Exercises: Buddha on Body (Set 1)

Reference: Mindfulness Approach
Note: These exercises are derived directly from Buddhist scriptures, specifically, from Satipatthana Sutta: The Foundations of Mindfulness.

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After one is able to discern the physical perceptions from the environment comfortably, one is ready to discern perceptions from the body, such as, pain, sensations and impulses. We start with the discernment of impulses associated with breathing.

The student observes breathing in its natural state without interfering with it. He watches the breath going in and out under its own impulse.

This is a major exercise because when one engages in it, one starts to become aware of many things going inside him. The mental chaos may present itself in many different ways. Therefore, the practice of mindfulness is extremely important for the safe execution of this exercise.

The student does not avoid, resist, suppress, deny or, otherwise, interfere with the activity of the body and the mind, while keeping his attention on breathing.

This exercise may appear difficult at first, because it essentially requires that the student transfer all his control to the body and mind. The student’s actually becomes part of the process.This may take some getting used to. One should ease into it gradually.

Ease into this exercise gradually by letting go of your conscious control on a gradient.

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EXERCISE # 1: BREATHING

PURPOSE:  To practice mindfulness of breathing 

PREREQUISITE:  Review Discerning the Environment.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE: The Discipline of Mindfulness

STEPS:

  1. You may do this exercise while sitting quietly or while walking or doing your chores in an easygoing manner.

  2. Be attentive of your breathing. Make no attempt to regulate the breathing. Simply observe the natural pattern of breath going in and out.

  3. Observe the impulse that is making the breath to go in. Observe the impulse that is making the breath to go out.

  4. Become aware of when the breath is long and when it is short.

  5. During this exercise various thoughts may come up. Simply become aware of them without avoiding, resisting, suppressing or denying anything from occurring.

  6. During this exercise you may feel various sensations throughout the body. Simply become aware of them without avoiding, resisting, suppressing or denying anything from occurring.

  7. During this exercise you may feel various impulses coming from the mind. Simply become aware of them without avoiding, resisting, suppressing or denying anything from occurring.

  8. Become fully aware of the physical perceptions from the environment.

  9. Simply discern whatever is involved in breathing.

  10. This exercise is done for 20 minute, which is the normal duration of a session. Several sessions may be given during a day, and over the course of days, until progress is observed.

  11. This exercise is completed when it becomes effortless.

  12. When this exercise is completed the student may proceed to the next exercise.

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The following exercises help discern various aspects of the body. These aspects shall be common with others as to how they discern their own body.

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EXERCISE # 2: BODY POSTURE

PURPOSE:  To discern the postures of the body under the discipline of mindfulness.

PREREQUISITE: Review Exercise # 1 above.

STEPS:

  1. You may do this exercise anywhere. Simply know the posture of the body at every moment.

  2. Keep the discipline of mindfulness throughout this exercise. In other words,  be grounded in what you are focusing on, while not interfering with whatever else is going on in the mind, and, furthermore, opening the mind to the widest context possible.

  3. When you are going, discern the posture of the body in going.

  4. When you are standing, discern the posture of the body in standing.

  5. When you are sitting, discern the posture of the body in sitting.

  6. When you are lying down, discern the posture of the body in lying down.

  7. Just as the body is disposed so you know it.

  8. This exercise is done for 20 minute, which is the normal duration of a session. Several sessions may be given during a day, and over the course of days, until progress is observed.

  9. This exercise is completed when it becomes effortless.

  10. When this exercise is completed you may proceed to the next exercise.

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EXERCISE # 3: BODY ACTIVITY

PURPOSE:  To discern the activities of the body under the discipline of mindfulness.

PREREQUISITE: Review Exercise # 2 above.

STEPS:

  1. You may do this exercise anywhere. Simply know the activity of the body at every moment.

  2. Keep the discipline of mindfulness throughout this exercise. In other words,  be grounded in what you are focusing on, while not interfering with whatever else is going on in the mind, and, furthermore, opening the mind to the widest context possible.

  3. Clearly discern the body in going forward and back.

  4. Clearly discern the body in looking straight on and looking away;

  5. Clearly discern the body in bending and in stretching;

  6. Clearly discern the body in wearing clothes and carrying the books;

  7. Clearly discern the body in eating, drinking, chewing and savoring;

  8. Clearly discern the body in walking, in standing, in sitting, in falling asleep, in waking,

  9. Clearly discern the body in speaking and in keeping silence.

  10. This exercise is done for 20 minute, which is the normal duration of a session. Several sessions may be given during a day, and over the course of days, until progress is observed.

