concentration exercises

[steveb]

Greetings rodentmouse, I quite like concentration on the heart,you can visualize it and get in touch with the beat at the same time,if you should get any sensations, go with the beat. ihaven't projected as yet, but I quite like the dualism of it.

Regards Steve

[Joe]

Hi rodentmouse,

RB's breath awareness in AD is good. Also, mantra meditation is good. The exercise I'm doing at the moment (and starting to see a little bit of success in) is a visual concentration exercise out of Mouni Sadhu's book "Concentration". Fairly simple - the object is to attain 5 minutes of uninterrupted observation of the second hand on a clock face. Place a clock/watch in front of you, and watch the second hand - let no other thought/words/sensation enter the mind while staring at the end of the second hand. This exercise is harder than it sounds, and really shows how undisciplined the mind is. When I first started serious daily practice a month ago, a few seconds was all I could manage before thoughts interrupted. I'm currently up to 25 seconds. Success builds on success, and in time, I'm sure 5 minutes will be achievable. 5 minutes of pure concentration on a single subject will put one in good stead for other areas of mental application.

BTW - I've found that concentration is the foundation of many other abilities, and helps get better results in meditation, NEW, and rituals, etc. I put more emphasis on concentration than any other practice right now, and I'm starting to actually enjoy the exercises.

Cheers.

[nightflier101]

If you have a song stuck in your head, I hope it's a good one...
I like Steveb's solution, I do that myself.  Controlled breathing,
and feeling your heart beating inside your body has a hypnotic
effect. It's ok to let your mind drift a little, we all do it.

                   NF101...

[Julia]

Hello Rodentmouse,

Concentration is hard at first because your mind has spent a lifetime controlling the show and doesn't like to be told what to do.   It especially hates to be told to shut up and so will give you its opinion on everything whenever possible, even just to tell you that you are trying not to think.  

A good way to start is to just sit for 5 minutes (use an egg timer or something with an alarm) and observe your thoughts.  Don't try to push anything away, but be the watcher.  This distances yourself from your thoughts.  Everytime you find yourself getting involved in a train of thought and forget that you were supposed to be watching yourself, gently pull yourself back and observe again.  Keep this up for the full 5 min session.  After a while you will notice that just by observing your thoughts they will naturally slow down on their own.  

Once you get to the stage that you can watch your thoughts without forgetting yourself for 5 mins, start a new exercise where you keep just one idea or thought in your mind.  Keep all of your thoughts for the 5 mins on only this one subject without digressing.  You are now progressing from just a passive observer to taking some kind of control.  If you find your thoughts flowing onto some other subject by association, don't get upset, but just note your lapse, then gently bring yourself back to the subject YOU have chosen.  

Once you are able to keep a single thought or idea in your head for 5 mins, progress to the next stage of total vacancy of mind.  With the preparatory exercises above, this should come a lot less painfully.  This exercise is also easier at first if you have something to concentrate on like your breathing.  Joe's suggestion of concentrating on the moving second hand of a clock is very good, because this is a mobile visual target which tends to hold your interest.  Again, if you find a word or idea popping into your head, just gently let go of the thought and bring yourself back by refocusing on your object of concentration.  You will find that after a while, you are able to go for longer and longer periods without anything bothering you and when a thought does try to enter, you will be able to bring yourself back quickly so that you are not distracted.   It is a real balancing act and needs a lot of practice and dedication.

If you have a song stuck in your head or any other "circular thoughts", break the loop by focusing on another thought or visual cue (such as the clock second-hand) but something of YOUR choosing.  After a while your mind is trained to be controlled by YOU.  It can be difficult to understand that you are thinking about what to think or what not to think, but it does make you realize that you and your thoughts or mind are separate things.

I hope you find this helpful.

Julia

[Joe]

Hey Julia!  I'm guessing you're studying IIH also (are you the "Julia" from the FBMagi group?)  I'm still trying for Step One with the exercise above - it's such a killer aiming for total vacancy. Bardon was a master - who else would put something that takes 12 months as the first step!?

Can I ask how you're doing with it, and if you've got any tips for practice?

All the best http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile.gif" border=0>

[rodentmouse]

oh wow thanks a lot julia that really helped, but  could you expand on what you mena when you say  "observe your thoughts" ?

