Mikey's Relaxation Teacher:

"I love flying things." --Sri MycatmaJi

This was my boy Paco.  He was with us and gave us constant pleasure for 15 years.  Paco has left this earth plane, his body in the stomach of a coyote.  This feline-to-canine leaning, I believe has manifested in his reincarnation in a tailless dog we rescued (in case you hadn't noticed, Paco was tailless), who acts like a cat (jumps up on things like a cat does) and supervises my activities in the same way that Paco used to do.

Meditation, .. Why I Do IT

When I was a younger man, I was a very tense-type high achiever; an extremely mental fellow.  This resulted in various negative physical manifestations.  By the time I was 28 years old I had high blood pressure, was having three-day-long migraine headaches three to four times a month, and my mind was obsessively reading life for me.  "It" continuously translated my every move into internal dialog.  This resulted in my life being an intensely calculated experience with little warmth, much confusion, and little-to-no satisfactory resolution to my problems, to say nothing of the pain I was having and the fact I could never relax completely.

I was a "successful" corporate executive, but had little time to spend with my family and spent little time relaxing; I really didn't even know how to relax.  The time I spent away from the office, I was either thinking about work or trying to do something that would help me relax and not think about work, but of course, never did do either.  In other words, I was constantly driven by my thinking/striving for more of this or that.

Learning to meditate at the age of 30, eventually gave me the ability to completely let go of my thinking, relax under any circumstances, at any time of the day and the ability to disregard my mind's continuous chatter.  Whether in a business meeting or driving my car through a traffic jam; I can focus on my breathing and I no longer am at the bidding of my thoughts.

This ability to focus, as a means of choice-above-mind, leads one to the being at the place of "higher" choice, as well as possibly leading one to another state of being, only reached in dream states and hypnotic trance states.

The relaxation I am capable of in my meditative states reflects throughout my life as a relative oasis of calm.  When I get agitated or excited about something now, I can immediately reflect and relax.  From 'there', to go on to the solution of the problem presented without getting stuck in an endless circle of excited thinking, guilt and/or drama.  This ability gives me a certain clarity of thought and reflection I didn't have before I started meditating.

Through the years since I have noticed hundreds of experiences in my daily life where "mind over matter" has had a much different meaning to me than to the rest of the people (non-meditators) that I associate with.  In other words, now my mind is my tool, not my master.  Thoughts are things best contemplated from a distance.  I am not my mind; I am not my thoughts; as it is only my attention to them that gives them power over me.

This is where the practice will take the practitioner; to a confrontation with his/her understanding of their very self.  Who is what.  Without this confrontation, the selves overlap, and realization of the complete identity of the being, remains a mystery.

Meditation, .. How I Started

For 18 months I did four concentration techniques, focusing as much attention as possible on the objects of those techniques; two aspects of breathing, a third eye concentration and an internal 'sound' technique.  Once establishing the object of attention, one focuses continued attention on the object.  The idea of concentration being, seems to me, to focus so much attention on any one of these aspects of being as to completely preoccupy the mind with this endeavor.  This done, the mind without realizing the loss of itself, will allow the emergence of another aspect of being.  Some call this aspect the 'higher' self or the 'witness'.  The problem I had with these, and all other concentration type meditations that I've used, is that they require a continued attention applied to the object for a long enough period for the relaxation response to take effect (time varies).  Hence, I was always fighting 'distractions'; the dog barking, the car/truck going down the road, or the most prevalent, the inviting line of thinking.

After that 18 month period, I branched out into mantras, chanting AUM, Yogic breathing, brainwave entrainment, biofeedback, hypnosis, Tantra, isolation tanks, and as many seminars that promised possible 'advancement' into altered states of consciousness, as possible. 

Meditation, .. How I Do IT Now

I have now come to a place where I use three techniques, depending on how my body feels at the time. I always sit with my back straight; in a comfortable chair or in lotus posture if I'm feeling limber [not necessary]. I always start with one of two breathing techniques. Then I progress into no-thingness, the third, similar to Vipassana (Buddhist Insight).

