chosendarkness Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I'm a pretty no-nonsense guy when it comes to spirituality, I'm less impressed with philosophy and more impressed with real life results. Unfortunately people talk all the time about how this or that will miraculously change your life, but 99% of the time that's not the case. Or they say you have to practice it constantly, which most people give up after awhile because it's too much work, or they'll do it for a long time and not see that much results. So my question is, have you found a technique or spiritual practice that actually had dramatic results, maybe even more than what you expected? Yes I'm from the microwave it, everything quick and easy age, but I don't feel I need to apologize for that. Hey if something's easy and work's great then that's a good thing. So far the two things I've found that had big results without endless practice was: Meditation. Just fifteen min. a day (or just a few times a week) really changes your attitude. I noticed I felt calmer, more in-tune, just happier and more relaxed over all. I'm so lazy I haven't practiced it in a few months, and I have noticed my attitude is not as good. Self hypnosis. This is the big one. I just found out about it a couple of weeks ago. You can record yourself talking and play it to yourself overnight and see results. I was having a hard time with my music, not being able to create what I want, but played a recording with a specific goal I wanted for about 10 days. It worked, which was great because I couldn't make the breakthrough for the longest time. (if you don't believe in the any of the things discussed here and want to tear them down, that's fine, but please start another topic. Thx! ) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MultifariousBirdLady Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hi ChosenDarkness, I think this is an interesting topic. I agree that meditation has some real benefits. I have done a kind of self-hypnosis that is more like meditating with an affirmation. I'm wondering about the method you mention here about playing something to yourself when you sleep. How exactly did you come up with what to say to yourself? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Meditation. Just fifteen min. a day (or just a few times a week) really changes your attitude. I noticed I felt calmer, more in-tune, just happier and more relaxed over all. I'm so lazy I haven't practiced it in a few months, and I have noticed my attitude is not as good. Most definitely meditation has a profound effect. And yes, I can relate to be lazy too. However, the reality of it is is it's actually more putting off or procrastinating, or avoidance of something for one reason or another we try to rationalize to ourselves by saying such things as "I'm lazy". The sad and ironic part of it is, by not doing it we actually expend a great deal more energy in this sort of inner battle of knowing we should, knowing it is in fact something we want, and processing all the excuses to ourselves in our head as to why we don't. Sometimes, it's just not worth trying to figure out why we try to avoid it and just bypass all of it and just do it. That little speech was to myself. Self hypnosis. This is the big one. I just found out about it a couple of weeks ago. You can record yourself talking and play it to yourself overnight and see results. I was having a hard time with my music, not being able to create what I want, but played a recording with a specific goal I wanted for about 10 days. It worked, which was great because I couldn't make the breakthrough for the longest time. I don't think I could play any sort of recording to myself while I am asleep. I'm a very audio-oriented person and sound awakens my brain. I can see however what you describe as a sort of self-affirmation and that's good. It's trying to find ways through all the blocks we manufacture, or just simply creep in. I too write music, and what works best for me to finding that space where it comes out is first to never sweat it. It shouldn't be about some sort of forced action. Art is an expression from the heart. Just sticking notes together in common patterns is actually really easy without any sort of inspiration happening, but that's not art in how I use the word. Music is something that happens as an expression of the whole person. So the key is to find your center. Again, meditation. In this case its less about suspending thoughts, as it is to put yourself wholly into an expression of what you feel. I have mental images, scenes, which I embody and express through me. I go there mentally and emotionally, and become a sort of voice of it. However, it isn't anything you can force to happen, and to simply create a mechanical technique that if you just perform these steps it will happen, isn't going to be as rich and free as if you just let it happen. Try to create the space to allow it to happen, certainly. But don't try to create what is natural. You let what is natural happen. To me this is spirituality; letting what is there at all times live and become through us. It has to be organic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I was having a hard time with my music, not being able to create what I want, but played a recording with a specific goal I wanted for about 10 days. It worked, which was great because I couldn't make the breakthrough for the longest time. As Antlerman said:"It shouldn't be about some sort of forced action." I write music also, but for me, listening to top notch music that is similar to what I am working on gets me "in the groove" of where I want to be. Meditation can clear your mind, but it doesn't work well for me (musically). Music itself is what inspires me because it is "spiritual". I think you have to try every avenue until you find what works for you. For my life in general, nature fulfills my "spiritual" needs. It provides meaning and the peace I need. I put the term "spiritual" in quotes because its meaning is different for just about everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hi ChosenDarkness, I think this is an interesting topic. I agree that meditation has some real benefits. I have done a kind of self-hypnosis that is more like meditating with an affirmation. I'm wondering about the method you mention here about playing something to yourself when you sleep. How exactly did you come up with what to say to yourself? Basically you need a very specific goal first, then you write a few lines about it as if it's already happened. The lines should produce an emotional response, so it's best to write lots of them and pick the ones that make you the most excited. It's good to do it in a voice that's soothing and not going to wake you up all night. When you're sleeping the conscious mind isn't there to argue and block out the message, so the subconscious *should* accept it. Then during the day if you get any ideas or inspiration, act on them immediately. I don't think it's a good idea to have a goal too far 'out there', if you want a million dollars you should start out a lot smaller than that, unless you've already made a million dollars in the past. I'm just keeping it simple for now, trying to draw out ideas for music and take it to a higher vibration level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Music is something that happens as an expression of the whole person. So the key is to find your center. Again, meditation. In this case its less about suspending thoughts, as it is to put yourself wholly into an expression of what you feel. I have mental images, scenes, which I embody and express through me. I go there mentally and emotionally, and become a sort of voice of it. However, it isn't anything you can force to happen, and to simply create a mechanical technique that if you just perform these steps it will happen, isn't going to be as rich and free as if you just let it happen. Try to create the space to allow it to happen, certainly. But don't try to create what is natural. You let what is natural happen. To me this is spirituality; letting what is there at all times live and become through us. It has to be organic. That's great advice! One thing I've learned is that when you get inspiration for a song or musical idea, you've got to record it or write down fast or you'll forget it. Lots of times a tune will come to my head, but I won't 'save' it and later I'll completely forget what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VacuumFlux Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Ditto for meditation and music. My biggest problem, both with procrastination and setting boundaries, is that I have learned to deal with pain by ignoring it, by building walls, by lying to myself. Like sometimes I'm in a bad mood, can't focus, can't get anything done, get frustrated... then I step back and realize that I am in intense pain and have been for a while; I was just refusing to admit it as if that would make the pain disappear. When it's that bad, I can't even get to the meditation stage and have to stay at the warm-up stages of awareness and relaxation, because even that is really, really hard. I've also found that being more aware of my body makes me more aware of my emotions, which helps me make healthier choices for myself. I love this description: Emotions are energy that is manifested in our bodies. They exist below the neck. They are not thoughts (although attitudes set up our emotional reactions.) In order to do the emotional healing it is vital to start paying attention to where energy is manifesting in our bodies. Where is there tension, tightness? Could that "indigestion" really be some feelings? Are those "butterflies" in my stomach telling me something emotionally? . . . . . Western civilization has for many years been way out of balance towards the left brain way of thinking - concrete, rational, what you see is all there is (this was in reaction to earlier times of being out of balance the other way, towards superstition and ignorance.) Because emotional energy can not be seen or measured or weighed ("The x-ray shows you've got 5 pounds of grief in there.") emotions were discounted and devalued. This has started to change somewhat in recent years but most of us grew up in a society that taught us that being too emotional was a bad thing that we should avoid. (Certain cultures / subcultures give more permission for emotions but those are usually out of balance to the other extreme of allowing the emotions to rule - the goal is balance: between mental and emotional, between intuitive and rational.). . . . . from http://www.joy2meu.com/emotional_abuse.html The first time I read that, I kinda brushed it off as weird. But the more I paid attention to things like shoulder/muscle pain (that often leads to tension headaches) and my posture and nutrition... I discovered that my emotions improved. That when I was upset about something and feeling afraid of defensive, I'd start hunching my shoulders as if prepping for a physical blow. Then I discovered that if I take time to pause and be aware of my body, and gently tell myself that avoiding pain doesn't make it go away, it helped with all sorts of emotional problems I was having. Then the last few days I got sinus trouble that has put in me a lot of pain that relaxation/awareness work does nothing to help (well, it does tell me to curl up under a blanket, get sleep, and stay hydrated so it does help somewhat). But mediation would have been impossible. So I listened to music instead. Now, I have the same problem with music that I do with emotions, that I'm so good at walling myself off inside my head that I can't feel enough to appreciate how pretty it is. That gets really depressing, when the whole world turns grey and things I used to love get no response from me. But I accidentally figure out how to get past that when I tried to transcribe a song. I had some vastly simplified piano music for it, but I wanted to arrange it for a different set of instruments, so I was trying to get an accurate transcription of everything