Breath Awareness..and then some!

[sarahjustin0130]

I've been meditating daily everyday for 30 minutes to an hour using the Breath Awareness method give by Robert Bruce. At first, I had problems nodding off during the session. Now, about 3 months since I started the practice, it's become the opposite! I don't fall asleep, but my mind just won't quiet down! I used to be able to enter altered states through meditation years back, however life circumstances prevented me from any sort of spiritual work until the last year. Thinking back to my meditation back then, I not only focused on breath awareness, I would saturate my entire mind with "Iiinnnnnn", and then "Ouuuttttt", to where I seen "IN" and "OUT" in my mind's eye, and I heard it being said to the point where it drowned out any and all other sounds, thought-words, etc. The rise and fall of my abdomen was just the physical aspect of my breath awareness, you could say.

Also, I've purchased Initiation Into Hermetics by Franz Bardon. He prescribes the three methods of Thought Control. I'm practicing the first one where I just observe my thoughts for 5 minutes, twice a day. The second method says to focus on one and only one thing (i.e. Breath Awareness), and to keep everything else out of the mind. I'm carrying this method into every second of daily life, as much as I can! I figure, to sit in meditation for an hour with a clear mind, only to get up and walk away from it letting the mental chatter continue, is counterproductive. So I stay mindful of my entire being, just breathing in and out, as much as I can throughout the day.

I also think that its a good idea to get meditation/thought control down-pat some more before continuing into NEW. I'm also doing everything that Franz Bardon has set up for Step I, Magical Schooling of the Spirit, Soul, and Body, and keeping a spiritual journal. Once I've built my spiritual foundation more solidly, I will incorporate NEW into it. If I do NEW now, what starts as me running energy through my limbs ends up being me thinking about what time I should go get groceries!

[CFTraveler]

Don't get too attached to the idea that you have to have a quiet mind all the time. This is not a normal way for a human being to be, because memories have to be indexed all the time, so 'quieting the chatter' is supposed to help you attune to 'other' energies when the time is right. Yogis who can maintain mindful states all the time live very regimented lives, in communities dedicated to these practices-but when you strive to control your unconscious (which is what you're doing) at all times you're just occupying your mind with another type of chatter- the obsessive single minded kind.
You don't have to master mind quieting before getting to NEW, because NEW is an energy-moving technique, which can be done anywhere, at anytime, in any state of mind, or practically so. Trance enhances the feedback but it's not necessary. If your objective is to attain liberation in this lifetime and you want to stay mindful 24/7, then I suggest you join some sort of monastery or ashram where the atmosphere is built around this type of activity.
.02.
As you may have gathered, I am not a fan of extremism of any kind, I'm more of a 'middle way' kind of person, and I personally think Gautama hit the nail on the head- attachment to riches is no different than attachment to poverty, attachment to earthly distractions is no different to attachment to self-denial.

[sarahjustin0130]

Yeah I understand. I guess I should rephrase myself; I just try to be mindful of just being in daily living. I'm only practicing mind quieting extensively before getting to NEW because I find that I easily get distracted by thoughts while doing NEW, and feel it necessary to have some more control than what I currently have. For example, if I'm at work, I simply focus my mind on working, and not anything else. I stay mindful of being at work, working. Just kicking my diligence up a notch, that's all!

[CFTraveler]

Ah, I get it now. I like to do the same, and when I catch myself living in my head I just do a little centering meditation and then observe myself as I do. It seems to do the trick.

[sarahjustin0130]

Yeah, I have to be very diligent with myself. When I'm at work I'll be thinking about everything and being everywhere but in the moment, thinking about college, bills, rehearsing things in my head, you name it basically. I'll even carry an internal dialogue..about quieting my internal dialogue! When I carry this noisy mindset, it's rather difficult to sit down and just shut it all off in meditation, so I'm just trying to at least maintain a state of mind that's more centered and conducive to the practice of meditation, that's all.

Also, doesn't it say in Energy Work and AD that in order to do the larger limb actions, and primary center work, that you need to have a mind silent of surface thoughts?

[CFTraveler]

Yes, but not to the point of complete blankness- more like the ability to concentrate on the task at hand. The work in itself is a way to quiet the mind at times, and he does say in various places that it's better to control verbal thoughts, supplanting them with other types of thoughts- like tactile or visual information, avoiding the words more than the thinking.
The thing is that when it becomes a problem it's better to let it run its course, so that it doesn't become the focus of your thinking, instead of the thing you're doing.