~How to clear your mind~

[PuppyCat]

Hey. I just wanted to share a personal technique I use to clear my mind. This should work well with meditating, WILDs, and auto-suggestion. Have you ever wanted to think of NOTHING? Well, this is how I do it: Location: The best place to do this is somewhere very quiet. VERY quiet. You should be comfortable, and there should be no interruptions. Once you are in a good, quiet, relaxing place, move on to the next step. All of these chants correspond with your breathing... keep that in mind. Before you start, your mind is probably rushing with thought, internal dialog or even songs that you have stuck in your head. 1. Start by thinking "Inhale" when your breathe in, and "Exhale" when you breathe out. This should eventually drown out most of what is in your head. Do this until the only thing you hear in your head is "Inhale" and "Exhale". Whenever a stray thought pops into your head, imagine shooting it out of your head, but don't let this distract you too much. 2. Next, bring it down to "In" and "Out", and chant that for a while. If ANY thoughts come back into your head and won't leave, go back to step one. If you have done this for a while, and you have no stray thoughts, move on to step 3. 3. Now bring it down to just "Breathe". You should be totally relaxed now, and be thinking NOTHING but "Breathe". Do this until you're sure your mind is clear of everything execpt "Breathe". Once this has been accomplished, move to step 4. 4. This is unfortunetly the hardest step. Continue what you are doing, but get rid of "Breathe". That's right-you should be thinking of NOTHING now. Congratulations, you are now ready to meditate with optimal results. If at anytime execpt step 1 you think of something besides what you are supposed to be thinking of, go up a step until it stops. This whole process can take anywhere from 5 minutes to and hour, so be patient! But the better you get at it, the easier it will be. Thanks for reading!!

[LAUR]

nice method

[CrescentFox]

I'm going to try this as a preliminary step for thought control, thanks for posting!

[grasshoppa]

I think your steps complicated the entire process. All you have to do is take deep abdominal breaths while focusing on your Dan Tien. Tilt your chin down slightly and gently close your eyes. All you have to do is focus on your breath.

[PuppyCat]

Thanks guys! I hope it works out! grasshoppa- that method has never worked for me, the method I use slowly takes you down to thinking of nothing, instead of all at once.

[slash112]

I think your steps complicated the entire process. All you have to do is take deep abdominal breaths while focusing on your Dan Tien. Tilt your chin down slightly and gently close your eyes. All you have to do is focus on your breath. wow give the guy a break, he was telling us the method he finds to be more effective, there is nothing wrong with that. to be honest, his method sounds awsome and simple.

[grasshoppa]

wow give the guy a break, he was telling us the method he finds to be more effective, there is nothing wrong with that. to be honest, his method sounds awsome and simple. I wasn't trying to be insulting. I'm sorry that's how you interpreted it.

[wwe101]

nice method. ill try this tonight

[PuppyCat]

wow give the guy a break, he was telling us the method he finds to be more effective, there is nothing wrong with that. to be honest, his method sounds awsome and simple. I prefer girl If you try this, please post your results!

[tranquilitybytrey]

I have chronic pain in my back that often takes me out of deep meditation, are there any mantras you would suggest that would help me clear this while i'm progressing in my trance?

[PuppyCat]

I don't know of any =\ If painkiller makes it stop, then you could try that before you start.

[tranquilitybytrey]

Ironic, I was just thinking that.. Being in pain does not stop me from meditation, it just interrupts any deep meditation. But my theory is that if I encounter these challenges now, then if/when I overcome them, there will be greater reward on the other side. Painkillers do give me a highly tranquil meditation, and I know you're not suggesting one way or another, I am just curious to know what you think about this.

[PuppyCat]

lol i would advise asking someone with more knowledge then me

[Baphometslayer]

Good stuff. I'll give this a go tonight and see what happens! So far I've been meditating of my own accord without any instruction, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Thanks for posting.

[bushi]

I think your steps complicated the entire process. All you have to do is take deep abdominal breaths while focusing on your Dan Tien. Tilt your chin down slightly and gently close your eyes. All you have to do is focus on your breath. All you have to do is break the technique down. Do step one for a week or two, etc... Your technique is something that will be way too difficult for beginners.

[dreamscaper22]

nice..this should really help...thanx for posting this

[PuppyCat]

No problem! It's something I kinda made up when I was younger to try to think of nothing. That's how bored I was when I was little! Please post your results!

[Baphometslayer]

No problem! It's something I kinda made up when I was younger to try to think of nothing. That's how bored I was when I was little! Please post your results! Well tonight was a f**cking brilliant night. To begin with, I went ahead and meditated before I went to sleep prescribing your method, along with suggestions from my other thread. I had another dream night involving Left 4 Dead(lmfao) and I got my ass grabbed my a Smoker. This is one thing I'm good at because whenever I'm bound by cuffs or ropes in my dream, my hands always magically come free and it's always an excellent way for me to notice I'm dreaming. So I had a Lucid at that point, but I had to go along with the dream I was having. Had a lot of fun. Woke back up for my WBTB, went to the bathroom, drank some water, read Dreamviews for about 10 minutes and went to meditate for a little bit. This is crazy, because I've never had ANYTHING like this happen before. But I started to feel the effects of SP while I was in the half-lotus so I quickly laid down and went back for it. Success! Felt like I was falling at a very fast pace and I saw the typical skull and crossbones imagery. I awoke in to a False Awakening and my music was playing. I KNEW I was dreaming immediately because I stopped playing music while I slept a few months ago. And the rest is history(in my mind anyway!) Wot Wot

[PuppyCat]

Yay I'm glad it worked for you! You went in to SP while sitting? That's pretty cool ;P

[Baphometslayer]

Yay I'm glad it worked for you! You went in to SP while sitting? That's pretty cool ;P It was pretty neat haha. I've been reading literature about Tibetan Dream Yoga but I haven't done anything to practice it. But then again, I was extremely relaxeddd

[DreamingDragon]

how long should i stay on each step for?

[Baphometslayer]

how long should i stay on each step for? It's pretty well laid out when you need to move on to the next step. Just take your time and when you feel you've elevated enough, move on.

[DreamingDragon]

It's pretty well laid out when you need to move on to the next step. Just take your time and when you feel you've elevated enough, move on. o0o0o0 trust me, my mind NEVER, stays clear for very long.

[Baphometslayer]

o0o0o0 trust me, my mind NEVER, stays clear for very long. Hmmm....that's a shame... Well, what I would suggest doing just get a good start at practicing it get a soundtrack of nature noises. Rain, beach, rain forest fauna. As you're listening to the track, just imagine the scene from which the sounds are coming. This is good practice to keep your mind off of things that might normally occupy your mind. Plus it's awesome. I use beach sounds cause I miss the beach and only go back a couple times a year! lol

[Fiddle]

Yeah... I used to think I was good at this, until I started thinking back one day, and realized the entire time I was THINKING about not thinking. Be sure you're not doing the same thing in a deeper part of your mind! If you wait a bit and think back, you might realize you were doing the same thing. I'm not sure what a blank mind would seem like, but it seems quite difficult if not impossible. I mean... when you're listening to something you seem to blank out, but in reality you're comprehending it, which is sort of like thinking about it. So using music or sounds to drown out your thoughts doesn't really count...