Oh, that was something, wasn’t it? What an exercise! I find it fascinating because it’s so unusual and strange.

Can you tell me if you managed to focus on four points within your body? How about three? Or two? Good job.

Were you able to move those four points outside your body without visualization? 

This exercise tends to be quite challenging for most people. Even after 10 or 15 attempts, some still find it difficult. Understanding how to perform it can be tricky, especially for those who prefer to learn the theory before diving in. My recommendation is to experience it first, then work on understanding it later. Experience first, and after theory will follow. If you were able to complete the exercise in any capacity—whether you moved one point, two points, or all four—that’s fantastic. 

Now, I’d like to ask those who successfully moved their points of attention outside the body to reflect: “How did you do it?” It’s a simple question, but an important one. How were you able to recognize that you had moved the points outside your body?

When we focus on points within the body, it’s easier to physically feel them—I can touch them directly and sense the sensation. For example, feeling warmth in the center of the belly or the palms.

But how did you notice when your focus moved outside the body? How do you know that you’ve completed this exercise? This is a fundamental question to explore and understand for yourself. Take a moment to reflect on it.

Did you do it using your attention? We don’t have any receptors outside of our bodies. Everything we perceive happens within our bodies. We feel clothes on our skin, temperature changes, and humidity with our skin’s receptors. Smells are detected by receptors in our noses, and what we see is processed by our eyes. Sounds reach our eardrums, and then we interpret them. All sensory perception happens within our bodies.

Now, can you share how you recognized that you moved your points of attention outside your body? This is a truly fundamental question, fundamental question to understand. Before I answer this question, I want to offer advice to those who haven’t yet managed to move even one point outside their body. If you haven’t succeeded, please repeat this exercise several times. 

We focused our attention at the center of the palm. Imagine it like a small sphere, centered exactly there. We can feel it under our fingertip right here. The point of our attention is under the finger. Under the index finger. Even if I remove my hand, that point of attention remains there. I might not physically feel it anymore, but my attention remains fixed on that spot. I can then move this point anywhere I want, here, there, or anywhere else—it’s my attention that’s moving.

So, we’re not removing the sense of touch itself. Understand? We’re not subtracting or trying to find a specific sensation in the palm, like a point or warmth. Our attention resides there, and we’re moving our attention beyond the palm, not the sensations or feelings.

For those who haven’t succeeded yet, please try this exercise again. After that, you can continue watching the rest of this video.

And now, to answer my question. You were able to do it through your attention. There’s no other explanation for it, you know? It’s just that simple. How did we realize that we moved the point of attention outside our body? Because we did it with our attention, and more than that, we did it within our attention. Everything around me exists within my attention. Therefore, I can perceive it, I can understand it, I can feel it. Attention itself doesn’t have physical receptors like those in the body, but I can distinctly know and understand that my attention was here, there, and everywhere. It’s like a realization, a knowing—it’s beyond doubt because it’s already within your attention.

Now, try to consider this next question: What is the size of your attention? Your attention spans the size of the world you can conceive, the universe of space you can imagine. That’s the scale of your attention, and all objects, all people you know, they reside within your attention. We live within each other’s attention. Sometimes we are aware of it, sometimes not. Sometimes we engage with others, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we sense someone’s presence, sometimes we don’t. Some we allow to perceive us, some we don’t.

There are many examples when you can direct your attention towards another person and almost feel what they are experiencing. Of course, you won’t be attuned to every individual all the time. This phenomenon often occurs more strongly with someone close to you, especially when they are going through intense emotions. It’s as if you can empathetically sense their state. When you enter a room, you can pick up on the different moods and energies of people present. You’re not hearing their thoughts or engaging in conversation; rather, you’re feeling it—through your attention.

So people are already in our attention, we are in each other’s attention. And then you can begin to realize how valuable your attention is, what your attention can do. 

In this exercise, we touched our attention with our attention, almost touching our essence itself. We practiced dividing our attention into four parts, even five, as we focused on different points at the same time. Throughout this exercise, we remained aware of what was happening at the moment. We tried to explore what is happening to us. Even as we focused on various points within our bodies, we aimed to divide our attention into five parts. This is difficult. Yet, this practice is essential for every human being to explore. And what is important here is that it’s exactly your research of what was happening to you when you were doing this exercise. 

In the upcoming exercises, when we are going to do some parts of this exercise or use its components, I encourage you to explore what is happening to you during these moments.

As I mentioned earlier, attention is our most precious resource. To truly realize its value and power, you must explore it.

I encourage you not to simply accept my words or those of any other masters, gurus, or books. Instead, make your own exploration of attention—its nature, characteristics, properties, and what you can achieve with it.

We’ve always been taught to concentrate our attention on thought—think, and act. Measure twice, cut once. Our attention has consistently tried to be put into the mind. It’s neither good nor bad; it’s just a given. Yet, therein lies humanity’s problem. All the stress and suffering people have from this constant focus on the mind and its thoughts.

However, the issue isn’t with thoughts themselves but rather with our automatic fixation on them. And then every thought that arises begins to impact us. But when we learn to control our attention, when we start dividing it into multiple parts, we can become attuned to our body’s sensations. We can understand what thoughts we have now—thoughts that might tell us whether to place our hand on fire or not, might analyze situations for making a decision, or find the best way to buy a ticket, or ways to make money, or think about the future.

And at the same time, I can be aware of everything happening around me. All at once—my body, my thoughts, and my perception of the environment. I won’t neglect my body; I’ll attend to its needs. I’ll understand what’s happening in the world. By feeling it all, I remain engaged in life, using my thoughts and being able to analyze.

This method differs from esoteric and religious meditations and other similar practices. Those often focus attention exclusively on a single object or aspect—focus on the body, on physical changes. In schools, we’re conditioned to direct attention solely to the mind, ignoring everything else. It is a disharmony. It’s like wearing blinders; we only see what’s directly in front of us and miss the broader view of the world around us. Through the practice of dividing attention, however, we can perceive the world as a whole.

For example, my attention is typically divided into five parts. It is always sensations within my body. If my eyes are open, I perceive my surroundings visually. I’m aware of the sounds around me by listening. At the same time, I observe my thoughts and can manage my mental processes. And crucially, I’m aware of where my attention is now. By understanding its current direction, I am able to control it—moving focus depending on what’s most important at the moment. If I need to engage in more mental activity, I’ll direct more attention there, yet I remain aware of my body’s needs and continue perceiving my environment. I won’t lose myself. But primarily it happens when I realize where my attention is. 

Therefore, it’s not as important where attention is directed as it is to understand where it is directed right now. Attention is much more than the present moment, than awareness. Awareness is only a part of our attention that we have focused on the present moment. But there are many other objects you can focus your attention on at the same time.

For those who successfully moved their attention points outside their bodies without visualization, what did you experience? What happened at that moment? Did you feel a sense of expansion, as something stretched, even though your body didn’t physically expand? How is it possible, why did you feel it?

Looking ahead, the next exercise will be similarly unusual yet valuable—it’s a simplified approach to developing a sense of fullness. Don’t miss the next session, and I’ll see you there. Bye!