Feel good techniques

I haven't written part 1 yet, that will come later (one of the foibles of blogging). For now, here is an image to look at. Examine your mind; perhaps it is not that interested in the image, a kind of neutral response. This image has no real meaning, the mind is not engaged. We drift on in our thoughts.



I will change this post once I have written part 1.

There is a point within all of us that is still and it is there all the time; if we can just tune into it. So the challenge is this: can you find your still point right now? I can detect mine but there's an avalanche of other stuff going on that you might like to call "the days events". Is any of it important? Probably, not. Being still seems more preferable.

The interaction between body postures is mysterious and interesting (for me anyway). Try these different mudras (hand positions) and see what effect it has on your breathing. I was amazed,



 Are you breathing into your belly, middle or top of the chest?




 Where is your breath now?



What about this one?

It's all in a thought isn't it?

If you don't ever think the thought then when will it ever happen.

So, have a go. Think the brilliant thought.

Here's the theory. You get ill, it feels dreadful.

Next, you adapt to the illness, it becomes who you are.

Later, the illness departs, but you are still ill because that is what you have learned.

So, you try to get better but your mind tells you to stop. This is now what restricts you.


I like the theory but the practice is a real stinker. My subconscious is totally in control of the organism that is me, OR, the body is still ill. Well, whatever the case, it's a full on test of some part of me that never wanted to be tested.

Feeling good can be quite easy sometimes. Take a moment and then explore your senses - explore smells, sights, sounds and the touch of your body. These simple sense contacts are generally quite pleasant if you can stick with them.

Now notice what happens when you go back into your thoughts. Not quite as joyful in there perhaps. Next the question becomes: why do we spend most of our time in the place where we do not have such pleasant abidings? Well, it goes very deep this one. Why do we do the things we do?  The answer is quite surprising.

Anyway, enough of that. Find a robin and stare at it - more immediately rewarding.

It never ceases to amaze me that when you look up at the sky at night, it looks something like this:



when in actual fact it looks something more like this (but we can't see it):




Note, these are not actual images, merely artistic mock-ups I have doodled - you won't see the sky looking like either of these images (probably).

Once you've decided to look into the Universe there are many amazing thoughts to be had. You could start off with the mind boggling thoughts: there are zillions of galaxies out there, and within each galaxy there are zillions of stars, and new stars are still being formed all the time. We could also ponder upon the strange fact that the expansion of the Universe appears to be accelerating which contravenes the theory that you can't simply conjure energy from nothing. We might also realise that there is no such thing as outside the Universe because it just isn't there. Then there is the more common place idea that we are all made from the material…

I have wanted to write about jhanas and samadhi for a while, mainly because they have provided me with a great deal of benefits in my life. They help in a number of ways:

- just reading about them is inspiring. The path they describe is beautiful and uplifting.
- even if you don't get into them, just trying to do them is beneficial.
- if you do get into them, or near them, it is very refreshing for the mind.
- they make relaxation profoundly interesting.
- combined with mindfulness, they get things moving on the insight path (vipassana)

There's not much use in me writing about the technical details of doing jhanas, as there are already a number of excellent books out there that do that - simple intructions would be: sit there, relax, be steady, wait. Knowing about them can be a hindrance, but if you don't know about them then you don't know what is going on when stuff happens and this can be limiting. You could try and find a teacher but this might not be possible. The…