Spiritual Practice 101

[Mole]

I have enrolled in Spiritual Practice 101.

This semester we will be practising Waving.

Our teacher told us that this is not external waving but inner waving.

But first she said, we need to establish inner waving at will.

This is quite easy, she said, all you need to do is turn on the radio and dance for five minutes. Then you sit down for five minutes.

You do this five times, she said, and it takes about fifty minutes.

Victor.

 

[Mole]

But What is Waving

As you can imagine, I was not going to take this at face value, so I asked her, what is Waving.

Well, she said, first it is inner waving.

You need to learn to set up in your body and mind a set of waves flowing over fifty minutes.

Imagine, she said, you are hooked up to your computer with a heart monitor, an oxygen monitor, a brain wave monitor, a salt monitor, a temperature monitor, a muscle contraction monitor, a hormone monitor. And you could see a read out on your screen in front of you of each of these monitors.

What you would be looking at would be a read outs of your metabolic rates.

And you will see that they come in waves - a bit like sine waves.

And this, she said, is the important point - if you have full amplitude in your waves, if they are big waves, this is a sign you are healthy. But if your waves are small, it is a sign you are unwell. And if your monitors flatline, it means you are no longer alive.

So, in short, the bigger the waves, the more alive you are.

And so the purpose of the exercise is to increase the size of your waves.

Victor.

 

[Mole]

But What Has This To Do With Spiritualit?

So I was ready in my next class to ask, what had this to do with sprirituality?

Well, she said, it is simple - as you dance for five minutes, your metabolic rate goes up - you are riding up the wave - you start to feel euphoric.

But then you sit down and automatically your Relaxation Response starts to kick in. Your metabolic rate starts to come down - you are surfing down the front of the wave.

As your heart slows down, as your breathing slows down, you progressively start to relax. And after five minutes, you are quite deeply relaxed.

And so you get up again and dance for another five minutes. And this time, you become even more euphoric.

Until you sit down for another five minutes and become even more deeply relaxed.

And as you do this five times over fifty minutes, you set up a beautiful wave within yourself of euphoria and relaxation.

Victor.

 

[Mole]

Homework

I am just about to do my spiritual homework. I have set aside an hour without distractions. I have the radio tuned to dance music and a big mirror to watch myself dancing. (The teacher didn't mention the mirror, but I like to watch myself dancing).

I feel quite nervous. But I usually feel nervous when I am doing something new. I think it is a bit like stage fright.

Perhaps I will have a cup of tea first, then I will dance.

I wonder how it wil go. Will I feel the euphoria and the relaxation the first time or will it take more practice?

I feel like I am going out on my first date and I don't know what will happen.

Victor.

 

[Mole]

Resistance To Doing My Homework

I am meeting enormous resistance to doing my homework.

At first I thought I was procrastinating like Captain Chick. I said I would do my homework after a cup of tea, then I thought it was too late in the day and I would do it the next morning. Then I thought I would do it after a big breakfast but then I thought I was too full to dance. And so I have kept putting it off.

So I have come to realise my resistance is too important to ignore. Particularly as I am having dreams about it.

My dreams involve people stopping me doing my homework.

So I think my resistance it telling me something.

I think my resistance is telling me my homework is very important and it will have ramifications for me.

I think my resistance is telling me my homework will take me deep into myself.

And my resistance is telling me to pause and prepare myself for going deep.

And my resistance is telling me my homework will change me and such a change may not be welcome by other people.

So I think I should allow my resistance to prepare me for going deep.

And I should not expect others to understand or accept my depth.

On the other hand I am very excited about my homework. I am very excited because I have created my homework myself - it has not been given to me by someone else.

I expect my homework to enliven me, to enable me to do what I really want to do.

Victor.

 

[SillySapienne]

Victoire, my love!!!

Helllo!!

I have a presentation for my plant ecology class at 8:00am tomorrow morning, but alas, I have yet to begin to start preparing for it!!!

Yes, I too resist homework, yuck!!!

 

[swordpath]

Sounds like a rather "out there" type of class.

 

[Mole]

What We Don't Know

Helllo!!

I have a presentation for my plant ecology class at 8:00am tomorrow morning, but alas, I have yet to begin to start preparing for it!!!

Yes, I too resist homework, yuck!!!

Hello, dear Capitaine,

I hope your presentation for your plant ecology class goes well.

But I was wondering - would you like to explore what your resistance is telling you?

Of course you may not wish to explore your resistance and I quite understand.

But rather than seeing my resistance outside of myself, I see it as strongly, very strongly, telling myself something - something I don't yet know about myself.

Perhaps I am being importune, but I was wondering what you don't know about yourself - but only if you want to share.

Victoire.

 

[SillySapienne]

"Beautiful Movement out of the Mysterious Void"

^an English translation/interpretation for the Chinese ideogram that represents dance!

