LucidProdigy's Dream Yoga

Here marks the beginning of a journey.

Lesson 1: Listening to a Noisy World (Level 1)

Session 1:
Time Spent: 15 minutes
Location: In our guest room, with the door closed
Observations: I shall begin by noting that initially I could here the space heater in the room, and the faint voices of my parents from the living room. I began by sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, taking a few deep relaxation breaths, then closing my eyes. In my head, I gently reminded myself to perceive any and all noises. I immediately began noting how freaking loud the space heater in the room actually was. Interestingly enough, the sound from the heater wasn't a constant sound, but had (what I can only describe) as having occasional bursts of intense air flow. I also observed the faint passing of cars from outside, and the occasional rustling of some of the furniture in the room (which startled me at times, because it was quite loud). Probably at about 7 minutes in, I was increasingly aware of my ears, and the blood rushing to them I supposed. At times, I think I could actually hear my own heartbeat (although focusing on this made me lose perception of some other sounds). Towards then end, my body got really light. It's almost as if I wasn't actually in my own body, but was experiencing sensations from just outside my physical frame. I lost the intensity of focus towards my hearing, as the sensation of being outside my own frame unsettled me a bit. I regained composure after reminding myself the goal of this exercise, and continued to focus on my hearing.

Session 2:
[Reserved for editing later tonight]

Lesson 1: Listening to a Noisy World (Level 2)

Time Spent: 12 minutes
Location: Living Room
Observations: I began by taking a few deep relaxations breaths, and identifying the obvious noises around me. Throughout this process, I identified at max 5 different sounds, and successfully maintained awareness of them at the same time. It was a bit tricky though, sometimes my brain tuned out the constant "background noises," and it took conscious effort to bring them to the forefront again.

Great day of meditation thus far!

Lesson 1 Version 2: Feel an Intense World (Levels 1 and 2)

Time Spent: ~10 minutes
Location: Living Room
Observations: I began, as always, by taking a few deep relaxation breaths. Eyes closed, I began to identify some of the obvious sensations I feel on my body. I work my way up starting from my toes, progressing upwards on my body as I note the different sensations I feel. I easily identify 10-15 sensations. I also try note the overall numbness/relaxation I feel on my body as a whole. Next, I start the process over; this time however, I try to hold the previous sensation in mind as I progress to the next. I find this pretty difficult, as keeping the same amount of awareness in each of the sensations is daunting. However, I keep composed, and try my best in the exercise. At max, I was probably able to keep 5-8 sensations in equal awareness for about 5 minutes. I will practice this exercise everyday so I can track my improvement.

Lesson 1 Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World (Level 3)

Time Spent: ~1 hour
Location: The Gym
Observations: I was extremely pleased with this session. Instead of going on something like a walk, I decided to listen to the environment around me when I went to workout (it was a good time too, since at this hour not many people were at the gym). While at the gym, I maintained simultaneously on average 5 sounds (3 minimum, around 7-8 max). The hardest sounds to give awareness to were the sounds of the breath as I lifted, and background noises such as people running on treadmills, or the sound of electricity. Once as I was walking between machines, one of the programs on the TVs that were playing said "Reality Check" (it was some Home Renovation program), and that made me freeze in my place with a sudden burst of awareness. I immediately did a RC, and I was pretty happy about it. Interestingly enough, I found myself unconsciously paying closer attention to my sight and touch senses, even though that wasn't my initial purpose. Even after my workout, my sense of hearing is slightly higher, and I'm seeing how long I can maintain this heightened sense of awareness.

Lesson 1 Version 1: Listening to a Noisy World (Level 3)

Time Spent: ~1 hour
Location: Gym
Observations: It seemed like this session was a bit harder to do than the one yesterday. I had trouble keeping awareness of multiple things at the same time. I'm going to practice this exercise daily until I can get to the point of maintaining awareness of multiple sounds for an extended amount of time.

Lesson 1 Version 3: Mixing it up (Levels 1 and 2)

Time Spent: 10 mins
Location: Living Room
Observations: Starting as usual with several deep relaxation breaths, I put a cherry cough drop into my mouth. Focusing exclusively on the taste, I realized for the first time how strong cough drops are. I didn't really have a problem loosing awareness of the flavor of the drop, so I proceeded onto level 2 in which I rubbed the nail of my thumb against my middle finger. At times, I found that I was focusing too much on either the flavor of the drop or the sensation of my nail, but I found a good balance eventually. Additionally, I also had a bit of difficulty when the flavor of the drop covered my taste buds completely. When that happened, I put extra effort into recognizing the flavor of the candy in my mouth, but at the same time would loose a bit of awareness of my nail.

Also, tonight I will begin practice on the visualization exercises. Prior to this course, I tried something similar to this, but without much success. So I'm expecting a lot of time to be put into this exercise before results start to show, so I want to get a head start so this skill will be on par with the rest of my Dream Yoga exercises.