Freestyle Meditation

Originally posted by funky monk
I find the best way for me to meditate is with drawing and painting. More often then not I find im sitting there on the train, or randomly outside or something with a pad and pen with my ipod.
I dont know how to describe it, you let the music take you away to somewhere and then let your pen/brush do its thing. Now I have this big collection of paper with abstract drawings.
I cant really describe what a surreal experience it is.

.......I donno thats what seems to work for me.

-fm

I usually say to people "Well, if you cant become a meditator, then at least become an artist. Art (any type) does reach similar areas of the brain and soul because it helps you to loose yourself in something.

[edit on 28-7-2008 by Skyfloating]

reply to post by caitlinfae


I noticed you uploaded a meditation of your own to ATS. Feel free to post a link in this thread if you wish.

Originally posted by CavemanDD
Heres my Sun Meditation. I love this one, it does wonders for me.

Thanks for sharing. This thread is overflowing with good stuff.

Skyfloating...

Thank you so much...I was a little wary of hijacking other threads with my stuff, but here they are on my signature....there are two to choose from....enjoy! And this is a wonderful thread to read....so many ideas.


www.abovetopsecret.com...


www.abovetopsecret.com...





Much love

Caitl

[edit on 28-7-2008 by caitlinfae]

[edit on 28-7-2008 by caitlinfae]

Here's an example of my training and sleep during the present Hypermode:

(The mental and meditative aspects will follow in a subsequent post)

Sleep schedule (Hours)


Training (difficult twisty course, small hills, obstacles)


As you can see the training did not suffer due to lower sleep and starting on 7/7 and finishing with a peak on 7/15 power and speed went up with a good jump each day.

The final day depicted is not the final day of the cycle but is a dip caused by psychological factors, but during that time a planned active recovery phase was incorporated.

Note also the minor peaks on 6/21, 6/29, 7/7, culminating with a three day peak on 7/14, 15 16.

There's still another super peak due to occur on this cycle, but figured I'd give a snapshot.

You can see the utility of graphing these phases against each other and use of various color bars to indicate at a glance peaks and troughs.

Normally I get about 16mph (average speed) on lightly hilly courses with several climbs and some fast spots and a tough uphill finish. On this course it's harder to get a fast time due to the twists and turns and the presence of pedestrians and dogs. The peak was ridden at about 80% max. If I'd have had a closed course, I believe I could easily have gotten a 17mph time.

My top speed so far on the flats for 10miles is only a rather daunting 18.3mph, but on that course there were several obstacles, four traffic lights and lots of cars. On a closed course I could have gotten at least 19mph, and I was about 30lb heavier. It was ridden without a pacer. Normally with a team or at least one other rider, you get an improvement of about 1-2mph over that distance.

At the time I was riding an older model aluminum frame bike.

I now have a carbon framed bike and climbing is improved and a lighter weight. I have yet to have an opportunity to test it on the flats as my source for a flat course appears to have dried up (negotiations pending).

This is just an example of one training phase, and I have all of them graphed and illustrated from 8-2003. This enables me to get a 10,000 foot view of my training and development. (Others might say it indicates a certain degree of OCD. YMMV)

HTH








[edit on 29-7-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01


Those who have read my other posts on this subject will know that I have a fairly serious injury to one leg such that I only get about 60-70% of the power output.

Essentially I'm riding with one leg. Not surprisingly my good leg is a couple inches larger, and it's noticeable on close inspection.

However I persist and am determined to bring up the other leg to at least 80-85%, and on some days I seem to get nearly full power.

Part of the mental effects have to do with deal with chronic pain. During hard rides the pain of the athletic effort often eclipses the pain in the leg and hip.

I got this injury on the job, saving a colleague from being crushed by an industrial refrigerator with the compressor on top. It was about to tip over as they were putting it on a dolly and I instinctively stepped in and posted on my leg and felt a shooting pain.

(Of course my supervisor immediately accused me of faking an injury and I got no applauds for saving this guy's life in full view of the workplace.)

But, I digress. I've used this injury to further my training and, as a matter of fact it may have been a blessing in that I became so determined that I have rarely missed a day of training since Aug 2003 the day I retired. I usually get about 340 training days per year and in some years I have a number of not insignificant 2 and 3x per day training, bringing up my sessions per year to around 500+. Since consistency is the most important factor, this could have been a good thing. However I lament that I couldn't ride with two good legs, because I think I could have become a decent cat4-5 bike racer.

My top speed on the sprint is about 32mph for about 15 seconds (again on mostly one leg) and I can easily hit 24-25mph for about one minute. I've done a little bit of moto-pacing and one year a friend helped me out with some drafting. Still this sucks compared to actual bike racers. I only post it as a relative measure.