going on in the piece so that I could figure out what the essential bits were. It was a lot harder than I expected, and there were more instruments than I'd realized. So I focused harder, I listened to it over and over, sometimes looping just a few measures at a time. I'd listen to on instrument at a time and try to get it perfect, then do it with another instrument, then try to hear how just those two interacted. I started to hear things in the music I'd never seen before, to discover patterns.... to my surprise, focusing on and dissecting one piece at a time gave me a much better understanding of the whole. Even when only listening for one voice at a time, I still felt more a part of the song than I had before. I used to think of meditation as focusing so hard on one thing that you blocked out all the others. But blocking things out is the unhealthy thing I've been doing. Trying to transcribe music showed me that actively focusing on one thing so that it fills your mind is the opposite of blocking things out. Focusing is leaving yourself so open to one thing so that you don't have to try to push anything out, so it is a filling, not a taking away. That's also why I like how the yoga sutras I've been reading talking about having "one pointed mind" more than they talk about emptying your mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 As Antlerman said:"It shouldn't be about some sort of forced action." I write music also, but for me, listening to top notch music that is similar to what I am working on gets me "in the groove" of where I want to be. Meditation can clear your mind, but it doesn't work well for me (musically). Music itself is what inspires me because it is "spiritual". I think you have to try every avenue until you find what works for you. I hear you, I get most of my inspiration from other music too. Part of the trouble I had was I like so many different kinds of music that I couldn't decide what I wanted to make personally. So I tried writing different styles as I was inspired, but I didn't really like any of it. After I did the night affirmation thing, I was able to just let go and not worry about anything, just write. It was fun and exciting, a definite breakthrough! Now since that happened I feel more confident about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noggy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 This is such a good topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 As Antlerman said:"It shouldn't be about some sort of forced action." I write music also, but for me, listening to top notch music that is similar to what I am working on gets me "in the groove" of where I want to be. Meditation can clear your mind, but it doesn't work well for me (musically). Music itself is what inspires me because it is "spiritual". I think you have to try every avenue until you find what works for you. I hear you, I get most of my inspiration from other music too. Part of the trouble I had was I like so many different kinds of music that I couldn't decide what I wanted to make personally. So I tried writing different styles as I was inspired, but I didn't really like any of it. After I did the night affirmation thing, I was able to just let go and not worry about anything, just write. It was fun and exciting, a definite breakthrough! Now since that happened I feel more confident about it. What happens for me is that like you I listen to a wide range of musical styles; classical, jazz, pop, minimalism, etc, that when I sit down in front of my piano and begin to create, the things I'm creating end up being processed through what I've been exposed to, they take on elements of it, while not being any kind of 'trying to sound like that song' kind of thing. Suddenly jazz progressions I normally had never done before start emerging in what I'm creating. They're not anything I ever practiced or tried to learn how to do, they simply just come out, I speak them so to speak with my hands. In one sense of the word being self-taught may have some advantage to having some teacher tell you "this is the correct way to play", as that can in many people create blocks. On the other hand, there is an advantage to having knowledge and ability with specific tool sets, as creativity without any knowledge at all frankly has no form at all and therefore cannot communicate anything outside the experience. It has to take some shape. I very much see Spirit and spirituality in this way, and why music to me is very much expressive in spiritual ways often times. Music has to have some pattern, some form in order for what is being said to be experienced by others, and moreover, by ourselves expressing it. Raw inspiration is like a well inside that begs for birth, to be released and made alive. Music takes that pool and shapes it. Same thing with Life itself. This is why I see all of Evolution as like music. Form from formlessness. The Universe born from Spirit. So having the building blocks to take creativity and create is important, but with creativity it goes beyond just that. It actually not just rearranges, but creates new blocks as well. New forms, emerge. Yes, this is how I see Life Itself. Life is so very much more than just mechanics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 So I focused harder, I listened to it over and over, sometimes looping just a few measures at a time. I'd listen to on instrument at a time and try to get it perfect, then do it with another instrument, then try to hear how just those two interacted. I started to hear things in the music I'd never seen before, to discover patterns.... to my surprise, focusing on and dissecting one piece at a time gave me a much better understanding of the whole. Even when only listening for one voice at a time, I still felt more a part of the song than I had before. I used to think of meditation as focusing so hard on one thing that you blocked out all the others. But blocking things out is the unhealthy thing I've been doing. Trying to transcribe music showed me that actively focusing on