It was a very difficult exercise. It consisted of several parts. The first part was pretty simple. We just moved our attention around the body. This was the easiest part. While moving attention from the top to the bottom and backwards is quite simple, moving attention from side to side can be more. 

If you are not able to complete the movement from head to toes and back, try focusing your attention on the top of your head and then quickly move your attention to your toes. Then return to the head, and back to toes. Your attention needs to move from head to toes and back again. This will be enough to complete the exercise. 

The essence of this exercise was to move our attention, using our body as a tool, like a rail along which we move our attention. 

In the next part of the exercise, we added an attention point at the top of the head while continuing to move attention around the body. This is quite challenging because it involves dividing our attention into statics and dynamics. Our attention was static at the top of our head and dynamic around the body. Why is this necessary in life? For example, it helps you not to lose yourself in any situation- whether talking, thinking, reading, watching a movie or making love.

We trained two elements of our attention:

• Statics, which allows us to control what is happening to our bodies, like an anchor. 
• Dynamics, which is necessary to be active, to understand what is happening around us, to observe thoughts that change, interact with people, and not to lose yourself, not to lose your attention.

That’s what this exercise is about! This is one of the most fundamental skills of our attention, being static and dynamic at the same time 

In the third stage of the exercise, we added mind observation. This is a completely different exercise. We observed our mind and thoughts, and at the same time we continued to focus our attention on the top of the head. We practiced to observe thoughts and not lose the feeling of our body through a point at the top of the head. We tried not to lose ourselves when we moved our attention around the body before but now we tried not to lose our attention while observing the mind and thoughts,which is even more difficult. 

There is a very interesting thing to notice here. When you keep your attention on the top of your head, where do your thoughts seem to be? In your head, under the top, above, to the right, to the left, or somewhere else entirely? Try to answer this. Where were you observing your thoughts? If you haven’t noticed this before, try this part of the exercise again and explore it.

From my own observations and those of my students, no one has said their mind is in their head during this exercise. Thoughts can appear from various directions—body, right, left, above, or they just appear. Observing the phenomenon of the mind and focusing attention on the top of the head reveals that our mind isn’t inside our head. This realization is crucial for understanding the mind and the essence of being human.

From my point of view, a human being is: 

• body, which has feelings; 
• abstract sensitivity, like intuition; 
• mind, a space, where thoughts come and go, like an airoport;  
• attention which unites all these parts. We perceive what we direct our attention at. 

For example, start to notice smells. Before you focus on them, you might not notice them. Once you direct your attention, smells and tastes suddenly appear. Attention is the linking element of our lives and all human parts.

A human being is body, feelings, abstract feelings, mind, and attention. This defines a person. This is how I see it. When asked “Who are you?”, my answer is, “I am a human being,” meaning the body, feelings, and mind connected by attention.

Another key point of this exercise is training to catch random thoughts with our attention. When you try to catch a thought, notice how it seems to run away. Training the skill to switch attention from thoughts to the body helps control our attention when needed urgently.

Another aspect of the exercise involves feeling something small within something big. Feel your whole body while focusing on a small point at the top of your head. This is another skill that will help develop our attention. 

We also practiced feeling everything at the same time: thoughts, body, and the point at the top of the head. This constant training develops our ability to divide attention across multiple elements. Though the exercise was tough, it was very effective. 

If you feel 15 or 18 minutes isn’t enough, you can repeat the exercise. Some people need a maximum load, which can last up to 40-45 minutes. You can extend the duration if you feel you need more. Everyone’s limit is different—15 minutes may be enough for some, while others find it exhausting. If it’s too easy, repeat the exercise without a break. Like physical muscles, attention muscles grow under strain. Push yourself to the point where it feels almost impossible, but keep going. Attention muscles grow much faster than physical ones. 

Since we mentioned the topic of thoughts today, I want to give you seven methods of how you can get rid of them.

Method number 1: Don’t make it relevant.

Remember our first exercise? Thoughts come and go, come and go, come and go. They have a rather peculiar nature, and they are not mine. Yes, I use these thoughts, but they are not mine. As soon as I stop making them meaningful, they stop influencing me because they can’t cause a reaction or evoke emotions. A random thought comes up—so what? It’s just a thought. Any thought is just a thought. A brilliant idea is a thought; fear is a thought. Expectation is a thought; a grudge is also a thought. You see, they’re just different kinds of thoughts, but they’re still just thoughts.

Thoughts are auxiliary tools in our lives. We couldn’t interact without them. If anyone claims they are in a state of mindlessness, they are being dishonest. It’s impossible to express thoughts and ideas without using thoughts. It’s impossible to speak without using thoughts. When I perceive something or feel something, I communicate it through a certain language, whether it is sign language, my mother tongue, or a foreign language. This is already a set of thoughts.

I can describe the sun in different words in different languages, but those descriptions will be different thoughts about the same thing. Someone who doesn’t speak my language won’t understand, but if I speak their language, they will understand me, whether it’s sign language or a verbal language. So, thoughts are a great tool. They help us interact with each other, progress, and develop. But thoughts are just an auxiliary tool, and they are not ours.

In my view, there’s no tool for creating a thought. You are free to disagree with me and explore this on your own. I clearly see the tool that receives thoughts and the tool that stores thoughts: memory. The subconscious mind stores thoughts. I haven’t noticed a tool that allows me to create thoughts. I believe thoughts just come and go, and we use some of them.

Thus, the first method to stop using a thought is to stop making it relevant. It’s just a thought. For example, if I’m swimming in the sea and suddenly think of a shark, I just stop making it relevant, and the thought goes away. It’s just a thought. I can’t see a shark right now; it’s just a thought. And all the fear disappears.

Method number 2: Identify the thought.

