Which is more effective?

[Apex]

Ah, thanks for sharing those methods you use Painterhypnogirl. They were quite insightful (and descriptive).

[CFTraveler]

Awesome, Nay! 'Beach Night' is my favorite.

[Nay]

Thanks so much CFTraveler! appreciate it.

[stargazer]

Thanks Patty!! There's some great information there!!

Your "special" place is rather like the medicine place described in the Tom Brown / Grandfather Stalking Wolf philosophy school... Tom and Grandfather believe that all of us have a "personal" space in the astral that we can tailor as we like, but over time it tends to take on a fixed form and is generally made up of natural features vs. manmade, with the exception of two arch ways and a set of stairs. You enter the medicine place from a guided meditation by going down a set of stairs that lead to an archway. The second archway is a bridge to the astral planes. Within your medicine place, which can be huge, there is a specific sort of "campfire" place that is like the heart of your medicine place, which sounds very much like your fountain. The medicine place is often used as a landing point to head off into the astral; the astral gateway is hung with a red and a blue lamp to help you find the gateway on your way back, if you wish to re-enter via your medicine place. Which I think is a very safe way to return, as others have noticed that negative entities like to hang out in transitional states. There is also a guardian / guide at that gateway, and at each progressive gateway ... if you choose to experience the astral planes that way.

Oh, also, you can bring others to your medicine place in a guided meditation and they can verify certain features of the landscape to you, including features that you may not be consciously aware are there.

Aunt Clair did make a good thread about clairvoyance; I will have to go poke around for it.

stargazer,
I'm not surprised by your post. I've recalled two past lives as a native American, and have a guide who is a native american woman. I was OBSESSED with Indians growing up! My parents thought I was weird. I haven't read anything about the school you mentioned, and I know next to nothing about Shamanism. But, I deeply identify with native Americans. Those guys in movies with the long flowing black hair riding wildly across the plain bareback on a horse make my heart go pitypat. I've been trained in Equestrian riding and jumping, but I'm most happy riding a horse bareback with no shoes.

[Matthew]

Good post on your technique, PHG...very informative. Thanks.

Also, Tom Brown.... good stuff! As a teenager I spent endless days and nights in the woods tracking animals, identifying plants, and meditating. Tom Brown's books were profoundly insightful (and very helpful later on when I did Special Operations in the Marine Corps and spent endless weeks in the woods both in America and overseas). I highly recommend his books both for their focus on Nature and on the spiritual journey.

-Matthew

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are seeking the bliss state or beingness, a blank mind, toning, using a mantra, Omm, etc. can be effective. The toning, mantras, etc. are just ways to get you to a blank mind state. Most people have a hard time making their mind go blank and need a little something to help.

If you want to contact people who have crossed over, do inner child work, talk to a body part and heal it, past life regression, contact guides, or phase, then a more active state (such as contemplation or self-guided meditation) seems more productive.

Of course, everyone is different, so this probably doesn't hold true for everyone. But, this is how I teach it in my hypnosis practice and my spiritual development group, and so far, it's worked really great.

Different? I thought you believed in non-duality...

Which is more effective, a blank-mind trance or a a contemplation trance?

I have a variety of techniques -- none of which work...

Wow, thanks for that Patti. Interesting what you call passive trance. A few years ago, quite often, while I was relaxing my youngest would always come in a interrupt causing me to either stop completely or start over which sucked just as bad. After a few times I realized that if I was very careful I could talk to Zach without disturbing the trance that I had obtained at that point. So, I guess that was a passive trance I had myself in.

And I too have come across a tall shimmer human form, I say he because it just seems to be a tall man but has no features or a well defined shape and he looks like he is filled with stars. I never thought of it being my higherself, but he did help me each time I saw him...well, I don't know if helped is the right word, he "transported" me to different locations. That sounds more like a guide, doesn't? Whomever, I'm grateful.

Your special place sounds wonderful! I visit a couple of houses and water locations.. I love the water. Just last night I was trying the "phasing" method again and I noticed that I keep finding myself in a open area surrounded by tall trees. When this scene starts to come into view it looks exactly like a drawing I did years ago. Wonder what that's all about..
I paint and draw too, btw..hehe.. can we possibly have more in common?

I need to add new stuff to my page and you need to post some of your stuff. But here's some of my work. muse, if you look, be kind.

http://community.webshots.com/user/naykyd I forgot that one isn't a painting or drawing.. "space" is done on one of those computer programs, it was actually fun doing that.

Take Care,
Nay

Your "shimmer human form" ... "filled with stars" is too much. I could never do that. I have no imagination, I guess.

[Tom]

My favorite approach is to use passive methods that will keep things going for me, like using crystal grids and playing MP3 files of mantra in the background during the day. I know it is better to take an active approach, but some days it is all I have time to do to set up these passive methods. A glass of water where it will be in the sun during the day to drink during the evening, for example. During the day I will watch for opportunities to sit for a few minutes to watch my breathing and to allow the tension from the momentum of the day to unwind. Frequent short sessions keep that momentum from building up the way it used to, and when I get the chance to really sit down and meditate my mind is a lot more responsive than it might otherwise me.