15 minute Open Focus Technique with Susan Shor Fehmi | Simple, attention training meditation 

Thank you!

Thanks Letaief! It’s a fantastic book isn’t it? If you enjoyed this then check out the full the interview with Susan where we talk at length about the discoveries in the book!

@@AriaBreath will do!!

Wow, thank you Herbert! More videos coming this summer!

@@AriaBreath Thank you. The earlier the better 😁👍

Yes Tim, Susan is Les' wife.You can watch my full interview with her about the history of the technique on this channel :)

No problem, thanks for checking out the channel!

Thanks Johnny! Glad you enjoyed!

Lovely to know Alexis! I’m putting on some courses right now about combining meditation with breathwork in case you are interested. You can put your email in at BreatheWithTom.com :)

Thanks Zack! Glad it was useful.

Thanks for the positivity Mariano 😁

it's been around for 30 years buddy...

and the east has been doing since thousands of years ago ...

Thanks for checking out the channel Santo, glad you enjoyed Susan’s meditation!

Go with what works for you. I highly recommend the book “The Open Focus Brain”, which will give you more clarity.

This is where it comes from. He mentions it in his book Being Supernatural.

That’s how I came to this video. Saw Les Fehmi’s book in the end notes of Breaking the habit of being yourself. I’m anxious to bring it up in my Joe Dispenza zoom meeting today. This little exercise mellowed out my anxiety with a quickness. Love it

without this Dr Joe wouldn't be able to prepare the body to get to alpha state and do all other things that follow

Hi Peter, that’s essentially it yes. You are imaging the space itself. Visualising the distance between each area. If you check out some of the comments it’s a sense of “objectless awareness” in other meditation modalities… go with it and see what happens ;)

Thank you

That’s lovely Louise!

might lose yourself, identity if you're not used to it

Who did?

Hi Zara, thanks for watching. It can take a little getting used to, try picturing the volume of space as though it is a shape made of light. For example, light shining between your two hands. I hope this helps!

Yeah she doesn't describe it no way 10 yr old are getting wtf she's saying she's vague I'm 40 and don't get it qt all

There's nothing "to get" that's engaging and ironic because this is about letting go of yourself and your habits.

Hi Jos, thanks for checking out the channel! I'll do my best to answer you. While this is not the answer you are looking for, you could look into the studies of Drs P Gerbarg and R Brown, they use Open Focus Technique as their primary attention directive in their meditations once they have taken participants through a series of breathing techniques. While it is not a direct study of Open Focus and is confounded by the addition of specific breathing rates and movements, I think you will at the very least find them interesting if you are interested in meditative studies. You could also watch my interview with them on this channel although I don't think we got into Open Focus. There are many recent peer reviewed studies showing that different meditation styles affect brainwaves differently - Nidra correlating with theta, mindfulness correlating with alpha etc, in a sense this is a similar but highly specific version of what might be described as Open Monitoring in Bhuddism so I don't find the alpha claims too difficult to believe. The explosion in these kinds of peer reviewed studies is due to the technology becoming (comparatively) cheaper and more reliable in the last 20 years as well as a lot more funding for studies relating to meditation. Fehmi was working 40 years ago with what he had within a scientific community and wider culture that was still way off accepting meditation as a health intervention. In simple terms, my own interest in sharing this technique and speaking with Susan comes from having used it - it really feels like no other meditation I have been guided through. You are right to be skeptical, the Biofeedback movement of the 70s and 80s had some pretty wacky ideas. However, when it comes to experiential practices, I believe you should also value your own experience. The philosophy behind the technique outlined in Dr Fehmi's book holds up well as an explanation of the subjective experience. Point being, if he'd never made claims about alpha, I'd still be interested in this technique. Putting aside the untested brainwave claims for a moment, conscious and unconscious attentional states undeniably affect nervous system states. In his book, Dr Fehmi talks about how narrow focus causes higher sympathetic arousal, this is not controversial, you can test this yourself with a galvanic skin response sensor, muscle tension sensor, or HRV monitor. The detrimental effects of sustained sympathetic arousal through the catabolic effects of cortisol alone are well documented. We are in an unseen epidemic of narrow focus states due to social media, 24 hour news, and smartphones, if this helps people to practice breaking that pattern, it is likely good for health... it may even be uniquely suitable and so I'm happy to promote it. I hope that it will be tested by a peer reviewed study but as Dr Fehmi is retired now it is unlikely! I'm sure this hasn't alleviated your concerns but I hope it was helpful, stay skeptical : )

@@AriaBreath thanks for this extensive response. My concerns haven't been alleviated, but they were not that severe and your responive increases my interest significantly. Being skeptical should go two ways, towards the new and the known ;) I'll try it today! See where it goes!

@@AriaBreath Hi, I would like to report on my findings... I tried it a few times now. To me it feels like any hypnosis induction. It's nice. And that's it to me. Nothing more or less. I've had way deeper and more interesting hypnosis experiences. But because this experience is so personal it might be that this just ticks a few boxes for my mind/body system and some other things check a few more boxes. What I do like a lot though, is that this is easy to implement for myself, without guided audio. That's a big plus. The really meaningful and powerful hypnosis sessions have been really guided and directive. This is a method to at least go in that direction :)

@@inajosmood Thanks for the detailed feedback Jos. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Are there any particular hypnosis inductions that you would recommend for me to check out?

@@AriaBreath the best ones have been in closed group programs with a mentor. He doesnt like to share much publicly at all. I enjoyed one older Richard Bandler cd a lot. I think it was the personal enhancement series. Lol i had this whole library, but at some point putting myself in such a state and being a bit more open to be influenced by the hypnotist, didnt feel right and lost my interest . Except for these more personal settings. Not sure what he does now, but I think Adam Eason had some really nice ones.

I’m sorry you couldn’t enjoy it. This was an impromptu meditation over zoom which is why the quality isn’t ideal. I hope you can find something else on the channel to help shift your focus. If you are specifically interested in Open Focus I recommend Dr Tomasz Kopec’s recordings. Or submit your email at drawbreath.com to come to one of my live meditation sessions.

I listened to the recording by her husband? And I kept hearing him swallow- it got very annoying

@@AriaBreath Where can I find Dr Tomasz Kopec’s recordings?

Hi Evan, here is his website: www.openfocusattentiontraining.com

Shucks, thanks!