A technique I’ve been experimenting with to deepen my formal meditation is to deliberately tighten the focus of my awareness as recommended in Culadasa’s book.
Since I’ve begun I’ve always had a hard time just being aware of the present moment and have rushed to the breath at the nose. I did this because I would always find myself daydreaming instead of actually meditating. The other day I decided to begin with tonglen, may breathing in the chaos around me and breathing or live and goodwill. Amazingly this turned out to be the way to ease into the first step of meditation and then, about fifteen or twenty minutes latest I shifted down into body awareness, then the breath and then the breath at the nose. I have to remind myself that it’s not the feelings that arise which are the hallmark of a good meditation but it is exciting nonetheless to have found a way into deeper states.
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
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