Mind you, this no-thing-ness technique is non-specific, and does not foster a strict subject/object relationship, thus making it somewhat difficult to use as a beginning meditator. Buddhist monks recommend doing concentration meditation (a mantra, candle, breath, a fixed thought) first, until you've been able to attain the access state using concentration.

The access state, simply put, is "mind awake, body asleep" (body feels like a rock when you monitor it from the meditative state).  Click for a slightly-edited-for-simplicity map to the inner journey, from the 5th Century Buddhist Text Visuddhimagga.

1 & 2) The breathing techniques;

1)  If I'm tired or low energy I'll use just three deep breaths, count a slow 4 inhale, 4 between, 8 exhale, 4 between, repeat. Exhale blowing thru pursed lips, like blowing out a candle.   2) Having a higher physical energy level in my body, I'll do alternate nostril breathing for a while.  This is a very powerful breathing technique.  Fold arms across chest, right hand to face, index finger and middle finger to forehead (third eye location) thumb to right nostril, third finger to left nostril. With thumb to right nostril close it and breathe in thru left (use same rhythm as above (extend counts when you can), ... hold .... third finger to left nostril, close ... open right nostril with thumb, ... exhale .... inhale .... release third finger open left, close right with thumb, ... exhale, etc.  I started with 5 of these, worked up to, and have never needed more than 20 breaths to start a meditation .... then, I move to;

3) ... mikey's words for Buddha's Insight (Wisdom) meditation:

A psychic posture is assumed.  Me and everything else becomes out there.  Everything else includes: any thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensory input, pains and dreams ... all mental and bodily input ... out there: = all the same value.  I give no special attention to any stimulus, maintaining an aloof awareness, watching.  All things released, "expanding" into the me that is none of that.  Relaxed, expanding out of the tiniest place in the top of my head ... observing, released, open. Finally, having no desire to do anything, but just to BE LOVE.

Life Itself

Once, while lying on the beach gazing at the blue sky, it occurred to me that the universe is a closed system. Nothing leaves, and nothing enters (that we know of). Everything is here now, as in the past, so in the future.

Given this, let's talk about electricity for a minute. Wouldn't it be so, that all the electricity that ever was and ever will be is now in the universe? YES, this must be true. Lightning is available for the making, anytime the conditions are right. In other words, if the "requirement" is there, the energy is ready.

Therefore, we won't run out of electricity because it's been there all the time, as much as we need. Whether we measure it or not, the potential is there. Doesn't the same hold true for all energy? YES, this must be so, as well.

Therefore, the same is true for the energy of consciousness, ie, awareness.  The energy potential was there all the time, so as the need arose, it was filled by consciousness energy.  First, lichens and pre-plant life, one-celled animals, then plants, then multi-cellular life forms, etc., then us. All of us needed this awareness stuff, and it was there for us all.  At the Big Bang, it was there, it is here now, and as it is a CLOSED SYSTEM (seems to me), this must be true. 

Therefore, YOU (and I) were here all the time (in a way).  The energy that you (we) think with was here all the time.  Dinosaurs were "thinking" with the same energy.  Kind of like a pool of consciousness; whenever we need it, it's there for us and everything/one else. 

This is the stuff of omniscience, because it IS all knowledge, this is the stuff of all presence, because it IS in everything, and given the size and configuration that is implied by all presence and knowledge, it IS all powerful.  AND it's in every one of us.  This is the stuff of life itself.  This IS the stuff of God (if you're into the naming of such stuff). 

As the need arose for the great ones in the scriptures, so the  energy of consciousness arose.  As the need arises in the future, so shall the energy.  This must be so, as energy has no limits.  So it is, the alpha and omega, the endless energy of consciousness.

