Indirect awareness training?

**Aziq** · 03-15-2012 10:52 PM

Yo guys,

I don't know about you but i tend to play songs in my head, and sometimes i find myself playing them over and over for half a day. Sometimes during I.E work i decide to start at the start of a song and go all the way to the end, never stopping like the song would really be playing.

What i noticed while doing this, is that it requires a lot of concentration to keep this up, because if i don't concentrate on playing the song from the start to the end, i later find myself playing the parts i like most over and over again. What i then wondered was, if this takes concentration, wouldn't this be a good way to train your concentration, and by doing that train yourself to keep concentrated for longer periods during ADA sessions?

Let me know what you guys think and why!

**IAmCoder** · 03-15-2012 11:06 PM

This is similar to a mantra - a sequence of meaningless sounds that you repeat in your head during meditation. If this is done for long enough, over a period of months; I believe something remarkable happens: a new loop is established in the circutry of the brain. The main loop that you are born with being your conscious awareness, but having a second one allows you to always be conscious of yourself (the main loop) and not just your surroundings.

Therefore, I think indirect awreness training is a vital step in the search for enlightenment. It may also be worthwhile to learn to recognize when you are no longer aware of yourself - or, if you will, when you play your favorite parts over and over again.

**Aziq** · 03-15-2012 11:11 PM

@ IAMCoder That'd be pretty cool, because i've been thinking if i can do more to keep up awareness even when I.E at work, then it'll take that much less time to get the lucid dreams to occur more frequently (which i have been noticing). Maybe something worth considering for people.

**Fuzzman** · 03-15-2012 11:21 PM

This is an interesting idea I can see how this would help. I've noticed that rather than just trying to be aware of everything around me, it usually helps if I focus my mind on a singular thing for a while beforehand to keep me focused in the present. If I'm just observing what's around me I tend to get distracted by what I see or hear and my mind wanders. So what I try to do is keep my mind focused on a single part of myself, such as my breathing or the sensation of my clothes, or recite some sort of mantra while being aware to keep my mind from just drifting off. I've noticed that doing this really helps with my concentration and if I do it often enough I can prevent my mind from just jumping from thought to thought randomly.

I like to think of ADA as not just outer awareness of your environment, but inner awareness as well. Note what your mind and body are doing and how they respond to certain stimuli during these awareness sessions.

I don't really listen to much music so I doubt I could focus on a single song for very long or recall it completely, but if it works for you to keep you focused then go for it!

**Arch** · 03-16-2012 11:45 AM

Awareness is a skill like any other, it requires a long term concentration that we are not used to, therefore anything which involves training yourself to keep concentrated on something for long periods of time is probably a good thing.

Keep it up

**Aziq** · 03-16-2012 06:07 PM

Thanks everyone for your feedback! Looks like it may be a really good thing to do after all, and i can't imagine excuses like "i don't feel like it" or anything because it's your own music :p