ADA Revisited: Or, This May Be Helpful to You
Good afternoon, all:
Most of us are familiar with King Yoshi's somewhat (in)famous ADA tutorial: essentially, one must be mentally aware of their environment at all times, through the windows of the five senses. Sensing what the air tastes and smells like, what your butt in the seat feels like, what your hair on fire feels like, etc. In all seriousness, this is a good technique and can result in more lucid dreams. However, as has been pointed out by others (namely Sageous, that I can think of), there is a definite limitation of the technique in that it does not promote awareness of the dream state as such; that is, one can be aware of their environment, smell all the smells and feel all the feels, and still be absolutely non-lucid.
There is, however, another limitation that one might improve upon with a change in the presence of mind. King Yoshi responded to some of his experimenters' complaints that ADA is exhausting. The complaints essentially run that they are unable to practice every second, and when they get home from school or work, they just want to sleep, or mentally vegetate, because their mind is so tired. Understandable. Keeping focused concentration on the environment for that long can be exhausting, if one concentrates in a particular fashion: that is, a tight concentration that focuses the mind narrowly on the senses; or a tight concentration that upbraids any loss of awareness, and repeatedly says "I WILL DO THIS." This is what jet fighter pilots do, and they are wiped out after a few hours in the cockpit. His advice was to practice in chunks. I agree with this, but . . . .
It may be helpful to some to try a technique from kriya yoga: simply allow the mind to wander, with the understanding that when you notice it wandering, you will gently bring it back. The emphasis here is on gently. Don't treat your mind like some insolent race horse that needs to beaten into submission: it will just make you tired, and then the mind will wander anyway. When you notice yourself "dreaming," take note of your surroundings and reality check. If you see a dream sign during the day, this is an excellent time to bring your mind back on track. One need not clamp down on the mind incessantly, all day, in order to be lucid. This is, in fact, absolutely detrimental.
So if focused awareness isn't tight and "focused," what does it feel like? Open, spacious, and relaxed. Be aware, but know that your mind will wander during the day. You probably aren't an ascended master, so don't beat up on yourself if you notice you've spaced out for ten minutes, thirty minutes, two hours, or whatever. Just gently bring your mind back to the realm of the senses (or the realm of the inner self, or whatever it is that you choose to be aware of). Check to see if you are dreaming, and then return to calm, present awareness.
I sincerely hope this is helpful to those who have tried and found awareness to be tiring. Just relax, and allow the mind to help you as much as it can.
