If we poke our nose into the mirror, we will not be able to see even our own face, albeit some fractions of it. A distance is needed to even see our reflection in the mirror. The same applies for meditation and hence can cannot become enmeshed with our thoughts too much while sitting in meditation. As Upanishads have said that, self is the “Eye of eye and the ear of the ear”. This quality is the witnessing quality in us, so as to say the consciousness that watches To drill this point deeper, just close the eyes for the moment. You will either see darkness or a negative type image of the object that you last saw. Lets assume you are seeing darkness upon closing the eyes, so the question is who is seeing the darkness when the eyes are closed? This is precisely your witnessing consciousness This method is used by lot of meditations schools, including Vipassana that is based on witnessing or watching. Using breath can have multiple dimensions, and one of the dimension is to use it for witnessing.

Using witnessing meditations, one is required to step back and to move into the witnessing mode. Then all the sounds, sensations or thoughts that happen, but we remain disassociated to them as we are rooted into the witnessing mode. The practice of witnessing in meditation, slowly spreads across the life of a meditator and he can become a witness in real life situations too and that is when you will see tremendous benefits. Before the anger takes you over, you may be able to see it coming as a witness and if you can see it coming, you can stop its eruption When sitting in Zen, leave your front door and your back door open.

Allow your thoughts to come and go Just don’t serve them tea
-Shunryu Suzuki

Only a true witness does not serve them tea