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Active meditation

tanguerra

tanguerra

Moderator Emeritus
Since beginning to participate in this forum I have been delving ever more deeply into the mysteries of my rather convoluted psyche.

Before finding this forum I just used to do things in a fairly ad hoc way, remembering things from time to time at random intervals while hanging out the washing and so forth and only occasionally trying to meditate a bit more formally if I wanted to get to the bottom of something. I was inspired by the level of detail that others have achieved and have been practising more formal methods lately.

I was reading about 'active meditation' a while ago and have found it very useful. Normally, in meditation people try to 'still' the mind but this can be problematic for some people whose minds refuse to be still! The writer suggested instead to give the mind something to do to keep it occupied - hence the term 'active meditation'. It is very much like 'creative visualization' which some may have experienced with guided meditation sessions, listening to meditation CDs and so on.

I have been using a couple of techniques I thought I might share.

In one I will imagine standing in front of a large set of shelves against a wall in a special room. Part of the 'active' process is to visualize very clearly going into this special room, noting all the details along the way, the door knob, the floor boards, etc. as a kind of 'warm up' to focus the mind on the task at hand. When I am focussed enough and am in front of all these shelves I will visualize they contain all kinds of different costumes. One costume will 'leap out at me' and I will then imagine wearing it and what happened next. This will usually lead to some past life scene. Because I have done the preliminary work it will tend to be quite sharp and detailed. I described one story here: http://www.reincarnationforum.com/threads/memories-of-your-first-love.1144/

On another occasion I was imagining walking up a large staircase in a big house and looking at a long series of portraits. If one particularly appealed to me I would 'jump into it' and find out what it was all about. I got to the first portrait in the series, at the top of the stairs, and remembered being a 'cave woman' almost Neanderthal in appearance whose name was 'Woman Stands Up' because I was a bit taller and straighter than most and was always looking at the stars.

A most interesting and effective technique, which seems to be getting easier the more I practise.

I wonder if others have any tips and tricks they would like to share?
 
That is a very good idea... I think I might try it next time! Do you know which book you read it in, it would be on my long list of "to-buy."

Have you learned anything further from your Japanese or Cave Woman lives? I would be very interested in your experiences!
 
The book was written by a friend actually and is not yet published, but I am sure you could find books on this topic at Amazon or similar.

I have written about the Japanese life before. If you follow the link above it will lead to another link where I talk about it in more detail.

The cave woman life goes a bit 'out of bounds' - suffice to say I believe I witnessed the arrival of some 'visitors' with all my star gazing.
 
I don't know if this counts in as meditation, but some people might find for example writing more effective than meditating traditionally. I don't think it's for everybody and definitely doesn't make meditating and doing regressions unnecessary, but for interested, our member Curious_Girl gives examples of writing techniques here.

I have noticed that sometimes when I suspect I have had a certain kind of PL, imagining what "might have happened" - writing a story like Tanguerra suggested in some thread - has worked, but obvisouly I haven't and won't trust results from this unless they are later validated by recorded history or shared memories.

Karoliina
 
Yes, it is sometimes a bit of a fine line between letting your imagination run riot and opening up the gateways to the subconscious to see what is stored there. I find though that the whole texture of a memory is quite different from something I am just 'making up' so I can just tell by the feel of it which is which.

Even if you only have a fragment or two just sitting down quietly with a pen in hand and writing down the little bits that you do know can sometimes get the old brain going, just as it might if you sat down to write a story about an incident from your childhood. Once you got started memories would come flowing back which you may have thought you had forgotten.

Sometimes when doing a meditation I might get a bit stuck at some point and just not know what happened next - like finding a door locked or a blank wall. When that happens I will not worry about it and just go with the next thing to come to mind even if it might be jumping back and forth in the 'story'. Usually the gaps will fill themselves in eventually. The mind does not store things in very neat lines usually.
 
I've always thought the whole No Mind concept was interesting. But I don't think the purpose of meditation is to stop thinking altogether. While it can provide relaxation and relief for the individual, the universe relies on thought.
A simple trick to stop thinking is to listen to your breathing. Or put your full attention on silence.
I prefer meditation music and creative visualization. More positive, wonderful thoughts keep good energy moving.
I also like to walk outside in nature. It's especially nice this time of year where I am. Flowers everywhere. :P

To me, meditation is supposed to be an easy, blissful experience. There is no such thing as too much. And it can result in some past life insight.
This is why I prefer visualization (imagination) meditation than "not thinking". A lot of the times you wind up opening your third eye. It doesn't even matter whether you mean to or not.
 