one thing so that it fills your mind is the opposite of blocking things out. Focusing is leaving yourself so open to one thing so that you don't have to try to push anything out, so it is a filling, not a taking away. That's also why I like how the yoga sutras I've been reading talking about having "one pointed mind" more than they talk about emptying your mind. One thing that made meditation easy for me is I learned that you don't have to 'try' to block out thoughts that distract from what you're focusing on. Once you realize you've drifted away you just go back to the focus, accepting that you got distracted and realize it's totally ok. It's not something you have to be good at to do, which is why I like it. And you can do it pretty much any time, even just for a few seconds whenever you remember to. If just a little works, I wonder what effect it would have if you got to the point you could meditate for an hours without trailing off. They say people who meditate like that have observable improvements in brain activity, parts of it get much stronger than normal people's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I hear you, I get most of my inspiration from other music too. Part of the trouble I had was I like so many different kinds of music that I couldn't decide what I wanted to make personally. So I tried writing different styles as I was inspired, but I didn't really like any of it. After I did the night affirmation thing, I was able to just let go and not worry about anything, just write. It was fun and exciting, a definite breakthrough! Now since that happened I feel more confident about it. I'm glad that works for you. I always approached composition from a performer's perspective, if that makes any sense. I'm not a keyboard player, so I have to hear things in my head before I sit at a keyboard to pound out what I hear. Listening to music helps the process begin if I'm stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Suddenly jazz progressions I normally had never done before start emerging in what I'm creating. They're not anything I ever practiced or tried to learn how to do, they simply just come out, I speak them so to speak with my hands. I can identify with this. Only I suck at playing piano! I very much see Spirit and spirituality in this way, and why music to me is very much expressive in spiritual ways often times. So having the building blocks to take creativity and create is important, but with creativity it goes beyond just that. It actually not just rearranges, but creates new blocks as well. New forms, emerge. Yes, this is how I see Life Itself. Life is so very much more than just mechanics. Yes. When I've improvised and when I hear and shape ideas within forms, it comes from inside me and I become the music, rather than rehashing it. Can't get any more spiritual than that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 I'm glad that works for you. I always approached composition from a performer's perspective, if that makes any sense. I'm not a keyboard player, so I have to hear things in my head before I sit at a keyboard to pound out what I hear. Listening to music helps the process begin if I'm stuck. Listening to lots of music jars your creativity and get it's rolling. As far as performing, I don't see that there's any other way to do it. Just go for it and trust your own judgment. Tonight I was about to start putting down a tune i had in my head and realized my gear wasn't setup and by the time I found the chords I lost it. LOL That sucked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I very much see Spirit and spirituality in this way, and why music to me is very much expressive in spiritual ways often times. So having the building blocks to take creativity and create is important, but with creativity it goes beyond just that. It actually not just rearranges, but creates new blocks as well. New forms, emerge. Yes, this is how I see Life Itself. Life is so very much more than just mechanics. Yes. When I've improvised and when I hear and shape ideas within forms, it comes from inside me and I become the music, rather than rehashing it. Can't get any more spiritual than that! I like the way we express spiritual experience as coming from inside us. So many times people equate spirituality with beliefs about the supernatural, whereas in reality it's about something inside us that is experienced. I very much agree experiencing music is a spiritual experience, both in creating and listening. How we listen to music is a factor as well as how we play music. Basically, it is how we inhabit music that is what evokes that spiritual experience. The music is always there, how we are opened to it or not is what affects our experience of it. Now extend this to the whole of life itself. We both create that, and we respond to it. A couple points to this about rehashing the forms. I'm having some thoughts I want to expand on into a discussion with you in this discussion. As I'm thinking about them they seem rather complex and difficult to clearly define right now, but I can see them in my mind's eye at the moment. In writing music I've done very much what others have expressed how we find that kernel of an inspired idea and quickly need to capture it in order to not loose that 'thought'. I used to quick grab a recorder and record that phrase or passage that really captured something of that vision at that moment. Then from that to form and shape the whole around it, to develop it, to complement it, etc. In performance of the completed work then, it becomes a relationship between the music and what is in me, moving myself into the score and expressing its story as it's teller. In essence I act out the written work, that was a record of a moment in time what it came into being through creative release. And each time the work is performed, it tells its tale in slightly different ways, the same story, different perspectives. Now it gets complex. I am finding myself drawing away from capturing that moment and creating a story with it. Rather