Freestyle Meditation

I am very surprised that I haven't seen a version of my favorite meditation.... Exhaustion meditation...

*Note*- This is done at your own risk. I do this in a bad place in Philly, but I've calculated for such a situation.

Run miles.. Then run more. Make sure you know your limit though. I am saying, find a great run routine.. Build it up. I don't mean you need to get up to 4 mi+ a day, but learn to PUSH it.

If you live in the boonies, run until you can only walk, then walk home.

A hard, give-it-all run or work-out is the perfect time to catch the mind-set needed for a great meditation. Everything is clearer, more colorful, and it makes every meditation that much more meaningful. Except you must begin right after.

This is what taught me how to meditate. I am a very experienced mediatator in many realms, and they are all quite simple after this. Maybe its only me.. But I think "Runners High" has something to do with it.

Mindfulness In Plain English H. Gunaratana MahatheraThe general idea, however, is almost too simple. You want to really see each sensation, whether it is pain, bliss or boredom. You want to experience that thing fully in its natural and unadulterated form. Your timing has to be precise. Your awareness of each sensation must coordinate exactly with the arising of that sensation. If you catch it just a bit too late, you miss the beginning. You won't get all of it. If you hang on to any sensation past the time when it has memory, the thing itself is gone, and by holding onto that memory you miss the arising of the next sensation. It is a very delicate operation. You've got to cruise along right here in present time, picking things up and letting things drop with no delays whatsoever. It takes a very light touch. Your relation to sensation should never be one of past or future but always of the simple and immediate now.

The human mind seeks to conceptualize phenomena, and it has developed a host of clever ways to do so. Every simple sensation will trigger a burst of conceptual thinking if you give the mind its way. Lets us take hearing, for example. You are sitting in meditation and somebody in the next room drops a dish. The sounds strike your ear. Instantly you see a picture of that other room. You probably see a person dropping a dish, too. If this a familiar environment, say your own home, you probably will have a 3-D technicolor mind movie of who did the dropping and which dish was dropped. This whole sequence presents itself to consciousness instantly. It just jumps out of the unconscious so bright and clear and compelling that it shoves everything else out of sight. What happens to the original sensation, the pure experience of hearing? It got lost in the shuffle, completely overwhelmed and forgotten.

reply to post by LordBaskettIV


No worries, I highly respect zen. Im just saying that my personal taste is not to always be mindful but to also be un-mindful. Im sure there´s a correspondence to this my attitude somewhere in zen too - but thats a bit different than most people take it and practice it.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Im unexpectedly up against some health problems right now, and although it seems im going to have no choice but to take medication id still like to try spiritual healing through meditation, do you have any suggestions on meditation for healing? should i meditate and focus on the area of my body that is having problems? im really feeling quite down about it at the moment so any ideas are very welcome...


-cosmic

reply to post by SantaClaus


Combining sports or body-work with meditation produces some extraordinary highs, I agree. I used to combine diving or snorkeling with a sunset-meditation afterwords...those were some of the highest weeks of my life.

Originally posted by cosmicstorm
Im unexpectedly up against some health problems right now, and although it seems im going to have no choice but to take medication id still like to try spiritual healing through meditation, do you have any suggestions on meditation for healing? should i meditate and focus on the area of my body that is having problems? im really feeling quite down about it at the moment so any ideas are very welcome...

I dont like recommending meditation with an agenda because it automatically produces an expectation and expectation is a block to experiencing the serenity needed for proper meditation.

Besides, recommending it as a healing tool often backlashes on the recommender if it doesnt work.

Something you can nevertheless do is meditate on remembering a time your body was healthy. Keeping that memory for awhile, allow it to spread through your body.

Another meditation is to meditate on or feel the area of unwellness and alter that with feeling or meditating on a place of wellness in your body. Switch back and forth between those parts of the body (with your attention), releasing resistance towards the unwellness. Later on then, once you´re "totally OK with" the unwellness, alter the meditation to try to transfer the area of wellness to the area of unwellness if you know what I mean. You´ve been practicing feeling what health feels like, so then you apply that feeling to the space you want healed.

A third way to go is to generally release muscle and mind tension, to just meditate/relax without healing purpose or expectation.