I was reading about 'active meditation' a while ago and have found it very useful. Normally, in meditation people try to 'still' the mind but this can be problematic for some people whose minds refuse to be still! The writer suggested instead to give the mind something to do to keep it occupied - hence the term 'active meditation'.
Click to expand...

This sounds perfect for me. I am going to try this as soon as possible and see what happens. :thumbsup:

VanH if you discover any books related to active meditation would you please post the titles and authors? I am very interested in this form of meditation.
 
sounds like something i could try! a little scared to but i'll give it a go (i was trying to fall into some memories of the war life i mentioned, and felt a lot of grief) but i'll give it another go tonight i think.
 
It's OK to feel grief Dreamer02.

It is a good thing. It may be temporarily distressing, but in the long run you are better off understanding what it is all about. Sometimes if I am having difficulty getting into a memory I will actually place my hands on my heart and go into the emotion and try to find out what is behind it, as opposed to starting with a visual image or verbal cue.

I describe a memory retrieved using this process here and it was a 'doozy' and one which had been haunting me for years, but I could not put my finger on it until I went into the emotion:
http://www.reincarnationforum.com/threads/extremely-jealous-of-my-sister.6563/page-2#post-96045

If you find the grief is distracting you (difficult to meditate while experiencing hacking sobs :) ) try to do a bit of mental distancing from the events. For example, take your imagination out and above the situation and observe it from a distance - from the ceiling, or whatever. Feel and understand the feelings, but deliberately 'turn down the volume' so that you can remember what happened next without getting too upset to concentrate.

After you have completed your meditation and got as much info about the events as you can write it all down while it is still fresh, then have a good cry and process the emotion properly.
 
Hi Tanguerra, hi Karoliina :)

Karoliina said:
(...)

I have noticed that sometimes when I suspect I have had a certain kind of PL, imagining what "might have happened" - writing a story like Tanguerra suggested in some thread - has worked, but obvisouly I haven't and won't trust results from this unless they are later validated by recorded history or shared memories.

Karoliina
Click to expand...

I haven't and won't trust results from this unless they are later validated by recorded history or shared memories.

I thank you so much, Karoliina, for underlining such an important issue in "past lives" investigations. I think that each PL must be validated by recorded history or shared memories.

Of course, this means that some remembrances aren't able to be validated, simply because not all history is recorded and because not all memories are shared. But I really feel that this is worth it anyway :)

Otherwise, such remembrance should not be considered as "past lives".

I prefer forgetting some of my past lives (because I was not able to validate them objectively) instead of believing in fake memories that looked like real PL's.

---

Dear Tanguerra :)

Well, each one has a different perception of oneself and of one's environment. Therefore, each one has to find one's own recipe :)



I wish to share one of my ideas with you (about PL-regression), hoping this may help you (and me too :laugh: ). This idea is inspired by the way I sort my images and video-files on my computer-harddisk :

Let's consider that each lifetime actually is a kind of video-file, alright?

In our own personal human "harddisk", we can visualise a kind of folder in "My Documents", which we created a folder "My Videos".

While "tuning", we envision that we click on "My Videos" folder. Then dozens of video-files are displayed on the "screen". Each one is entitled according its time period and environmental landmarks.

We "simply" have to envision we click on a video-file then watch what is displayed on the "screen"...

I also think it is very important to tell ourselves that: "I am ready to remember."



I also think that lots of shields exist so that remembrances don't surface in a way that doesn't respect the person's pace.

I suppose that everything isn't worth remembering it...
Maybe some informations are kept "forgotten" for a good reason...


Kind regards,
Axel :)
 
Axel said:
I haven't and won't trust results from this unless they are later validated by recorded history or shared memories.

I thank you so much, Karoliina, for underlining such an important issue in "past lives" investigations. I think that each PL must be validated by recorded history or shared memories.
Click to expand...

Hi Axel,

I believe that past lives can also be validated by "recognition".
I've only validated one of the three or four past lives that i have memories of. There are no shared memories here, and there is no record of her life as far as i am aware, as she lived in a very remote part of the world.

