If you start reading about consciousness, the brain and mindfulness practices you will come across the term Default Mode Network or DMN. It refers to network of brain structures responsible for the “inattentive wandering of our minds” (Williams, 2014) that was first described by Marcus Raichle in 2001.
The term is relevant in Losing Oneself because of how experiences of movement improvisation seem to intersect with mindfulness practices.
Matthew Williams describes the mental state of inattention that is synonymous with the DMN:
By “inattention” I mean times when you are not attending to physical activity, engaging with the external environment, or carrying on a conversation. Inattention, in the way I am using it, describes states of daydreaming, contemplating the future, reliving the past, or general rumination. The DMN is the set of neurologic structures responsible for this ruminative mental activity.
In Williams’ excellent overview of the neurscience of mindfulness he compares the DMN with the task positive network (TPN). Who doesn’t love a three letter acronym (TLA)?
Compare this description of inattention with how paying attention is ceasing to do something.
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