Monkey Mind

[Jev]

Hi,
Straight from beginning, when I first started reading "Astral Dynamics" one year ago, I found that best results with exercises form this book I can achieve wile Taming my Monkey Mind by breathing awareness.
In a beginning I was doing it only during exercises.
Later I started doing it more frequently and one day I recognized that I actually doing Taming of my Monkey Mind already constantly all the time in all daily situations.
I'm little bit worry about it. Maybe I should stop or reduce frequency of it.
What do you think?
What is your experience with Monkey Mind?
Thanks
Jev

[ButterflyWoman]

The better control you can get over your monkey mind, the more you'll progress in pretty much everything spiritual. I don't think there's any such thing as having too much control over your thoughts, emotions, etc.

[CFTraveler]

My opinion is that if you are starting to doubt yourself it's for a reason. It may not be the 'taming of the monkey mind' that gives you pause, but your apparent (notice I said apparent) compulsive attitude about it. If it gets in the way of your normal functioning, then you need a different approach- but if it works for you, then you don't need to worry about it.

[Korpo]

Jev,

Robert's technique is, IIRC, suppressing thoughts. It's this thing about trying to suppress mind words as they arise, yes?

This idea stuck somehow. It gives me an effect like if I turned the volume of my mental voice down to inaudible, but somehow everything that occupied my mind is still there, unexpressed. For me it replaces mental, monkey mind churning with a feeling of pressure, and frankly, gives me a headache.

When I turned to trying to observe my thoughts later on I could not, as turning my attention invariably at some level seemed to mean creating this (compulsive) effect. You cannot observe what at the same time try to suppress. That has been a real problem, the mental habit it created.

Of all techniques in MAP, which I generally liked and was good inspiration, this one suited me the least, and it was the first one I researched a replacement for, leading me to all kinds of things, like Buddhist breath meditation, etc.

"Mind Taming" is like telling everyone in the room to shut up. It creates an uneasy silence, IMO. Other meditation techniques that again and again bring the mind gently back to an object of meditation work better for me. This also reduces mental chatter and - again IMO - is a more rewarding experience.

Surely that is because I have certain mental habits - like being compulsive - and I really don't think "Mind Taming" is for everyone, especially compulsive types.

Oliver

[Jev]

Thanks !!!
Just one addition.
Taming of my Monkey Mind I always doing by breathing awareness.
I'm not pushing monkey and not requesting monkey be silent.
By breathing awareness I simply occupy my mind.
When I'm doing breathing awareness I always trying only feel breathing without thinking about it.
But sometime, wile doing it, I suddenly recognizing that I actually starting thinking about breathing, not just feeling. In a worst cases I'm trying even to push myself to breath. It is not happen often, but sometime. And that's make me little worry.

[Korpo]

Well, I guess I meant something from the book "Astral Dynamics", not "Mastering Astral Projection"... I just remember this technique. *shrugs*

But sometime, wile doing it, I suddenly recognizing that I actually starting thinking about breathing, not just feeling. In a worst cases I'm trying even to push myself to breath. It is not happen often, but sometime. And that's make me little worry.

Can you describe this differently? I understand that sometimes there are thoughts about breath, and we notice them only "too late". That's normal. But what about "pushing to breathe"? What do you mean by that?

Oliver

[Jev]

By "pushing to breathe" I mean some kind of unnatural breathing. So I'm making full control of it. For example I say myself "I will breath IN now" - and I do it now.

[Jev]

Thank you very much all of you for your comments!!!
Sorry I was not able to response immediately as I was under Negs attack yesterday and was not able to think about anything ( see my message in Psychic Self Defense).
I think now I understand why frequency of my breathing awareness exercises is so high now. Point is in so incredibly nice feeling in a state immediately after such exercises. In this state of perfectly clear mind and monkey in silent, I feel like I able to do everything now, and able to easily concentrate on everything. Probably this state is very close to Gnosis.

[Timotheus]

[Jev]

Thanks Timotheus !!!
Your post is like nice poem.
I will think about it for some time.