Concentration
Concentration is the ability to focus on what you want for the duration that you set.
In any mindfulness exercise there is an Object of Focus; a type of sensory experience that you want to focus on. The Object of Focus can be very specific and narrow such as the breath sensations at the tip of the nose. Alternatively, it could be more extensive and include everything that you see at once.
When there are multiple Objects of Focus that your attention could land onto, we may use the expression Focus Range to refer to all the sensory experiences that your attention could potentially focus on during a mindfulness exercise.
In the illustration below, the Focus Range is shown as a circle. The numbers 1, 2 & 3 are examples of an Object of Focus within the Focus Range. The letters A, B & C would be sensory events not included in your focus range. In other words, there would be distractions.
Example: you decided to focus on all your bodily sensations.
The Focus Range would include any sensations in your body. The “circle" from the above illustration would be the boundaries of your body from top to bottom, left to right and back to front.
The Object of Focus would be the sensations in your body as they come and go. #1 could be the sensation of the chair under your thighs, #2 could be the expansion of your chest as the air comes in and #3 could be a feeling of stress that you feel in your abdomen.
The Distractions would be anything that pulls your attention away from the focus range. Letter A could represent a visual thought (mental image), letter B could be a sound in the environment and letter C could be your inner chatter (mental talk).
There are many approaches to train Concentration.
From a temporal (time) perspective, concentration can be trained for a brief period or for a sustained period.
From a spatial (dimension) perspective, there are at least four strategies.
1- You could pay attention to a specific object of focus. When you realize that you are no longer focusing on that particular object, kindly bring back your focus on the object that you chose to pay attention to. For example, you could focus on the light of a candle.
2- You might let your attention go wherever it wants to go within the focus range. Whenever your attention is outside the focus range, which is the same as saying whenever you are distracted, kindly bring back your attention to the focus range. For example, if your focus range included all bodily sensations, you could let your attention go from one sensation to another. Every time your attention would land on a new sensation, you would build your momentary concentration by briefly and completely focus on what you notice for a few seconds.
3- You could decide to systematically scan the focus range to detect the sensory experiences that you are paying attention to. When you find yourself no longer scanning, kindly start back where you left off. You may also begin anew anywhere in your focus range if you can’t remember where you left off. For example, you could scan, with your attention, your body from head to toes noticing the sensations that are present in the area that you are scanning.
4- You may decide to hold your attention over the entirety of your focus range by covering it all with your attention. Whenever you are no longer holding your attention in the focus range, kindly bring back your focus to cover the focus range. For example, you could cover your entire body with your awareness and detect all sensations that occur at once in your entire body.