[edit on 26-7-2008 by Skyfloating]

"Im just saying that my personal taste is not to always be mindful but to also be un-mindful"

lol, that statement can easily be seen a a zen/chan mind-state. You may be a zen/chan practioner and not know it. That in itself can be your own living form of a koan. Ponder that for a while

Originally posted by LordBaskettIV
"Im just saying that my personal taste is not to always be mindful but to also be un-mindful"

lol, that statement can easily be seen a a zen/chan mind-state. You may be a zen/chan practioner and not know it. That in itself can be your own living form of a koan. Ponder that for a while

Alright. Thanks for the pointer.

Bike-riding + metal music meditation:

this one suits me best. while riding a bike my mind like detaches from the body as all movements are done subconsciously. it might sound weird that metal helps to meditate, but it does for sure (at least for me). its my favorite genre of music, maybe thats why. anyway after period of time while riding and listening to music thoughts begin to drift past. i dont hear music any more as its not important. various assumptions about whats happening around occur just inside my head. it helps to solve certain problems. if im more concentrated on music then i can see episodes related to whats being said in the song, however im not sure if this could be called meditation, imagination probably. anyway, this helps to relax too. whats fun about it that these episodes cause adrenaline outbursts that i enjoy so much.

Sound reverberation and breathing. No one has mentioned the sound of the universe yet. Aum. Om. Everything you want to achieve in meditation through recital of Aum. This is close enough as an idea receital of aum he seems a little forceful though. Ommmmm is most acceptable. Or just watch...

Example with somewhat questionable pronounciation, headphones whilst this is on will give an idea:
Aum

Detailed explanation of Aum:
Explanation of Aum

Alternatively:
Third Eye Vibration

That about sums up my main practices. I use Bio-Feedback hardware with my PC to entrain brain states. Gamma/Beta/Alpha/Theta/Delta. The sensors on the hand link to graph displays on screen. I regulate/master brain states with breathing. Some examples...

Heart Breath
Breathe in to the count of 5, Breathe out to the count of 5.

Peaceful Breath
Breathe in to the count of 7, Breathe out to the count of 7.

Breath of Fire (when energy and not relaxation is required)
Pant hard like a lion, forcing your breath out by using your stomach as a pump, relax breath to just expelling through the nose. Force breath out hard through the nose with stomach muscles, let the inbreath come naturally. 2 minutes will be plenty. Roughly 3 breaths a second.

Another nice meditation method is to half close your eyes and focus on a point 12 inches in front of your nose, in thin air. Eyes slightly crossed.

Tri-tones meditations are sometimes good if you just want to listen via cd's good, I find, there are a few about, hemisync, brain-sync, holosync etc. Hemisync though... just be careful ok.

Someone mentioned walking in a park, the pleasant natural vibrations of nature lend themselves to walking meditations, the beach and sea is an especially good location due to the noice of the waves. Breath is important I think when I do this.

Another method I use is to reduce stress, clench every muscle in your body as hard as you can for 10 seconds and then let go....relaxing.

Self hypnosis, lying down on the bed or floor, imagine you are on a white circle that slowly turns black. Letting go of the muscles as it does from feet to head, inducing a kind of waking sleep paralysis is good for lucid dreaming/astral travel etc. If you need to wake the body , turn the circle white and you unstick.

Finding a point slightly above eye level, focusing on it , breathing in deeply , holding breath for a count of 10, then letting it out slowly. Doing this 3 times will induce an instant trance if you are lucky.

other methods I use or have used include all of the previous mentioned. Apart from the cigarette/nicotine/chocolate I don't drink or smoke and am vegetarian, all these things lead to deeper more constant states. Caffeine will kill a meditation.

That all that comes to mind at the moment.

Hope this info helps, great thread starred and flagged, keep em coming.

Originally posted by roxaz
Bike-riding + metal music meditation:

this one suits me best. while riding a bike my mind like detaches from the body as all movements are done subconsciously. it might sound weird that metal helps to meditate, but it does for sure (at least for me). its my favorite genre of music, maybe thats why. anyway after period of time while riding and listening to music thoughts begin to drift past. i dont hear music any more as its not important. various assumptions about whats happening around occur just inside my head. it helps to solve certain problems. if im more concentrated on music then i can see episodes related to whats being said in the song, however im not sure if this could be called meditation, imagination probably. anyway, this helps to relax too. whats fun about it that these episodes cause adrenaline outbursts that i enjoy so much.

