carsten888's MAP Journal

[carsten888]

Let me first say I love the MAP program! Thanks to all the wonderfull people involved in this project.

I'm stuck at leg bouncing.
Brushing and sponging work fine. But when bouncing I got various problems.

When sponging I follow in my mind the path along my legs. When I try do this faster for bouncing, I can't help but skip bits (if not all) between toes and hips. I read in the book the mind is capable of incredible speeds, but my (normally ok-ish) mind can't get any faster then 1.5 sec each way. I tried it anyway, just focusing on toes-hips-toes-hips, skipping the whole in between but that does not seem to work, no sensations at all and also losing focus with that rather quickly.

When sponging I don't feel any blockages, so I don't think it is resistance causing the speed limit.

I read in the book just imagening the ends of a bounce will not work. And when I try anyway, using the image of a energy ball travelling up and down inside my legs, I don't feel any sensation in my legs (as with sponging) and quickly loose focus. I feel like maybe when working with another image then the actual legs, it might corrupt the whole energy-work as one is no longer focusing on the leg-image, but rather on a mental construction of it.

Am I doing something wrong? Is there another technic I should try?

[CFTraveler]

Let me first say I love the MAP program! Thanks to all the wonderfull people involved in this project.

I'm stuck at leg bouncing. Believe it or not, this happens to most of us at first.

Brushing and sponging work fine. But when bouncing I got various problems.

When sponging I follow in my mind the path along my legs. When I try do this faster for bouncing, I can't help but skip bits (if not all) between toes and hips. I read in the book the mind is capable of incredible speeds, but my (normally ok-ish) mind can't get any faster then 1.5 sec each way. I tried it anyway, just focusing on toes-hips-toes-hips, skipping the whole in between but that does not seem to work, no sensations at all and also losing focus with that rather quickly. It's normal for the mind to 'not register' small amounts of 'spots' here and there. If it gives you anxiety, slow it down, and when you feel you've covered the required area speed it up. Think of it this way- when you walk you don't think of what each muscle is doing, you just do it. Bouncing is like that- once you've developed some speed, you don't have to be conscious of the feeling, just have the awareness (or knowledge) that the energy ball is going through everything it needs to go through.


When sponging I don't feel any blockages, so I don't think it is resistance causing the speed limit. Good.


I read in the book just imagening the ends of a bounce will not work. And when I try anyway, using the image of a energy ball travelling up and down inside my legs, I don't feel any sensation in my legs (as with sponging) and quickly loose focus. I feel like maybe when working with another image then the actual legs, it might corrupt the whole energy-work as one is no longer focusing on the leg-image, but rather on a mental construction of it. Bouncing doesn't give you the same sensation as sponging or slow-bouncing- but the thing is, it doesn't have to. This is because the reason for the bouncing is different than sponging. With sponging, you want to feel the awareness feedback (sensation), but with bouncing, you want to learn to move awareness at a faster speed. Strong sensation is not the object, moving awareness through your body quickly is.



Am I doing something wrong? Is there another technic I should try? You are not doing anything wrong, consider bouncing a technique you are learning, which will be used later in your process for other things. Your concerns are valid and at the same time common. Don't worry, keep at it.
Like I said before, you can approach bouncing differently- start slowly, speed up. If you don't feel it's working, slow down again, and slowly speed up again. Think of it as a 'getting your brain to speed up faster' type of exercise, and enjoy it.

[carsten888]

Thanks for your usefull reply.


If you don't feel it's working, slow down again, and slowly speed up again.
if no sensations, how can I tell it is working?


and enjoy it.
all the time :P

[CFTraveler]

if no sensations, how can I tell it is working?

I thought you said that sponging gave you some sensation? Bouncing is the same thing, only faster.

[carsten888]

if no sensations, how can I tell it is working?

I thought you said that sponging gave you some sensation? Bouncing is the same thing, only faster.
When sponging I get the sensation, when bouncing (same but faster)(start skipping bits, or just energy) I don't get sensations.

[carsten888]

when brushing and sponging, does it matter if I use the same speed as the heartbeat or breathing? As the pulse of the heartbeat is like waves going through the limb I'm working on, I sometimes notice I end up using the same speed as the heartbeat, and am not sure the sensation I am feeling is the heartbeat or the energy-flow. Then when I go faster or slower I can feel the sensation properly, so I guess I'm doing something right. Just not sure about if there is any reason to avoid the speed of the exercise synchronise to the fysical speed of heartbeat or breathing.

[CFTraveler]

You're doing it right.

[tudorgirl]

I experience the same thing!

[JoSac]

I use this technique where I grab the bone in my leg with my astral hand and slide it from toes to hip. This way it gets the whole inside of your leg. If you have to make your astral hand a little bigger .

