Ways To Alter Consciousness

Silent Retreats Alter Consciousness and Bring Peace

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:55:00 +0000

I found this quote on a website where I was browsing for silent retreat locations.

"We're all searching for ways to bring peace into our lives, and the simple act of being quiet is a wonderful way to do it."...Ironically, the most intimidating factor about silent retreats for the novice meditator is the constant quietness.
http://www.yogabound.com/yoga/art_silent_retreats.htm

Now I have wanted to go on a silent retreat since perhaps 1999 or so when I first heard about them. Then the desire was deepened later when I did a powerful silent group walking meditation. It was a very amazing thing to walk with a large group of strangers in the woods and beside the lake- without a word uttered. There comes a communion and a feeling of love for all, as if you know them, and they you. Spontaneous hugs are given afterward, which no-one has to suggest.

So about silent retreats, I have heard that they quiet the constant chatter in one's brain. I have a very active brain, and it does need to be reigned-in once in a while. So this is what else I have heard about silent retreats...

The first few days are hell...

You are trapped in a Dante's Inferno of quiet that you can't speak into, with only 399 billion thoughts in your own head for company.

Then your brain stops chattering and hell turns to heaven.

You feel a common love and forgiveness for all. And you are profoundly affected by having felt that space of peace. And the affect lasts into your future.

I still have not gone on a silent retreat, but as another powerful way to alter consciousness, I plan to. Comment on this page if you have ever gone on one, and tell us what it is like.

Below is an excerpt from my latest article on one of my other blogs, MacKenzie Phillips- Another Tragic Second Hand Addict

As far as I can tell, Mackenzie Phillips was a Second Hand Addict before she ever became an addict. In other words she was living as a young woman 'at the effect' of the drug addiction or abuse of other people. And who knows from whence her father's alleged abuse and violations came. Certainly the drugs warping his brain must have played a role. And perhaps he was also a child victim himself- as incest is known to be passed down in families.

www.secondhandaddiction.blogspot.com

Drumming Circles- Bringing a Powerful Altered State

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:26:00 +0000

I found this quote on a website recently. As you may know, I am interested in altering consciousness naturally, and without drugs or alcohol- which to me is much more fulfilling, and also safer. They had a lot of good things to say at this site, and you may want to explore some of their ideas.

http://www.catanna.com/altered_states.htm

"But you can also alter the way you experience the world naturally by learning to 'get high' by controlling your own brain wave patterns with music, trance dancing, drumming, lucid dreaming, meditation & guided visualizations, chanting, brainwave tweaking 'mind machines', or some of these other ancient and modern mind-altering modern and ancient shamanic techniques."

When I read this I thought back to some amazing experiences I had when I used to attend something known as a drumming circle. Africans and Native Americans have known about this marvelous way to alter your consciousness for centuries. But I first experienced it about 5 years ago.

I recall sitting in one drumming circle. It was in a Yoga center. A large room with a wooden floor and twenty or so drums all around. We started drumming and the beat quickly became all encompassing. Soon there was drumming, drumming, drumming. I was doing the drumming, hearing the drumming, and being the drumming. After a while there was nothing but beat. Eventually the beat took me out of my seat to the center of the circle. Now I was in the center of a tribal dance. I felt there was a fire and I was circling it. I was calling some force, some power to the tribe. I was the rain man, the medicine woman. I was bringing fertility and plenty. I was all- powerful and all-knowing. And I was circling with my feet that stomped some long ago forgotten steps, from lives gone past. I could feel the force of the universe being pulled to our beat. Positive energy swirled the room, and I swirled with it- carrying it to its home. Somehow, I knew just what to do as I brought the life force to our holy ground.

When the song ended there was silence. A holy feeling of spirit was present. Each person had done their part in the circle, and each person was drained. But somehow we were all fuller than we had been when we came. At that point we total strangers had become one.

There certainly is no high on earth like the one I felt that night. And it was even more poignant because I would never forget the experience, or be ashamed of it- as I might with drugs or alcohol.

Drumming Circles. Look them up in your area and get closer to your spirit and also to the spirits of others.

Dwelling on the Positive- What a Way to Alter Consciousness

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:12:00 +0000

Ways to alter consciousness. Hmmm. A tricky thought. For life is very complicated in this day and age, is it not?

I know for me I am a single mom looking to make ends meet. I want to make money at what I love to do- but for now I am working three jobs to sustain myself and my 3 children. In addition, I am going to court to secure custody of the three of them as their dad has a self-inflicted sickness and can no longer be the father he wants to be (Visit my blog www.secondhandaddiction.blogspot.com) Now the kids are not so very old, so it would be best if I could be with them a lot more. But I must work, and I must look for the next job, and I must buy the food, and do the laundry, and pay the bills. And so on and so forth.

I’m sure many of you can relate.

Now I happen to know it is supremely important to maintain a positive outlook- especially in the midst of crisis. I know that in order to be my most powerful self I cannot bask in the luxury of self pity or negative thoughts. I know I cannot do this because negative will breed ever more negative, and fear will breed ever more of whatever you fear. This is the Law of Attraction. And also, I think it is common sense.

But I am human and how to remain authentically positive all of the time is sometimes a mystery. And with so little time it is not possible to lie around meditating or doing yoga for hours at a time- as much as I would love to do that. But quite frankly it is tough enough even to get to the gym. So what do I do?

Now we are talking about ways to alter consciousness, or the way we feel and think in a given moment. And so I recently took a few minutes to write out some affirmations. It was a soul searching process to be sure, because I wanted them to be ‘my affirmations’ and targeted at the areas I personally needed to grow. I wanted them to speak to my soul. (But you can find excellent affirmations at Barnes and Noble in a small booklet by Louise Hay.) Next I printed my affirmations up in triplicate. I put one copy near my bed so I could say them as I woke up or went to sleep. I put one copy in my car-where I, like most of you, spend a lot of my time. And I put one copy in my purse to bring it to work.

Then one day I sat at my station at work waiting for someone to come by. I was feeling dragged out. So I pulled out my paper and said my affirmations to myself. Now sometimes I have needed clear out the negative before trying to be positive. (Clearing out is important and different than dwelling on it- but we’ll discuss that another time.) But this time, although I did not feel the spirit of the affirmations. I said them anyway. Pretty soon I began to feel better. After a while I got brave and told them to some of the other employees nearby. We got to talking and pretty soon they were feeling better. Soon after I spoke about them to a customer in line. We started talking and she began to feel better. She vowed to get back to her own spiritual practices. So the more I said those affirmations, the more I spoke about them, the more we all felt better. And the good feeling spread.

So as you look at ways to alter consciousness, do not forget the practice of ‘living into’ the good through positive affirmations and self-talk. Because just as negative reinforces itself and spreads like wildfire- positive will do the same. And positive spreads like a flood, dousing out the negative flames.

So put a lot of that positive energy out there into the world…especially these days as it pertains to the economy and money. If you do it will come back to you tenfold.

Ways to Alter Consciousness- A new idea?

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:01:00 +0000

When we talk about the concept of ways to alter consciousness, what do we actually mean?

Do we mean improving our memory? Is it increasing our IQ or improving our sleep? Are we discussing becoming psychic or clairvoyant, or reaching a deeper meditation state? Or do we simply want to be able to stop yelling at our children? Now as I see it, altering consciousness is all of this and much, much more. It is shifting the very way we think, see the world, live our lives, and exist on this planet.

If all of this is sounding very new-agey, that’s because it is.

And as I speak about ways to alter consciousness you may begin to think of manifestation, and the movie called the Secret. You may be reminded of Echart Tolle and THE POWER OF NOW or A NEW EARTH.. You may think of Yoga, meditation, Buddha and karma. You may recall a life-changing course you once took called The Landmark Forum. You may think of the deepest tenets of Christianity and other world religions. Quotes may come to mind- such as “There but for The Grace of God Go I” and ‘Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ”

And as we think further about altering consciousness there may come a realization…This is not so new age as we thought.

You see, people have been trying for centuries to alter consciousness. And there has been a long standing idea regarding ‘in what direction’ we should actually alter it. Who disputes, for instance, the concept of living on this earth in peace with all mankind? Who argues against tolerance, love and good judgment? What person would say it is better to harm people than to help them? Who thinks it is not a good thing for all beings to live their lives in happiness, joy, and with complete fulfillment?

No my friends, these are not new ideas. But what is new here is the idea, the concept, the glimmer of a thought that we could actually do it… There is an arising awareness, sweeping the planet like a brushfire, that it is within our reach as human beings to live our lives in peace and harmony with each other, as well as with a high level of life fulfillment for all. Now notice I never said people thought this was probable, nor that it was an assured. I only said there is an awareness that it is possible. And that in itself is a huge breakthrough for mankind- as this idea has never occurred in masses of the population before.

And if we don’t kill ourselves off first, we might just actualize this possibility.

I’m an optimist at heart and choose to believe we will. So as these articles progress, I will speak more about various ways to alter consciousness in the direction I believe humanity is longing to go. Some are time honored, tried and true practices that take some work. Others, such as brain entrainment, are new on the evolutionary scale, and relatively easy to employ. Stay tuned as we explore all of these practices in more depth. And as the yogis say, Namaste.

This mind sync tool is amazing.
Click Here!

I also love this one.
Click Here!

Take this mind-blowing course called The Landmark Forum. Then be sure to get back to me and tell me what miracles happened for you.
www.landmarkeducation.com