I've been looking through Sivason's lessons for quite some time already and have been practicing on and off with basic skills #1. Time to make it official and really go for it!
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I've been looking through Sivason's lessons for quite some time already and have been practicing on and off with basic skills #1. Time to make it official and really go for it!
I should probably post more frequently. Anyways; I've been doing DY nearly every day. I do it as close as I can to my bedtime. I've chosen for the sense of touch variant. Focus on multiple areas of my body simultaneously while keeping my eyes open is quite challenging. I'm able to do it, but can't focus on that many parts. I've chosen to keep practicing this before I continue on with the assignments.
Yesterday I repeated basic skills 1, level 3 a couple of times (including during a very boring lecture). On the last attempt I noticed that it is easiest to focus on multiple sensations if I systematically move through my body: first the feet, move up to the knees, continue to my butt (because I'm sitting down), etc. I managed to feel the sensations nearly simultaneously in my feet, knees, butt and stomach.
Last night I did basic skills 1, level 4, first working from the feet until the hands and then in reverse order. It was quite easy for me to feel sensations in the parts of my body. The most difficult aspect for me was to focus on only 1 body part, as I would sometimes for example focus on my left foot and feel strong sensations in my right foot as well. I tried to overcome this by visualising the body part I wanted to focus on.
Yesterday night I did level 5. I laid still on my back. It was quite easy for me to slowly move a tingling sensation from my toes until my butt. Also moving from my fingertips to my shoulders was quite easy. Involving my upperbody (minus the arms) was more difficult, because I move my chest and stomach when I breathe. I will definitely practice this exercise more.
Yesterday night I did level 5 again, but this time faster. It wasn't such a great success to do it fast, so I'll take it slow again next time.
Yesterday I suddenly discovered something which made the exercise much easier. Earlier I was focusing on moving through my body bit by bit. Yesterday night I did the same, but for some reason switched over to focusing on 'nodes'. For example: first focus on my hip and then on my belly button and without effort allow the sensation to travel the path in between. It might sound weird but I'm quite convinced I felt a warm sensation on the spot I was focusing on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emnition
That does not sound weird at all. Good work so far.
I finally took up DY again after not having done it since my last post. Credits to my dreambuddy werty52.
I decided it was best to start all over. Yesterday evening I focused on hearing sounds, which went well. I suddenly became aware of the sound of my breathing and the sound of the mini fridge in my room. There weren't that many sounds to focus on though.
Last night around 23:15 I went for level 2 of the sounds. I was at my mother's house. First I tried it in my own room, but there was one sound which was very dominant and prevented me from hearing other, more subtle sounds. I tried another room and there the sounds were a bit more balanced. I managed to focus on 2 constant sounds simultaneously as well as 2 non constant sounds (e.g. the neighbours talking). Those were the only sounds around me as far as I could tell. I say simultaneously, but sometimes it felt more like I was paying attention to the individual sounds for a split second, one after another, instead of all at the same time.
Last night around the same time I did level 2 again. There were a few moments where it was difficult, but overall it went well :) I also had a look at level 3 and that seemed to be quite challenging. It really reminded me of ADA, except for a shorter period of time. I immediately tried it, but I feel like it was more like being aware for 10 - 30 seconds and then dosing off again and then 10 - 30 seconds of being aware, and so on.
I've decided to combine the level 3 exercise with ADA, because it is so similar. I also find it better to do it during the day, because then there are more sounds than at night. Last night while in bed I tried to focus on touch. Sensory overload! I could feel so many things on my body that I didn't know what to focus on. I tried to move through my body systematically, but even that was difficult because I got distracted by other sensations somewhere else in my body.
I performed basics 2, trying to focus on one thought 4 times. Two times for 2 minutes and two times for 3 minutes. So far I don't have that much interesting to report. What I did notice is that it's easier when the environment is silent *duh*. I feel like acknowledging for example the music I can hear playing from my neighbour already counts as having another thought.
Yesterday evening I performed the diffused vision 3 times at 1 or 2 minutes. I'd say it went fairly well :) I did it while sitting still most of the time, but I also walked around my room a bit on the last attempt. While sitting still it was quite easy, but while moving it became quite hard to keep my attention away from the centre of my field of vision.
Just performed diffuse vision level 2. I held up a piece of candy wrapped in bright yellow/white paper and stared at it for a bit under 2 minutes. It felt more like I was staring past the candy to avoid focusing on it. I tried the exercise again, this time staring at my finger for about 30 seconds. I found that this time I could sorta look straight at it without focusing on it. At one point during the first exercise I felt like it looked as if the hand I was using to hold up the candy looked quite big, though it might be because I was thinking about what distortions I could possibly run in to just a few moments before that occurred.
If you saw a distortion it ounts. It does not matter what mental path led to it. All of the distortions are created with in the mind one way or another. Good work so far.
So it's no problem that I felt like I was looking slightly past the object to avoid focusing on it, instead of looking perfectly straight at it?Quote:
Originally Posted by sivason
Last night I did the 3rd level. It didn't seem that difficult. I was aware at the same time of the object straight in front of me, as well the objects in my peripheral vision on my left and right. I just now realised that I didn't follow the instructions though. The object in front of me was much further away than in the previous exercise, probably making it much easier.