There is Noting

The Origin Story of a Powerful Multiplayer Meditation Technique

“As long as meditation is defined as sitting silent and alone, it’s not going to catch on. We are human primates. We are social in our very bones. Isolation is punishment. Silence is dull.” – Kenneth Folk

There is Noting is a technique that was originally developed by my friend & teacher, Kenneth Folk.  Let me tell you the story of how it came to be…

A few years after Kenneth came up with the Social Noting approach, and many teaching cycles later for him, he told me that he had found a great way to introduce Social Noting to folks who were new to meditation.  I asked him what it was, and he said, it’s called, “There is Noting.”

I want to share with you how Kenneth often set-up this practice with folks, because it’s a profound meditation, in itself.  He’d start by asking the very simple question: “Am I mindful?” 

To which he’d always respond,  “I don’t know… Let me check…”  

At that point he would begin to note aloud, to demonstrate the practice, for everyone to see & hear.  

“There is seeing.”

“There is thinking.”

“There is breathing.”

“There is irritation.”

“There is not knowing.”

Turning his insides onto the outside, he would give us a glimpse of his personal experience, orchestrating, through simple words, the changing process called “Kenneth.”

“Am I mindful?”

“I don’t know… Let me check…”

Trying It Out

Go ahead and try There is Noting out-loud for a few rounds.

“There is ______” (fill in the blank with 1-2 words)

“There is ______” (use whichever words feel they best describe your current sensory experience)

There is ______ (what is this?)

If you can find someone to try it with you, you can take turns and do ping pong noting, like this:

Player 1: There is thinking
Player 2: There is hearing

Player 1: There is laughing
Player 2: There is amusement

Player 1: There is thinking
Player 2: There is planning

You could also do the same exercise with 3 or more players.

Experiencing Isn’t a Noun

One of the reasons that it’s so effective to put the phrase “There is” in front of a word or two that you’re using to label your present moment experience with, is that by doing so, it tends to encourage what, in linguistics, is called the gerund noun form.  A gerund (pronounced JER-und) is a verb that acts like a noun–a gerund is a noun in drag.  It’s a way of using language to point to things-as-processes.  

So, instead of “sit,” there is “sitting.” Instead of “sight,” there is “seeing.” Instead of “my friend,” there is “thinking.”  In this practice, we're aiming to see our experience as processes, as activities, as happenings. That's part of what mindfulness practice is all about.

So, There is Noting gently encourages a form of the language that helps point people toward this mode of perceiving things (nouns) as processes (verbs).  It's not a guarantee.  But by framing experience in this way, it does gently nudge things in that direction, towarding seeing that things aren’t really as fixed or solid as they appear. 

The other thing I've noticed that There is Noting does, is that it helps to turn the mind toward investigation. So when I say “There is” then almost immediately, as Kenneth pointed out, I recognize that I have to look and see!  The very phrase “There is” invites the looking and seeing.  It helps to focus the mind, and direct attention, toward whatever it is that's there. And what is there? Well, I don’t know, I’d have to check. I’d have to see that there is sitting. There is breathing. There is thinking.  There is releasing. There's boredom. 

There is amusement. There is aching. There is energy.

There is breathing.

There is Nonduality

On the most profound level, There Is helps point to–what in Buddhist & Hindu terminology–is called Nonduality.  Because if we really are simply present with whatever there is–fully, completely, 100%–then there is only that.  As the historical Buddha once said, “In the seeing is just the seen.”  There is no subject, there is no object.  There's JUST THIS.

There is Noting is an invitation, a pointer, toward that very profound truth of experiential awareness, that in direct perception, when we let go and are with whatever is, that's all there is.

“There is thinking.”
“There is planning.”
“There is stillness.”
“There is openness.”
“There is pride.”

We can just notice this flow of experience.

How is it?  How is it changing? What is there? Can we acknowledge it? Can we own up to what's happening?

This is the practice of There is Noting.