My climbing ability is mediocre, again due to being an ex weight lifter, but I've done one course which consisted of three, 4 mile 5% climbs and have some good results on a sprint climb of 6% over about 1.5 miles. None of those have been attempted with the carbon bike, but they're planned for the fall if training continues to go well.

So here's one aspect of the moving meditation, specifically dealing with chronic pain. In a subsequent post I'll talk about visualization.

(Sorry about the boring talk about road biking. Just skip over that)




[edit on 29-7-2008 by Badge01]

I just remembered....

Candle Meditation
Darken a room, light a candle, and stare at the base of the flame, try to become one with the flame. Then see if you can move it with your mind, if you want. Otherwise 20 minutes seems to fly-by with natural music on, sounds of nature that kind of thing. The light from a candle flame is very relaxing, closing your eyes after staring at it you should be able to still see the flame. Different colours of candles = different goals, I just mainly use violet.

Here is a list I found...
meaning of candle colours

Best Wishes.

there's one thing I do when I need to clear out my mind - on the spot - and just stop thinking for a while

usually when I'm working and have lost the thread of what I'm after - when I want to redirect my thinking - cleanse my mental palette

on the surface it looks goofy

and it's definitely just a tool - not about letting you shift your own awareness, but it really works for me

it's a site: www.lecielestbleu.com...

doesn't take long to figure it out - and get hooked if you're that sort

I got into this one time - needed a break from what I was doing - I came out 5 hours later

that could just be a sign that I have some sort of problem

but, I've noticed that while I'm doing it - I'm not thinking - about anything

it is truly bizarre to me how that's possible - but I'm so drawn in - it's the complete absence of conversation in my head - just doing

maybe not for everyone - but it can be an incredible feeling

[edit on 7/29/2008 by Spiramirabilis]

reply to post by Badge01


Do you pre-visualize any of your training?

What do you think gets you into "hypermode" in the first place?

reply to post by TrueLight


Thanks for the candle-meditation addition. Simple and effective for focussing and calming the surface-mind.

reply to post by Skyfloating


I'll go ahead and post the 'history of hypermode' in another thread. But it's a combination or synergy between diet, exercise and stress.

The stress can be good or bad. It serves as a trigger.

One time I went into it fairly quickly over a trivial thing.

I had peaked in my training and my times were going down and intensities going up. This creates a hormonal milieu, and involves CCK (Cholecystokinin), primarily. This hormone mediates hunger also.

I can feel the effect starting to come on, usually at night in that I'll feel a metallic taste and a sensation of being very alert.

It sometimes takes 1-2 days to manifest, and I'll find myself getting up earlier and going to bed later.

If the diet part isn't right, of course this hormone won't predominate. If the training isn't nearing a peak it doesn't manifest; but both together along with a 'trigger' cause it to kick in.

One trivial example.

I happened to get cable TV hooked up with an additional tier so I could watch the Tour de France in 2005. I got it hooked up in mid June.

Well, for some reason, they made a small mistake and gave me -every- channel, with about 20 movie channels or even more, plus all kinds of cool sports channels and science channels.

I was already peaking diet and training in preparation for riding 'along with' the tour.

Well, my brain just went into gleeful over drive and I started trying to watch every movie ever made all at the same time. Haha. I was making up schedules in Excel and highlighting them so I wouldn' miss something good.

Prior to that, of course, I just had normal broadcast channels.

I stayed up for four days straight, and the only bad effect is my eyes got really dry. I guess I wasn't blinking enough (lol).

The difference between this and a psychological illness is that I don't have any wrong ideation or paranoia - it's all good. I also don't experience a 'crash' like when you take no-doze to stay up for exams.

After about 20-30 days, I just gradually taper back to normal and start going to bed at 11:30-12am, and it eases off. I still retain the mental clarity.

There was an initial trigger event which I'll talk about later.

Hope this gives some basis for an answer to your question.

PS, it wasn't until 2006 that I figured out what hormone was involved when I explained it to a famous diet expert and he said 'that sounds like CCK'. We did some medline and pubmed searches and looked though his notes and decided this had to be it. He's got a rather OCD approach to his favorite research and I do also.

That may also be part of the basis. I'll go over this part in a later post.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Pre-visualization is a strong part of my training. It can help modulate the strong effect and relaxes the mind.

Basically I just go into a dark room with a white noise generator and get in bed and start to go over the start of a training session where I ride up a steep hill to go out of my neighborhood.

I keep visualizing standing to pedal this hill and see my times coming down and reaching the top of the hill faster. Though I tend to lose the 'drift' after a certain period usually a mile or so down the road in my visualization, if I do, I just immediately reset back to the original hill climb and start again. I've completely blocked out normal reality, thoughts, feelings and sounds and am focused completely on this hill climb. Often times I'll go into a light sleep mode, which is OK. If I wake up I restart on the climb and just keep it going.

