Increase awareness of the spirit. Tips?

[brayan]

Originally Posted by yolxochitl

If you want to,well,i dont know how exactly to put my thought,lets say if you want to acheive kind of a psychedelic,meaning mind-expanded perception,why not try to hold in your mind the intention to percieve through your inner sight those things which normally the brain ignores while it process the information.

For me,focusing my intention on the Consciousness of Plant Kingdom,or an animal psychopomp archetype,usually works.

That is very rad

Originally Posted by brayan

Definitely. Chakra activation I believe is what it is. There are seven main chakras in the body. Little by little, try to individually avtivate them all.

What I do. Pick 1 chakra, focus on it alone. In time it gets warmer and warmer. Think of the breath as fuel and the chakra as a flame.

Thanks. I like your metaphor a lot.

[Gem]

In relation to the 'goal'; it isn't to try to make the body create the desired warm sensation. It's simply noticing what the body does feel like. In doing that one will realize that they don't like 'this' feeling and they want 'that' feeling. That's the I,the me,the my,and the mine. The meditation is supposed to address the self,and if one doesn't want to do that, the persuit of desires continues to overrule the truth.

Hypnotic,

I would agree with Gem. Even the desire for spiritual experiences is still a desire. Not to say that you can't ENJOY the experiences (I certainly do) or that you have to experience them a certain way (I recall in another post that you mention that Parkour is like a form of meditation for you... I certainly can't meditate while moving, but I commend you for achieving such a state!). However, once you start SEEKING experiences, that is the very dangerous part.

Hope this helps,
-TaoSandwich

Yes, I do seek experiences.. I don't see what's wrong with that.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Hypnoticalec

Yes, I do seek experiences.. I don't see what's wrong with that.

There's nothing wrong. It just means that experience is change and when the experience sought after is found, it soon changes and is again gone.

Originally Posted by Gem

There's nothing wrong. It just means that experience is change and when the experience sought after is found, it soon changes and is again gone.

You're getting on to something.. Can you explain further? I do change a lot as a person, but my sodiac element is water so I took it that it was part of my nature. And I've always had a thing with water. The more details the better~

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Hypnoticalec

You're getting on to something.. Can you explain further? I do change a lot as a person, but my sodiac element is water so I took it that it was part of my nature. And I've always had a thing with water. The more details the better~

You already are experiencing. If you think about it, you can only actually experience whatever is happening now. The past is no longer being experienced, and the desired is still imaginary, but the experience is right here right now.

On the goal of heat; The sensation based meditations are great, and my personal preference too, but these don't persue pleasures, they only focus on what is being experiences right now, so if it itches it itches and if it tingles it tingles if it's pain there's pain and if it's pleasure that that's as it is. With practice, one starts feeling the heavy solid physical easy to feel sensations and is happy with that, and soon they notice new feelings that they hadn't noticed before, and with more practice notice even more and subtler and subtler the feelings become... and the body does begin to feel lighter, less solid and generally feels better. There's a psychological element too because emotions get blocked and that can be felt in the body, so as the mind notices them they start to dissolve away and clear out.

This is the important part, because the meditation itself has nothing to do with if one feels solid and pain or if one feels only sweet flow and pleasure... this isn't the point at all... the meditation is to see all the experience with a purely neutral and balanced mind. If the mind is desirous it can't go any deeper and if it's averse to any discomfort it can't go any further... if the mind is balanced and calm with the actual experience that is, then it can go deeper... any reaction to any experience event will disturb that mental calm. The meditation isn't the experience; it's the calm.

That's what I think, but just cuz I think it doesn't make it true. It either makes some sense or it sounds stupid... but I can only say what I think, and each one has their own way.

Originally Posted by Gem

You already are experiencing. If you think about it, you can only actually experience whatever is happening now. The past is no longer being experienced, and the desired is still imaginary, but the experience is right here right now.

On the goal of heat; The sensation based meditations are great, and my personal preference too, but these don't persue pleasures, they only focus on what is being experiences right now, so if it itches it itches and if it tingles it tingles if it's pain there's pain and if it's pleasure that that's as it is. With practice, one starts feeling the heavy solid physical easy to feel sensations and is happy with that, and soon they notice new feelings that they hadn't noticed before, and with more practice notice even more and subtler and subtler the feelings become... and the body does begin to feel lighter, less solid and generally feels better. There's a psychological element too because emotions get blocked and that can be felt in the body, so as the mind notices them they start to dissolve away and clear out.

This is the important part, because the meditation itself has nothing to do with if one feels solid and pain or if one feels only sweet flow and pleasure... this isn't the point at all... the meditation is to see all the experience with a purely neutral and balanced mind. If the mind is desirous it can't go any deeper and if it's averse to any discomfort it can't go any further... if the mind is balanced and calm with the actual experience that is, then it can go deeper... any reaction to any experience event will disturb that mental calm. The meditation isn't the experience; it's the calm.

That's what I think, but just cuz I think it doesn't make it true. It either makes some sense or it sounds stupid... but I can only say what I think, and each one has their own way.

You have a logical and mature mature point of view, however I don't think meditation is all about being calm. I don't have the mental energy to explain further. Thanks by the way.

Alec,

Meditation isn't "all about being calm". However, it is about stilling your mind and being in the moment because this allows truth to cut through the machinations of our mind. Sometimes this truth will present itself and cause pleasurable spiritual states, but it could also present itself during meditation as painful confrontations with deep spiritual pain. The goal always is truth and seeing things in the world and in your mind simply as they are. "Being calm" as you call it is just a way to get there... but through seeking pleasure, you may be making yourself more frustrated (I only have pleasurable meditations a certain percentage of the time, as does any meditator) while at the same time not growing as much spiritually, because you might start to see any painful meditation as a failure (when it really might be just as valuable as something pleasurable).

Best Wishes,
-TaoSandwich