Attention Training Therapy ( ATT )
I said in “Mindfulness Meditation While Jogging“, I hate to jog and I hate to meditate. So I practice Attention Training Therapy (ATT) while jogging. ATT is Open-Focus meditation with both sounds and space. It is difficult to focus on open space while jogging, but the addition of sounds in ATT makes it so much easier.
When Les Fehmi’s clients learn to practice open-focus at his Princeton, New Jersey Clinic, they are hooked up to an EEG and watch their brain waves on a monitor. They see when they reach a state of alpha brain waves, the goal of Open Focus Training.
Wells’ 7-Point Rating Scale
Though current commercial devices like Emotive Insight make it possible to check on EEG waves while jogging, I do not even have a smart cell phone or iPad to use as display monitor. But there is a simple alternative. Adrian Wells developed a 7-point rating scale to use as an index of the effectiveness of ATT. The Scale is a line with markings from -3 to +3. Wells asks, “At this moment in time how much is your attention focused on yourself or on your esternal environment? Please indicate by giving me a number on the scale.”
–3 –2 –1 0 +1 +2 +3
Entirely externally focused Equal amounts Entirely Self-Focused
When I am self-focused I do not hear bird sounds. When I am externally focused I hear bird and even insect sounds and have more of a sense of the space around me.
It is that simple. Deceptively so, because it is actually so effective. I can tell when I approach a healing state of ATT. As I move from +3 toward -3, I get a sense of freedom from my usual self-focussed attention. Anywhere to the left of 0 is a feeling of freedom from my OCD ruminations.
External Focus
But I Never Heard Them Singing
When I am externally focused I begin to hear sounds all around me. When I am self-focused I don’t hear the sounds of birds. When I don’t hear birds chirping I realize I am self-focused and open my focus to sounds and space all around me.
When externally focused, listening to sounds, and aware of space, I am in alpha brain wave territory. I don’t need an EEG display to tell me, though I plan to own a set when it incorporates virtual reality (VR).
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
