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Basic Skills: Lesson #1
I tried Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World. I identified five different sounds (it's pretty quiet here, save for the sound of the microwave), and I found I could easily maintain focus on two sounds. I managed to maintain focus on three sounds simultaneously for a brief amount of time. I'll try level 2 tomorrow.
I've been continuing with Listening to a Noisy World. I'm improving a bit; I can maintain focus on four sounds simultaneously, but it's difficult. I can't manage five just yet, but I'm definitely getting better, as I can (kind of) manage four now.
I really need to practice this more often. Oops, I've been forgetting.
Anyway, I managed to maintain focus on four sounds for awhile again today. I tried for five, but I can't quite manage five yet. Hopefully, I'll be able to by tomorrow!
I maintained focus on five sounds at once for a little while earlier today. It was difficult, but I'm definitely making progress!
Good job, you are improving fast. This course will take up to a year for most students, so rather than worry about keeping up a pace, try to really incorperate the concepts into your daily life and your general awareness. 5 sounds is very hard and I can barely do 6 after years of practice. So, good job!
Really? Even though level 2 says to try to reach 8?
Oh, by the way, does it count if three of the sounds were different tracks in music? I figured they count as separate, but I don't want to be "cheating" if they only count as one (as the music collectively).
8 is a goal. It would not be as valuable if you are not pushing the brain, asking for more each time. I still have maybe 50 years to try and reach 8. This stuff should be learned in a year or so, but refined over the rest of your days.
The differant tracks in music count, only iif you are fully aware of each, and not just counting them up in general. If you honestly can focus on the voice as seperate from the drums and so on, it counts.
I think so, but now that it seems I'm picking this up at a really fast rate, I'm starting to wonder how aware of each I actually am... maybe I could be only slightly aware of them all individually and thinking I'm giving them more focus =/
After assuming that I must have just been acknowledging several sounds without fully focusing on them and then kinda forgetting about this course, I've returned for lesson 2. I've started trying the Diffuse Vision technique. Level 1 is kind of tricky; I can sort of look at still objects on opposite sides of my peripheral vision, but I can't really pay much attention to them without focusing on them. I haven't tried it with moving objects yet, though.
Level 2 is easy; I've always been able to unfocus at will and never thought of it as being any sort of special or learned skill.
By the way, how much detail am I supposed to see using these techniques? With level 1, I can't see much detail at all in my peripheral vision (e.g., I can see picture frames but can't see what the photos are without looking at them). I can see more detail if I look just a few inches off to the side, but, even then, it's not as detailed as if I was focusing on it (e.g., I can identify people and colours of clothing in the photo but can't recognize faces). With level 2, I can see more detail on objects, as the object in question is right in front of me, but it's all blurry because my eyes aren't focused on it.
Human vision is divided in to two fields, based on the placement of rods and cones. The center 30% or so is the only area that can refine the picture enough to read. The outer field is very adapt at detecting movement and shape. Do not worry about the outer stuff seeming blurry. You will never, for instance, be able to read a book using the sides of your vision. You are doing a couple things with this training. You are retraining your brain to maintain awareness with out needing to direct focus on anything. That is very useful in WILD attempts. You are also greatly enhancing your awareness, which is of ultimate importance in all aspects of LDing.