This question came up in the Online 10-day Retreat Nov 3, 2020, guided by Delson Armstrong. Day 3 was part of a daily 30 -minute discussion on the suttas, the Dhamma talk and reflections.
Slightly edited to improve readability
It’s something similar to how you do the 6R process. When you are doing the 6R’s, you Recognize that you were distracted, but you don’t say I’m Recognizing now or say the rest of the steps in that way.
It’s more about when you Recognize it, it’s just the mind understands it, in a way without words; OK, this is the factor. It might seem like it’s verbalizing, but it’s just a recognition that happens. And that recognition is really Perception, of the factors of the jhana. It’s like, when you see the color blue, that’s one of the examples that I use, your mind does not necessarily say; that’s the color blue, but somehow you just know that that’s blue, without verbalizing that’s blue.
[person that asked the question]
So, it’s practice, basically, just like the 6R practice.
[Delson]
It is practice, like the 6R practice, but remember; when you have that open awareness, you are able to be unified around the object. Your mind is open, not closed off. It’s not contracted, it’s open and therefore it’s able to be observing other things around the object.
This is one of the reasons why, for example, during an interview one will ask you ‘did you feel this, did you feel that’; you’re able to recognize that, yes, there was some change in the quality of the feeling, or there was a sensation arising, things like that. When you’re able to notice those things, it’s because the awareness was open, and because, while your awareness around the object, around the feeling, it’s also open for any insights that might arise. And its open enough to be able to see a hindrance arising and be able to Recognize it as quickly as possible and using the 6R process.
The more you’re able to do that, the more you recognize; oh this is the factor involved in the fifth jhana, or the fourth jhana, this is the factor involved in Infinite Space, and so on.