Month: July 2019

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: http://www.functionalselfdefense.org/blog/how-to-get-in-the-zone-wake-up/

Hold on to this heart conscious awareness. Here you’ll see the arising of thoughts but be unaffected by them. Every feeling, what you see, hear, feel, and some other thoughts that arise, will be one in the exact same – consciousness or energy in the current flow. You will be in the zone, awake. Attempt to maintain it even as you get up from the meditation spot. Try to keep it longer and longer, and more often.

From the core consciousness you will perceive the arising of thoughts. On this level the perception of a thought arising will be no different to you from the perception of the sound of a bird chirping. The perception of a thought arising, no matter the contents of the thought, won’t affect or alter your core consciousness.
Being fully aware at the present flow, conscious from the level of your heart consciousness, there’s a profound freedom – freedom from the past, the future, the constraints of your thoughts and ideas – and a profound perception of perfection and satisfaction. The experience is like waking from a dream. Every sight, sound, and feeling becomes clearer. On observation and reflection, deep and numerous insights can be realized.
How long this state lasts and how frequently you access it largely determines how much it affects your life. The longer and more often you wake up, the more it rewires your brain, the more insights you’ll be able to realize, resulting in deeper places, and the more quickly and easily you can do it at will.
This is the goal.  You may have the ability to skip steps 1 and 2 and go straight for this step.  In my own practice, I start here now.  If this doesn’t make sense to you, after practicing steps 1 and 2 for a while, it should begin to make sense.
The more you do it, the longer it will last, and the nearer your everyday mind will be to it. You’ll be able to notice when a negative or unproductive thought arises, quickly go to your heart degree of consciousness, and clear your mind of this negativity.

What Is Waking Up?

I’ve practiced different types of meditation since 1992, but I’m really not a meditation instructor.  I did teach a basic form of meditation which I learned from my first instructor to many of my pupils, for 10 years or so, aimed at developing concentration for martial arts/self defense practice, and although that practice had a deep and profound impact on me, I do not have the experience of efficiently guiding practitioners there.

The post How to Get In The Zone appeared first on Functional Self Defense.
1. My preference would be to use a zafu cushion and sit on the floor, cross-legged. You can shut your eyes or leave them open. Lots of people prefer to close their eyes. I prefer to keep mine open and fixed on a stage in front of me.  Take a couple of breaths to relax, and then only observe your breathing. Celebrate the inhalation, and observe the exhalation. Ideas will disrupt your observation. When you realize you’ve become lost in thought, return your monitoring to the present flow of your breathing. Do this for a while.
In our ordinary consciousness we believe we are identical to our own ideas. There’s a fundamental lack of liberty in this, not to mention emotional instability.

If you take the time and effort to do this, you can maximize your performance in everything you do. You can realize a liberating freedom, unchained from your past and out of the constraints of thinking and conceptions. You can literally wake up from the dream-like state that the huge majority of individuals live in. I strongly recommend it.
The name Buddha means “one who is awake”, and refers to this ideal. For meditators, life is your performance, and the goal is to awaken and maintain the experience throughout life.

The steps I have described were favorably influenced by a Sam Harris podcast with Joseph Goldstein, and Harris’ book, Waking Up. The thought that had the biggest impact on both my practice and my capacity to describe it had been said by Sam Harris as an idea from Dzogchen: “The aim is the route . ”

3. Here is the somewhat tricky/subtle part – Turn your attention inward and search for what it is that’s observing your body, breath, and everything externally. In this looking, you’ll see nothing there but your heart consciousness in the present flow.
The ability to “wake up” or maintain the zone at will is more valuable than anything else you may achieve. It is the doorway not just to optimum performance, but much more importantly, to a profound sense of happiness and satisfaction in life where stress, sadness, anger, and pain cannot touch you – liberation and freedom. There’s nothing better.

To be fully aware in the present flow cannot happen on the level of your thinking mind. It can only occur on the amount of your core consciousness.

Disclaimer

This condition of being in the zone is the identical state that meditators work to discover, maintain, observe, and gain insight from – a state of core consciousness and consciousness, unobstructed by notions and conceptions.

How Long Does It Last?

How Do You Exercise?

My current sitting meditation practice is fairly simple, but it does take time and effort – time and effort really well spent. I’m not a meditation instructor, but I can tell you what works well for me.
Great actors of all kinds, from athletes to artists, have experienced being from the zone. It is the perfect state for functionality, where the actress and performance are one, unobstructed by conscious thought.
Many performers assume that this state of mind is a random byproduct of this action of performing, not realizing it is simply a state of mind that with practice can be easily accessible.

Establishing a Practice

We do not exist in the past. We do not exist in the future. We only exist in the present flow. There is only the current flow. It is the only area where we really exist.
These two steps alone will do a great deal to stop your thought patterns, reduce anxiety, and improve your physical health.

Thus, your heart consciousness, perceptions, feelings, and emotions aren’t affected or influenced by your thoughts or ideas.
2. Expand your awareness/observation to your whole body. Your breath is part of your body consciousness, and you can use it to keep you in the flow of the present. Do this for some time.

The ultimate goal for a number of meditators is to wake up permanently, the brain state of what is possibly only a mythical Buddha. I am open to the possibility, but I have serious doubts as to if waking up indefinitely is achievable. If it’s, to rewire your mind so completely it would likely require living isolated and meditating continuously for the majority of your life. But there is a spectrum, from one unrealized experience of being in the zone that does nothing to change your life, to a fully enlightened Buddha.
I’ve tried to write about this a number of times over the years without sounding either crazy, unintelligible, or pointless. Today I believe I may have found the words to make intellectual sense.
This waking up practice gives you the ability to be alive and happy on a level that many people, sleepwalking through life or riding on the waves of their unconscious thoughts, can hardly imagine. Again, it’s literally like waking from a dream.
This idea is that there’s not a route where the goal is only found at the end of the path. It simply involves looking in the right place in the right way. The path to the final goal, a full and permanent awakening, or at least an extension of this time that we’re awake, is to simply continue to the experience of waking up. The goal is the path.

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: http://yourwarriorsedge.com/warrior-wisdom/forge-yourself-in-the-way/

The article Forge Yourself In The Way appeared first on .

Thanks to Gary Fisher for the photograph I used to accompany this article.
How do we invent ourselves in the Way as Miyamoto Musashi directed in the classic text The Book Of Five Rings? I think there are several things we need to do so as to forge ourselves at the manner. These include:
So that’s it in a nutshell. If you wish to forge yourself in the Way, train, study and live life. Those are the keys to things.
Training. We train. And we train for ourselves. Sure, getting those things and more are benefits from training, but they’re not the reason we train. We train , and as part of the forging Musashi talked about. And we train wherever we are. The individual training in their house, like the picture used with this site, are forging themselves just as much as those in the fanciest of colleges. It’s the commitment in a single ’s heart to their training which makes it count, not the location or clothes one wears while doing it.

Studying. This includes studying ancient texts like The Book of Five Rings, The Art of War, and many others. But in addition, it includes studying modern resources on training, in addition to resources in your areas of expertise. Become a comprehensive person by studying and training in more than simply fighting arts.