, especially since the instructions are very loose and let-go.
Sort of "do this! But do it however you like"
If you do it the way Kenneth described and with some inspiration from Andy's list, you will get better at it.
Remember that the main thing about it is increasing your awareness of what's going on right now. Not getting high grades on doing it the "right way".

I sometimes note fast, and sometimes pretty slow. If you miss to note things, it's not a big deal (sometimes you're aware of them anyway but just missed noting them).
If you start fretting about that you missed a note, note it as whatever arises e.g. "disappointment, tension, unpleasant, numbness, pressure, anger, tension" etc (but use the words that you think fit .
And if you can't find the right word note what arises "uncertainty, searching, frustration, confusion, tension, neutral, panic"... whatever.
So my advice is to note what you can, and also note how you react to the noting whenever you react to the exercise in itself, etc...
Hope this was helpful on some level...

Thanks, guys. At the moment, in the aftermath of the AF discussion, my noting sounds like this: defensiveness, defensiveness, fear, doubt, disgust with self, confusion, wishful thinking, gratitude, defensiveness, fear, panties in a bunch, panties smoothing out some, shame, more twisting in the panty area, laughing, laughing, gratitude, love all you fine people, manic energy, desire for calm, and so on and so on LOL ! I think I'll go balance my checkbook now.

Laurel - be sure to check out voxli.com/kfdchat - you can meet other KFDers there and do noting outloud practice together. In fact I'm looking for someone in about an hours time (around 6.30 PM GMT+1)

Andy

Thanks, Andy. I'm getting ready for a trip, so I can't do it today, but I will definitely do it sometime when the dust settles. BTW, your category of "rehearsing thought" is a major one for me. I have trouble navigating the business of practicing on the one hand and writing about it on the other. I don't quite know what the best balance is. If I'm busy while meditating thinking about what I'll say later, it sort of defeats the purpose, right? Oh well, we keep on keeping on!

also remember that the thought that noting aloud is hard or awkward is just that--an "imagining thought." You can take a relaxed, nice-and-easy approach to noticing just one thing at a time, once per second. If you forget about whether the vocabulary you use is totally accurate, and just remember that to use any note at all is to have noticed and therefore disembedded from the phenomenon in question--you're good to go.

Hi Laurel,
How are you getting on with the out-loud noting. I am struggling with it a bit myself, I keep getting quieter and quieter, then silent then just noticing. I am also getting the fear that the obervation is starting to affect the experiment. For example the speaking affects my breathing so it dosent really slow down like it did when I was silently noting 'riiissing, fallling' -

Im sure it just takes practice, but be good to know how your getting on.

Hi, Ed,

I've been noting silently instead, getting myself a bit confused with it, but going forward. I'm on vacation with the extended family, so there's not any private time to speak of. I did some noting last night in bed--trying to fall asleep. It was odd because I have more discipline when I'm formally sitting; lying in bed, I'm used to moving around to adjust position. Then my husband started quietly snoring. Now to me, snoring has the effect of fingernails against a blackboard, so I'd think, "sound, sound, tenseness, tightness, tenseness, sound, desire to move husband to another position, tension, tension in all muscles, relaxation, sound, tension, desire to move husband," you get the idea. This went on for about 10 minutes until I gave up and just gently got him turned over, LOL. But I really noticed a lot through the exercise: every muscle in my body was tense from the effort of resisting the impulse to move him.

At the same time I had a major itch on my nose, which I eventually gave up and scratched. So the end result is this: no matter how silly I feel doing the practice, I'm getting awareness of a whole world of experience and sensation in my body/mind that in ordinary life just goes on under the surface of awareness. So I'm not going to limit noting to when I'm on a cushion. Namaste! Laurel

Yes! Noting is powerful isnt it? I can pretend to be mindful during the day but somehow noting shows me lots more stuff. Out loud is the breakfast of champions IMHO, since in the morning its hard to get the gears going for me.

Just to follow up on that - I feel a lot better now as I think was trying to combine my noting out-loud with my more formal sitting practice. I find it a great off the cushion practice, especially when im walking in to town or round the park. And as u mention WSH3......its great in the morning, or even when sitting is going badly.

However, as I keep reading and re-reading, I read that if breath is primary object and its staring to get quiet and sublte the noting can be dropped, as this allows for further deepening. If I keep noting every distraction, there no room left for rising and falling, and although noting remains strong, concentration remains weak.............anyway, this a work in progress, but thats where im at, at the moment!

"For example the speaking affects my breathing so it dosent really slow down like it did when I was silently noting 'riiissing, fallling' - "

Yes, I also found that noting aloud affected my breathing. So I switched my primary objects from "rising, falling" to "sitting, touching". Sitting refers to the awareness that I am sitting down. Touching refers to the contact when I rest my right hand over my left.

peong