[Julia]

Hello again rodentmouse,

Observe your thoughts.  What does that mean?  You know sometimes when you are forced into inactivity (usually boring) when you are in a waiting room or sitting somewhere quietly where you have nothing to do so your thoughts just roam around?  Try to watch where they go.  Mostly they will be influenced by your surroundings which remind you of something that sets a train of thoughts going which reminds you of something else and so on.  It is pretty much uncontrolled and if you sit back after and try to remember what started you thinking about what you ended up with, it will be something totally different from your beginning thought.   This is just uncontrolled thinking.   If you want to observe your thoughts you have to watch where they go and how they got there.  Try to stop yourself after a while and trace back the train of thought through to its beginning.  For example, you are sitting in a train going to work and you see a house where a motorbike is sitting outside and you think well "I wouldn't leave that bike out there where anyone can steal it"  then you think "I must check that rusted lock on my window because someone could break in"  and that leads to the thought that the last time you looked out that window you saw the girl across the road hanging out the washing and she had a really nice butt and so you thought that your butt was getting a bit flabby so that brought you to the thought that you need to loose a few kilos, then you thought that you must watch what you eat, "oh yes, when I go shopping, I must remember to get milk",  "so what really is happening with this mad cow disease anyway?"  -  See what I mean?  Uncontrolled thoughts just continue on by association.  They travel on by themselves.  The trick in the beginning is to observe them and to be able to track where they go and where they came from.  If you get totally involved in the "train" you lose the thread and lose that "observer" viewpoint where you can see where the train started from, how it progressed, and how it ended up.  

It is a really good exercise that whenever you are doing something mundane like getting ready for work, travelling in a car, taking a shower or whatever, that you try to see where your thoughts go.   That's what I mean by observing your thoughts.   If you can't remember how you got to where you are thinking now, you have a problem - you are not observing.

Concentration exercises don't just begin and end at that 5 minutes you set aside for your program.  This is a life-long exercise in training your mind.  The most important step is to know that you have thoughts.  Then you have to realize that you can control them.  And the most important time that you must control them is when they become negative.  Whether that is on negative thoughts about the guy who just cut in front of you in traffic, or the dog that is barking across the road and keeping you awake, or your thoughts about how you are so useless at concentration exercises.

When you become aware of your thoughts you are capable of doing something about them.  You can stop yourself from negative thoughts and turn them into something positive.  This is absolutely imperative.  The ability to control and focus your thoughts is the very foundation for any kind of spiritual advancement you set your sights on whether that be expanding your consciousness through astral projection, or following a path like IIH as Joe mentioned.

Yes, Joe, I have read IIH.  All that I can tell you is that persistence gets results.  Don't force yourself.  Don't get upset if you don't seem to be progressing.  When I first started the concentration exercises, what worked for me was the gentle method of whenever I got distracted to just note that I was distracted, then pull myself back - again, and again, and again.    Mostly, I don't count how many distractions I get while doing the exercises, but I just go with it for the alloted time and keep refocusing on my objective.  If you are trying for the vacancy of mind exercises where you have nothing to focus on, what I do is to just feel myself sitting there looking at the back of my eyelids and imagining any thought that pops in as slowly sliding away then concentrating back on this person just sitting there quietly.  Everyone has a different method but this is what works for me.  Whenever a thought enters I just let it slide away and refocus my attention on ... what?  At first it was my breath, then I let go of that and then it was just a nice serene blank.  I don't know how to describe it but it does come eventually after a lot of practice.  That is why I need a timer because when you get to that place of stillness you lose track of time and the time goes in an instant.

Anyway, I think that I have fallen into that trap of people who get somewhere and forget how they got there and then are not able to explain it to others to help them get there too.  Does this make sense?

All I can say is practice, practice, practice... this is the only way!  And you WILL get there in the end I promise you.  If I could do it, ANYONE can!  Hey, I'm just a housewife!

Julia

[jsoper]

I'm also having a problem with the rambling thoughts... I find that it helps quite a bit to think of a loved one, or a good friend, and try to imagine them standing in front of you.  build up the imagination of them bit by bit until you get the face in detail... see how long you can hold that and move on to the rest of the body...  usually though, by the time you get their face, you're all cleared up and can focus a little easier....

Julia's right... practice!  that's what I'm working on right now...

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jonathan.soper
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[rodentmouse]

hello, could anyone suggest anymore concentration excersises as when i try to project i might have a song stuck in my head, i do the breath awarness and then ill think about myself not thinking about the song im not meant to be thinking of and ill just think of it again.
i would appreciate anyones help.