Wherever the Mind Goes

Deep dive

This practice is drawn from one of the methods described in the Vijñāna Bhairava, a short contemplative text from the Kashmir Śaiva tradition, probably composed more than a thousand years ago. The text is framed as a conversation in which a goddess asks how reality can be known directly, and the answer comes as a long series of practical approaches to awareness. Many of them work with the breath, the body or the senses. Several work with the mind itself.

The method behind this session is usually understood as an invitation to stay aware wherever the mind happens to go, rather than forcing it back to a fixed point. Teachers have read it in different ways. In some interpretations the emphasis falls on the mind’s restlessness: since it will go somewhere anyway, every place it goes can become an occasion for awareness. In others the emphasis is on what stays constant while the contents of the mind keep changing. Seven Doors doesn’t ask you to adopt either reading. We offer the simplest version: let attention move, and notice the moving.

This approach is quite different from the concentration practices many people meet first, in which attention is gathered onto a single object and returned there whenever it strays. Both styles have a long history. Concentration can be very steadying, but beginners sometimes experience it as a constant struggle, and the repeated sense of losing the object can turn into self-criticism. Open approaches like this one start from wherever the mind already is. Similar ideas appear in several contemplative traditions, in which practitioners are encouraged to rest in awareness of whatever arises rather than selecting what to attend to.

Some traditional and modern presentations of open awareness are framed in demanding terms: long periods of unstructured sitting, ambitious claims about the nature of mind, or the expectation that a practitioner will eventually arrive at a particular insight. This adaptation makes no such claims. Sessions are short, the cues are plain, and the long silences are simply room to practise rather than a test. We also avoid any suggestion that the practice gives you control over your thoughts. It doesn’t, and trying to use it that way usually leads to frustration.

Why is this the first Awareness session in the discovery path? Partly because it is so forgiving. There is no object to lose, so there is nothing to get wrong. It also gives a useful first reading of how you feel about the inward, open style of practice that the Awareness Door explores. Later sessions in this Door, such as Remain With the Perceiver and the optional finale, Unsupported Awareness, build on the same kind of attention in quieter, less structured ways.

Who might this suit? People who find single-point focus frustrating often enjoy the freedom of it. So do people who are naturally curious about their own minds, or who like the idea of a practice that doesn’t require being calm first. It can also suit busy days, when the mind is full and there is no point pretending otherwise.

Who might it not suit? Some people find an open, unstructured practice too vague, and prefer a clear anchor such as the breath or a sound. Others find that watching the mind without an anchor brings up thoughts that feel heavy or hard to sit with. If that happens, it is fine to open your eyes, listen to the sounds around you or feel your feet on the floor, and to choose a more grounded practice next time. If you are going through a difficult period and your thoughts often feel distressing, a practice with a physical anchor may be a better place to start, and talking to someone you trust or to a qualified professional can help.

None of this is a judgement about you. A practice that feels loose and spacious to one person can feel slippery to another, and both responses are useful information about which doors suit you. You can also return to this practice on a different day and find that it feels quite different.