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Some digging around and a conversation on the Iso-Tones message board has lead me to a visualization technique for meditating that has made a real difference in my life.
I imagine myself sitting on a river bank (in a recliner...don't laugh...haha). The river is flowing calmly, and the water sparkles in the sunshine. Each breath I take in draws white tendrils of energy out of the water that enter my body. Each exhale expels thick-looking, black energy from my mouth which lands in the river and gets carried downstream far, far away from me. Each inhale/exhale cycle leaves me more charged with the energy from the river until I can see the white light wavering around me, kind of like an aura. Overall I have noticed I don't feel as influenced by people's bad attitudes, and am able to keep my own attitude generally more on the positive side.
This technique can be done very quickly in a pinch too. The image is harder to form with your eyes open while doing something, but so far I have effectively fought off two panic attacks (I am prone to them when inside a building with lots of people, or noise I can't make sense of...) this way, which bought me enough time to get out of the situation that was making me anxious.
Do you have a similar technique for meditation or visualization or a combination of the two? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Thirsty
I find myself to be so thirsty for knowledge right now. I don't know where to begin, or where to find everything I'm looking for.
I'm not entirely sure I could even identify everything I'm curious about right now, or what all of my goals on the endeavor are. I have a few basic goals right now, but I feel like there is so much more:
-To love myself and others more, and equally
-To keep my mind calmed regularly
-Manage negativity so well it seems non-existent
I wish I had started on this course so much sooner than the age of 27, but obviously I wasn't ready. Without the bumpiness of the last 2 decades of my life, I wouldn't be who I am at this moment and I will try to keep that as a comforting thought.
I'm not entirely sure I could even identify everything I'm curious about right now, or what all of my goals on the endeavor are. I have a few basic goals right now, but I feel like there is so much more:
-To love myself and others more, and equally
-To keep my mind calmed regularly
-Manage negativity so well it seems non-existent
I wish I had started on this course so much sooner than the age of 27, but obviously I wasn't ready. Without the bumpiness of the last 2 decades of my life, I wouldn't be who I am at this moment and I will try to keep that as a comforting thought.
Brainwave Entrainment
What It Can Do For Your Spiritual Journey
Brainwave Entrainment (which will be referred to as "BWE" henceforth) sounds crazy when you first hear about it. Listen to some bleeps and static to change the state of your brain? "Yeah right" was my first reaction, but it only took me a couple days to become convinced.
The premise can be boiled down to this: your brain is constantly altering its main wave pattern depending on dominant outside stimulus. BWE aims to use specific patterns of light and/or sound to push your brainwaves into a specific range, which can create desirable (or undesirable) effects.
While there are many methods of BWE, I will only be discussing two: binaural beats and isochronic tones. I first tried some different binaural beats (which I was turned onto by Sage In Spain over at Blackouts Box) and got some minimal results. You need stereo headphones for them to work, because it plays one solid tone in each ear. Your brain then tries to combine them, which produces a third done at the frequency of the difference between the two tones that is usually sub-sonic. The result is a pulsing sound not unlike the warp core of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The third tone is the secret; it's the one that your brainwaves try to tune into.
I didn't have much luck with these, and there are many people who have the same problem. The brain has to do extra work to decode the magic frequency, so it tends to lessen the desired effect. A lot of binaural beats I tried had no effect on me at all, so I was just about to consider myself as one of those immune to BWE. Then I came across iso-tones.com.
From what I read, isochronic tones were a newer and more effective method of BWE. They used only one tone instead of two, so your brain doesn't have to do any extra work decoding them. You don't even need headphones for them, but it helps to block out noise pollution. I figured I would give it a shot, since the tones on iso-tones.com are free to download.
The first tone I tried was "Purple" and it did everything it promised. I felt more relaxed, content, warm, and happier than ever had, not counting times involving illicit substances. What's more, is I spent the whole day with that feeling. I've spent just about every day since then exploring a new tone, and exploring myself in the process.
I think now that I have learned the ropes I am ready to try some of the more meditative tones and really delve into me.
Brainwave Entrainment (which will be referred to as "BWE" henceforth) sounds crazy when you first hear about it. Listen to some bleeps and static to change the state of your brain? "Yeah right" was my first reaction, but it only took me a couple days to become convinced.
