Tactile Imaging - I can only feel my hands and feet - why?

[Seeker of Matter]

I posted this problem over at AP but I realize now that perhaps this place is more appropriate

Well to sum it up I can't seem to feel my body very well when doing tactile imaging. The only parts that I can really feel are my hands and feet. It is when I try to trace a path, lets say, from the thumb to the shoulder that it gets tricky. I have major problems just feeling my arm. I concentrate on one single point on my for about 2-5 minute and still i feel nothing. I also try to focus on places like my stomach and chest but I can hardly feel anything.

I find this very troubling as this is supposed to be the basic easy exercises and already there I seem to fail.

Any reason why I can't feel much except my hands and feet?

EDIT: Oh I might actually have lied!! There is one place I felt besides my hands and feet and that is my neck!! When I focused on my neck (right there where the spine meets the skull) very strong sensations seemed to spark around in my head - quite amazing actually!!!

[Rydel]

You should scratch the area you want to feel thoroughly before you try to concentrate on it, if you are having trouble feeling it.

Also, make sure you're not cutting circulation off to these areas in anyway (very tight clothing, etc.) as this may cause problems in being able to feel particular areas as well.

[Seeker of Matter]

hmm, perhaps I should scratch myself some more.... You might be right. I will try a more intensive scratching then

[violetsky]

Dear Seeker of Matter,

You are doing well. Please do not get discouraged. The more you practice the easier it will get. Getting started is usually not easy, unless you are learning directly from Robert at one of his workshops.

If you look at a skeletal drawing of the hands and feet you will notice the hands and feet have many, many joints. In Astral Dynamics (soft cover) p. 132, Fig. 6 you will notice that each joint has vortices associated with them. When you brush and push energy through smaller joints it is 'generally speaking' easier to activate them. What you may wish to do is work on brushing the feet then the ankle joint then the knee and hip joints in that order. Once you 'feel' the joints you may find it easier to pass energy along a line from one joint vortex to another. The hip joint being large could take the most work to get going. The more practice you have the easier it gets. You might also wish instead of brushing the whole length of a pathway from joint to joint, to imagine a high energy ball and bounce this up and down the leg.

There are a few ways to approach this, so please let me know how this works out for you.

Very Best Wishes,
violetsky

[Seeker of Matter]

Wow thank you for that nice reply! I will try to focus on my joints then, see if I can feel "more" by doing that and imaging the bouncing ball.

I think the problem might also by caused by my concentration (which seems to be poor). My thoughts are always scatered around not really focusing on one thing. Which also explains why I take so long time writing a simply reply. This must have taken about 15 minuts already lol.... I just opened my messeng and found out that I can rename my contacts, then I started doing that. Then I read through some of the news sites I have intergrated into my browser. Then I heard some music comming our local town, I thought that it must the carneval making that noise. Then I wondered if there might be anyone I know there and finaly I decided to open this window again and find my post half done..... This I thing is why can't seem to go very far with the energy work. I have a hard time concentrating :/

Perhaps I should try and find a solution for that instead?

[star]

Try doing your energy excersises while listing to music or watching tv, or reading a book, it helps for longer energy sessions for me

[Seeker of Matter]

I just wanted to report that NOW I am actually experiencing success with NEW!!!

I just did some of the early exercises described in NEW and to my surprise I was able to feel what I was doing!

I think I have homed in on my problem with not feeling anything. It was because that one of the very first exercises - the one where you do circular movements to your thumb joint – didn’t work for me. My problem was simple... I could not think in circular movements. When ever I pictured a circular movement (like drawing O's with a pencil) I would not be able to do a whole circle. Apparently I have a problem with drawing circles with my mind. BUT then I read on and the next exercise was for me to do a "back-and-fourth" movement. That I could do. I could clearly picture a dynamic continuing pulsating "back-and-fourth" movement and therefore I felt the funny tingling in my thumb joint

I also find that when I want to feel some part of my body. I think of a 3D computer visualization of the limb - my leg for example. The parts of my leg that I want to feel I just "light up" and soon after the feeling will come!! If that doesn't work I picture my "awareness hands" pulsating like jackhammers up through the limb I have trouble feeling - that really helps!

After I did the exercises I feel much clearer in the head.... and I haven't even begun working with the head areas yet.

I think the hardest part for me is that I am alone with this project - I only have myself to motivate me and I am not a good motivator What then worked for me was that I just stopped thinking and began doing instead - I put all my trust in what I was going to read and it got me going! Hurray!

I guess tomorrow (or later today actually....) I will have major problems in getting on with this again but I will try to force myself through once more. If it is just half as good as it has been this time, it will still be worth it!

[Dan36oy]

Congratulations on your success. The energy sensations and overall sense of well being were enough to keep me motivated. You could always teach a friend or two and create a support network.

The only parts that I can really feel are my hands and feet

Due to the high amount of energy centers in the hands and feet, sensitivity in these areas is a lot higher and the sensations are more pronounced than what you may find in other areas of your body.

[Seeker of Matter]

A support group would certainly get me to achieve more than I would by my self. But right now I am in a phase where I try to be my only motivator... in all aspects. I am tired of having to do things due to the pressure of others.

You might call it will exercise because that is what I think it is. To do something without any exterior motivation is actually extremely hard. Especially if it is not something like eating and sleeping which the body will indulge a natural desire for.

To do something only motivated by your own will is actually insanely hard. That is why I use energy work. I have no direct NEED to exercise energy work, anyway I do it..... but it is hard to discipline yourself..... especially when you have always been used to others doing that for you.

I think I am done with letting others motivate me.... what would happen if they disappeared then? I wouldn't get anything done.


And to go on topic again, I am speculating. When you visualise drawing energy up through your feet, should that be any different from just feeling your awareness going up through your feet? Because I must admit I have a little trouble in imaging what energy looks like and then draw it up through my body. I have never seen energy..... and I can't understand why Robert (in astral dynamics) suddenly says that I should IMAGINE drawing energy up through my feet when he had stressed that one would only rely on the feeling of it. I have no idea of what it feels like drawing energy up through my body. I know what it means moving your awareness through your body though but that is not what he asks me to do so I am wondering if I am doing it wrong.

Besides from that I am beginning to remember my dreams more and more. Weird as they are but I am remembering them. I have yet to realize I am dreaming though but hopefully that will come some day I have not read beyond the physical relaxation part yet so I have no idea on how to dream lucid....YET

I have also started peeking at "mastering astral projection" (I must be serious about this huh ) and damn I got scared at Mr. Bruce's picture. He looks really evil lol


But I think that I will finish reading Astral Dynamics before I read the other book.

[Hegemony]

Actually he has quite a friendly looking face, I think it's just the lighting that makes it appear rather sinister in that picture :-p