Anything that breaks the habitual routine pattern of normal thought is a form of meditation or altered-state. Music & Bikeriding certainly alters your normal train of thought. Thanks for sharing.

[edit on 26-7-2008 by Skyfloating]

Originally posted by TrueLight

Hope this info helps, great thread starred and flagged, keep em coming.

And I starred your post because its a strong contribution. I´ll try it out soon.

I used holosync about 7 years ago...all the levels. Its (imo) deeper than hemisync.

As a "beginner" of meditation back then it was helpful because it did space me out above and beyond anything I had expected (including oobe).

[edit on 26-7-2008 by Skyfloating]

Well, interesting thread. I see some people are doing what I've been doing for quite a while.

As some people here know I've gotten some rather dramatic effects from my work.

For me there are three mediators.

o Exercise;
o Sleep Deprivation;
o Fasting and Diet.

These are combined or sometimes the result of an event, usually involving stress. (sometimes the stress is a good event).

It's gotten to the point where every three months I go into a different 'mode' for about 20 days.

I think this 20 day period is important as it coincides with something called supercompensation.

Some of the things I do using exhaustion (mentioned above)
1. Every few months I'll locate a cycling route that is just above my ability to complete. I do take a safety net these days after getting into trouble a couple times. I'll have a friend drive me out to the location (I live in a hilly area), and drop me off, then they'll meet me at designated points and as long as I'm doing OK, I'll keep going.

2. Another type which is similarly extreme is I'll have a friend take me out of town and drop me off or into the mountains and drop me off. I'll either run (in my youth I did this a lot) or cycle or hike back home or to the base location. This is fun. You want to try and pick a distance so that you barely make it back, but again, don't try this at home (i.e. use a safety net and work up to it).

3. Time trial. Every few months I'll do an individual time trial and see how high I can push my PR over a 10 mile or one hour course.

Now certainly these are 'exhaustion based' but they are also 'fear modulation based'. IOW, as you learn what your limits are and try to push past them, there is always the fear that you might fail.

One of the best ways to test this is on a road bike. You attack a long mountain pass and you either make the summit or you nearly die trying. It's much harder to stop and try to walk, and if you stop you know it's almost impossible to start going again, depending on your route.

With running or walking it's pretty easy to stop but on a bike it's harder to stop, so, imo, you can push yourself further.

Sleep deprivation
I use this during my 20 day periods, or to be more precise, I stop having the need to sleep. I always try to have good nutrition when I'm doing this and I do take an occasional nap of about two hours. You can really manipulate certain hormones with this method. It's hard to tell someone how to do it, because it requires individual experience. Suffice it to say that during certain phases of sleep, human growth hormone peaks, especially if you're stressing the body.

Diet and Fasting
Many effects which might be modulated are actually quite reachable, but I think biofeedback in your body can be blunted if you're eating too much. I tend to go to about a 1200 calorie diet, and even lower, but I keep my protein intake up at about 0.8gm/lb of body weight. (See PSMF for methods).

I still take supplements and vitamins during this phase and I still drink liquids.

So, by combining certain types of stress along with diet, specific exercising challenges and sleep modification, I've learned how to bring on this interesting state.

OK, sorry for the verbosity. Again, good thread, I'll be trying some of these.

Oh, one thing...imo meditation is good, but I prefer to start with 'moving meditation'. After that the body just wants to be still. Then is the time when you do stationary meditation.

I'll replay my exercising and cycling and visualize the route and the ride. This takes me into some interesting mental states.

Oh, one other thing is I've been experimenting with acting techniques. IOW, not acting on a stage, but literally becoming someone else. It's kind of strange, but it's very liberating. I could talk about it some more if anyone's interested.

Later...carry on.






[edit on 27-7-2008 by Badge01]

Addendum:

An important part of doing this, imo, is:

1. Journaling - keeping records of your bio-rhythm, or your up and down cycles and your peaks. There are three types of peaks, I've found. Regular, bimonthly and super. You want to know your own periodicity and you also want to keep your consistency up so you'll know when a peak is occurring.