Direct your closest attention to the thought. Say to yourself, “Here, I see you, you are a thought.” It’s interesting that when we give such sharp attention, the thoughts run away; they disappear, becoming uncomfortable. Another interesting thing is that thoughts need our attention to be materialized and implemented. But when we give them close attention, when we identify them and scrutinize them like an x-ray, they become uncomfortable and disappear. This is the moment when we can recognize the difference between our thoughts and our intuition. If we direct close attention to our intuition, it will not vanish. For instance, when I’m about to go somewhere and I feel deep down that I shouldn’t, I can convince myself that I’ll have a good time. But with intuition, I feel that I shouldn’t go. If I pay close attention to this feeling, it will not disappear, unlike the thought of needing to go for a good time. That thought will disappear, running away and switching easily.

Method number 3: Move attention from thoughts to feelings.

We can move our attention from one thought to another, but our attention will stay within the mind. We can move our attention from thoughts to the body, from thoughts to smells, from thoughts to vision, from thoughts to sounds, from thoughts to taste, and so on. Today, we trained the skill of switching our attention from thoughts to the body. This is a fairly simple and understandable feeling. For example, I’m swimming in the sea, and I get the thought of a shark approaching me. At that moment, I switch my attention to the sensations of my skin feeling the salt water. The thought of the shark gradually loses its power, and the feeling of the skin becomes stronger. These are short-term methods, but there are methods that are more effective in the long run. 

Method number 4: Create a distance between your mind and your thoughts.

We have to expand the horizon of our attention in our mind to begin to notice thoughts a little earlier than they reach us. This allows us to filter out unnecessary thoughts. When I observe my whole mind at once, a bit wider than usual, I can see thoughts coming in advance and decide whether to follow them or not. Imagine a village with a fence. I can see thoughts even before they climb over the fence, as they approach the village, trying to get to the fence. When I see them, I can recognize their features or patterns and decide if I need to use the thought or not.

By creating a distance between my mind and thoughts and expanding the horizon of my attention, I give myself time to decide whether to use a thought or not. Here’s how it works: right now, I’m recording a video about thoughts. At the same time, many unrelated thoughts may come, like “what if” or “maybe I” or “where is.” I can manage to cut a thought before it completely takes my full attention. This is how I cut it: “but what if?” – I’m not up to you right now. “Maybe I?” – I’m busy recording a video. “Where is?” – cut it. I don’t need them right now because I’m busy with other things. This is how you can control your mind and thoughts.

Method number 5: Defocus

This method will resonate well with those who have poor eyesight. Imagine you can defocus your gaze, seeing everything at the same time. Try to defocus your gaze right now. It’s a natural state for people with poor eyesight who can’t see things clearly in the distance. You can apply a similar defocusing technique in your mind. Direct your attention inward into your mind, but at the same time defocus your attention within the mind itself. Focus on the act of defocusing your attention. It might sound a bit paradoxical at first, but you’ll get it. By focusing on defocusing, all the thoughts you perceive become like indistinct spots.

For example, if I get the thought of a shark, I defocus my attention within my mind. The thought of the shark still exists, but I no longer see its teeth or perceive danger because the image of the shark becomes blurred. At that moment, the thought ceases to threaten me. It stops evoking emotions, reactions, or concerns. That’s it—no fear. 

Method number 6: Get rid of a thought. 

You can start to feel pressure on your head, similar to the exercise we did earlier. At this moment, the influence of the thought will weaken, and maybe completely disappear. It’s truly a remarkable capability.

Method number seven: doubt your past. 

This method may not resonate with everyone as it is somewhat controversial, but it has had a profound impact on me. The idea is to question whether everything we remember from our past actually happened. Human memory is imperfect, and there are numerous scientific studies demonstrating it. Participants in these studies often struggle to accurately recall events from just the day before, let alone details from hours or years ago.

Ask yourself: Can I guarantee that everything I remember happened in reality? While I’m not denying the past, I have no guarantee that everything I remember was real. Then, everything that happened in the past will lose its importance. You can potentially solve many psychological problems by asking yourself one simple question: Has it really happened to me?

Consider this: You cannot recount every second of what happened to you yesterday with absolute certainty. The details of events a year ago are likely even less clear. Yet, we derive our sense of self, our problems, fears, and phobias from these imperfect memories. Memory distortion is a well-documented phenomenon—people often recall events differently or incorrectly remember entirely different things.

Imagine your life as a series of highlights, like scenes in a movie or chapters in a book. While these memories shape us, they are selective and prone to distortion. By doubting our past experiences, we gain a degree of freedom from the addictions, fears, and phobias that often plague us. Instead of delving into past grievances, as traditional psychological approaches often do, we can liberate ourselves by questioning the accuracy of our memories.

I personally experienced a profound realization of this during a challenging incident involving a late arrival at an embassy, resulting in a week’s stay in a country I disliked. Despite my confidence in my memory—I could remember numerous details, phone numbers, and plans—I eventually faced a situation where my memory failed me. This experience was humbling and forced me to confront the fallibility of memory. It made me start questioning my memories and gradually freed me from various attachments and fears rooted in those memories.

To summarize, doubting your past doesn’t mean denying it outright but rather questioning the accuracy and significance of what we remember. This doubt can lead to liberation from psychological burdens and a more grounded understanding of oneself. It’s a journey worth exploring to see how it resonates with your own experiences and perceptions.

Now, let’s go over the 7 methods again. 

1) Don’t make it relevant. 

2) Identify the thought. 

3) Switch from thoughts to a feeling 

4) Create a distance between your mind and your thoughts. 

5) Defocus. 

6) Get rid of a thought by feeling the light pressure on the head. 

7) Doubt your past.  

That will be all for today. Bye