The premise can be boiled down to this: your brain is constantly altering its main wave pattern depending on dominant outside stimulus. BWE aims to use specific patterns of light and/or sound to push your brainwaves into a specific range, which can create desirable (or undesirable) effects.
While there are many methods of BWE, I will only be discussing two: binaural beats and isochronic tones. I first tried some different binaural beats (which I was turned onto by Sage In Spain over at Blackouts Box) and got some minimal results. You need stereo headphones for them to work, because it plays one solid tone in each ear. Your brain then tries to combine them, which produces a third done at the frequency of the difference between the two tones that is usually sub-sonic. The result is a pulsing sound not unlike the warp core of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The third tone is the secret; it's the one that your brainwaves try to tune into.
I didn't have much luck with these, and there are many people who have the same problem. The brain has to do extra work to decode the magic frequency, so it tends to lessen the desired effect. A lot of binaural beats I tried had no effect on me at all, so I was just about to consider myself as one of those immune to BWE. Then I came across iso-tones.com.
From what I read, isochronic tones were a newer and more effective method of BWE. They used only one tone instead of two, so your brain doesn't have to do any extra work decoding them. You don't even need headphones for them, but it helps to block out noise pollution. I figured I would give it a shot, since the tones on iso-tones.com are free to download.
The first tone I tried was "Purple" and it did everything it promised. I felt more relaxed, content, warm, and happier than ever had, not counting times involving illicit substances. What's more, is I spent the whole day with that feeling. I've spent just about every day since then exploring a new tone, and exploring myself in the process.
I think now that I have learned the ropes I am ready to try some of the more meditative tones and really delve into me.
Negativity can really weigh you down.
For the last few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about negativity and how it affects me. This line of thinking hasn't just been limited to my own negativity, but also the negative attitudes of the people in my life.
I am, by nature, a very negative person. To me, not only is the glass half empty, but it also has a crack in it that is allowing what little liquid is left to drain out. I am working my best to get through this, and have made a lot of progress by meditating just 15-30 minutes a day, utilizing the isochronic tones at iso-tones.com. There will be a more detailed write-up about iso-tones.com in the near future.
After I'm done meditating, I try to spend the next few minutes thinking about what I need to work on that I'm unhappy with, while trying to avoid the negative emotions that particular issue brings on. If there is something I can solve in one day, I will tackle it. If it's something more long-term (i.e. my weight...meh) I will see if there is a step I can take in the right direction. If not, I move on--file that issue away and look at it again tomorrow. I used to waste so much energy being angry and discouraged, and I feel like I'm on the right path to putting that energy into actually living my life.
As I am beginning this process of overhauling my attitude, I am starting to feel like I may be the only person in the world who is at least trying to think this way. I spend my whole day being barraged by negativity from my coworkers, people in the general public I encounter through my job, and my partner at home. If I could just somehow impart to them the wisdom of "we are all one" to them, they would feel the weight lift off of them as I have. Their attitudes affect me, just as mine affects them. We are branches stuck to the same tree, and we need to work together to make it through life without getting blown away by the first gust of wind that comes our way.
There are times when I feel like a baseball player at bat. Each ball of negative energy someone chucks at me, I do my best to knock it out of the park. As you can likely imagine, since I am usually someone crying over their half-empty leaky glass, that is a lot of hard work. I know I need to keep my eye on the prize, and just wait for my return on this investment I'm placing in my fellow branches. By helping them shore themselves up I am only making my support system better for future struggles.
I am, by nature, a very negative person. To me, not only is the glass half empty, but it also has a crack in it that is allowing what little liquid is left to drain out. I am working my best to get through this, and have made a lot of progress by meditating just 15-30 minutes a day, utilizing the isochronic tones at iso-tones.com. There will be a more detailed write-up about iso-tones.com in the near future.
After I'm done meditating, I try to spend the next few minutes thinking about what I need to work on that I'm unhappy with, while trying to avoid the negative emotions that particular issue brings on. If there is something I can solve in one day, I will tackle it. If it's something more long-term (i.e. my weight...meh) I will see if there is a step I can take in the right direction. If not, I move on--file that issue away and look at it again tomorrow. I used to waste so much energy being angry and discouraged, and I feel like I'm on the right path to putting that energy into actually living my life.