 

Intelligence and Life Force

Thinking on the question of evolution (one-celled life-forms as predecessors) has led me to pondering the chains of ups and downs of size in our world (micro/macro).  At each level there's a retention of intelligence.  From the smallest (that I know of) to who knows what or where is the largest life-form.

A virus, for instance, usually is in the shape of an icosahedron; a twenty sided object having all sides equal-lateral triangles (the basic geometry of a geodesic dome).  As we know, a virus is a very small (and arguably called a) "creature".   So small a creature that each triangular side of their icosahedron is composed of just three complex protein molecules.  Inside, is some magic stuff that is "brains" of the virus, DNA.  This is the apparent "intelligent" part of the virus and it's reproductive organ, as well.   The bottom line is that intelligence, consciousness and reproductive codes are functioning quite well at the molecular level in this instance.

To illustrate the inherent "intelligence"; this little bug "navigates" around in an incredibly huge, and complex "place" (our bodies), just like it was home.  Heaven, for a virus.  First, it enters the body, via airborne water droplets or bodily fluids, a sneeze, let's say.  It could easily perish in this phase, as most virus do.  The few lucky ones find their way to a preferred host and then it's favorite cell, the one it likes the best.

Think of all the different kinds of viruses having their favorite hosts.  Each having so many different cells to choose from; then invading their favorite to use as parasitic partners.  Not just any cell, not just any host, but favorites hosts and cells within the hosts.  Genetics, you say!  Yah, genetic intelligence.

Once the lucky virus finds its favorite cell, it invades by simply puncturing and passing through the cell wall.  It then converts the cell into a virus reproduction cell by injecting it's DNA into the host cell's nucleus, which then gives orders to the cell to produce virus.  To make a much longer story, a little shorter, obvious intelligence is apparent (to me, at least) at the virus level. Clever little rascals, virus.

Something else is obvious to me about virus (and ALL other life forms).  Success!  They succeed at life, or die trying.  The different ways that "nature" has devised to succeed on this planet (in the Universe) are bountiful and beautiful.  Millions (billions?) of different life forms succeed in this environment.  What gives them the need to succeed?  The magical push to make it, comes from where?

This is the mysterious force of life. This is also the force of EVOLUTION.  The message built deeply into this consciousness is "do it, and do it better". Succeed, if you can.  My feeling is that these are the two "gifts" we receive at birth from the Universal Being. The consciousness we think and see with, and the will to succeed. 

Success is the "intelligent design" of evolution.  If the life form [variation] doesn't succeed in its environment, that variation will cease.  If it does well enough to pass its [variation] on to its offspring, the variation may continue.  This, and hundreds of thousands of generations, is what springs forth the millions of different successful species, all over the earth.  The "intelligence" of success-in-design.

My speculation is that the consciousness energy that permeates the universe is God "himself", and it's in all of us.  This God stuff IS us; we just have a hard time finding it.  It's like electricity is to the computer .... invisible, but absolutely necessary to function within it's reality.  Take this stuff away from me and I'm dead.

I/we use "God" to think with.  My/our thinking is God at work, moving the world this way and that. Thank you, God.  My/our thought, so important to me/us, yet totally invisible to the world, and even to me. 

When I die, my brain will think no more; but what of my thoughts, memories and experiences?

So, in my equation, God's will IS evolution itself and LOVE is the best we can do with it.  Do it (your life), and do it better ... with LOVE.

Have some fun y'all ... and don't take anything too seriously.

Love ya,

-mikey

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Good links to further explanation and more techniques of meditation:
http://health.yahoo.com/health/alternative_medicine/alternative_therapies/Meditation/
http://www.surreal.com.au/sankhara/ *free book*
http://www.dhamma.org/
http://www.vedanta.org/
http://www.pranayama.org
http://www.meditationsociety.com
http://www.classicalyoga.org       
http://thebiosoundmethod.com
http://www.prosperityplace.com/gethigh.html 
http://www.awomansjourney.com/meditation.html
http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/messages/messages.htm http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/misc/nutshell.html