  11. This exercise is completed when it becomes effortless.

  12. When this exercise is completed you may proceed to the next exercise.

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March 5, 2017 – 7:43 AM Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

Theory of Relativity & SRF

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Per Maxwell’s equations, the speed of light ‘c’ is determined by the properties of space. Light appears to travel in space from one location to another as a transverse wave. From the model of a wave traveling in a medium it appears that the medium of light is space. The new idea here is that a non-material space acts as a medium. Up till now the medium was thought to be “ether” of material-like properties. That didn’t work out. So, what are the non-material properties of space as a medium?

Space, when disturbed seems to break into electric and magnetic fields. Space “doesn’t move”, but the disturbance in space (electromagnetic field) moves. This disturbance moves in such a way that the ratio of its wavelength to period is the constant ‘c’. This is what an electromagnetic wave is.

But light also moves at speed ‘c’ relative to uniformly moving material, regardless of how fast or how slow that material might be moving. Therefore, uniformly moving material has a velocity zero relative to space. It is “carrying space” with it, so to say. That is why no “ether wind” was discovered in Michelson-Morley’s experiments.

We have two different reference frames. The first is Galilean Reference or relativistic frame attached to matter called MRF (material frame of reference). The other is non-material reference frame attached to space called SRF (space frame of reference). The latter has never been considered in science. NOTE: The Lorentz transformations, like Galilean transformations are part of MRF.

We are conditioned to MRF. In it we see the distance changing uniformly between two uniformly moving material bodies moving towards each other or away from each other. But in SRF a uniformly moving material has a velocity zero relative to space. So, the distance is invariable, or it does not exist, between two uniformly moving material bodies.

In MRF we see time changing as a material body moves with uniform speed. In SRF the time is invariable, or it does not exist. The truth is that space and time exist in SRF as “wavelength” and “period” and the ratio between them is the constant ‘c’. All matter has infinitesimal wavelength and period. This gives us a uniform character of space and time in MRF. But in SRF this situation exists only at the upper end of the electromagnetic spectrum. MRF is, therefore, a specialized subset of SRF.

SRF gives us a much wider view of reality than MRF. This explains the relativistic “length contraction” and “time dilation” in terms of increasing or decreasing frequency. In MRF the frequency is collapsed beyond gamma range and appears to be “uniform”; and this gives us a uniform measure of length and time.

The relativistic world is understood much better when viewed through Space Reference Frame (SRF) derived directly from Maxwell’s Equations.

It appears that the speed ‘c’ can be attained only by an inertialess particle in MRF. As particle gains inertia its maximum attainable speed will reduce to a fraction of ‘c’. This is evident by the speed of electrons in MRF.

March 1, 2017 – 7:17 AM Categories: Physics | Comments (48)

The Discipline of Mindfulness

Please see The 12 Aspects of Mindfulness.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is attentiveness. Mindfulness brings clarity to what one perceives. The basic approach is:

Observe things as they are, with full awareness of one’s assumptions.

When you look at the profile of a stranger you see only one ear, but you assume another ear because “all man have two ears.” The chances are slim but this stranger may have only one ear. Most people make such assumptions automatically, but some are aware.

Those who are aware of their assumptions are mindful.

When there are doubts and perplexities, one should look at them closely with mindfulness. In other words, one should consider them non-judgmentally without assuming anything. All ideas, beliefs, assumptions, viewpoints, and feelings related to observed anomaly, are subject to critical examination.

No past ideas and learning in the area of doubt and perplexity are sacrosanct (meaning so “sacred” that you cannot question them).

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The 12 Aspects of Mindfulness
(with Exercises)

The discipline of mindfulness is manifested in the following ways.

  1. Observe without Desires
  2. Observe without Assuming
  3. Observe what is Missing
  4. Observe the Incomprehensible
  5. Observe all Senses
  6. Let the Mind Un-stack
  7. Experience Fully
  8. Do not suppress
  9. Associate Data freely
  10. Observe beyond Name and Form
  11. Contemplate thoughtfully
  12. Let it be effortless

Mindfulness is fundamental to all scientific observations, meditation, prayers, and all forms of spiritual practice.

