Post No. 212 - Meditation: a variation ...

One of the things I often try to emphasise when doing psychic development exercises is not focusing too much on visual imagery. There are other sensations which can be used - for instance, sounds (one of my past personal development exercises that I sometimes use with others was running through a musical scale and using each note to clear/cleanse/heal my various levels, just as many people would with a colour), scents, etc.

It is particularly useful to adapt techniques to suit individuals - for instance, if working with a musician, I would get them to work with sounds rather than perhaps visualising colours. As an example of that, if someone who is musical is feeling upset by something and wishes to not be, I would suggest they create a musical phrase that expresses the upset-ness they are feeling, and then add another musical phrase (as a separate instrument, perhaps) to this "visualisation" that changes the first into something harmonious or pleasant - or at least acceptable - to them.

Whilst it is not quite that varied, as an example of adapting techniques I would like to write about a meditation I guided my partner through last night.

My partner is a magnificent cook (to me and many other she is truly a chef), and blending tastes is a special skill she has. So, in guiding her through a meditation to help her sleep the problem being not being able to switch off her thinking), I focused on cooking. We discussed this, and agreed to use a vegetable curry using half a dozen vegetables as the basis for the meditation.

The vegetables were arranged (by my partner, using her ability to visualise) in front of her, and then she assigned some of her thoughts to each of the vegetables. [1] She then mentally prepared and blended the vegetables, and then began testing the combined flavour and adding the curry and other herbs - and I suggested that she see what thoughts/views/feelings were coming in with each of the added herbs/flavours to create the balanced and pleasing mixture.

At this stage, the intention is that the thoughts in her mind have been worked on indirectly to create a state of mental balance and pleasure. To help this, I had her visualise tasting some of the mixture and enjoying the sensations of the food.

However, having the thoughts in a relatively quiet state is one thing: to be able to let go of the thoughts so one can sleep is another, so the final stage of the visualisation was to work through storing the vegetable curry somewhere safe so she could access it when she wakes up (later today - I rise before her :) ) by visualising eating it, for instance.

That doesn't read as well as it flowed last night, but it may serve to show the flexibility and adaptability that can be used in psychic exercises, perhaps.

Be creative, flexible and adaptive, and enjoy :)

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

Notes:

1. This process went a lot more smoothly after we stopped laughing. My partner had been nodding and "mm-hm"-ing after each instruction I gave, and when I said you don't need to acknowledge each thing I say, she nodded and said "mm-hm" :)

This post's photo is yet to be posted.

Tags: psychic development, meditation, visualisation, senses,

First published: Wodansdagr, 19th January, 2011

Last edited: Thursday, 20th January, 2011

Post No. 046 - Grounding and flexibility: a note/update, and Ouspensky

Grounding and flexibility: a note/update, and Ouspensky
I’ve written elsewhere in this blog about the importance of grounding. I would, however, like to make a couple of points about this – very quickly, as my time is limited.

Firstly, I find techniques such as “visualising” a tree root extending from one’s centre into the earth work best when I FEEL them happening, not just use my mental visualisation. Feeling engages other parts of my being, and is closer to using magic to accomplish this goal, than a purely head based exercise - which the word “visualisation” may conjure.

Interestingly, most good authors I’ve read on the topic also talk about using other senses, and emotions. I find, as a generalisation, there is a tendency to rely on using visual senses in psychic development matters generally – for instance, in guided meditations. How about trying a meditation based solely on sounds, or scents? I recall scenes in Star Wars and other films where characters would practice blindfolded: that could be useful for us in everyday life.

What sounds can you hear as you read this? What is furthest away? Now keep listening to the sounds that are closer, until you get in to your body? Can you hear your breathing? The blood rushing through your veins (I recall recently reading about medical problems where people hear blood in their ear drums, so be a bit careful about that one :) )? Can you hear your heart beat? (I can’t, but when I do this exercise I have some sort of awareness of it.) OK, so next, what are you feeling (as in, sense of touch)? Where do you feel your clothes, and which layers? Where do you feel your chair (if you are on one)? What do your fingertips feel? Can you feel you hair? OK, now: do both exercises at the same time.

In it’s full extent, where you gradually add in all the five physical senses (including sight, but looking more intently – e.g., how many colours can you see?), is an exercise I first came across in the writings of (I think – this was more than three decades ago, when I was a teenager) a Russian called Ouspensky. If my recollection is true (Wikipedia’s article, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouspensky, didn’t help me on that), Ouspensky taught that humanity was mostly asleep, and believed that exercises such as this would help us to wake up and be more alive. I think that view has merit. I used the word merit deliberately: it isn’t something that applies beneficially to everyone, and not everyone is “asleep”, and the technique can possibly be adapted or improved for individuals or modern cultures. As one adaptation, what about adding in one’s psychic senses?

Right: I’m going back to grounding.

Some people I teach this to feel that they can’t physically move once they have done this. That’s not so. What you have done with this technique is create an astral thought form – its essence is non-physical, so its location/orientation in the physical world is a bit like asking where a radio should be placed within a paddock (with good signal strength) in order to pick up a radio station what matters for the radio is the tuning, not the physical details (I specified a paddock to rule out interference from objects blocking radio signals). When you have created a tree root astral thought form, you can move and keep it intact, and hence stay grounded. I should know, as I have successfully done so countless times, just as I have created sacred space within cars, planes etc that were on the move.

Don’t limit yourself.

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo was taken on the Derwent River in Tasmania (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derwent_River%2C_Tasmania)

Tags: grounding, Ouspensky, limitations, cross-fertilisation (ideas), flexibility, senses,
First published: Thursday 7th August, 2008
Last edited: Thursday 7th August, 2008