2. Tracking - I track my nutrition and my physical output. I also use a heart-rate monitor to track my fitness and my peaking. I don't wear it all the time, just often enough to enable tracking peaks and to help me delineate my PE scale (Perceived exertion). I prefer the simple Polar model, usually available at about $60-70 bucks. You also want to track your temperature and your pulse before you get out of bed. In addition I track body composition and weight.

Part of this is getting the bio-feedback right.Also we tend to forget past two weeks, and in addition, current improvement cycles occur from efforts expended and work done two weeks in the past. So without tracking you'll be unlikely to get a handle on your cycles.

3. Consistency - I work out everyday except for rare illnesses or a planned off day. Usually I get about 340-350 days per year and often I do two-a-days. If you're only working out three times a week, that's only 156 'sessions' per year.

However if you're doing 2x/day, or 1x/day seven days a week, then that's from 340-490 'sessions' per year. This can make a significant impact in your training and you never miss seeing a 'peak'.

The upshot of this is that meditative states happen spontaneously. Heavy breathing and breath control, stillness following heavy activity and visualization all contribute. It's 'driven' meditation rather than passive meditation. You have to control the mind and the activity controls the mind, rather than trying more passive methods. In addition the 'stillness' methods are more robust after intense activity than just trying to get 'stillness' during normal sitting.

For me, I know the meditation done while moving is working. I'm making it up that hill because of it. Still meditation may cause an illusory or unproven amount of success because the system isn't under performance stress.

2 cents.




[edit on 27-7-2008 by Badge01]

Physical effects

Some of the physical effects of this method I do:
1. No need to sleep (except for 1-2hr naps);
2. Mental acuity and memory - I work crossword puzzles that usually take 2-3 days of casual entry in the bathroom. During these 20 day periods, they take about 10 minutes.
3. Physical ability - though I'm no sleeping as much my physical abilty will often seem to nearly double. Cycling routes which are quite difficult become so easy I do two of the on the same outing. During a super-peak I can do three of them, including getting personal bests and faster hill climbing by up to 4mph (I usually get 12mh I get 16mph riding up my usual climbs) This often only becomes evident when I go back to normal and suddenly this 2x and 3x ability isn't available. Of course within a week routine rides are elevated to a new level. (see wiki link)
4. Improved ideation - I seem to see connections and do a lot of writing due to the effects that occur during this period.
5. Improved senses, especially vision. I normally wear glasses but at times I don't need them for short periods.
6. Improved sense of and results from supplementation. Part of this is due to having a low caloric diet. It's easier to feel the effects of your supplements when you haven't overloaded your digestion system.

There are some other things, but probably best not to mention them; those on the thread who do this kind of thing know what they are.




[edit on 27-7-2008 by Badge01]

Originally posted by Badge01
,
o Exercise;
o Sleep Deprivation;
o Fasting and Diet.

I see your practice is willpower based. This can be extremely rewarding in terms of altered states (but also generally to toughen up in regards to life). Also ties in to your practice of martial arts of which I read in another thread.

Combine physical willpower with mental power and a bit of humbleness and surrender and you´ve got a superhuman. Very impressive.

My only body practice at the moment is learning various dance-techniques in dancing classes. This is rewarding in that it re-wires habitual body movement in being able to move in ways Ive never moved before.

Once certain steps are repeated often enough they run on automatic and allow for states of trance and ecstasy during dancing.

Oh, one other thing is I've been experimenting with acting techniques. IOW, not acting on a stage, but literally becoming someone else. It's kind of strange, but it's very liberating. I could talk about it some more if anyone's interested.

I once did a thread entitled "How to shapeshift yourself" in which I praise the joy of acting-until-a-new-version-of-you-becomes-real. Absolutely love it.

Originally posted by Badge01
Physical effects

So basically you deprive your body of becoming heavy and inert as a means to experience more of the soul/body-less-aspect-of-yourself.

I wonder how you view the sluggish, heavy, inert society we live in. Must be quite the contrast.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Hmm, interesting that you should say that, because, to me, it's just the way I've always lived. There's no will power to it.

To me, if you are not able to control certain aspects of your physique and physiology, what good is all this 'mentating' and 'meditating'?

Is one ruled by the physical body or, having freed the mind, able to reform or recomposition into whatever state you want?

I had a body builder type physique, so I decided to 'recompose' to one closer to that of a road bike rider.