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The Law of Non-Interference

When contemplating deeply and meditating, one does not avoid, resist, suppress or deny any thoughts, emotions, and sensations. In short, one does not interfere with the activities of the mind.

CAUTION: Things may go dangerously awry when one anxiously digs into the mind for answers.

The Law of Non-interference lets the mind unwind safely during deep thinking, prayer and meditation.

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The 3 Factors of Mindfulness

The Discipline of Mindfulness warns you against digging into the mind. It lets the mind unwind and settle down naturally.

Creativity grows out of the natural activity of the mind as it perceives situations objectively.

The following factors are fundamental to the discipline of mindfulness.

1.    ATTENTION—Let attention be totally free. Fully discern where the attention goes naturally. This forms the ground of mindfulness.

2.    FREE ASSOCIATION—Let all associations occur freely in the mind. Fully discern the associations without influencing them.

3.    UNIVERSALITY—Let the viewpoint expand freely without fixation. Fully discern all observations in a universal context.

Once the discipline of mindfulness is established discernment occurs in leaps and bounds.

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February 25, 2017 – 9:38 PM Categories: Education, Mindfulness, Self-Improvement | Comments (3)

Calming of the Chaotic Mind

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The Key Factors

To some degree this chaotic condition is being stimulated by “reminders” in the environment. Attending meditation classes or going on vacations serves to calm the mind because the disturbing environment is put in abeyance. But that is a temporary fix only. When a person returns to his usual environment the chaotic condition gets activated again.

Permanent solution to the chaotic condition requires accessing the unassimilated experiences and assimilating them in the mind. The following factors are fundamental to bring about this assimilation.

  1. Have attention refine perception into perceptual elements.

  2. Let free association bring assimilation of perceptual elements.

  3. Let assimilation proceed throughout the mental matrix.

The chaotic condition of the mind calms down permanently as this assimilation takes place.

The calming of the mind depends on accessing and assimilating all experiences.

Attention

Mental shocks are the root cause of a chaotic mind. When shock enters the mind attention gets scattered. As a result all discernment is gone and mental chaos ensues. Attention is the first casualty that brings about the chaotic condition of the mind. The function of attention is to bring discernment to what is perceived.

In other words, attention refines perception into perceptual elements for assimilation in the mental matrix. Absence of assimilation generates mental chaos. Presence of mental chaos means scattered attention.

Rehabilitation of attention is the vital first step in the handling of mental chaos.

The Discipline of Mindfulness

Discipline is needed to rehabilitate attention. Attention got scattered because a shock interfered with attention. Attention remains scattered when the interference continues. Interference needs to be reined in so attention can rehabilitate. The discipline that helps rein in interference is called mindfulness.

Under this discipline a person does not avoid, resist, suppress, deny or interfere with attention. This allows free association that rehabilitates attention, allows refinement of perception, and brings about assimilation of perceptual elements.

The discipline of mindfulness thus allows attention to regroup. The moment that happens unassimilated experiences start to line up to be resolved. Attention then brings discernment to properly assimilate these experiences. With assimilation comes relief from mental chaos.

The discipline of Mindfulness makes it possible for the attention to rehabilitate itself and bring about the assimilation needed to reduce mental chaos.

 

Clearing up Justifications

The person may find that his need to defend his beliefs comes up first. These are justifications that give him the reason to be the way he is. Since he is not happy in his present condition he must pay close attention to these justifications.

As the person examines these justifications under the discipline of mindfulness, he lets himself experience the need to defend himself without avoiding, resisting, suppressing, denying or otherwise interfering with it. This allows free association to take place. Consequently, assimilation comes about, and the need to defend oneself with that justification disappears. This is followed by relief.

One after another such justifications may appear and disappear under the discipline of mindfulness. Over time the person may feel considerable relief. The chaos in the mind lessens, and it becomes easier to address deeper justifications. This may go on for days and weeks.

The first things to clear up are the justifications that the person uses to defend his condition and the way he is.

Clearing up Anomalies

As justifications are cleared up the anomalies start to show up. This includes discontinuities, or things that don’t make sense. Also included are disharmonies, or conflicts that are making life miserable. The person starts to acknowledge their presence, whereas, he was ignoring them before. Anomalies also include inconsistencies that were not real to him before but now he sees them.