JS

[CFTraveler]

Very good advice, JS.

[JoSac]

Why thank you CF.

JS

[carsten888]

update:
I had a busy couple of months and my mind was just too full, so I put the book away for a few months. Deadlines have gone, mind is at ease, so I picked it up again and started from the beginning.

I still get plenty of sensations from sponging, but nothing from bouncing. I do the bouncing exercises anyway and just move the focus through my body. But I must say, it is a lot more exciting actually getting some feedback from the body, so you know it is working :)

I played around a bit and noticed that slow sponging gave me most body sensations. And I mean really sloooow. Like 20 sec for one way on an arm.

The full body circuit works with the breath, which suits me well. I can't feel any body sensations of the energy moving, but just kept at it for 10 minutes the other night and really felt buzzing. So I guess I just have trouble feeling the energy-flow when it is fast, but it certainly is there.

[CFTraveler]

That's perfectly normal. The only time when I feel energy with bouncing is if I do it flat on the floor (not the bed) with my arms up over my head.

[carsten888]

I'm in week 3.
In the book it says to make the mind empty of word-based chatter. But what about sensations of energy or movement?
I was meditating the other day and after a long time of clear mind, I got images which I recognized as hypnagognic imagery. When meditating and a thought comes up I 'capture' the thought as an image (as if I take a photo of it) and then disolve that image by exploding it into small bits. When I get these HI's, should I also disolve those images?

[CFTraveler]

Images, sensations, and other mental activity are fine, just no verbal activity. Hypnagogic imagery is an indication of trance, so it's a good thing. You can embrace them, observe them, or merge into them (phase). But for an OBE with exit, don't merge, just observe your own state.

[carsten888]

thank you.

[carsten888]

"Raise and sponge energy from your feet through your legs to the base center."
Does this mean sponging to the base center and stop just before? Or sweeping through it? Or pressing it in?

How to get that energy into the base center?

[carsten888]

I know that sounds really weird. :D

Just want to share what really helped me in learning tactile imaging as used in the MAP program. To imagine the brushing feeling for energy stimulation of hands-feet-legs and arms I used a big radiator brush (a new, clean one :) ). Just after I took a shower. Why just after a shower? Because then I was naked, clean, refreshed and relaxed and the bathroom is nice and warm. So I sat down with closed eyes, cleared my mind and got into 'recording mode' brushing the soles of my feet a few times and paint the lines on limbs: The 4 sides of the legs, and the inner and outer side of the arms, each 3 times up and down. I focus on the feeling of the brush on the skin and just try and follow that. In my experience that made it lots easier to imagine the movement of energy before I could actually feel it.

I used a brush like this:
http://www.ccasales.com/Images/Photo-Brushes-Radiator.JPG

I hope this helps someone.

Have a nice day.

[CFTraveler]

Whatever works for you.
:)
But sweeping through it sounds right.

[carsten888]

thanks for reply.

I will experiment.

[carsten888]

I know, sounds like a really silly question. :roll: But I am seriousy confused :?

On the image in the book the heart-energy-center is in the middle of the body. My heart is left in my chest.

Where to do the energy stimulation?

[Korpo]

Hello, carsten888.

I'd say the energy center itself is at the center. Energy centers are more related to your first energy body, the etheric body. Its main energy lines run for example down the center of your front, of your back, through your spine and exactly through your body's center. They intersect with the energy centers / chakras - all of this on the center line of the body.

Oliver

[carsten888]

so the stimulation is also on that point in the middle, on the height of the heart?

[slighty off topic]
Long time ago when I started learning to meditate, I did not like to focus on breathing much, as I would force breath. So I experimented with focusing on the heart, which seamed more stable. I noticed clear shifts in contiousness, feeling stoned-like full of love, my heart feeling like a huge balloon. I stopped doing that by for fear of getting a heartattack or my heart exploding. Now I read the warnings in the book, I can relate to that.
[/slighty off topic]

[Korpo]

Yes, I would say so.

Never had anything negative coming from working with my heart.

What I would really recommend against, though, are energy-building techniques in combination with working that area. I used to try out some techniques that built energy rather quickly, but the enhanced flow could trigger sensations that could be even frightening and out-of-control. It was quite unpleasant. (But don't worry, none of those techniques are in the book. ;) )

Oliver

[carsten888]

thank for reply

[Rayson]

In most sources, you will see the chakras mapped out in a straight line up the body, from base to crown. I read it so many times, that when I started by spiritual development path, I used to stimulate and look for the heart chakra in the dead-center of that line, on the chest. And I always felt that I was hitting the mark- I could tell that there was something energetically large there.
*edit: I still call the "Primary Centers" chakras. Don't mind me.

