kashmir shaivism · Pratyabhijna (Recognition) school of Kashmir Shaivism — Christopher Wallis's Recognition Sutras, commentary on Kshemaraja's Pratyabhijnahridayam, Sutra 18
Recognition Sutras: Second Attention on Outflowing Energy
A subtle practice that can be woven into ordinary activity: periodically noticing the quality of the energy flowing out through your senses as you do something else, without judging or trying to change it.
The theory, briefly
This is Kshemaraja's teaching on shakti-sankoca ('contraction of energy'), one of the means listed in Pratyabhijnahridayam Sutra 18. Sankoca here means becoming more conscious of your energy by gently bending it back toward the center even as it continues flowing outward through the senses.
The commentary describes this as a kind of 'second attention' — a background practice held alongside whatever you're already doing, rather than a separate formal sitting. The instruction is to periodically slow down and simply feel the quality of the energy pouring out from you into the world: is it desirous, anxious, grasping, loving, needy, accepting? No labeling is required once the practice matures — the aim is to feel the quality directly, nonverbally.
For those who find 'energy' too abstract to sense directly, the same effect is reached by resting a secondary attention in the heart center while continuing to act, and simply noticing the relationship (or disconnection) between that felt center and whatever you're doing. The crucial instruction throughout is not to engage the stories or judgments that arise about why you feel a certain way — that means you've lost the practice — but to keep returning attention to the raw quality of the energy itself.
The practice
Second Attention on the Heart Center
5–15 minutes · Any posture — integrated into ordinary daily activity such as washing dishes, talking, or working, not a separate seated practice
- 1While doing something else, pause internally for a moment and ask: with what kind of energy are my senses meeting the world right now?
- 2Without judging or naming it, feel the quality directly — its intensity, its texture, whether it feels open or contracted.
- 3Think of it a little like the earth's own magnetic field, which moves outward and then arcs back in — bend some of that outflowing energy back toward your center, just enough to feel it more fully, without trying to stop or change it.
- 4If sensing 'energy' directly is hard, instead rest a secondary attention in your heart center while your primary attention stays on the activity.
- 5Notice the relationship between that felt center and what you're doing — is there connection, or a gap?
- 6If thoughts or stories about why you feel this way arise, let them go without engaging them, and return attention to the raw feeling itself.
- 7With practice, you won't need to name or label what you're sensing at all — just feel its intensity, its texture, its temperature, the way you'd feel any physical sensation.
- 8Continue for a few minutes, staying with the felt quality of the energy rather than any conclusion about it. This practice is meant to be visited often — a few minutes, several times through the day, matters more than one long sitting.
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