Day 2 of trying to get through all of the meditation exercises with The Gateway Tapes.
Like always, it starts off with Robert Monroe giving a short intro and the sound of ocean waves crashing upon the shore. After a few short minutes you are told to picture a box called an energy conversion box in your head, and you put anything that will distract you from completing the exercise into the box. I found this to be an interesting part of the process because it causes me to really think about what is bothering me or occupying my mind in a good or bad way. Once these items are in the box, you close the lid and walk away from the box because the items you put into the box are just a distraction and are not needed for the exercise.
After that you are instructed to do a resonated tunning exercise. In this exercise you breath in and picture positive energy coming into your body. When you exhale you imagine exhaling any already used up energy (I found it interesting that there is never a mention of negative energy) out of your body. You are also instructed to match the pitch of the tones being played in the background by humming or singing.
Next up you recite a mantra while relaxing and breathing normally...
I am more than my physical body
because I am more than physical matter
and I can perceive that which is greater than the world.
Therefore, I deeply desire: to Expand, to Experience,
to Know, to Understand, to Control, to Use such greater energies
and energy systems as may be beneficial and constructive
to me and those who follow me.
Also, I deeply desire to help and cooperation, the assistance,
the understanding of those individuals whose wisdom,
development and experience are equal to or greater than my own.
I ask for the guidance and protection from any influence
or any source that might provide me with less than stated desires.
After this we are guided to Focus 3, the focus stage of yesterdays exercise.
The next step is Focus 10. Focus 10 puts you in a state where your body is in a sleep state, but you are totally awake. On this tape you are walked through a way to totally relax your head. After this you take the relaxed state from this process and focus this relaxed state to your entire body.
As you are taken out of Focus 10 and back to a normal state, I guess Focus 1, Robert Monroe suggests that after you return to your normal physical state that your body will be in a perfectly normal and perfectly balanced. You will also be wide awake and alert when coming out of Focus 10. All 5 physical senses will be operating clearly, cleanly, sharply, and beautifully.
I did this tape laying down on my couch, but I was really tired from a lack of sleep and from having to be up early to teach a Jiu Jitsu class in the morning. I felt like I didn't get the full benefit from the practice so I did it again a few minutes in a sitting position. That seemed to work way better for me.
Tomorrow I will do the next tape, and it's the tape that I have done the most. I'm very familiar with it and really looking forward to it. I can usually go pretty deep into Focus 10 on the 3rd tape, so I'm looking forward into exploring my headspace a little.
until next time...