I'm attracted to just expressing the moment and letting it go, rather than shaping a form, a myth if you will, I can tell again and again. (This is very much how I see mythology in human society and culture, by the way). Yet, I am somewhat in conflict. I don't want to loose those moments, I want to say them again, but in doing so they become the focus, to craft the story as opposed to being the story in ever-evolving forms. And then isn't life itself very much this exact thing? The mechanics, the inspiration, the social, the cultural? And where are we in there? How do we participate? And as and individual, what is it within that calls, and how we respond, how we react, how we interact..... I have to head to work but I'll lay that out for the moment to flesh out more clearly later, hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Xtech Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Yes - meditation and cultivating an attitude of gratitude - we are so lucky to be alive, live it fully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 Yes. When I've improvised and when I hear and shape ideas within forms, it comes from inside me and I become the music, rather than rehashing it. Can't get any more spiritual than that! One of the main reasons I play music is because of the experience. Some call it spiritual, I call it 'the zone'. When it's on, oh-boy it's on. I don't know of any experience quite like it except for sex. I think it's very similar, in that anyone can do it and make it hot. Don't need to study the techniques too much, just get in there and let nature take it's course. Anyone can do that. To me that's the secret of life, that it's simple and anyone can do things that seem like magic. What I'm interested in are things that are simple, easy and practical, with results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Tonight I was about to start putting down a tune i had in my head and realized my gear wasn't setup and by the time I found the chords I lost it. LOL That sucked. Yeah, that's sucks alright! I have an advantage when I'm in that situation. I can write my ideas down as long as I get to a pen and paper fast enough! But that ability was developed through years of ear training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 In essence I act out the written work, that was a record of a moment in time what it came into being through creative release. And each time the work is performed, it tells its tale in slightly different ways, the same story, different perspectives. Now it gets complex. I am finding myself drawing away from capturing that moment and creating a story with it. Rather I'm attracted to just expressing the moment and letting it go, rather than shaping a form, a myth if you will, I can tell again and again. (This is very much how I see mythology in human society and culture, by the way). Yet, I am somewhat in conflict. I don't want to loose those moments, I want to say them again, but in doing so they become the focus, to craft the story as opposed to being the story in ever-evolving forms. I think I get what you're saying. The inspired "in the moment" music from within vs. the work of consciously relating the original idea within a "story"? In performances one can change tempo, rhythm, and other improvisational nuances with the song remaining the same. As a wind player, I express myself differently "in the moment" by changing my tone, vibrato, dynamics, and adding embellishments, etc. So I improvise every time I play and change the story a bit. But in writing the song and parts in it, the story is the same. But are you meaning that writing a piece by relating ideas to the original kernel, the music is performed using the identical chord structure, rhythm, melody, etc., while the inspired approach is to write whatever comes to mind and changes in performances too? I have heard pieces by pianists that utilize a basic structure (melody, chords), but are performed differently "in the moment". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnosticator Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 One of the main reasons I play music is because of the experience. Some call it spiritual, I call it 'the zone'. When it's on, oh-boy it's on. I don't know of any experience quite like it except for sex Yeah, it (music, not sex LOL) becomes transcendental when your un- or sub-conscious mind takes over and everything flows. I've surprised myself when an idea surfaces and I consciously think "where did that come from?". I first came to understand how the mind works through my musical experiences. Things "stew" and surface in surprising ways. To me that's the secret of life, that it's simple and anyone can do things that seem like magic. What I'm interested in are things that are simple, easy and practical, with results. You can do a lot with just one note. But it's difficult to find ways that are simple and easy most of the time. In my experience, the more you listen and try to create, the more rewarding all that work you put into it becomes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Yes. When I've improvised and when I hear and shape ideas within forms, it comes from inside me and I become the music, rather than rehashing it. Can't get any more spiritual than that! One of the main reasons I play music is because of the experience. Some call it spiritual, I call it 'the zone'. When it's on, oh-boy it's on. I don't know of any experience quite like it except for sex. I think it's very similar, in that anyone can do it and make it hot. Don't need to study the techniques too much, just get in there and let nature take it's course. Anyone can do that. To me that's the secret of life, that it's simple and anyone can do things that seem like magic. What I'm interested in are things that are simple, easy and practical, with results. Some thoughts to provoke here... Yes, creating music can be a satisfying as sex. I've used the analogy myself referring to my piano as "my wife" at times. The difference is what all is being engaged? Simply having sex as a biological urge engaging the body in a type of heightened experience, ecstasy if you will, is in fact a release. Engaging the mind with the body in ecstasy goes to a much deeper level. That's "making love" versus having sex. Dogs and cats have sex too, but I hardly think it could be a human relational level. So making love engages the body and the mind, relationally, socially, etc. Then there is yet one step further, deeper into tantric sex engaging the consciousness on a spiritual level. This is more how I compare music as actual art, as opposed to music as a social feature. It's on that tantric level. The key to all of it is "release". But it's a release that engages body, mind, and spirit. In that sense, it is spiritual; engaging the entire being. And yes, it is 'simple', but easy? It is only easy once it's become developed within us. I believe it is within everyone, but how they are or aren't able to access it is another matter. I said in another thread that at the end we really do nothing to attain it, since it was already always there. However, that paradoxically does not mean we don't have to do anything to get there. To simply do nothing, you will gain nothing. But what happens is you take what you have learned, what you have realized, and then release that. That's when the experience takes all that depth and it explodes in power. Otherwise, if it just happens on a shallower level, such as the body alone, the take-away is ultimate body, not ultimate mind, nor ultimate spirit. There are no shortcuts to growth. You can have peak experiences, higher realization, moments of inspiration, but to make that part of us, to become that to the point where it is effortless, easy, and simple, is through growth. Growth is never "easy". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanta Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Same as you: meditation and hypnosis, though I am less disciplined with meditation than you, and I started with a lot of guided meditation (still what I use most of the time). I still saw big results in just a short time. Yoga combined with mindfulness and some philosophical thoughtfulness has been great. Finally, Kirtan--specifically chanting combined with standing movement--has been great. I can descend into deep meditation after such fully immersive Kirtan experiences. Phanta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 You can do a lot with just one note. But it's difficult to find ways that are simple and easy most of the time. In my experience, the more you listen and try to create, the more rewarding all that work you put into it becomes. I'm not talking about skipping years of experience, but just the techniques that make an impact in your life. Kind of like interval training is for your body. Because of how the chemicals in our body react to it, you get better results than aerobics with less effort. Right on about the one note thing! All you really need is to be able to play one note well. Two notes and you're practically a master!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chosendarkness Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 Same as you: meditation and hypnosis, though I am less disciplined with meditation than you, and I started with a lot of guided meditation (still what I use most of the time). I still saw big results in just a short time. Yoga combined with mindfulness and some philosophical thoughtfulness has been great. Finally, Kirtan--specifically chanting combined with standing movement--has been great. I can descend into deep meditation after such fully immersive Kirtan experiences. Phanta Wow you've got a lot of things going on! Kirtan sound very interesting. What kind of hypnosis do you do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanta Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 What kind of hypnosis do you do? I found an Eriksonian hypnotherapist on-line who offers tons of free videos and mp3s. I'm finding that most important in hypnosis is that you desire the goal and believe deeply that hypnosis can help do, one way or another, the thing you are asking it to do. If you believe it, the suggestible state helps our brains align to the messages we hear as best it can. So, for instance, I don't even try the one for past life regression or making my boobs bigger, because I don't believe and don't care, respectively. I do the ones that sound fun or interesting, or hone in on a particular goal of mine. If I think whatever I'm listening to is crap, I don't force it, because it's just not going to work. These are hypnotic experiences my brain was susceptible to. Your mileage will vary. Deep Trance Experience My favorite. Delicious. These are lovely, short meditations, to unlock some bit of inspiration for healing or growth tucked away in my unconscious...sort of drowned out by the noise of life: Being a Stick on a Stream Butterfly Meditation Healing Meditation: Life as a Tree Healing Meditation: Life as a Fish Healing Meditation: Life as a Raindrop Love Removal Process Yeah, really. My results after listening to it 4-5 times was that it removed my affect around 2-3 particularly upsetting memories, while retaining the memory itself and my judgment around the situation. I just no longer had the charge... I should have kept at it, but I was so exhausted all the time and was falling asleep during it. His youtube channel is dan19878. I like his voice a lot and I go under very quickly with him. Everyone is different, though. He is very new agey, and I am not so much. So, I focus on a few tracks that speak to my interests/foci and leave the rest. My current video favs are and Help Your Child To Sleep With Hypno Sack Boy, all to help me fall asleep, which is a big problem for me. I haven't explore any of the other videos. Oh, he also taught me how to self-hypnotize at any time, which I now do from time to time, especially to fend off car sickness. Phanta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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