I originally validated her life when i happened to see a landscape on a tv news program, which was identical to the scene that i had previously remembered in my dreams, and in my regression. It was as instantly recognizable as if i'd just opened the curtains and looked out of my own window. Further research led me to some pictures of the area around where she lived, and they were also recognized. In my present life, i had absolutely no knowledge of this area, or even this country.

I also believe that past-lives can be validated by xenoglossy. On a few occasions, through meditation, i've remembered a few sentences that were spoken to me in Spanish, and were later translated for me, and they relate to the context of the memory. In my present life, i only know one or two very basic Spanish words. So there are other ways, besides recorded history and shared memories, to validate past lives...imho..;)

Chris
 
Good points, Chris. I think this kind of validations are good enough, too. I guess I meant by "recorded history" also things like costume fashion, landscape photos - any proof of the things you've remembered before seeing these sources. Just a very poor choice of words. :o

Karoliina
 
Hi dear Chris :)

ChrisR said:
Hi Axel,

I believe that past lives can also be validated by "recognition".
I've only validated one of the three or four past lives that i have memories of. There are no shared memories here, and there is no record of her life as far as i am aware, as she lived in a very remote part of the world.

I originally validated her life when i happened to see a landscape on a tv news program, which was identical to the scene that i had previously remembered in my dreams, and in my regression. It was as instantly recognizable as if i'd just opened the curtains and looked out of my own window. Further research led me to some pictures of the area around where she lived, and they were also recognized. In my present life, i had absolutely no knowledge of this area, or even this country.

I also believe that past-lives can be validated by xenoglossy. On a few occasions, through meditation, i've remembered a few sentences that were spoken to me in Spanish, and were later translated for me, and they relate to the context of the memory. In my present life, i only know one or two very basic Spanish words. So there are other ways, besides recorded history and shared memories, to validate past lives...imho..;)

Chris
Click to expand...

I wish to thank you very much for such an informative answer.
There is no doubt that this will help me a lot in my past-lives exploration :)

"recognition", "xenoglossy", "validation", ...

I also notice that PL-exploration can only lead to more tolerance and broad-mindness :)

I am so glad you told me about "xenoglossy" :thumbsup:


Kind regards,
Axel :)
 
Hi Axel,

I understand what you mean when you say you seek to validate every experience, but for me it is less important. I have been remembering things since childhood and know what it feels like. It just feels different from other thought processes, such as dreams and imaginary exercises. Past life memories are always more intensely coloured, emotional and detailed for instance, than 'regular' thoughts. They always surprise me with the amount of depth that I understand about them, what is going on in the background, so to speak, what everyone's motives are, my understanding of the political, social and economic background to events of historical periods which I may only really have the most casual knowledge of. I have no other way to explain this other than that I was there.

There is that 'funny feeling' associated with them - which is a sort of a cross between deja vu, a kind of spine-tingling and, well, they feel like memories from a long time ago about something you thought you had forgotten but suddenly comes flooding back.

Many of my memories are of very obscure people and events which would have left no imprint on the public record, but they all have intense meaning to me. Even so I have actually been able to do some rather informal validations similar to what ChrisR describes. For instance I had a memory of the crusades and many years later I saw a TV documentary on the crusades and saw the exact same stretch of road I remembered where the events took place, in the very same landscape. It was on the main road the crusaders used on their way to the Holy Lands, so it all made perfect sense with my memory. Various minute historical details tend to pan out with something I might read later. I get that 'I knew that' experience quite often, so much that I am so used to it I hardly notice.

I don't question my memories or subject them to forensic investigation. They all have meaning to me and that is what I am concerned about. I find this work very valuable personally. I am not trying to prove anything to anyone else in any sort of scientific way. I know others are and I respect and applaud their efforts.

People should not get carried away and rush off declaring every passing fancy they have to be a past life memory. I think historical validations are very interesting and worthwhile to do, I think people should also trust their own intuition about these things.

I like your idea of using computer file imagery. That is very similar to what I am trying to get at with the 'active meditation' idea. Basically any sort of imagery that works for you and appeals to you can be a 'way in' to your deeper memories. This is basically what hypnosis is doing - focussing the power of the mind on the problem of retrieving these memories. Some people imagine pages flying off a calendar in the wind, some imagine floating back through time in a boat and so forth, it is not important as long as it makes sense to you.
 
Hi dear Tanguerra :)

tanguerra said:
(...) I like your idea of using computer file imagery. That is very similar to what I am trying to get at with the 'active meditation' idea. Basically any sort of imagery that works for you and appeals to you can be a 'way in' to your deeper memories. This is basically what hypnosis is doing - focussing the power of the mind on the problem of retrieving these memories. Some people imagine pages flying off a calendar in the wind, some imagine floating back through time in a boat and so forth, it is not important as long as it makes sense to you.
Click to expand...

I like this idea too, especially because I know that all my memories do not necessarily take their source into my PLs.

It is not because I feel a deep connection with a place that it necessarily means I had a PLs related to it.

No: in my current life, I deeply feel a connection with some things just because I am living by myself.


My Documents > My Memories > My PLs > PLs video-files >

I believe that there is not only PLs in my memories but I choose here in this forum to only explore them (i.e. a part of all my memories).


"My Memories" folder has more than one sub-folders. "My PLs" is one of them.

In doing so, I both respect PL-concept and my other memories (that are not PLs).


I also like the "computer simulation" because we are clearly a spectator, someone who watches one's own PL-video-files.

So there is less risk to feel like being the actor in the video-file. Therefore, our roots and balance is fully preserved while exploring our PLs :)

I feel like a PL-speleologist :laugh:

The purpose of a speleogist is:
- to go into the planet's depths;
- then to come back at the planet's surface :laugh:


As for PL-validation, I fully agree with you Tanguerra :thumbsup: . The real issue is: "How to avoid illusions of PLs."


Kind regards,
Axel :)

PS: I have really created those folders/subfolders on my computer harddisk. Well, they are still empty, but I know that they are not empty when I watch those same folders on my computer during my dreams/meditation. As early as I get a good information, I write it down into my real folders on my real computer. Then bridge between PLs and reality is empowered.
 
Walking meditation


I have been playing around with different ways of walking lately and am finding it a very useful technique. People who have trouble with 'regular' meditation - can't concentrate, fall asleep too easily, and so on - might like to give something like this a try.


I took the dog for a very long walk the other day (to go and visit a friend) and on the way I was thinking about different methods of meditation. 'Walking meditation' is a Buddhist technique - where you are very 'mindful' of each step you take. They often walk extremely slowly while doing this to heighten the concentration and notice all the sensations in detail. It is really just another discipline to train, quieten and focus the mind and tune out the extraneous 'static'.


I was thinking about that as I walked along. I started experimenting with 'walking' like various different 'iterations' of myself - people who I remembered being. I just imagined how that person might walk and then just 'pretended' that I knew how they would walk and then just did it. It was interesting how my whole posture and gait would change (although fairly subtly) and how that would somehow put me into their 'head space' and I would start to 'think' like them and even recall little bits and pieces.


'Muscle memory' is a very strong storage of memory. I don't know how this works exactly when one has a whole new body, with a whole new set of muscles, but it works for me nonetheless. I even had a bit of a flashback, about a life as a nomadic woman in North Africa (ages and ages ago) and how I would walk along all day stepping exactly in my husband's footprints almost in a dreamlike state. I have had tiny flashes of this one before, but suddenly I could feel her thoughts and emotions and so on (mostly about how she was so sick and tired of always walking! :) )


People could try it out if they are feeling a bit 'stuck' with trying to access some memories and are out for a nice long walk.
 
active meditation


Hi Tanguerra,


Interesting reading about your walking meditation experience. I have always enjoyed feeling the wind moving around me and have long used that feeling as a meditation-like practice. Sometimes I find myself thinking that I can almost remember another time that is like this time -- when the breeze was like this and I was living in the far north or the warm Pacific islands. I really can't recall another life exactly when I feel that way; it's like a name on the tip of the tongue but you just can't recall it.


Active meditation is a very powerful technique to learn more about yourself. My first introduction to this type of meditation was by Morton Kelsey at a Friends of Jung meeting. I occasionally read his book The Other Side of Silence: A Guide to Christian Meditation -- it seems to provide some help to me when life is a bit too stressful and I have had about all of it that I think I can take. I have been looking around the house for that book for a while so that I can revisit some chapters again but have momentarily lost it amongst all the other books that I have piled up.
 
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