Mark Foote

For me the lotus is a lot of different stretches, but also the action generated involuntarily out of stretches that tends to reciprocate from one side of the body to the other, forward and back, and around. You can read my description here, if you're interested. The left knee for me responds to my awareness of motion at the sacrum, and the relaxation of the activity generated out of stretch in the motion of the sacrum.

Congrats, anamatva. "Take your time with the full lotus", so said Kobun Chino Otogawa, a teacher I respect very much. I think it's great advice!

near iced bubbling beer in a cold mountain stream, waits can't find the church key

Reminds me, have you ever tried the hand movements of Tai Chi short form whilst hovering between waking and sleeping thereat?

creating one within the hotdog cart, with the works, one with everything

Falling asleep on the toilet seat? Really?!?

Thanks, humbleone. I'm not sure I could write the steps of waking up and falling asleep, but I'm curious about how you succeeded. I know I did describe referred sensation in response to your initial question about it, I don't know if that helped you find the experience. It does seem to help me. I would like to help more folks find the experience you found. I have a difficult time overcoming my own prejudice against telling people what to do, the ability to feel and the exercise of volition appear to be in opposition to one another, and for sure waking up and falling asleep has more to do with the ability to feel. I just haven't found a way to reconcile myself with addresssing only falling asleep yet, I guess. Maybe!

I have started a thread, "Getting back to sleep, a practice that works" in the general discussion area, inviting people to read my description and try the practice. I do quote you about succeeding with the practice seven nights in a row, and your conclusion above. If I can get enough folks to read the thread and give it a whirl, maybe I can figure a way forward from there. I would love to be able to bring this practice to the attention of people who could use it. Guess we'll see if anyone catches the new thread before it rolls off the back end.

I'd like to try to speak to this more directly. I think I mentioned that I sit in the mornings, and I practice along the lines of "Waking Up and Falling Asleep" when I can. This morning when I really came into my body, so that I felt like I was able to totally relax in my posture like falling asleep, then it occurred to me that everything was there with me. There is a sense of the surface of the body supporting weight; at least, that's what it feels like to me. I'd like to take credit for finding the feeling that seemed to complete my ability to fall asleep in my posture, but I have to say that I think the inspiration came out of the location I found myself in at that moment. There's some kind of reciprocity between waking up and falling asleep that takes everything into account, to occur; I am sure you will find this is so, at the appropriate moment.

got me! near myth in bedroom virgin birth in fabled stall above all shoot low

Thanks for the report of your success, I hope that Apech can discover what I'm talking about with regard to the physical sense of location in space in falling asleep, as well. I had tea with an old friend in a small tea house today; sometimes my history and my infatuation with science makes it impossible for an old friend to take what I have to say at face value. We had a good conversation. He reported that as he nears his 70th birthday, he lies in bed for twenty minutes before he gets up nowadays. I asked him if that was not what Sasaki meant by, "good morning, where am I?", the koan the Roshi used when my friend saw him. But my friend saw a field of emptiness before him that gave him a sense of peace, and although we agree that this is just absorption at play, he does not see place as a well-being at the source of absorption. I understand what you are saying about trying to absorb quantities of data and make decisions, and looking for a way to bring a practice to bear. For my part, I wish I were dancing more, I used to go out to the local bar on Friday nights and dance to a D.J. with friends, but now we've moved! Some kind of practice of waking up and falling asleep in motion, that's very helpful to me, and I'm thinking I need something more strenuous than what I've found in the new town so far. That's about all I can suggest. The connection to everything, that's because the senses register everything, and I would say even things that are outside the channels of consciousness sometimes. If you want to see this, you probably have to sit and experience the moment when the breath is cut off, as Yuanwu described it. "Be as one who has died the noble death; when the breath is cut off, you return to life"- something like that. Waking up and falling asleep at such a moment is the return. This is really falling asleep while awake, I think- I encounter these moments in my waking life. More so when I eat less and sit, but I guess there's a balance. I don't look to encounter these moments, in daily life, but I have met people who seem to be living one such moment after another. They amaze me.