These anomalies make him uncomfortable, but he has greater attention available now to address them. As he examines them closely under the discipline of mindfulness, he experiences the discomfort. As he continues to examine them the discomfort starts to disappear. The anomalies disintegrate and get assimilated as free association takes place.

As anomalies get sorted out the person feels great relief. He may start to realize some of the aspects of the underlying unassimilated node. He is getting close to accessing the shocking experience which started his mental chaos.

The next things to clear up are anomalies, which the person has been avoiding most of his life by running after distractions.

Clearing up the Unassimilated Node

Evidently, introverting the attention forcefully, or by trickery, to get to unassimilated nodes, as in earlier methods, only makes the situation worse by stirring up the mind. The mindfulness approach works because it lets the mind unwind naturally.

As the person continues to examine the anomalies, the unassimilated node may come quite suddenly. The person may feel its “shock” but it is never as extreme as the original shock. As that long forgotten shocking experience is finally assimilated, he feels a tremendous relief.

Fortunately, there are not that many unassimilated nodes. After all the hard work that went earlier, these unassimilated nodes are easy to clear up. The person now feels cheerful and greatly motivated.

It now becomes a second nature for him to clear up other justifications, anomalies, confusions, misunderstandings etc., as they come up to his attention.

The person now gives up his various distractions and gets busy with his long cherished goals. Life becomes very worthwhile for him. He is very happy.

The final things to clear up are the shocking experiences, which got buried in the person’s mind as unassimilated nodes.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes mental conditioning is so strong that a person cannot even ground one’s attention to look at the simplest of justifications. In such cases, the person should simply focus attention on physical perceptions of touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste to build it up. Exercises shall be provided later for this purpose.

Any method used to handle the mind must never suggest anything, since that can have hypnotic effects. The method should simply focus on assimilating what already exists in the mind. In the present method the focusing of attention means, “Narrowing down of target”. It starts broad and narrows down quickly to what needs to be assimilated at that moment.

One applies this method process in small steps so the progress is smooth without much effort. It is always okay to consult a dictionary, encyclopedia or Wikipedia, to get missing information to handle confusion. This applies especially to meaning of words, symbols and concepts.

One should be alert for any kind of avoidance, resistance, suppression or denial within oneself. He should examine that area at the earliest opportunity under the discipline of mindfulness. The handling could be as simple as letting one’s conscious thinking be in sync with free association. This may go a long way in reducing stress in the mind.

It is important not to interfere with free association. One may get lost in thoughts, become oblivious and even doze off during this process but the free association continues regardless. So let these manifestations take place. One will wake up sooner or later feeling quite refreshed.

Unassimilated nodes are resolved by carefully observing sensations, emotions and thoughts in the order they come up. They will appear dissociated with the surrounding context. As one holds these sensations, emotions and thoughts closely in one’s mind, and lets the free association occur, the dissociations start to resolve and ultimately vanish.

It is to be noted that the pain, discomfort and confusion may at first increase as one focuses on them, but as one willingly experiences them; they start to resolve into finer elements and assimilate into the mental matrix.

Unassimilated experiences resolve quickly as one re-experiences them willingly.

Summary

This chapter explains how the mental chaos may be addresses and resolved in steps. The subsequent chapters provide the discipline and exercises to help one along with resolving the mental chaos.

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February 24, 2017 – 3:50 PM Categories: Uncategorized | Comments (1)

The Descent into Mental Chaos

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Reference: Mindfulness Approach

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Natural Order

The mind continually receives perceptions from the environment. These perceptions get refined into perceptual elements and get assimilated into an orderly mental matrix.

The refinement into perceptual elements comes about when attention is focused on the perception. Attention discriminates the perceptual elements within the perception. This makes finer understanding possible.

The attention refines perception into finer elements. The finer are these elements the greater is the possible understanding.

The assimilation of perceptual elements into the mental matrix takes place through natural free association that maintains continuity, harmony and consistency throughout the mental matrix. The wider is the assimilation, the more objective is the understanding.

Free association assimilates perceptual elements in the mental matrix. The wider is the context of assimilation the more objective is the understanding.

Human thought adds creative associations to the mental matrix, but it is careful to maintain the state of continuity, harmony and consistency. By its creativity, the human thought often triggers deep intuition that brings about leaps in evolution of thought.

Human thought operates in sync with free association to maintain continuity, harmony and consistency throughout the mental matrix.

