5 points of Expanded Awareness

[Golden Dragon Shining]

Your 5 key/ foundational aspects to expanding awareness? For example

Sex: Transforming of sexual energy
Diet: Plant diet, no salt, no overeating or eating after 6pm, pure air, pure water, sun, nature
Body: Movement/ circulation of energy, working and relaxing muscles, flexibility
Mind: Abiding in pure serenity (meditation)
Intention:





 

Edited September 19, 2015 by Sionnach

[Golden Dragon Shining]

Edited September 19, 2015 by Sionnach

[Aetherous]

1) Be natural...when unnatural, the energy (along with awareness) stagnates. A large part of being natural entails the mind releasing. We're most natural when we're sleeping...when the mind and sense of self are uncontrolled by our conscious self. Some forms of meditation help us to be more natural and let go of the self...although to some extent, all things that take any sort of effort and require any sort of practice are unnatural...but just saying that isn't very helpful - people need a practice that helps them realize that they don't need a practice. On a similar note...practices that focus or deal with the body and its energies cause stagnation...whereas practices that release the mind from the body, free the body's energies, so that it can heal itself to some extent. One such practice is having a meditation object outside of you that you calmly look at, in order to release the monkey mind...but that's a lower practice that isn't very natural.

2) Be in nature...when you live indoors, focused on doing various things (like computer, reading, work, socialization, etc), your attention is boxed in and not so expansive. When you go outside, there is a lot more to connect with all around you. By doing so, your awareness literally expands. So be in nature and connect with the environment as a part of it. Nature really helps us expand because it's relaxing and beautiful.

3) Be well rested...we require basically 8 hours of sleep normally. In order to get to sleep, it helps to wind down and be apart from unnatural lighting. So if the evenings are devoted to taking it easy, perhaps reading a good story, then we are more prepared to rest well when sleeping. It's good to sleep earlier than we're used to. A body that's not well rested doesn't have the lubrication in its engine, in order to support a more expansive state of awareness...so if you do methods that expand the awareness, perhaps the body will be clunking along trying to keep up, rather than running smoothly. Also to have lubrication, to be well oiled, we need to eat enough normal food so that we're satisfied and nourished.

4) Expanded awareness is not the same as hyper-vigilance. Relaxation is very important. A nervous system that is acutely aware of every little sound can be very on edge...and being on edge actually distracts our awareness from being expansive. Expansive implies a freedom from attachment and aversion to anything. The clinging mind opens up and releases, so that everything washes over you, rather than affects you.

5) The more you learn, the more your mind is able to pick up on...and the more your mind is able to pick up on, the more you're able to learn more! Learning is literally expanding your awareness of things. To the unlearned, all talk in the world is just like a buzzing noise which only sometimes means something...whereas to someone who understands everything, all talk is understood. Areas of your city that you haven't visited yet are just like dark regions to your mind. Go explore them, and they will come to light for you...your awareness expands into them. Learn about new subjects, like history for instance, and suddenly you'll find that other people have been discussing that stuff while you were completely oblivious and focused on Kim Kardashian or something. It's not necessary to know everything...but in learning, it's good to learn very clearly. Don't just skim over the new topic you're casting light on...really master the knowledge. Really walk over the new area of town multiple times, finding new aspects each time. Try new things.