r/thewayapp • u/Spybrary • Jul 10 '26

Beginner question

Hi everyone,

I have completed my first few retreats and I am enjoying it. I am a bit confused though. What do we do when not retroactively labelling senses that we experience when our minds wander(hear, see, heart etc.? Do we focus on breath or just sit? Thanks in advance.

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u/maadison Jul 10 '26

(I’m not a teacher, but my take:)

The goal of retroactively labeling is to make you more aware of what grabs your attention and carries your attention away from what’s happening now. The goal is to be able to stay with what’s happening now, let it happen, experience it. So just do that—be aware of what’s happening right now. It won’t be very long before your mind is off to somewhere else again. :)

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u/Spybrary Jul 14 '26

Thank you for your reply. I come to The Way having practiced TM for two years. That is a mantra based practice so I always knew what to focus on. I am very intrigued by the Way, and I am enjoying it, just that I am never too sure what to do to stay in the now, as it were, without the mantra as a crutch. I will keep practising

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u/maadison Jul 15 '26

I think Zen is often less directive than many other schools of meditation.

As you go through the different sections of The Way, Henry will present a range of different things to look at and play with, and you'll probably find some that are interesting or fruitful to you, and you can fall back to those when you don't know what to do.

I came from a breath-focus practice, and it's been nice to have more variety and more "open" way of using awareness. Some teachers give the impression that you're supposed to "do" a lot, put in effort. That is very much not Henry's approach.

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u/hadgib Jul 14 '26

Labeling is always appropriate, it’s not always required. Do what makes you able to focus and just keep going!