our dark others are inside the house, at the door where the light won't go

Hey, Apech. I think humbleone quoted the most relevant part of "Waking Up and Falling Asleep": "In my experience, the practice is the same, whether I am waking up or falling asleep: when I realize my physical sense of location in space, and realize it as it occurs from one moment to the next, then I wake up or fall asleep as appropriate." This is probably easier at 3am or 4am in the dark than any other time of day, I don't know why. If you want, you can experiment with the practice I describe in "The Mudra of Zen" to help get the sense of location at first; that would be trying to feel pitch, yaw, and roll right where your awareness is located. So, if your awareness seems to be in your head, look for pitch, yaw and roll there; if it's in your hand, ditto. For me there's an interesting side-effect to setting up mindfulness of the three planes of motion at the location of awareness, and that is that my awareness often moves to accommodate a feeling for all three planes. As soon as it becomes a strain, I let go of that mindfulness, though. Sometimes it takes a repeated effort, if you are having trouble falling asleep, to come back to the physical location of awareness, and follow that from one instant to the next. In waking up, same practice. The second quote that humbleone found concerns the fact that there's an interplay between being able to follow the sense of location and being absorbed in a pattern of awareness or thought, and this becomes evident for me when I follow my sense of location in the daytime: "Although the placement of consciousness must be spontaneous for the two involuntary respiratory systems to coordinate naturally, it may well be that a pattern will develop in the placement of consciousness for a period of time. Gautama the Buddha referred to the development of such a pattern as "the sign of the concentration". Such a pattern unfolds of its own accord, and is never exactly the same twice. The key to accepting and relinquishing such a pattern is the feeling connected with its occurrence, and the knowledge that the pattern serves the cranial-sacral system's response to the necessity of breath." Restating that last, the key to accepting my own thoughts when I sit meditation is, for me, accepting the role of the pleasant feeling of absorption. The feelings of stretch have a balance, in the feeling of absorption, and the thoughts and dreams come out of that- but the well-being connected with the sense of location in awareness is subtle: "At some point, acknowledging what I feel as consciousness occurs becomes a part of the place of occurrence of consciousness. The acknowledgement of what I feel follows from the sense of well-being in the experience of the place of occurrence of consciousness. " If I remember that my thoughts and dreams came out of absorption connected with place, I can return to where I am with feeling. Maybe try the sense of location when you're falling asleep, if you aren't out like a light- I think that's the easiest way to pick it up, from moment to moment.

more pics:

That was very interesting, indeed- thanks, Apech. humbleone, thanks for your interest; my site is a kind of personal practice journal, it's true, starting from the writing on The Mudra of Zen which is the homepage. I started writing, then I picked the title, then I tried to figure out what in the world I could say about the mudra I use when I sit zazen (which is the traditional mudra of Soto Zen). I still use the practice I describe there, pretty good for a shot in the dark. Nevertheless, I'm acutely aware that it's not everybody's cup of tea. Most of my friends have declared that they like me, but if I ever talk anatomy to them again they will not be responsible for their actions. Some things I need to research a little more. I quote a description of reciprocal innervation I got from John Upledger's books, but online the other day I discovered that for most people reciprocal innervation means something different. I think it's true that stretch in the fascia and ligaments can generate muscular activity, and even reciprocal muscular activity, but I'm not sure that I can find support for it in the literature at large. Likewise, Upledger's research on the cranial-sacral rhythm has yet to find corroboration as far as I can tell, yet I'm convinced that the second respiration (as cranial-sacral folks refer to it) is real. The bit you quoted is from a letter I wrote to a friend, trying to explain my understanding. The piece on the translations of motion in the lotus was written for the same friend. Waking Up and Falling Asleep is a big step for me, as there is virtually no anatomy and no reference to the two respirations in it. For me, I am reminded that life and death are as close as waking up and falling asleep, and I need look no further. Thanks so much for thinking to try out the waking up part, I look forward to hearing how that goes, when you find the time. yers, Mark sorry for hijacking the thread a bit, Apech, but I feel like a scientist looking at bosons with a friend- you have to excuse us!

(sorry, dupe, but here's a nice photo of Petaluma)

I'll try to clarify what I meant by "the role of hypnogogic states in daily life". At some point, acknowledging what I feel as consciousness occurs becomes a part of the place of occurrence of consciousness. The acknowledgement of what I feel follows from the sense of well-being in the experience of the place of occurrence of consciousness. Equanimity in the acknowledgement of what I feel is the induction of the hypnogogic state (this just happens). If the sense of location in awareness wakes you up and sets you about your activity, that is sudden, yet in daily life allowing for falling asleep as well as waking up is a gradual shift- that's what I believe. I would suggest you try the same practice in the morning (sitting down, most likely!). Might take you awhile to find the same movement of awareness that you feel lying down in the early hours, the main thing is to relax and let go so that the ability to feel opens. My own strategy is to accept that I have many memories tagged with adrenalin by the amygdala, memories of falling down physically and mentally from before I had language (I'm indebted to Daniel Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence" on that one). I'm not that good at it either, dealing with the stress of modern living and work, and yet I've always had faith that whatever I needed would be given, if only I were open to receive. Thanks for the question, very helpful to me, actually.

