Meditation for Self-Remembering (A Fourth Way Exercise)

[Perri475]

https://youtu.be/-jNGXm8DWug

I was looking for something to fall asleep to and saw this meditation and thought I'd try it out. Not too long in it felt more to me like a kundilini esque exercise.. I went to the channel of the uploader and he had more meditation videos as well as a video on merkaba.. As I've come to understand, Gurdjieff referred to this sort of stuff as (paraphrasing) ''tricks'' or distractions? The meditation focused on ''feeling'' the body from the feet up. Feeling the rising awareness from each toe up through the legs to the spine. I can only imagine the end result of the video is awareness from top to bottom.

I could be wrong, but fwiw i felt like it was worth posting here

 

[Buddy]

As I've come to understand, Gurdjieff referred to this sort of stuff as (paraphrasing) ''tricks'' or distractions?

I don't know but, if so, then maybe someone just put an esoteric layer on top of an otherwise useful relaxation exercise?

Stripped of its esoteric layer, it resembles a useful progressive relaxation exercise to help you relax or even go to sleep if that's really all you're wanting it for.

I've used something similar before and it also started at the toes and ended at the top of the head. Simply enough, it just involves scanning your body, stopping at major muscle groups at first and concentrate on relaxing them. If at first you don't really know what a fully relaxed muscle group feels like, then you would just tense them and relax, tense them and relax. Proceed up the body at your own pace.

The first few times I tried this I had a hard time keeping my attention on the body due to distracting environmental stimuli and thought lines that had apparently been waiting for me to get back to. After just a few nightly attempts though, I managed to stay focused on the body. I sometimes made it all the way to the top of the head, but most of the time I was asleep before I could finish.

 

[Perri475]

I was falling in trance with it so it is indeed relaxing, but I guess it was just the presentation of it that set off warning bells!

Although seeing your take on it makes me interested in trying it again. finishing volume 2 of the wave has made me a lot more skeptical towards "practices". But now that I think about it, someone can easily take a useful meditation technique and put their own " esoteric" (or what have you) spin on it. Now that you explain the process I can see how it is useful, so thank you :)

 

[Laurelayn]

As I've come to understand, Gurdjieff referred to this sort of stuff as (paraphrasing) ''tricks'' or distractions?

I don't know but, if so, then maybe someone just put an esoteric layer on top of an otherwise useful relaxation exercise?

Stripped of its esoteric layer, it resembles a useful progressive relaxation exercise to help you relax or even go to sleep if that's really all you're wanting it for.

I've used something similar before and it also started at the toes and ended at the top of the head. Simply enough, it just involves scanning your body, stopping at major muscle groups at first and concentrate on relaxing them. If at first you don't really know what a fully relaxed muscle group feels like, then you would just tense them and relax, tense them and relax. Proceed up the body at your own pace.

The first few times I tried this I had a hard time keeping my attention on the body due to distracting environmental stimuli and thought lines that had apparently been waiting for me to get back to. After just a few nightly attempts though, I managed to stay focused on the body. I sometimes made it all the way to the top of the head, but most of the time I was asleep before I could finish.

Hi Buddy,
I have been looking for something just like the simple meditation you describe here for my husband without success, do you have a link or suggestions to find a similar one. My Grandfathers name was Bud, and he used that kind of meditation when he got cancer in the 70's.

 

[Buddy]

Hi Buddy,
I have been looking for something just like the simple meditation you describe here for my husband without success, do you have a link or suggestions to find a similar one. My Grandfathers name was Bud, and he used that kind of meditation when he got cancer in the 70's.

Sure. If you want to stay away from unvetted, questionable esoteric stuff, there are two general categories of PMR (progressive muscle relaxation) you can look into. The link below talks about both on the same page. I've used both, but the one I was primarily involved with was outlined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the pioneers of applying Mindfulness in clinical, health-related uses of meditation and relaxation. This category in which Jon mentions meditation is the one called PPR (Passive Progressive Relaxation) and is described on the bottom half of the page.

_http://faculty.weber.edu/molpin/healthclasses/1110/bookchapters/progressivechapter.htm

Passive Progressive Relaxation

Another form of progressive relaxation was introduced as an effective way of relaxing the body by Jon Kabat-Zinn, director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Kabat-Zinn created a more passive way of progressing through the various parts of the body and named it the body scan. Working with patients who struggle with all types of diseases and disorders, Kabat-Zinn introduced this form of relaxation/meditation as the first method for patients to use in order to discover their bodies in a non-judgmental way and begin to find some relief from their stress related symptoms.