I get asked many questions about how to recollect one’s meditation sittings. It is, after all, the “technique” of this form of meditation. The meditation practice itself is open and highly unstructured, which may pose problems for developing awareness of one’s experiences. There is nothing one is supposed to do inside of a meditation sitting to become more aware, since trying to be present with one’s experiences, or mindful of them, creates tensions and interruptions in the natural course of one’s inner world. Whether one tries to be mindful or not, there will naturally be some awareness during the sitting. Recollection becomes possible because some degree of awareness is already present in any conscious experience. However, the level of awareness at any time is dependent on the conditions of the experience. Thus a dull, drowsy state of mind will have a considerably lower level of awareness than an excited state of mind. But we might be equally ignorant of what goes in each of these states, because we have never examined them in any detail. Recollective Awareness is a technique of recalling back to mind the various states of mind we experience in meditation and exploring them in ways we have not done before.

            Now to some of the most common questions:

1. Should I try to recollect my experiences during the meditation sitting while they are happening? Either by taking notes, speaking into a voice recorder, or by reminding myself to remember things?

Answer: Applying recollection while meditating will interrupt the course of inner experience and create additional tension. The purpose of recollecting one’s sitting afterwards is to give oneself the freedom to go with whatever one experiences, so trying to recollect during the sitting defeats this purpose. Some people are concerned about how well they remember things in meditation (and in general), and so may feel more of a need to practice some recollection during the sitting. What I suggest here is that you loosen up around the task of recollection and just wait until the sitting is over before trying to recall what happened during it. However, there will be natural and spontaneous moments of recollection during a sitting, and these will not have the kind of force or pressure that would often come about when trying to intentionally recollect something.

2. What if I can’t remember anything after a sitting?

Answer: After some states of mind, especially those that are very calm or sleeplike, you may not always be able to recall much. That is perfectly natural. Just try to recall something general, like how the state felt, or if there was light or color, or if the state had a certain texture or movement to it.

There are also times when so much has happened in a sitting that you may not know where to begin your description. As a way to begin writing down your experience, start with what you most easily remember, or what is most important to you, and once you have written that down, go on to other areas that you now can remember.

3. Why keep a journal?

Answer: Often when we write things down, we discover additional information and possibly more detail in our descriptions. When talking to a teacher about your meditation sittings, it is also helpful to have a journal handy.

One of the side-effects of keeping a journal is that you will sometimes think about what you are going to write in your journal during the meditation sitting. And that can be disruptive, leading to more thoughts around writing about an experience, or to more comments on the experience. I believe that any technique that will help us become more aware will produce similar side-effects. One thing you can do if this happens repeatedly is to stop journaling for a few sittings or to journal only one out of every three to five sittings, deciding on which sitting to journal only after it is over.

            If you have any questions about recollecting and/or journaling your meditation sittings, please feel free to email me or any of the other teachers of the Skillful Meditation Project. We would be most happy to hear from you and to assist you in any way we can.

Here is a recent talk I gave on recollecting one's experiences in meditation:

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