The effect is the strongest if I've just completed a ride and can recall the session very clearly and it's in short term memory, I suppose.

Hope this makes sense.

One reason I like the climb is that it's intense and requires a near 'tunnel vision' aspect to get up it, so there's an aid to turning off the normal internal dialogue and focusing on this. I'm seeing it like an iMAX movie on my inner eyelids. (More later)


More on this later.



[edit on 30-7-2008 by Badge01]

I dont want to sound like an idiot.... how do i know if im in meditation?
I think i meditate or "Trance out" as i usually every now and then.
Could someone help me?

Originally posted by Khounur
I dont want to sound like an idiot.... how do i know if im in meditation?
I think i meditate or "Trance out" as i usually every now and then.
Could someone help me?

You don't sound like an idiot, someone who wants to improve their mental state shows remarkable intelligence. Have a listen to the narration in this short visual meditation clip, and see if you can achieve the points mentioned. Or even recreate the experience you have watching it. Ignore the link at the beginning.



Best Wishes, hope this helps.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
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).

Did you follow through with your intention to try sounding Aum ? I find it very good for vibrating the higher chakras. I can get deeper with it than with holosync. Much deeper.

Best Wishes.

Originally posted by Badge01
Basically I just go into a dark room with a white noise generator and get in bed and start to go over the start of a training session where I ride up a steep hill to go out of my neighborhood.

I like to get into white noise too - natural waterfalls, radio-static, you name it.

I keep visualizing standing to pedal this hill and see my times coming down and reaching the top of the hill faster. Though I tend to lose the 'drift' after a certain period usually a mile or so down the road in my visualization, if I do, I just immediately reset back to the original hill climb and start again. I've completely blocked out normal reality, thoughts, feelings and sounds and am focused completely on this hill climb. Often times I'll go into a light sleep mode, which is OK. If I wake up I restart on the climb and just keep it going.

The effect is the strongest if I've just completed a ride and can recall the session very clearly and it's in short term memory, I suppose.

Hope this makes sense.

Yes it does.

One reason I like the climb is that it's intense and requires a near 'tunnel vision' aspect to get up it, so there's an aid to turning off the normal internal dialogue and focusing on this. I'm seeing it like an iMAX movie on my inner eyelids. (More later)

Three-dimensiona visualisation is one of the top 5 meditation tools.I believe there´s even more one could do with it.

Originally posted by Khounur
I dont want to sound like an idiot.... how do i know if im in meditation?
I think i meditate or "Trance out" as i usually every now and then.
Could someone help me?

As soon as you begin some deliberate practice (such as focussing or breathing or visualizing or observing), you´re already in meditation. Sometimes this is accompanied by altered states, shifted emotions, change of perception...but sometimes its not.

Originally posted by TrueLight

Did you follow through with your intention to try sounding Aum ? I find it very good for vibrating the higher chakras. I can get deeper with it than with holosync. Much deeper.

Best Wishes.

Yes sure. I re-did it recently. But its not like I had never done it before in the last years. Its pleasant and expansive...

...but sometimes impractical if you´re doing it a place where other people are.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by TrueLight

Did you follow through with your intention to try sounding Aum ? I find it very good for vibrating the higher chakras. I can get deeper with it than with holosync. Much deeper.

Best Wishes.

Yes sure. I re-did it recently. But its not like I had never done it before in the last years. Its pleasant and expansive...

...but sometimes impractical if you´re doing it a place where other people are.

I understand. I find I can put people in a room I'm in to sleep, by changing my brain-state and breathing rythymically whilst letting go of all muscle tension. It's good to share. Animals too, they seem to enjoy it if you hum to them, I like that. Imposing my peacefulness. I'm sure there is no karmic debt for unsolicited healing Humming a tune whilst walking in the woods etc works nicely. The wild animals seem to dig it too, birds are more likely to land on you, make friends, etc. Or if you smell of predator they may show their appreciation by taking a crap on you. Either way, humming a tune whilst walking has a similar affect on the brain, just not so deep.

Best Wishes.

Originally posted by TrueLight
I understand. I find I can put people in a room I'm in to sleep, by changing my brain-state and breathing rythymically whilst letting go of all muscle tension. It's good to share. Animals too, they seem to enjoy it if you hum to them, I like that. Imposing my peacefulness. I'm sure there is no karmic debt for unsolicited healing

Humming a tune whilst walking in the woods etc works nicely. The wild animals seem to dig it too, birds are more likely to land on you, make friends, etc. Or if you smell of predator they may show their appreciation by taking a crap on you. Either way, humming a tune whilst walking has a similar affect on the brain, just not so deep.

Best Wishes.

Interesting point. Ive also come to notice that my own state effects the state of the people around me.