Though it took a couple years to figure out a 'trick', I lost 70lbs and reduced some of my upper body muscularity and size and now weigh a little closer to what a 'muscular' cyclist might weigh. (185lbs).

In 2003 my biceps were 18" cold, my calves were 19" cold, and I wore size XXL cycling jersey (though I had some body fat too, having just retired from a sedentary job), and I looked like the Hulk.

Today I have 14.5" arms, a 32" waist and wear size medium cycling bibs, and as a result of reaching 'goal' I bought myself an all carbon bike.

I used a combination of 80% diet, 5% self-knowledge and 5% exercise to effect this body recomposition, which I achieved on 12/24/07.

Now, I'm not bragging, I'm just illustrating. Just as a yogi adept can use meditation and mind control to change his heart rate, breathing and even metabolism, we modern 'mind warriors' can use similar techniques to change and control body fat, hormonal milieu, and mental state.

Runner's high. hGH peak output. Computers and the 'Net, spreadsheets, it's a high tech version but it doesn't really require any 'will power' that I'm aware.

What good does it do to be an out of shape, nearly obese individual touting 'meditation' but showing no evidence of any mind control over the body. (Not talking about anyone here, b/c I don't know what any of you look like).

As to how I view society and stuff? I don't really notice. Guess I'm self-absorbed.




[edit on 27-7-2008 by Badge01]

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Oh, one other thing is I've been experimenting with acting techniques. IOW, not acting on a stage, but literally becoming someone else. It's kind of strange, but it's very liberating. I could talk about it some more if anyone's interested.

I once did a thread entitled "How to shapeshift yourself" in which I praise the joy of acting-until-a-new-version-of-you-becomes-real. Absolutely love it.

Well this is different. I'm talking about 'becoming' someone else, or 'method acting'.

I literally completely become someone else, including thoughts, ideas, and attitude. It's even beyond 'role-playing'.

Once it happened the first time, I suddenly realized why actors do what they do.

Here's a hint.

Say you are bogged down by some things that bother you, mental traumas, or memories of your past, 'mental tapes' you play and things like that.

Well you can do psychoanalysis, or you can switch into a different personality.

Because this personality does not have your 'emotional baggage', when you return to your normal self, your mind is also cleansed of this baggage. It's really quite remarkable.

Uh, I'd be cautious in trying to re-interpret what I'm doing into something else, such as saying 'oh you're just using will-power', or 'you're talking about self talk' or using that pop method of 'role-playing' until you become more like that role. To do so may end up missing what I'm saying. Hope this helps clarify.

Oh, yeah, the 'role-playing' thing is great and I do that, but this is a transformation which occurs over the course of about 15". It takes some preparation and something which may be like self-hypnosis, IDK, but it's instantaneous and can last for about 5 hours.

Then you return to normal, but, at least for me, you retain some of that euphoric newness and the other personality and it frees one up from some of the worries and cares, or at least it did me.




[edit on 27-7-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01



Well, this is interesting...I didn't expect to find this here. It's a very useful thing to be able to do...to act "as if" you can accomplish something. I use it all the time, especially at work, which is really stressful at the moment, and the "as if" component steps in. For me, I get hints and prompts from my guides about what I need to do, but maybe for others, there is a different mechanism. It's like allowing a different aspect of yourself to step in and take over for a bit...a piece of you that is usually dormant. Sometimes it will happen spontaneously, in a moment of stress, but with practise it can be summoned, and it's completely liberating when we realise that we are capable of many things we had no idea about.

As far as meditation goes, my favourite trigger or technique is the weather or the land around me...it's raining heavily here just now and I feel like I'm sitting in a waterfall. Even the noise is important. Not sure about the exhaustion meditation...simply can't be bothered! I do clean the house till I drop sometimes tho, and find that works...cleanliness is part of many eastern practices as part of their rituals, and in traditional witchcraft also, before working. The sacred circle has to be cleansed and purified before anything could be done...one of the uses for the witches broom, believe it or not. Bathing rituals are fabulous to work with...I often use a mixture of salt, frankincense and jojoba oil as a body scrub, and I did a wonderful series of rituals a few years ago with limes...it was given to me by a shaman friend, and I loved it...very often I will get my biggest inspirations about spiritual stuff in the bath...maybe the water/emotional link, or maybe the cleansing...I dunno.

Love this thread...starred and flagged...thank you!

Cait