Thread: Informal meditation ( = ADA)

I'm sorry, FryingMan, I didn't explain very well. My "mantra" is really just a reminder; I don't repeat it over and over in my head. When the verbalization comes, it catches me in what I was doing, and I remember to experience all phenomena as dreamlike and illusory. Even the breath, even the body and thoughts. It's more experiential, I think: something like extending a dream walk throughout the whole day.

Originally Posted by ThreeCat

I'm sorry, FryingMan, I didn't explain very well. My "mantra" is really just a reminder; I don't repeat it over and over in my head. When the verbalization comes, it catches me in what I was doing, and I remember to experience all phenomena as dreamlike and illusory. Even the breath, even the body and thoughts. It's more experiential, I think: something like extending a dream walk throughout the whole day.

Sure, but what you wrote was:

My issue with the breath is two-fold. For one, breath awareness is not dream awareness. One can lead to the other, but I would much rather be thinking, "I'm dreaming" as opposed to "I'm breathing."

You set it up as an either/or scenario, and I'm pointing out that it can be an "and" scenario. For me, I'm developing the breath as "the catch" that leads to that "dream awareness" moment. I see no problems there. In fact I see it as a great benefit because it's a unifying point among just about every single activity related to dreaming: meditation, concentration, relaxation, awareness, etc. It all depends on how you frame it internally. (Most disagreements I think about approaches and definitions all come down to different internal framings I believe). So that's what I'm saying to you and to VagalTone: it something is not working for you, reframe it!

Originally Posted by FryingMan

So that's what I'm saying to you and to VagalTone: it something is not working for you, reframe it!

Just like in dream control!

I like this idea of breath as the 'catch', this is something I'm also working on.

I wonder about lucidity as a state of mindfulness. I mean think of the times you had a lucid dream, in order to maintain that dream as well as your lucidity, you had to be in the present moment, self aware, conscious of what you are doing and what is going on around you, otherwise the dream would fade or you would lose your lucidity. I wonder how effective would the same type of lucidity we have in LDs be in waking life, as a means to increase LD frequency/quality.
Though the hardest part of any type of mindfulness activity, be it mindfulness of breath or dream awareness, seems to be actually remembering to do it, at least that's how it is for me -_-

Originally Posted by mimihigurashi

I wonder about lucidity as a state of mindfulness. I mean think of the times you had a lucid dream, in order to maintain that dream as well as your lucidity, you had to be in the present moment, self aware, conscious of what you are doing and what is going on around you, otherwise the dream would fade or you would lose your lucidity. I wonder how effective would the same type of lucidity we have in LDs be in waking life, as a means to increase LD frequency/quality.
Though the hardest part of any type of mindfulness activity, be it mindfulness of breath or dream awareness, seems to be actually remembering to do it, at least that's how it is for me -_-

This is the idea behind lucid living, simulate the same kind of lucidity as in an LD in waking life.

Originally Posted by mimihigurashi

I wonder about lucidity as a state of mindfulness. I mean think of the times you had a lucid dream, in order to maintain that dream as well as your lucidity, you had to be in the present moment, self aware, conscious of what you are doing and what is going on around you, otherwise the dream would fade or you would lose your lucidity. I wonder how effective would the same type of lucidity we have in LDs be in waking life, as a means to increase LD frequency/quality.
Though the hardest part of any type of mindfulness activity, be it mindfulness of breath or dream awareness, seems to be actually remembering to do it, at least that's how it is for me -_-

Well my issue with LDs is that my awareness over time usually looks like this:

graph.jpg

Whereas what I'd really like is this:

graph2.gif

Now not all LDs have such an abrupt loss of lucidity, but there is usually a distinct downwards trend after a fairly short while. The latter graph is what I'd really like to shoot for, and so I'm hoping that waking practice, where I maintain the latter, will carry over into the dreams.

Originally Posted by mimihigurashi

Though the hardest part of any type of mindfulness activity, be it mindfulness of breath or dream awareness, seems to be actually remembering to do it, at least that's how it is for me -_-

I'd say it's just a matter of practice. It's just like a trained physical reflex. It becomes second nature, or at least closer and closer the more we practice.

Imagine if one had to remember to think about the mechanics of walking in order to walk without falling down?

"The location of the truth of the Great Perfection is the unfabricated mind of the present moment, this naked radiant awareness itself, not a hair of which has been forced into relaxation. Maintaining this at all times, just through not forgetting it even in the states of eating, sleeping, walking, and sitting, is called meditation. However, until you are free from the obscurations of cognition, it is impossible for this not to be mixed with the experiences of bliss, clarity, and nonconceptualization. Nevertheless, just by not forgetting the nature of one’s own awareness — the kind that is not a tangled mindfulness that gets more tangled in order to be mindful — at some point the unelaborated ultimate truth, transcending terms and examples, will appear."

~ Jigme Lingpa, 'Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Methods of Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig'

Hi VagalTone,

It's very difficult at best to remain in meditation all day. But you can shoot for being in meditation more and more with practice.

It's mostly just attitude and practice. You have to learn to stay in focus and to be fully focused on one thing at a time. Stay balanced no matter what swells up inside or what happens outside.

It helps to keep your attention on the third eye center. It helps to be relaxed and calm.

It works even better if you can really get into whatever you are doing whether it be simple or complex. Get absorbed into it. Put your mind on it so much that you become the action. Then do it with the next thing and the next thing.

Do one thing at a time - wholly and solely.

~EnergyWorker~