Rewiring Neural Pathways?
In a recent meditation, I decided to try something different. Instead of focusing on breathing, I focused at the center of my head, where the corpus callosum is. I found that this caused mental chatter to decrease greatly. I can now find this part of my brain and feel it very easily. After I decided the meditation was over, I realized that my mind was still in silence, and this carried on to when I returned to monkey-mind.
The next day, I was found that I still wasn't having much random chatter. Whenever the chatter returned, all I would need to do is focus on the center of my head in silence for a moment, and the chatter would disappear. In every aspect of this day, I found myself very focused on the task at hand. I was even able to read aloud Shakespeare without awkwardly stopping or mispronouncing words.
Today, I find that I don't have urges to do anything, and time is passing by slowly, but peacefully. I'm not angry, happy, sad, bored, or under the influence of any significant emotion. I'm, in a word, tranquil.
What I have right now is something I want to keep. Continued meditation is probably all that's necessary.
Did meditation actually change how my brain functions?
Re: Rewiring Neural Pathways?
Meditation does, in fact, change the structures of some of your brain areas. There's a lot of medical research on this, in fact. It strengthens the areas that deal with strong emotions, for example (which is why it's helpful for things like post traumatic stress).
I don't really care for the state you're describing. I can enter it almost at will (almost; if I've been too involved with the material story of my life, I can get kind of emotional and it's hard to come down from that sometimes), but in that state, I can't get anything done (like the laundry, university study, other chores that need to be done, etc.), and while it does feel very nice, I find it removes me too much from my life story. For some years now, I've been slowly finding a balance between being involved with my life and being in that peaceful, detached state.
But if you like it and want to remain there, go for it. ;)
Re: Rewiring Neural Pathways?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ButterflyWoman
Meditation does, in fact, change the structures of some of your brain areas. There's a lot of medical research on this, in fact. It strengthens the areas that deal with strong emotions, for example (which is why it's helpful for things like post traumatic stress).
I don't really care for the state you're describing. I can enter it almost at will (almost; if I've been too involved with the material story of my life, I can get kind of emotional and it's hard to come down from that sometimes), but in that state, I can't get anything done (like the laundry, university study, other chores that need to be done, etc.), and while it does feel very nice, I find it removes me too much from my life story. For some years now, I've been slowly finding a balance between being involved with my life and being in that peaceful, detached state.
But if you like it and want to remain there, go for it. ;)
And that's why these forums are such a useful place. Whenever I find something new to my perspective, someone else will be here to tell me "oh yea, I remember that."
So ButterflyWoman, what exactly did I do and how can I go between different states willingly? Thank you very much for your input.
Re: Rewiring Neural Pathways?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DerFürst
So ButterflyWoman, what exactly did I do and how can I go between different states willingly?
Well, I don't know what you did, but I suspect it's just a natural development that's related to the meditation practice. The more you step away from your "I-me-mine" self and into a detached state, the less attached you become to that ego-self. (That's not the best way to describe it, but it's the best I can do at the moment; I hope it makes some sense.) And the less attached you are to your material self and story, the more common and the easier it is to slip out of it when you wish.
I can do it almost at will (not always, as mentioned) because I've just been doing it for a long time, and enough of my attachments are broken or weakened that I can. But like I said, I don't like to stay there. Well.... I would love to stay there, if I could be a hermit who lives on locusts and wild honey, and I didn't have an ongoing story that I wanted to continue. This, by the way, is why mystics have traditionally gone off to be hermits, or live in a contemplative community or similar. The fewer things you have to attend to, the more you can stay in that state of bliss, or peace, or reverence, or however it is you experience it. Not exactly what you asked, but I felt like writing it down, so there it is. ;)
Re: Rewiring Neural Pathways?
Please note this a response to all the posts so far, without quoting them all.
DerFurst: You can enter a state of Presence, or Being by focusing on just about anything.
Try for example right now focus your attention on your hand for say 1 minute. You could also focus on a chair, the wall, a door, the floor, watch a bird out of the window, or anything you care to.
This a an "object" , the object may be your body, a thought, a feeling, a sensation. The object may be something exterior to you such as a bird out the window or any "thing" at all.
This is your consciousness experiencing an "object". This does not refer to a physical object (it can) but to any thing or "non-thing" that you focus on.
Try a range of different things, start with your body, and feeling your hand from the inside out. Try and you will see for yourself, don't take my word for it, words are useless, they are not "it".
