The Art of Noticing
Life is odd, it makes no sense at times but there are pockets throughout where it makes perfect sense.
In the moments of joy, awe, surrender, and in noticing.
Noticing is an ancient practice of presence, it gives a practical opportunity, a roadmap if you will to the too often promised bliss state. But why do we want the bliss state? It doesn’t seem in our nature to gear towards bliss, we are too often caught up in the minds array of lumbering thoughts, excuses and stories with few breaks in between, Too at the mercy of dissociation and distraction. However, time and time again the mind has been proven to be malleable, it can change to feel safe towards an experience that is bliss and one day, with compounding practice our mind can be geared towards the states that get us there and firstly that is through the art of noticing.
The history of noticing is well before our time. It’s arguable that previous generation had far better ability to notice, to take in the moment with the slower pace, more outdoor time and less distractions that, for us, argue for undivided attention every few seconds. Even writing this very sentence my mind trails off at least once to a random thought about how I haven’t played ‘Globle’ today. But hey I noticed it!
The area of Noticing and Conscious Awareness is multifaceted and a dynamic phenomenon that includes attention, memory, emotions, beliefs and even cultural backgrounds. It is an area in research that is very active and in continual debate with two prominent theories, the Global Workspace Theory and Integrated Information Theory. Part of me is so fascinated in the mechanics of the brain and how on earth it is possible that we can notice and another probably more rational part of my brain is chilling in a park on some soft grass wondering ‘why on earth does it matter, just notice’. It’ll gladly say though I have fun switching from both standpoints and will forcibly bring myself back to the reality that there really is only ever this moment right here and right now.
From a Yoga perspective, self awareness has been practiced for thousands of years, many philosophies have been birthed from the very noticing of life. Is that all philosophy is, an art of threading together the noticed moments into fancy sounding statements for others to get a sense of relatability from? Perhaps. Perhaps I’m looking into it too simply.
Some practices to try:
Slow down your yoga practice. Vinyasa is the art of noticing in a movement, in a way it translates to ‘too place in a special way’, don’t miss the moment you were born to feel.
Pause right now, and notice how your shoulders feel, then your toes and then any region of the body.
Pause, close your eyes and let yourself be absorbed by one sound and then onto another.
Look around the space you are in and focus on one colour. The vibrancy.
Watch the sun rise or sun set
Sit with your breath and try and notice exactly when the inhale turns to an exhale
The sweet pausing moments between a busy mind might be brief, but I’m happy to announce there is no award or competition for being able to stay present for the longest amount of time, or for fobbing off every though that entered the group chat. Although I am impressed and proud, that would be incredibly hard to do so and I’m sure only elite monks have reached this level, and let’s face it, not all if us want to be monks. So take the moments as they come. Let your practices strengthen to guide you out of unhelpful thoughts that have the very real ability to drag us down, let your practice of noticing be a time of connection even if it only lasts a split second, it is a split second more with yourself than you had before. And does noticing add any real tangible evidence to suggest that it will increase your life expectancy? I have no idea. But what I know to be true is, noticing a baby’s laugh, the beauty of a tree, the sound of your best friends laugh or how good it feels to be in your body (because it is good) will defiantly, without a doubt, add value to this time on Earth.
I’ve said it a million times in my yoga classes before. Yoga is a lot of things but when we pause and drop in for a moment yoga is a the ability to notice when we have drifted from states of harmony and the tools and practices that help bring us back. It is the Art of Noticing.