One day I spoke with a mentor, and he told me that the heart chakra is actually about one inch off-center, on the right side. I was surprised, but experiemented for myself to try and see. I was further surprised when I found that 1-2 inches to the right of center seemed to stimulate the chakra more directly.

So then I was left with the question- have I actually found an improved piece of information about the energy body, or have I merely given in to a mental suggestion, wherein each time I found the chakra in exactly the place I was expecting to find it? This question is valid, and worth exploring, for myself, and for yourself (I find that almost everyone will have to confront an issue similar to this at some point in their spiritual development- "did I really sense this, or did I detect something because my mind told me I was?").

That said, I will throw in a few more pieces of info, to further flush this all out.
1) Chakras are large enough that even if you don't "hit" them directly, you still are likely going to make contact with them, as long as you are close.
2) There are deviations in the chakra system from person to person. Even those these are kind of rare, there are people with more or less chakras. I've twice met someone with 6 chakras. I myself have 8, and I've met others with 8 as well.
3) I've found that if a person has 2 heart chakras, they tend to have their primary one on the right, and the second develops on the left, usually about 1-2 inches away from the breast bone.
4) Chakras can also move off of center due to energetic or emotional trauma. It's also very rare, but they might retreat away from one's energetic center.

So maybe you have a second chakra. Maybe yours just tends towards the side naturally. Or maybe you have a significant energy structure or even block on the left that makes the area highly stimulated when you work near there.

It's worth exploring. However- don't stress. If you're not quit sure now what's going on, you'll probably learn it when the time is right, and you'll probably walk away having learned even more about your energy systems than someone who had a "by the books" experience. As far as proceeding on your work in the MAP Program, I'd suggest following your intuition on wherever you feel you should be targeting for the heart center

[carsten888]

I will explore (after the holidays).

thanks.

[Tom]

It is where you "instinctively" point to when you point to yourself and say "I" or "me" in conversation.

[heliac]

It is where you "instinctively" point to when you point to yourself and say "I" or "me" in conversation.

What?? i point to my face!

[Tom]

The explanation I was trying to avoid was that it is supposed to be in the middle, in line with the nipples. It only works well for men who are not overweight - because as they get larger their nipples move, too. Instead of talking about nipples I thought I'd go with the other explanation I read that didn't seem to be mentioned: when you point at your chest and say "I" or "me". Now you've gone and made me say chest and you made me say nipple.

[Kevin Bridges]

It's my understanding that the heart center is smack in the middle of the chest, over the sternum. I've heard it said that the chakras are actually connected to the spine, through the body, so if that's true then it makes sense that it's in the middle.

[Kevin Bridges]

I push the energy up to the area, and kind of imagine it sitting there amorphously, half in and half out of my body, like a ball floating on water. I've always thought of it as not getting it into the center, but as just putting it there, like stacking the groceries on the table. More like loading a brush with paint.

I don't have a copy of the book on the couch with me, but I'm guessing you're talking about primary center stimulation. What you want to get is a ball of energy that you're going to use to rub around on your energy center, to get it stimulated, like tickling your foot with a feather. You're not feeding the energy into it, so much, except for (I would have to guess) the energy it might naturally soak up by being stimulated.

[Kevin Bridges]

I would say don't worry too much about the hypnagogic imagery, since I wouldn't call that necessarily thinking. If you think they're getting in the way, of course, that's a different story.

[Kevin Bridges]

I used to have this problem. Practice will truly get rid of it. Just do your 1.5 second bounce, and try to go faster. Just like you're trying out for track. You can only go as fast as you can go, but if you do that enough, you'll notice you're able to go faster.

[Kevin Bridges]

Whatever feels right for you.

[carsten888]

thanks.

what seems to work for me now is to pull energy up on the inhale, collecting it around the center, and on the exhale kind of push it against the primary center with a spin, like blowing against a plastic kiddies windmill toy-thing (sorry kind of hard to explain) so I give the center a spinning sensation, which turns it on. I do 3 times inhale-exhale like that, and then some of these: brushing/spinning/breaking bread/camera shutter actions.

I'm not sure when when to stop. In 'the book' it says somewhere to stop when you feel the sensations, somewhere else it says to do this for 5 minutes per center. Most of the centers become noticible in seconds, but my heart I can work on for 5 minutes and hardly feel a thing. (see my other thread). Maybe I'm just heartless. Or my heartcenter really is in a different place.

When to stop? When sensations are felt or 5 minutes?

[carsten888]

@Kevin

Whatever feels right for you.
how is it going with the book promotion? :D

[dreamosis]

The physical heart is really only slightly to the left in the chest; it's more like the middle-left. It feels to the left because the aorta (the biggest artery in the body) branches to the left. Your left lung is somewhat smaller than your right because the heart is a little left.

