ADA Session

There is was sitting in the church yard attempting to practice ADA:

One of the things I noticed was just the surprising level of noise around me. Do we often have that much background noise around us, and what about in the dreaming world, do we reproduce this noise level? I mean here I was sitting in a "quiet" church yard which is a little green space in the middle of a busy city. The chatter of the birds reminded me of the chatter of my own thoughts,always there, and ready to give me a headache if I concentrate too much. Then there were all the car noises and an occasional plane flying by. I heard some emergency vehicles off in a distance, someone else's emergency, not mine thankfully. Occasionally someone would come into the church yard: a family with a noisily happy little girl. Doors would slam. The wind rustled. Sometimes a bird or a mouse rustled on the ground somewhere behind me. And occasionally my own cough would interrupt the quiet. Then there is the organ music from inside the church, blending in with the bird chatter and the noises of traffic.

It was a bit chilly in the church yard, a bit too cold, but pleasantly so. I tried to change my perception from instead of feeling the cold weather seep into me, feeling my inner body warmth radiating out.

At some point I caught myself rhythmically moving my leg. Why such repetitive motion? For body heat? For comfort? Restlessness?

I tried to look around. The quiet church yard was full of motion. The wind moved the flowers. A bird took off. Behind the fence all those cars moving past. My own small movements. I decided to try looking for ants. Couldn't find any. Was it because it was too cold and they were hiding, or was I just not observant enough? Again the question in my dreams is there so much movement as this? Usually I do not pay enough attention. If you asked me, I would have described this church yard as a still and quiet place, not one full of noise and movement.

Dreams can be as detailed as real life. Just like in real life, your experience of a dream is more vivid when you start to focus on the things you sense

Oh, I know that they can be as detailed as real life. I've had dreams like that. I just wonder whether mine usually are. Since I usually do not pay attention to those details in waking life, am I bothering to reproduce them in my dreams?

What you were describing is what sivason teaches in his Dream Yoga class in DV Academy. Good stuff.