Subjects eats a Yoga

Hello! Once i saw the course for Dream yoga and read a little about it in the introduction thread, i thought it would be a good idea to pick it up. I'm doing it because if i can improve my awareness, then that should have a positive effect on..well everything. It should also help All day awareness a lot which i'm trying to practice to aid in lucid dreaming.

Basic Skills: Lesson #1

Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World: I went outside to do this. I closed my eyes and focused. I could hear multiple birds , a fountain, the sound of cars passing on a road nearby, voice of children sometimes , something that sounded like construction work , the occasional breeze that moves the tree leaves , some bugs flying around , and sometimes my brother moving around up at the barn.
I started out focusing on each sound separately but then moved on to try level 2. Trying to focus on all the sounds at once was a little hard to do, i found it a little easier to not actively try to collect the sounds but rather just let them come to me and sort of hold them. Either way, this was a little more challenging.

Version 2: Feel an Intense World: I started out focusing on the clothes i had on, trying to feel where my socks connected and ended and then doing the same with my shirt, pants and etc. After doing that, i then focused on any sensations like hunger and heat. While still trying to feel my clothes, i moved on and started from my toes and eventually worked my way up to my head, trying to feel every small detail. I then tried to hold all of those feelings as much as i could which was harder to do. I haven't tried opening my eyes yet, i suppose i'll do that when i practice today. ( this is all what i experienced from yesterdays practice).

I plan to practice lesson 1 for about Two weeks. After doing that, i will move on to basic skills lesson 2 and practice that for two weeks while also practicing lesson 1 with it each day as well. I will try to keep up with posting progress.

Version 3: Mixing it up
Just attempted Version three of lesson #1, The one with the peppermint candy. I put the candy on my tongue, I could taste the mint, i could feel the weight on my tongue and it also had a tingling sensation. After a little bit, i could still feel the tingling sensation and was like "Yeah! i must be doing good!" However, i realized that i was mistaking the tingling for the actual taste. The actual taste of the mint had gone away shortly after i put the mint on my tongue. The taste wasn't coming back much unless i really moved the mint around in my mouth a lot. But i suppose that doesn't count since i already lost track of the flavor.

Could you possibly train your brain to pay attention to the taste longer? or will the taste go away shortly no matter what?
Not that i would train myself to hold a taste longer but i am curious. well actually, i'm going to do level 2 tomorrow and level 3 the next so i might as well.

I promise I will read all of this within a couple days and get back to you. Welcome aboard!!!

Okay, thanks! Also, i'm thinking about re-writing my posts about the basic skills because i feel as if i could have wrote a lot more.

I still practice the basic skills each day when possible so it won't be hard for me to write something up from a recent meditation ( maybe i should call it a recent 'sitting', because i sit and do the skills, or maybe a recent 'attempt' but then again, it's more like practicing them then attempting them....hmm...okay now i'm thinking too much, back on track). If you read these in the coming days and think i should or should not worry about re-writing them, just tell me, and i'll eventually get to it :3.

Either way, i just finished trying "Diffuse Vision" for the first time today, i might get a post up about that here soon.

Only rewrite them if it will help you to think about the experience or if you have observation, such as when you mentioned,,, " i found it a little easier to not actively try to collect the sounds but rather just let them come to me and sort of hold them. " That was a great observation and the kind of stuff you should always comment on if you notice it.

You can eventually keep awareness of the taste the whole time. It is not that valuable as far as a life skill, but the purpose is to notice how your brain will 'erase' sensory input if it finds it unnecessary or distracting.

Basic Skills: Lesson 2

Diffuse Vision, Level 1: When i first read the post on diffuse vision, i turned away from my computer and tried to do it.
I got the feeling you get when you cross your eyes and as i tried, i was paying attention to both sides of my field of vision but everything was out of focus and blurry.

The next day or maybe two days later, i found myself in the passenger of a car, and remembered to practice this skill. I thought about the last time i practiced it, and i decided that i was putting too much effort into it and came to the conclusion that i should just simply try and focus on something that was on my left and right side of my field of vision at the same time.
As i did this, i noticed that my eyes sort of relaxed for me. I could see moving objects on my left and right side, the quality wasn't very good but that's sort of expected because i was using the side of my eyes i suppose. Anyway, i could still see the objects in front of me, they were a little unfocused i guess because i was focusing on my sides. However, it was a minor unfocus, it wasn't like the first time i tried. Each 10 seconds or so, sometimes less, i would find myself trying to move my eyes to one side or the other. Also, another thing i noticed, sometimes, i would get into a sort of state where my eyes get a little more relaxed ( somewhat hard to describe, not sure if relaxed would be the right word) and i found myself focusing on the whole picture rather than just the sides. It was hard to maintain though.

Diffuse Vision, Level 2:
So for this one, i held some chapstick in front of me. I followed sort of what i did for level 1 on this. At first, to still be aware of the object but not focus on it, I simply looked at the background behind the object. As i did that, the chapstick formed two images, so this told me that all i did was switch focus from the chapstick to a point in the background.
So i tried something else, i thought that if the chapstick forms two images then i would know that i wasn't unfocusing but rather moving my focus behind it. So my first objective was to make sure the chapstick stayed one image. After i focused on the chapstick, i then tried to focus on the background and sort of expand my field of focused vision. I thought that this would make me be aware of the whole scene but not exactly focus on a single object.

It seemed to work a little, Although it was only my first attempt, i might experiment a little more today or tomorrow. If you have any input on what exactly i should be feeling when i do this, that might help a lot or at least give me the right direction.

Wandering Mind Recall:
I took a walk for this one, I followed the phrase "Im going to have a great LD tonight!". I managed to maintain the thought pretty well for about the 10-14 minutes i was walking. I noticed that the biggest distractions were outside stimuli. Such as noises and what not. Since i had just got done doing some of my Lesson 1 skills and since i had gotten into the habit of listening, i was really tempted to listen to my footsteps and other noise. There were also some internal thoughts that sometimes threw me off but the biggest thing to ignore was the outside stuff.

When learning diffuse vision do not worry if you see a double image. The main goal is to not seek out a focal point. the mind has become programed to pick a target and treat it like a bull's eye. Just work towards not needing to do that.

When you do the wandering mind recall, it is good if you take in stimuli, just try not to have words form in your head. You can process the information and 'know' that a dog is barking, but try not to have the words form in your mind. The intent actually is just to notice how and why you loose focus, and you are doing that. So, good job.

Thanks! That helps a lot. I'll apply that information when i go out tomorrow to practice. I might post some progress on here after.

Hey there Sivason, bandcamp came up and i've been getting ready to go back to school. As a result, my focus was taken away from the dream yoga, however, today, i decided to start it again.
I reviewed my lesson 1 skills and most of the lesson 2 skills. Tonight, i plan on trying out the first intermediate skill. That's about it, just wanted to let you know.