As for seated meditation, versus "not getting anything done in that state".
Well there is a simple solution, in my view many westerners can learn from Zen and Chi Gung practices in this regard.
In these traditions, in parallel with seated meditation (on any day, or week), there are many other types of meditation, one of the most common is MOVING meditation.
This can be Tai Chi in the park, mindful walking when you walk, mindful sweeping when you sweep the driveway or wash the dishes.
In some seated meditation, you become less dense in matter the deeper you go, you feel more non-physical or lighter etc.
In contrast with moving meditation such as Zen practices and Tai Chi or Chi Gung, the moving meditation you are NOT "space out" in any way, you are FULLY PRESENT in your body, your body being the "object" of this type of meditation.
You can still talk to people, wash the dishes, play with children, or do any 'thing' at all in this state, and it is a far more coherent state for your heart and brain to function in than the chaotic state of "no focus, random intrusive thought" that typically is induced by being around constant noise and electronic devices and people screaming and shouting, not paying attention to what they are doing etc etc.
Personally I do seated meditation in the morning, and moving meditation in the afternoon. I do long slow walking, for say 45-60 mins, the steps are VERY VERY slow, so slow that people stare at me and wonder what the hell I am doing, but of course "I" am not "doing" any "thing" at all, that is the point. It is Being, and moving.
If I had never done such a thing, I would try out just a little bit, say just do one practice for several days, or even a week, to fully appreciate it, rather than try to juggle multiple practices. I don't want to add further confusion, as I do multiple different meditation methods and practices, with different purposes in any given week.
It takes very little "time" when you use each hour in any 24 hours constructively. And very little "effort" when you practice day after day after day, as you do indeed build neural pathways or
"shortcuts to states of being" whether you want to or not, it's just a fact of Biology and Neuroscience, it's not a theory, there have been decades of study on this topic, with consistent and repeatable results.
The "trouble" is that many people are ADDICTED to reliving their past, recreating the chemical state in their body that we call "emotion" and doing anything but being present here and now. Everything in their experience tells them that "that's just how it is, there is nothing I can do about it", but nothing could be further from the truth, they have become unsconscious creators.
If their mind and body were a submarine, they are like people who have wandered around the submarine absent mindedly pulling random things apart, breaking the steering controls, leaving all the hatches open, and when they go to sea, they complain when the whole thing floods, sinks to the bottom of the ocean while they are helpless because "that's how it is". But no, they (and we) are the both the SOURCE and SOLUTION to our own problems, but we are ignorant and pretend that we are not, and hence we have many more "problems" when we deny that we are the cause.
One of the best books on this topic (with practices, not just ideas) is Joe Dispenza's "Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself". It is available in print and downloadable ebook. I have the kindle version, and if you interested DerFurst I can email you some of the "highlights" I have saved as a PDF.
https://rf127.infusionsoft.com/app/s...l?productId=11
Quote:
When you have thoughtfully rehearsed a future reality until your brain has physically changed to look like it has had the experience, and you have emotionally embraced a new intention so many times
that your body is altered to reflect that it has had the experience, hang on … because this is the moment the event finds you! And it will arrive in a way that you least expect, which leaves no doubt that it came from your relationship to a greater consciousness—so that it inspires you to do it again and again.
Quote:
*We are capable of reliving a past event over and over, perhaps thousands of times in one lifetime. It is this unconscious repetition that trains the body to remember that emotional state, equal to or better than the conscious mind does. When the body remembers better than the conscious mind—that is, when the body is the mind—that’s called a habit.
So a person may consciously want to be happy, healthy, or free, but the experience of hosting 20 years of suffering and the repeated cycling of those chemicals of pain and pity have subconsciously conditioned the body to be in a habitual state. We live by habit when we’re no longer aware of what we’re thinking, doing, or feeling; we become unconscious
*Can you pick a potential from the quantum field (every potential already exists, by the way) and emotionally embrace a future event before the actual experience?
*Bottom line: Most of us live in the past and resist living in a new future. Why? The body is so habituated to memorizing the chemical records of our past experiences that it grows attached to these emotions. In a very real sense, we become addicted to those familiar feelings. So when we want to look to the future and dream of new vistas and bold landscapes in our not-too-distant reality, the body, whose currency is feelings, resists the sudden change in direction.
*They consciously think one way, but they are being the opposite. When the mind and body are in opposition, change will never happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMN_Sd9qdIE
