The Concentration Cup
Reclaim your mind. Then prove it.
Round 1 · The Return Test
Most focus tests reward holding on. This one measures what actually trains attention: how quickly you notice you’ve drifted, and how gently you come back. Take it before each Friday live session, through to the final session on 10 December. The Cup ranks how far you move, never raw scores.
- 1Breath countCount your breaths in cycles of nine. Tap when you lose count.
- 2Digit streamTap for every number except 3. A few times you’ll be asked where your mind was.
- 3The colour of thoughtWords drift up like thoughts. Tap the colour of the ink, not the word.
- 4Your starting mapReturn Score, your stage on the Elephant Path, and which ditch you lean toward.
Quiet seat, notifications off.
Example result
62Return
Elephant Path
Stages 2–3 · Continuous directing
DullnessAgitation
Leans toward agitation. Driving tool: ease up.
Part 1 of 3 · Breath count
Count your breath in nines
Sit upright, eyes soft and lowered. Breathe naturally; don’t change the breath. On each out-breath, count silently and tap. Breaths one to eight get Breath. The ninth gets Nine. Then start again from one.
If you realise you’ve lost the count, tap Lost count and begin again at one. Catching it yourself counts in your favour. That’s the return.
J BreathK NineL Lost count
2:00
Breathe naturally. Count silently.
Part 2 of 3 · Digit stream
Tap for every number except 3
Numbers flash quickly, one at a time, in different sizes. Tap the panel (or press Space) for every number. When you see a 3, hold back. Speed and accuracy matter equally.
Every so often the stream pauses to ask where your attention was. Answer honestly. There’s no right answer, and drifting is normal.
Quick check
Just before this pause, where was your attention?
Tap for every number except 3.
Part 3 of 3 · The colour of thought
See the ink, not the story
Colour words will rise up the screen like thoughts arising. Tap the colour of the ink each word is printed in, before it dissolves. Ignore what the word says. The meaning is the story the mind wants to follow; the ink is what’s actually there.
Eight practice words come first, with feedback. In the scored round, other thoughts will sometimes drift past in the background. Let them pass.
D RedF BlueJ YellowK White
Practice done
Now the scored round. Answer quickly and accurately.
Your starting map
Baseline set
0Return
Elephant Path · starting band
Stages 1–2
MindfulnessIntelligenceEnthusiasm
The two ditches
Balanced
DullnessAgitation
Breath count
Digit stream
Attention checks
Colour of thought
The Concentration Cup · Season 1
Your entry is in
Retest once a week, before each live session, through to the final session on 10 December. You compete on how far you move, so a scattered start is an advantage.
Most ImprovedBiggest gain from your first Return Score to your lastCrowned on 10 December
Most ConsistentA score posted every week, with a daily sit on the Glimpse recordingCounts every week
Cohort CupThe whole group’s combined gain, celebrated togetherShared by everyone
Your next test–
Post your scores
Copy your scores, then paste them into the reply box on the Concentration Cup page in Sutra.
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Built on four established research measures: the Breath Counting Task (Levinson et al., 2014), the Sustained Attention to Response Task (Robertson et al., 1997), experience-sampling thought probes and the Stroop colour-word task (Stroop, 1935). The tasks are validated; the Cup’s scoring, Elephant Path banding and ditch reading are not. They are a starting map for practice, not a diagnosis.