Recently in meditation Category
Interestingly, this lateral transfer seems to be initially pretty minimal; you have to get really really good at something for it to effect you in other domains very strongly. So even if you are an expert at riding your bike, it does not necessarily mean that you will be able to go on a long hike without tiring yourself. Personally, I am learning this the hard way. I have focused on doing certain movements in a shaky way, without noticing, and that shakiness has started to transfer into my normal movements. So now I have to stop those movements, re-do an entire series of movements at a more subtle and smooth level for several months, just to get back to where I started.
I have been kind of lazy and reluctant to make this post as I have not been creating any new techniques or applying the SAID principle very wisely in my own life lately. I noticed that recently I had a case of insomnia that could simply be boiled down to the SAID principle as well. I had habituated myself to meditating, reading, thinking, being interrupted in the middle of the night, and going to sleep irregularly; basically I was doing everything except going to sleep when I was in bed. Once I stopped doing most of those things and re-asserted my old pattern of going to sleep at a regular time I was able to get some sleep, even though it did take a week or so to get back to normal.
It might seem a bit odd to make a post about this topic. But this principle can be used as a "filter" for everything in your life. So you can apply it to things like meditation, being in your body, attention, etc. If you get really good at meditating with your eyes closed sitting in a quiet room that does not mean you will be an expert at meditating outside on a street corner with your eyes open.
Techniques:
The SAID principle is important for creating techniques as well. You may spontaneously
come up with a technique like balancing on one leg with your eyes closed; however, if you have been
perpetually standing with your weight on one leg for many years then that
exercise will not help you to fix the problem in your knee from the imbalance
of standing so awkwardly for so long. The creative urge that came up with the idea
for the exercise will help you bring awareness to your legs and knees and help
you locate the domain where you need to pay attention to. So you need to
evaluate techniques you come up with closely; give them a pass through the SAID
principle filter by asking yourself, "What am I getting better at by performing this exercise or technique?"
The best techniques are the ones that you create for yourself. Creating
your own techniques will be a
total custom fit for you. I cannot stress enough how important it is to
create your own exercises. In one example I was outside and I saw a leaf
hanging from a spider web; I took the web strand inside and looped it
through a piece of tiny paper and hung it up on the shelf.
Creating your own techniques from scratch can be difficult
without first trying a range of someone else’s techniques. Once you get
into the process of learning new chunks, or slices, of perception then
you can start coming up with your own stuff – no matter how random it
seems or feels to you at the time. Often you will have no real “goal”
in mind other than to create something new that will increase your
awareness.
Something as simple as brushing your teeth with your
opposite/non-dominant hand can be a learning exercise that can teach
you new things for months. Additionally, running a normal pattern backward can be very interesting.
Observe the landscape around you;
more importantly, use the landscape to increase your awareness. Lastly,
it is worth noting that most techniques are amazingly simple yet
incredibly powerful. Most people will completely overlook a powerful
technique or think of it as a practical joke just because of its
apparent simplicity. This is an interesting paradox and also the reason
you see such exorbitant fees and prices for meditation workshops with
such a huge focus on initiation, commitment, and ceremony. The actual
technique is usually something a grade school kid could come up with.
In fact in the book Awareness through the Body you will find that all of the exercises are intended specifically for school children.
Designing
techniques to explore your problem areas is important as well. There is
no need to over-think this at the initial level. Do what comes
naturally. Interestingly, if you create your own techniques you will
intuitively work on your problem areas without even knowing it. So
there is no real need to obsess about a per exercise objective at the
initial stage. My own perception was so completely conditioned that
having any kind of goal for an exercise would have been a huge
roadblock at the initial stages. What I needed was simply to explore
and de-condition my awareness for a few months without any expectations
as to what might happen. You can worry about integrating it all later.
When you reach a slightly higher level of experience and knowledge then
you start having the faith and mental freedom to accomplish specific
goals in a session or technique. But in the beginning knowledge can be
a burden and barrier to exploration.
The slicing and pacing aspects of
the SAID principle:
You also have to take on slices that you can handle. For
example, we can consider a person that hasn’t swam in a long time but is still
pretty fit. You will still need to titrate the experience of a new physical
activity to a level your body can handle since it will be working in a new way
overall. Failing to do this will result in injury and leave you at whatever
prior level of fitness you had previously achieved; then you have to spend time
resting and healing and eventually start over at that prior level. This holds
true for energy work, physical fitness, intellect based work, etc.
When it comes to pacing yourself faster is not necessarily better. You have to go at your own natural pace. Progressing too fast can be
a big problem. Being unable to integrate everything you learn in a way that you
can actually use could hit you so hard that you actually end up progressing
slower, not at all, or actually regressing. More is not necessarily better; if you constantly train your body or mind in an overtaxing manner then you will screw yourself in the long term. It is better for me to simply just enjoy the exercise I am doing rather than have a goal of getting better or stronger. There are obviously different aspects of the SAID principle that you may have to discover yourself for your own unique mind and body.
Tom from Astral Dynamics says, “It is good to remember, too, to keep working with your hands and feet long after you have started working with the primary chakras as well. I made the mistake of thinking that since the hands and feet were starting points that there was nothing to gain from continuing to work with them, but I found out otherwise eventually.” I thought his comment was particularly worth noting because it is important to remember to go back to basics and refine previous slices.
Interesting Links:
These are some interesting links that have crossed my path recently:
