SUMMARY OF FIRST EXERCISES
At best – go outside – where things are moving and changing randomly, ... surprisingly, ... amazingly, ... then:
Seeing
– extract from Going on the LookoutListening
– extract from The Simple Sense of NowListen out for changes. Listen out for sudden sounds, nearby and in the distance. Animals listen out for quick warning signs, such as bangs, but even quiet sounds, like a twig snapping, are important.
It depends on where you are and what sort of background noises there are, but i often find it useful to listen out for children and dogs. At night for hedgehogs and owls. You might not hear them, that's irrelevant, listening out for them is the vital part.
If you do these first two exercises as well as you can, for one minute a day, for a week, i guarantee you'll have some unusual experience of wholeness, and/or stopping the thoughts for a second.
Going Panoramic
– extract from The Exploration of Panoramic ExercisesShort periods reduce the concentrated work-load, make it easy, make it fun. Firstly, if it's interesting or enjoyable you'll want to repeat it. Also, short regular periods of stimulation will act as a catalyst: they are the best way to tell your subconscious "it's time to remember".
Smelling and Tasting
– extract from Mindfulness of Breathing and SmellingTasting and smelling are intrinsically connected. The following exercise separates the 'in-smell' and 'out-taste', so that the contrasts become clearer.
As you breathe out, open your mouth very slightly, with the lips just touching and you will taste your out-breath.
Then leave the lips very slightly open, and 'smell-in' through your nose. As you 'smell-in', something will close off like a valve at the back of your mouth. This will give you the impression that the 'in-smell' fills behind the cheek bones, the middle, top, and back of your head.
'Smell-in' through your nose and 'Taste-out' through your mouth
Let the residue of the in-smell and the out-taste build up - in the nostrils, nasal canals, head, etc., and the mouth, throat, etc., - over a period of five breaths, - savour those taste and smell residues.
Please continue with The Value and The Effects