In my experiences with feeling and seeing the heart center, it is central though, located in the breastbone.

[Alaskans]

My heart chakra moved up into the center of my head :shock: Possibly because I create emotions and energies willfully since finding all the reasons for creating emotions to be superfluous. I dont know where it is now, I usually only feel them when they move. You ever hear of something like that happening?

[Kevin Bridges]

how is it going with the book promotion?

I think it's time to call it quits. :( I'm writing articles now, though, and I can make real tangible dollars that way! :D

[carsten888]

day 31 (althou I have been doing this program now for a year, with breaks). :D

How to breath during trance?
In the preparation is deep breathing with sound (darth vader style). It doesn't say anywhere if this should be continuud during trance, so I assume not, althou it does seem to keep me a bit more awake.

[carsten888]

It says somewhere that when your mind starts wondering (feels like dreaming to me) bring focus back to the body, so I then focus on breathing again. But frankly:

what to do during trance? :)

When I get in a trance (falling sensation of landing airplane works best for me) what to focus on then? I tried the 15 minutes getting deeper, sometimes that works a little, but for now there seems to be a 'bottom' to the depth of trance, and I read there is no need for a really deep trance, so I'm there and wondering how to stay there as my mind can blink out (which I read is ok) but also I see dreamlike images (hypnagonic imagery). Do I just let that happen and risk falling asleep? Or refocus on breathing or so?

what to focus on during trance?

[CFTraveler]

I focus on whatever is in front of me- if it's blackness I try to make it deeper; if it's hypnagogics, I know I'm close. If they are going by fast I know I need a little more time- that's when energy body loosening methods are helpful. If I don't have them, I listen to the earhiss, and go from there.

[CFTraveler]

During trance practice breathing should be normal, but it's not a 'rule'- sometimes deep breathing can be used to get more focus and less chatter (one more thing to pay attention to)- but it's not compulsory. Do what helps you. I find that during trance I like to make things 'soft'- so instead of deep breathing I sort of do it with a lot of gentleness. But that's me.

[carsten888]

what do you do when you get hypnagogics (HI)? refocus?

[carsten888]

thanks for sharing.

[CFTraveler]

what do you do when you get hypnagogics (HI)? refocus? No, I use them to help me out.

[carsten888]

nice. :)

[carsten888]

In the OBE walkthrough you got to scream 'with emotion' on re-entry. I am puzzled on how to scream emotional. Example 'the airplanes are not there', how to scream with emotion?

Anyone got any tips?

[carsten888]

At the body loosening, should I be in the sitting-trance position (no headrest) or already in the ready-for-takeoff position? (with headrest/recliner/propped up with pillows etc.). I'm have been re-reading that part in the book at week 6, but don't really understand what is meant there.

[Korpo]

Hello, carsten888.

What gives you joy? When your team scores, for example? Try to remember a moment where you ever in your life jumped up and down and screamed with joy. Try to emulate this. Kind of like "Heureka! I've got it! I did it!"

Be well,
Oliver

[carsten888]

I don't think that I will have a lack of "I DID IT!!!" ;) just wondering how to add more of the emotional side to it. But maybe just "I DID IT!!!" will be enough.

[Korpo]

Hello, Carsten.


just wondering how to add more of the emotional side to it.
Again:


Try to remember a moment where you ever in your life jumped up and down and screamed with joy.
The rememberance of this moment is intended to help you recreate the emotion. You can use this to fuel your "I did it" with the felt emotion.

Oliver

[carsten888]

ok thanks, will try.

[CFTraveler]

In the already-for takeoff position. Even though energy body loosening isn't an exit tech, sometimes it can cause one- so it's better to be as comfortable as possible.
BTW, I don't change positions at all, I just make sure that by the deep trance stage I'm as comfy as possible so I don't feel the need to move later.

[carsten888]

I don't change positions at all
do you rest your head or keep balancing?

[CFTraveler]

I use a recliner- everything is supported.

[carsten888]

I tend to go to sleep when too comfy in trance, so I will have to get used to moving to other position. Thanks for replies.

[carsten888]

update:
I'm in week 6 now and found that pacing the breath during trance realy works for me. Today I did the pacing-the-breath for 15 instead of 5 minutes because i felt i was not doing this 'automatic' enough. After that, mind was already clear and went on to trance and just kept the pacing, but without the counting, which worked great.

note: so I changed the order, which makes more sense to me:
1. walkthrough
2. relax
3. energy prestimulation
4. body cycle
5. pacing
6. trance
7. loosening

Instead of pacing right after relaxing. I think the pace-breathing slots in better before the trance.