As I am beginning this process of overhauling my attitude, I am starting to feel like I may be the only person in the world who is at least trying to think this way. I spend my whole day being barraged by negativity from my coworkers, people in the general public I encounter through my job, and my partner at home. If I could just somehow impart to them the wisdom of "we are all one" to them, they would feel the weight lift off of them as I have. Their attitudes affect me, just as mine affects them. We are branches stuck to the same tree, and we need to work together to make it through life without getting blown away by the first gust of wind that comes our way.
There are times when I feel like a baseball player at bat. Each ball of negative energy someone chucks at me, I do my best to knock it out of the park. As you can likely imagine, since I am usually someone crying over their half-empty leaky glass, that is a lot of hard work. I know I need to keep my eye on the prize, and just wait for my return on this investment I'm placing in my fellow branches. By helping them shore themselves up I am only making my support system better for future struggles.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
What I Believe
It's a little hard for me to use the word "spirit" seriously, but understand that when I say it I don't mean it in supernatural sense. I'm referring to the part of yourself you don't understand and rarely have access to. Your subconscious, the vacant 90% of your brain, whatever; until I can coin a better phrase, that's what we'll use here.
I also don't believe in any sort of diety. It is not my goal to disprove the the existence of a god or gods, but until you show me PROOF (don't say "the proof is in the air, or the trees, or angel feathers touching your cheek because that won't cut it with me) then there is no such thing as far as I'm concerned. I'll respect your beliefs if you respect mine.
Do I believe in a "higher power"? Sure. I believe in the interconnectedness between us all. Say or do one thing to another person and you've just changed their life, and how they will interact with someone else, which changes what they will say or do with the next person they encounter and so on, and so on. A kind of network like that is a power higher than I can fully comprehend. I believe in a universe that is eternal, endless and has the power to spawn stars, planets and life.
This was a hard realization for me to come to. It was the end result of a long and drawn out thought process that's been on my spirit's back burner for years. I knew I believed in something besides death and taxes, but I had just never been able to put my finger on what it was. Some meditation (never thought I'd see that one coming) and research have shown me that I am not a quack for feeling the way I do. Nearly ten years in a Christian church left me with some scars, but I really feel I have the tools to work past that all now and become a better person.
I also don't believe in any sort of diety. It is not my goal to disprove the the existence of a god or gods, but until you show me PROOF (don't say "the proof is in the air, or the trees, or angel feathers touching your cheek because that won't cut it with me) then there is no such thing as far as I'm concerned. I'll respect your beliefs if you respect mine.
Do I believe in a "higher power"? Sure. I believe in the interconnectedness between us all. Say or do one thing to another person and you've just changed their life, and how they will interact with someone else, which changes what they will say or do with the next person they encounter and so on, and so on. A kind of network like that is a power higher than I can fully comprehend. I believe in a universe that is eternal, endless and has the power to spawn stars, planets and life.
This was a hard realization for me to come to. It was the end result of a long and drawn out thought process that's been on my spirit's back burner for years. I knew I believed in something besides death and taxes, but I had just never been able to put my finger on what it was. Some meditation (never thought I'd see that one coming) and research have shown me that I am not a quack for feeling the way I do. Nearly ten years in a Christian church left me with some scars, but I really feel I have the tools to work past that all now and become a better person.
About This Blog
Something has been missing from my life for a long time now. It took me until no to realize what it was: a sense of my spirit. Despite my lack of a belief in things divine, I have always felt that human beings are too fantastic and complex of a creature to just be the sum of their parts.
I feel as if a part of me that has been sleeping for the last twenty years has been switched on, but now it needs to be fed so it can grow. On this blog I will try my best to document the changes taking place in my life and the steps I took to head down that road. I welcome you, reader, to share any similar goals or experiences you've had in the comments. Not only will it help to encourage me, bur it could be of help to another reader.
I feel as if a part of me that has been sleeping for the last twenty years has been switched on, but now it needs to be fed so it can grow. On this blog I will try my best to document the changes taking place in my life and the steps I took to head down that road. I welcome you, reader, to share any similar goals or experiences you've had in the comments. Not only will it help to encourage me, bur it could be of help to another reader.
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