Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

The Concentration Algorithm

With Toby Sola recorded on May 4, 2025.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

Discover a “concentration algorithm” that transforms your practice. Instead of fighting distractions, this approach teaches you to work with them skillfully.

When your concentration wavers, notice what captured your attention, then make that distraction your new meditation object. This process reveals two valuable insights: first, that any sensory experience can serve as a meditation anchor beyond just the breath; and second, it helps you identify which objects your mind naturally gravitates toward, making sustained concentration more accessible in future sessions.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Practice as a Way of Remembrance

    Many are referring to this time as apocalyptic. Fair enough. It can seem as though everywhere we turn a dismantling of some sort is in the works. While we might intellectually feel able to embrace the change upon us, for many it can be easy to fall into overwhelm, hopelessness, even despair. What do the…

    Read More

  • Nina la Rosa

    A Pathway to Freedom Through Connecting with the Body

    Where’s your body? Can you feel it? Is it still there?! Life is full. There’s so much to plan and think about. We can go hours without feeling a single breath or footstep. Can you relate? By getting lost in our thoughts we over-identify with a limited sense of “self” and therefore suffer. We will…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Ask Me Anything: Everything You Wanted to Know about Dharma, but were too Embarrassed / Deluded / Enlightened to Ask

    In this session, Martin opened up to dharma questions from the Sangha. He invited questions that were personal or impersonal, about technical aspects of Buddhism or the wider field of Dharma practice, about anything between heaven and earth including both; about life, love and liberation; work, sex, money, power; the depths of meditation and the…

    Read More

  • Willa Blythe Baker

    The Art of Savoring

    In the practice of meditation, we are often focused on the task of getting to the cushion and paying attention, but how much of this task are we actually enjoying? To really enjoy ourselves in meditation, we need a practice that goes beyond attention and mindfulness alone. We need to find joy in the micro…

    Read More

  • Shaila Catherine

    How Conduct Bears Fruit: Training in Not-Killing

    In this session Shaila Catherine explores the fruits of karma and the consequences of action through a detailed consideration of why and how we practice ethical precepts. The focus for this talk is the commitment to not kill.

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Transforming the poisons.

    Buddha points out the three main ways we get pulled into activity and self-contraction – Greed, Hatred and Delusion – which Martin often translates as Desire, Defense and Distraction. This class explores creative ways of meeting these forces in everyday life, and explores powerful reflections for each of the three.

    Read More

  • Ronya Banks

    Practicing with Varying Viewpoints

    Because today’s world appears to be reflecting times of great polarization and divisiveness, you probably have felt disturbed after hearing varying viewpoints that do not align with your priorities and values. In fact if you’re like most people, you have most likely felt rather emotionally triggered and incredulous when faced with radically different views. Join…

    Read More