 

Mental Chaos

A condition of mental chaos exists in the mind when it is unable to assimilate its content. This chaos disperses the attention, and brings considerable discomfort to the mind. The mind then tries to avoid, resist, suppress and deny its condition.

Thus, unattended, this mental chaos forms the basis of all mental disorders and psychosomatic illnesses. Even when there is no mental disorder, the chaotic condition of the mind itself acts as a disorder.

The unassimilated content starts as a mental shock, and then it mushrooms into anomalies and justifications, which get ignored. Ultimately, it results in mental conditioning, which strait-jackets the thinking of the person.

The chaotic condition in the mind exists because it is unable to assimilate its content.

 

The Mental Shock

The mental chaos starts when the mind fails to assimilate certain experiences. The common denominator of such experiences is shock. Here is an example of such a shock.

A child fell into the pool and almost drowned. He was extremely shaken up with that painful experience. Now he has grown up. He may have a general idea of near drowning once, but the details of that severe shock are unavailable to him. He feels very fearful whenever he is near a pool. He gets nauseated at the smell of chlorine. He hates swimming. No logic can resolve his irrational reactions to water.

The shock could come to the physical system as in the example above. It could also be a heavy loss that affects the emotional system, such as, the loss of a loved one. The shock may take the form of a highly stressful situation that messes up the thought process, such as, the shock resulting in PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder).

Perceptions containing shock do not get refined and assimilated because they scatter attention. They lodge themselves in the mental matrix as unassimilated nodes. In future, whenever attention is placed on unassimilated nodes it gets scattered again. So these nodes are difficult to assimilate in the mental matrix.

The chaotic condition starts with the experience of a mental shock, which does not get assimilated in the mental matrix

 

Anomalies

The unassimilated nodes bury themselves under the anomalies they generate. These anomalies further add to the mental chaos. The anomalies are made up of discontinuities, disharmonies and inconsistencies. They may be described as follows

  1. DISCONTINUITY is something that simply does not make sense. For example, Joe has a good friend named Bill. Suddenly Bill starts to distance himself. This is incomprehensible to Joe.

  2. DISHARMONY is visible in conflicts. For example, Joe and Mary have a relationship that is full of conflicts. This is making both of them feel miserable.

  3. INCONSISTENCY exists between two observations that simply don’t go together. For example, Bill claims to be a successful businessman, but he is often filing for bankruptcies.

Even though the awareness of anomalies can lead back to the discovery of unassimilated nodes, most people do not have the discipline to do so. They succumb to the anomalies and start to justify their actions.

The unassimilated node generates anomalies, which, in the absence of discipline, get justified.

 

Justification

Justifications lead a person into a downward spiral. The person starts to avoid, resist, suppress and deny many areas of life. He distracts himself by engaging in less responsible activities. He spends more time entertaining himself to “forget his woes”.  He tries to give himself some boost through drugs and sex, but then becomes dependent on them. He ends up justifying those behaviors too. And so he keeps going downhill. The mental chaos continues to increase.

The justifications lead a person into a downward spiral of degradation.

 

Mental Conditioning

Over time the person comes to believe in his own justifications. He also comes to accept the chaotic state of his mind as normal. The unassimilated nodes and the anomalies have long receded to his “unconscious”. His justifications have now become a part of him. He has now become mentally conditioned.

In other words, the person has lost his ability to discriminate. He is still discomfited by the chaotic condition of his mind, but he can no longer discriminate between himself and the chaotic condition. He has become part of the chaos himself. He gets shoved around at the whim of the environment.

When justifications become part of the person, he becomes mentally conditioned.

 

The Situation

This situation applies to most people today. They are frustrated and angry at something but they have no idea who or what they are fighting against. They have long forgotten those moments of shock that started their descent into the mental chaos. Now all that they see is the quicksand of confusion.

A discipline is definitely needed but the ideas of disciplines too are in confusion. Maybe a good understanding of the situation is needed for a proper discipline to be worked out.

 

Summary

This chapter outlines the general situation of mental chaos that has come about. This situation descends further into “mental disorders” and “psychosomatic illnesses”. Hopefully the understanding of this chapter will guide us in developing a mental discipline, which will help to reverse this downward spiral.

The next chapter looks into the formation of fundamentals of such discipline.

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February 23, 2017 – 8:02 AM Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment