Re: Re: Meditation with music

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What's the "marching army of ants" technique. I've never heard of that one! I had a similar "levitation" experience at about 15, it felt like the beginnings of an out of body type thing, never had it again either!CheersKateThank you Kate,Music and meditation are two of my favourite pastimes. When I was a child, about 8-10yrs old, I learned the `marching army of ants' technique to relax my body before going to sleep. I had one experience, at about 13 or 14 yrs old where I thought I was levitating but naturally, as soon as I got the thought I felt the clothes touch my back again. I have never forgotten the sensations of that moment as it only ever happened once. Do I really believe I levitated? No, but it was an extraordinary experience. Over the years, I have developed scores of methods and techniques to elicit states of mind/place during meditation. Since learning ACT, my experience has been expanded with mindfulness and I use `mindfulness, mindfully' every time I meditate now. If only it was possible 24/7 huh.Here's to mindful meditation, the most colourful M & M :-)> > >> > > Hey there group,> > >> > > Someone was saying a while ago that they had problems inducing an > > emotional state during meditation. Another technique that I find > > extremely effective is with the aid of music. I set up a playlist of > > songs that remind me of a place, time or feeling. Music is a > > fantastic medium for bringing on different emotions and when used > > mindfully during meditation, it can make for an easy way in. I use > > the mindfulness skills to stay with the thought or emotion. The > > challenge is to not be distracted by the auditory cues from the > > different instruments and vocals.> > >> > > Happy practicing :-)> > >> >> >> >>

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Very interesting, Lou. However, the image of ants crawling on my body is icky! So I like to imagine warm water filling my body from the soles of my feet on up. It gently laps around all the muscles, tendons, bones and such, and as it rises, everything in its path becomes warm and relaxed. I've been using this one for years! Very similar to marching ants, but more palatable to me mentally : ) Of course, you may LIKE being tickled by invading ants (hehehe)Helena

Re: Meditation with music

Hello again Kate :-)The `Marching ants' is a really simple way to shut down your body. It's good for kids because it requires imagination. The short of it is that you imagine an army of ants moving sequentially through your body starting from your toes. As the army begins to move up your body, that part relaxes so first your toes, then your calves, knees, thighs, hips etc. When the army reaches your chest, you just naturally notice your heartbeat and your breath but be careful, you don't want to stop there, you still need to relax your arms, shoulders and neck. When the army reaches your face, you feel the muscles in your face relax and you are left with either your word machine(which you can then work with) or you fall asleep. That's it.The cream in that exercise is when the army gets to your head and you have no memory of where your body is. (I don't know whether I placed my hands on my belly or by my side for example). Notice if you are sucking your tongue on the top of your mouth or sucking in your cheeks in at all. Notice the muscles on your forehead. Be sure your eyebrows are relaxed and not crossed, focus on that for a second.An extension to that exercise, which is good for those who want to practice visual thinking/meditation is `seeing in darkness'. When I reach the point where I am left with my mind machine and I have no physical input, I focus on seeing with my eyes closed. I notice and acknowledge all the thoughts and get back to seeing. I figure you still have eyes in your head whether you have your eyes open or closed so why not just look and see what you see. The trick is to see without thinking, just noticing.> > > > >> > > > > Hey there group,> > > > >> > > > > Someone was saying a while ago that they had problems inducing > > an> > > > emotional state during meditation. Another technique that I find> > > > extremely effective is with the aid of music. I set up a > > playlist of> > > > songs that remind me of a place, time or feeling. Music is a> > > > fantastic medium for bringing on different emotions and when used> > > > mindfully during meditation, it can make for an easy way in. I use> > > > the mindfulness skills to stay with the thought or emotion. The> > > > challenge is to not be distracted by the auditory cues from the> > > > different instruments and vocals.> > > > >> > > > > Happy practicing :-)> > > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > >> >> >> >>