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Dharmette: Tech-Sati (5 of 5): Restoring Attention through Nature Inside & Outside

Greetings, friends. Today is the last day of our tech-sati series, mindfulness of technology, working with technology in a mindful, wise way.

Just to name where we've been, we started with mindfulness of the body as the anchor, mindfulness of the body and intention as our anchor when we interact with technology. We also talked about feeling tone—pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral—on day two, and to really notice how we get caught in perhaps repetitive, addictive ways of engaging.

On day three, we talked about what attention is, the ways that it is defined in Western psychology, and also some ways that it is defined and corresponds to Western psychology in Pali^[2], in Theravada^[3], in Abhidhamma^[4]. We looked at how our attention gets hijacked, the three elements of attention, and becoming more aware of how we can protect our attention.

Yesterday, we also turned the gaze back—instead of externally, well, it was internal and external always, but even more so about how we impact others. Not just how we are impacted, but how we impact others through our interactions with technology. Is there kindness? What is our state of mind? What is our mood when we engage? All of the things that are important: are we being kind to ourselves and kind to others?

Today, completing this arc, as I mentioned at the beginning, in some ways we're ending where we started, and that is with nature. Nature inside, nature outside.

What I want to introduce today is what's called Attention Restoration Theory. Stephen Kaplan, a researcher, has proposed that there are certain environments that can support the recovery of our attention, recovery from the effort of directed attention. And these environments, surprise surprise, as I've been building up in the guided meditation, are natural environments. Nature outside, going to natural environments, to forests, to mountains, being in a natural environment.

There are particular features of the natural environment that invite what's called a soft fascination. It's not so much that we are analyzing and trying to do anything. Nothing is demanded of us. There's this soft interest. The leaves rustling in the wind. The ocean waves coming and going. The lake. The various aspects of a natural environment.

Briefly, there are four qualities of being in this natural environment as part of Attention Restoration Theory. One is being away from our usual demands. So being in nature, not doing our taxes on our phone, or responding, or even listening to a podcast. Just being away from the usual demands, being immersed.

Another feature of the environment is for it to have a sufficiently rich setting, and also to have compatibility with what you need at the time that you want to be in nature. For example, it's not like when you have a cold and you want to be under the covers at home. No, you want to be outside; there's a compatibility with your needs.

And there is this quality of fascination and interest in the coherence of this environment. A tree, for example, doesn't ask us to reply. A tree does not ding and give us a notification. There is this sense of being in—perhaps I'll use the word communion—being in presence with nature, being in presence with a tree, as I invited you to imagine at the end of the meditation that we just did.

There are many measured impacts of being in these environments, which is fascinating. Attention Restoration Theory—you're welcome to research it afterwards, very interesting.

There is a study where students were asked to do a demanding, attentive cognitive task, and then they were divided. Some of them went for a walk in an arboretum that was on campus—so, a natural environment with trees. A group of them was invited to go and walk in the town, the city—the man-made environments with buildings, roads, and cars. Comparing being in natural environments to urban conditions, there was a statistically significant difference in how their attention was restored after doing this difficult task and then coming back to do more tasks. So nature impacts us. There are cognitive benefits, and in spiritual spaces, there's a benefit to our heart and mind in being in nature.

There are also some studies in Attention Restoration Theory showing that even looking at images of nature is restorative, even if you can't be in nature for whatever reason. There have been studies showing that even looking for a few seconds helps. Ideally—and other studies show the effects really take hold and are more statistically significant after 30 minutes—let me just get to the punchline: 30 minutes of being immersed in an environment like this, without audio calls, without taking photographs, just being in nature with a soft fascination, is significant.

And yet, there are still studies that show even 40 seconds works. There was a study where participants were doing a demanding task, and for 40 seconds some of them were invited to look outside the window at a garden roof with lots of live plants and vegetation. Then some other participants looked at a roof that was just gravel, with no plants, no greenery. Again, just that 40 seconds of being exposed to nature was restorative for their attention.

So, Attention Restoration Theory. The punchline here, in this week that we're talking about tech-sati, is to take time away from digital engagement. Be in nature. Nature inside, nature outside. Of course, this particular area of research has explored nature outside, which is wonderful, and yet as meditators we know that nature isn't just outside. Nature is inside. As I was inviting you to pay attention to during this meditation: this body, this body is nature. I am nature. I'm not just part of nature, I am. This is nature. The breath, I don't control it. It comes and goes. Healing, digestion, seeing, perceiving, sensations that come up, all the feeling, touching—this is nature.

So, soft fascination is not a way of, "Oh, I'm going to get this." Just the breath in, out. Just this soft fascination that you would bring to beholding a tree.

Actually, I was teaching about this at Happy Hour last week, and one student started to call it "Tree TV." Tree TV! I was sharing how sometimes if I'm really tired, I just sit and stare at the trees outside my window. It's open-eye meditation, just receiving the trees. So the students started to say, "Oh, Nikki's teaching Tree TV!" And Tree TV is free. There's no subscription. So, I invite you all to get subscriptions to Tree TV.

And also nature outside, nature inside. So much to practice, so much to let go of, and so much wisdom really is asked of us as we engage with technology in this day and age. I thank you for joining me and joining the sangha this week for this practice.

If you also want to come, since I mentioned Happy Hour—for those of you who don't know, on the Insight Meditation Center calendar you can see Happy Hour, which is a Zoom offering every day of the week from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Pacific time. We do have East Coasters who come at 9:00 p.m. your time as a lullaby. It's dedicated to practices of the heart, mettā^[5], compassion, gratitude. It's a beautiful sangha. So, if you're called, please come join us at Happy Hour every day of the week, and I teach Mondays and Wednesdays.

Thank you again, and let's dedicate the merit of our practice together for today and this whole week. May our practice be of benefit to the awakening, to the well-being, to the freedom of ourselves and all beings everywhere.

May we be of benefit in all the ways that we show up and interact through technology. May it be of benefit to us. May it be of benefit to others. May all beings be happy. May all beings be free.

Thanks everyone. Good to be with you. Be well. Take care.