I love music, and I love to dance!!!

When we dance, we communicate with the music, using our bodies as our instrument.

Victoire, I envy your assignment, want to switch?

 

[sassafrassquatch]

Messing with your brain chemistry != spirituality.

I don't see how this involves any, you know, spirits.

 

[Mole]

Sharing My Assignment

^an English translation/interpretation for the Chinese ideogram that represents dance!

I love music, and I love to dance!!!

When we dance, we communicate with the music, using our bodies as our instrument.

Victoire, I envy your assignment, want to switch?

Dear Captain,

I am happy for you to do your assignment. Particularly as mine is a self assignment - I have created it for myself.

However I do feel nervous about doing this assignment and by sharing it with you is very helpful - also sharing it with you helps me understand it.

I enjoy sharing it with you.

Victor.

 

[Mole]

Trance Design

Sounds like a rather "out there" type of class.

This is a class I have created for myself.

Technically this class is a designed trance.

A trance can be created by any repetition. And as you see I am repeating dancing and sitting - I am repeating euphoria and relaxation - I am repeating five minutes by five minutes - and I am doing it five times. So it is a trance within a trance.

I have thought of calling this designed trance, "5X5X5".

What do you think?

Victor.

 

[SillySapienne]

Viva la Resistance

Hello, dear Capitaine,

I hope your presentation for your plant ecology class goes well.

But I was wondering - would you like to explore what your resistance is telling you?

Perhaps I am being importune, but I was wondering what you don't know about yourself - but only if you want to share.

Victoire.

My resistance can be both a friend and a foe to me.

In regards to "homework" procrastination, it for a long time was a foe, but it has now become a friend.

When I don't want to do something because I think it is stupid, i.e. a waste of time, then I will put off having to do it until the very last moment. Because I have accepted this as a character trait of mine, for ex., for my presentation tomorrow, I know I won't begin to prepare until at least midnight, and right before class. My knowledge of this fact allows me to guilt-free enjoy the things I am doing instead of doing that, i.e. posting right now on the forum

However, there is another form of resistance that I exhibit, and it is when I don't want to confront something that I am scared of, this usual occurs when I have to communicate something potentially "negative" to someone that I know/care about.

This form of resistance, needs to be proverbially "put in check", one should only resist legitimate fears, but one must also realize that most fears are illegitimate.

Oh, and Victoire...

How am I supposed to know what I don't know about myself. I only know what I do know, and can only continue to search to find out more about my previously unknown self.


-Femme chic

 

[Mole]

The Physical and the Spiritual

Messing with your brain chemistry != spirituality.

I don't see how this involves any, you know, spirits.

This is a good question.

The physical side of the class is the dancing and sitting and the spiritual side of the class is the euphoria and the relaxation.

So I regard euphoria and relaxation as spiritual.

And the spirit involved is me.

And now you, as you listen.

Victor.

 

[sassafrassquatch]

^^^ That's how you use spirits to alter your brain chemistry.

 

[swordpath]

Hmmm. You may get a sensation of light headedness, followed by fainting.

?

 

[Mole]

Character

My resistance can be both a friend and a foe to me.

In regards to "homework" procrastination, it for a long time was a foe, but it has now become a friend.

When I don't want to do something because I think it is stupid, i.e. a waste of time, then I will put off having to do it until the very last moment. Because I have accepted this as a character trait of mine, for ex., for my presentation tomorrow, I know I won't begin to prepare until at least midnight, and right before class. My knowledge of this fact allows me to guilt-free enjoy the things I am doing instead of doing that, i.e. posting right now on the forum

However, there is another form of resistance that I exhibit, and it is when I don't want to confront something that I am scared of, this usual occurs when I have to communicate something potentially "negative" to someone that I know/care about.

This form of resistance, needs to be proverbially "put in check", one should only resist legitimate fears, but one must also realize that most fears are illegitimate.

Oh, and Victoire...

How am I supposed to know what I don't know about myself. I only know what I do know, and can only continue to search to find out more about my previously unknown self.


-Femme chic

My Dear Femme Chic,

Sure, you don't know what you don't know about yourself.

And you describe this as your character.

And it seems to me that character is opaque.

And I am curious to see into your character.

I am curious to see into my character and yours.

Victor.

 

[Mole]

Ya Wanna Be Depressed or Alive?

^^^ That's how you use spirits to alter your brain chemistry.

Good ol' Jack is a powerful depressant while I am interested in being more alive.

Victor.

 

[Mole]

Natural Euphoria and Relaxation

Hmmm. You may get a sensation of light headedness, followed by fainting.

?

I find I become euphoric while dancing and the Relaxation Response happens automatically when I sit down afterwards.

Victor.

 

[swordpath]

Good ol' Jack is a powerful depressant while I am interested in being more alive.

Victor.

Have you tried methamphetamine yet?