Hi, humbleone, Me neither, didn't know there was a neurotheology. Not sure how many universities are accrediting that, at this point, but I'll accept that it's a good description of what Todd Murphy is studying. Great to hear that you had some success with what I'm describing as "waking up and falling asleep". Yes, that sounds like the practice; I'm grateful that you tried it at that hour of the morning, as in my experience that's a very good time to see the mind moving. In my experience, it's even possible to sleep when I'm in a lot of pain, by hanging with the mind that way- at least it was when they did my ablation, which is a heart procedure for arrhythmia done with catheters these days. My whole body felt pretty shot for a couple of days afterward, and at one point I felt sure I needed to sleep but everywhere was a difficulty as far as relaxing, yet by "following the mind" and being where I was I was able to get a few minutes- which was all I needed to turn the corner at that time. If you do any seated or even standing meditation in the morning, you may see why I'm referring to the practice as "waking up and falling asleep". In waking up, I am looking to relinquish my activity, and allow the place of mind to generate activity out of the stretch I find myself in. I have a description of the translations of motion in the lotus which I have updated recently, yet in the end I am convinced that everything I need to know I learn by being where I am, as I am. I just have to be open to it.

straight and narrow, true one to another, the same floating on the stars

Hey, humbleone, thanks for asking! Ok, it's a feeling, for sure- if I slip and start to fall but recover myself, the place my mind went is what I'm talking about. Now a question I have is, is it necessary to practice something like sleeping sitting up or a martial art like judo before a person can recognize that their mind is connected with a physical sense of location? That is to say, maybe some people don't notice that their mind moves when they start to fall, that the location of awareness moves to where it needs to be to catch the fall- maybe they would say that their mind was between their ears the whole time! I've been listening to a lecture by Todd Murphy on "The Sacred Body", in which he proposes that the chakras are centers of referred brain activity. The brain itself apparently has no nerves for distinguishing pain or pleasure, so that a brain tumor can grow to enormous size without pain. Likewise the heart, so that the symptoms of a heart attack are pain in the left shoulder and arm, referred pain. When I sit, I become aware of referred sensation from the nerve exits along the spine: my ability to feel my feet, my little fingers, and my jaw are involved in some way in the activity of my posture. Again, this is allowing my attention to drop where it will, and reminding myself to include my whole body as I inhale and exhale. To what extent does my physical sense of location in space depend on my relaxed experience of referred sensation from the spine and brain?- maybe I am oversimplifying to say "my physical sense of location in space from moment to moment", but in the end it comes down to the same thing, IMHO.

wait... who's hand is this or what's his name's, on second bluejay screech and gone (Abbott & Costello " ")

I worked the graveyard shift for years, and I would sleep 5 hours or 6 when I got home in the morning, and then try to catch another 40 minutes before I went in. Still feel drained, no doubt about it. Thanks, Apech, for a great article. As I recall "The Practice of Chinese Buddhism 1900-1950", the monks generally slept from 10:00pm to 3:00am or thereabouts, but they were allowed to sleep sitting up in the sitting period at 6:00am, and they took a nap in the afternoon at about 4pm. I have just finished revising an essay on what I call the practice of "Waking Up and Falling Asleep", which is concerned with the role of hypnogogic states in daily life, although I don't say that in so many words in the essay. Maybe less sleep at night makes the hypnogogic state easier during the day, I don't know.

Hope you'll let us know when your article is written, I've never found a way into the text and I think your approach might interest me. As to finding the use of the descriptions/relationships, ain't that the truth! I've come to the conclusion that the only significant sacred teachings are the ones where the speaker (or writer) taught themselves in the process, whether they understood and let on that they were engaged in self-education or not. When the teaching is a compilation, the result is hit-and-miss sometimes. Too bad we don't have the history to know how the text evolved.