In the hustle and bustle of everyday life and the hustle and bustle in your mind, it is tempting to keep moving forward instead of standing still. You are driven by a restless, uncomfortable feeling or excited feeling, always looking for the next big moment, the next picture, the next experience, the next holiday and the next beautiful place where it can be experienced or where you hope to find real peace and real meaning.
This is often unconscious and not so black and white ;-)
In Miksang Photography the emphasis is on the process of perception – on the different aspects of looking and seeing and the experience of wonder and the joy of being struck by a flash of perception. This process is deeply rooted in contemplation and taking the time for the direct experience when something strikes you, seeing afresh, or as we might call it in modern terms: slowing down with meaning. In this, standing still is not only a physical act, but also a crucial movement of non-action in the process of pure perception.
Standing still, both internally and externally, is essential in photography with the Miksang 'Good Eye' approach. When moving you also notice that you experience moments of being struck, but you glide past your experience of perception, both within yourself and past what you see. In stillness you can let those moments of fresh, pure perception in completely before you give a photographic expression. In this stillness you leave your camera alone for a while, you keep it in your holster. Immediately reaching for the camera to take a picture is still movement!
You can learn to come to a full stop. And why would you train yourself to do that? “I do see fresh moments,” I often hear. But once you have experienced the flash of perception and understand how you can tune in to being available, that feeling never goes away! What can happen, however, is that what you see becomes vaguer and mistier when you no longer really come to a stop and stand still. You then fall back into the habit that you know best: gliding past it, hurrying and on your way to your appointment, finishing your plan, and so on.
Experience shows that standing completely still, both externally and internally, gives peace. It is that simple.
What does standing still actually mean in the context of Miksang Photography?
Standing still means more than simply stop walking or biking. It is about coming to a full stop, both physically and mentally. When you experience a flash of perception—that moment when something of ordinary beauty suddenly strikes you—it is essential to stand still, literally, and figuratively. In this way standing still allows you to fully open yourself to what you see, to let the moment in fully without disrupting the experience of fresh seeing with your usual thoughts, expectations, or sense of creative ambition.
Outer stillness:
This is the first and most obvious step—literally coming to a full stop. It means stopping moving and coming to a complete standstill. By physically standing still, you give yourself the opportunity to truly connect; to connect with the whole experience of yourself and with what you see. You give yourself time and space to experience your experience. Physically, you slow down and allow yourself deep relaxation, which works deep into your cells. These aspects of mindfulness in action also have a positive impact on our immune system and can significantly rejuvenate our brain. Meditation can lead to improvements in cognitive function, emotional regulation, and overall brain health.
Inner stillness:
Inner stillness is just as important, if not more important. It means that you relax your thinking head and let go of your thoughts in the form of judgments and prejudices and 'that is interesting for a photo' and 'that is not interesting for a photo' fall away. Inner stillness allows you to see clearly, without your perception being immediately clouded by thoughts. The sensory sensation of being struck by something visual unexpectedly and out of the blue is a direct and vivid experience without thought. This is a truly non-thought experience. The clouds of thoughts are caused by what you think about what you see or what you expect to see and how you start thinking about how the photo should look. Our thinking is simply lightning fast! And how fast your reactive reasoning starts up is because you have already done this a lot. You have become very good at it and this will be the first thing that comes to the surface. But it is possible to remain in a state of openness and availability, where you are awake and connected in the moment looking at what you have noticed that has struck you visually.
Awake Looking and Pure Perception in Miksang Photography
A key part of this process is what is called "awake looking" in Miksang Photography. But what does this actually mean, and how does it differ from other forms of perception?
Pure perception goes beyond simply seeing something with your eyes.
The function of your eyes is to look. Your eyes do not have opinions or judgements. Pure visual perception is a form of sensory perception and sensory awareness that is free of judgements, prejudices, classification, comparison, expectations and associations. It is not the result of actively searching for a specific image or interesting looking subject, but rather being receptive to what presents itself already naturally and what you notice and look at before your thinking has started. And when your reasoning thinking has started, at some point you recognize the difference and return to pure perception.
What Pure Perception Is Not
Pure perception is not the result of hard work, intense concentration, or forced attention. It is not looking for the perfect picture, not hunting for an image that meets your preconceived ideas. When you look in this way, you lose the spontaneity and freshness that you would like to experience and wish to see in your photo.
What Pure Perception Is
Pure perception begins with consciously awake looking and inviting your visual awareness to go out. This means that you are not only present with your eyes, but also with your heart. Our heart is a mysterious place in our physical and energetic being, and yet you know what it is; when you feel something that strikes you, you know it, because you feel it. What you feel is an unfiltered pure sensation of perception, a sensation of your inner wisdom. As your heart is always spot on ;-)
Awake looking as pure perception is a conscious tuning in, when you invite your visual awareness to unfold further. It is a delicate balance: on the one hand you are aware and attentive, on the other hand you let the visual world come to meet you as it is. It is an awake relaxation of looking and noticing what you just see out of the blue, unexpectedly and sudden. The seeing happens, you don't have to do anything to make it happen.
It is always a dance between these two aspects of the Miksang mind: being visually awake and expanding your awareness. If you only look from a state of awakeness, it can quickly become hard work—you are trying to see something, you are actively searching for something to capture. But if you only remain open and let your awareness expand without looking with awake eyes, you run the risk of not aiming contact with your immediate surroundings and missing out on the beauty of everyday life.
The Value of Standing Still, Slowing Down, and Awake Looking
With the exercises in Miksang Photography and the step-by-step Miksang Method, you will learn the value of standing still, slowing down, and looking awake and with fresh eyes—an art that requires both outer and inner stillness. By standing still after a flash of perception, slowing down, and consciously awake looking, you create the space to fully connect with what you see. From complete stillness—a calm open mind and keeping your camera in its holster—you can look deeper to fully allow the subtle beauty of everyday life. It is a combination of the attunement and action of standing still, the balance between visual awareness and fresh eyes, and slowing down that enables you to capture images that are not only beautiful, but also imbued with the deep joy of pure perception—a form of meditation in action.
Interested in inner stillness with Miksang Photography?
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