4 ms·

What kind of meditation routine did follow?

Swizec 16y ago
I used two main techniques, first I just did focus exercises for a few weeks then I started with the more advanced stuff. First you need to learn to focus your mind, you take a bright object (a firelighter works great) and you stare into the flame. Then you slowly and carefully shut down your brain and just focus on the bright light. If a tought pops up the most important thing to remember is to let it go and focus away from it, if you get mad or focusing on not focusing on it that's one more tought that popped up. Then once you get the hang of that you can start doing more interesting things. My favourite was to attempt super-position and out of body experiences. Basically you sit in a comfortable position and focus on a memory of a place, or a made-up place. You slowly build up the image of your surroundings, starting with what's immediately before your eyes and then going from there. Once you're proficient in building a visual representation of fake surroundings you start with sounds, smells and tastes. When you get that down you can start fooling your kinestatic sense, which means you have to feel your arms/legs/body in a different position than it actually is. Once you've done that, voila, you've just achieved lucid REM at will. If you talk to a spirituality guru they will tell you it's an astral plane, or out of body experience. But really it's just lucid REM :) I never managed to quite completely detach myself from reality, I got into the super-position state where I could feel myself being in two places at once ... sort of everywhere. The main thing you have to remember when doing any of these experiments is that your mind is the only thing in the world fully under your control. It cannot do something you don't let it do.
- dood 16y ago
  It should be noted that this is a fairly unusual practice, quite different to the more common concentration, insight, and awareness meditation systems.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- chanux 16y ago
  I found this (http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html) on a recent HN thread. According to that you've been on a wrong track I'm afraid.
  - Swizec 16y ago
    Probably depends on what you want to achieve with meditation. My goal was to achieve things written about on this page: http://psipog.net/ http://psipog.net/ Most actively I was going after clairvoyance. And it worked to an extent, I eventually stopped because I couldn't distinguish what my mind was thinking it was doing from any sort of actual physical effect and I never managed to achieve anything that couldn't adequately be explained as lucid REM.
    - Estragon 16y ago
      These kinds of energy-manipulation meditations can lead to serious imbalances, and should only be done under the guidance of a teacher.
  - rgrieselhuber 16y ago
    There is a lot of material on that site. What specifically was he doing to put him on the wrong track?
    - chanux 16y ago
      I've read only first 3 chapters. So look there. I'm sorry I'm too busy to spot the exact points right now.
- JakeSc 16y ago
  Can you recommend some online resources that help with this practice?
- p0nce 16y ago
  Interesting feedback. OK I will sound like a freak but this stuff is so damn interesting. To me your method is more likely to induce WILD not OBE. And I don't think it's the same. Edit: visualization and the fact you seeked clairvoyance could be an explanation for your constant headache, I suppose your sixth chakra was very active?

I used two main techniques, first I just did focus exercises for a few weeks then I started with the more advanced stuff. First you need to learn to focus your mind, you take a bright object (a firelighter works great) and you stare into the flame. Then you slowly and carefully shut down your brain and just focus on the bright light. If a tought pops up the most important thing to remember is to let it go and focus away from it, if you get mad or focusing on not focusing on it that's one more tought that popped up. Then once you get the hang of that you can start doing more interesting things. My favourite was to attempt super-position and out of body experiences. Basically you sit in a comfortable position and focus on a memory of a place, or a made-up place. You slowly build up the image of your surroundings, starting with what's immediately before your eyes and then going from there. Once you're proficient in building a visual representation of fake surroundings you start with sounds, smells and tastes. When you get that down you can start fooling your kinestatic sense, which means you have to feel your arms/legs/body in a different position than it actually is. Once you've done that, voila, you've just achieved lucid REM at will. If you talk to a spirituality guru they will tell you it's an astral plane, or out of body experience. But really it's just lucid REM :) I never managed to quite completely detach myself from reality, I got into the super-position state where I could feel myself being in two places at once ... sort of everywhere. The main thing you have to remember when doing any of these experiments is that your mind is the only thing in the world fully under your control. It cannot do something you don't let it do.

dood 16y ago
It should be noted that this is a fairly unusual practice, quite different to the more common concentration, insight, and awareness meditation systems.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
chanux 16y ago
I found this (http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html) on a recent HN thread. According to that you've been on a wrong track I'm afraid.
- Swizec 16y ago
  Probably depends on what you want to achieve with meditation. My goal was to achieve things written about on this page: http://psipog.net/ http://psipog.net/ Most actively I was going after clairvoyance. And it worked to an extent, I eventually stopped because I couldn't distinguish what my mind was thinking it was doing from any sort of actual physical effect and I never managed to achieve anything that couldn't adequately be explained as lucid REM.
  - Estragon 16y ago
    These kinds of energy-manipulation meditations can lead to serious imbalances, and should only be done under the guidance of a teacher.
- rgrieselhuber 16y ago
  There is a lot of material on that site. What specifically was he doing to put him on the wrong track?
  - chanux 16y ago
    I've read only first 3 chapters. So look there. I'm sorry I'm too busy to spot the exact points right now.
JakeSc 16y ago
Can you recommend some online resources that help with this practice?
p0nce 16y ago
Interesting feedback. OK I will sound like a freak but this stuff is so damn interesting. To me your method is more likely to induce WILD not OBE. And I don't think it's the same. Edit: visualization and the fact you seeked clairvoyance could be an explanation for your constant headache, I suppose your sixth chakra was very active?