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Good day, dear friends and visitors of the blog “Space of Inner Strength”! Today we will learn to enter an altered state of consciousness, or alpha state, and we will learn how to do this in 10 seconds. My record for entering the alpha state is 7 seconds, and into a deep state (2-3 seconds for relaxation, the same amount for entering a regular alpha and then a couple of seconds into a deep state of altered consciousness).
Then we will move on to practicing the theta state, although it is possible that you will fall into this state already in the first technique.
The alpha state of the brain allows you to quickly relax the body, enter into deep meditation, receive answers from the subconscious, and effectively reprogram destructive programs. In this state, it is recommended to work with visualizations, affirmations and other techniques.
To begin with, you just need to learn how to enter an altered state of consciousness, and then reduce this time to a minimum (10-15 seconds or less). I entered this state in 7 seconds when I was in a calm state.
I’ll tell you briefly about brain frequencies for those who don’t know what we’re talking about. Brain frequency is waves with a frequency of approximately 0.5 to 40 cycles per second, or 1.5 to 40 Hz. This frequency determines what state we are in: awake, drowsy or deep sleep.
The lower the frequency or less, the closer the person’s state becomes to sleep. The higher the frequency, the faster and more active our brain works.
Don't confuse brain frequency with human frequency. These are completely different systems.
Conventionally, brain frequencies were divided into 5 parts. The brain emits gamma, betta, alpha, theta and delta waves. Now let's take a closer look at each wave.
Gamma waves are the fastest. Their frequency is 30-45 Hz. These waves are generated by the brain in both hemispheres. Consciousness at this frequency works at its maximum. It is believed that these waves begin to be produced when a person needs to simultaneously work with different types of information and at the same time connect them with each other as quickly as possible. As gamma waves decrease, the ability to remember begins to decrease.
Betta waves are generated by the left hemisphere of the human brain. Their frequency is from 14 to 30 Hz. They are responsible for logical thinking, concentration, and decision making. Betta waves provide the opportunity to be active in society. They speed up brain function and enhance information processing and absorption. They also enhance the overall energy of the body, excite the nervous system, eliminate drowsiness and sharpen the senses.
Alpha waves. It is with them that we will work today. When you begin to relax with your eyes closed and various images begin to appear in your mind, your imagination begins to work actively and alpha waves appear. Their frequency is from 7 to 14 Hz. Alpha waves are generated by the right hemisphere of the brain.
When an adult is in a relaxed and comfortable state and at the same time retains conscious activity, a sufficient number of alpha waves are produced. Essentially, this is the state before falling asleep.
At this frequency, a person can effectively cope with the tasks assigned to him. Alpha waves greatly enhance the ability to perceive a large amount of information, develop abstract thinking, and help self-control. This frequency is also good for relieving stress, nervous tension and anxiety.
Alpha waves help connect the conscious mind with the subconscious mind (or soul). At this frequency, so-called joy hormones are produced, which help reduce pain and are responsible for a positive outlook on life, happiness, joy and relaxation.
Theta waves bring the body into a state of deep relaxation. This is a state of sleep where dreams can occur. Their frequency is from 4 to 7 Hz. If you master conscious entry into this frequency and conscious stay there, solving many issues will be much easier. I have not yet mastered this state. For now, alpha is enough for me.
In the theta rhythm after heavy exercise, the body can quickly recover. At this frequency, a feeling of bliss and peace appears. Theta waves are generated by the right hemisphere of the brain. They are the boundary between consciousness and subconscious.
Theta waves promote the manifestation of paranormal abilities. They enhance emotions and feelings, and also allow you to program and reprogram the subconscious, and get rid of negative and limiting thinking. For people involved in self-development, mastering this frequency can be of great benefit.
Delta waves. This rhythm begins to work during deep sleep. In the delta state, the body undergoes intensive self-healing and self-healing processes. Delta waves are generated by the right hemisphere of the brain. Their frequency is from 0.5 to 4 Hz.
An altered state of consciousness (ASC) begins with the alpha frequency and at the border of alpha and theta waves.
It is at these frequencies that it is good to reprogram the body. It would be ideal to work at theta frequencies, but this is actually sleep and requires long-term training.
Now we will learn to enter a deep alpha state without a computer and special music. In this state, you can recover in literally 10-15 minutes, find solutions to problems, get answers to troubling questions that you cannot get answers to in a normal state, reconfigure your entire body, reprogram internal programs and beliefs, and tune in to events.
The desire for an altered consciousness is an attempt to look at everything from the “other side”
“I drink a hundred grams, and my soul becomes easier.”
Alcohol is also an attempt to change consciousness in order to look for other ways to solve a problem, to come to insight. This doesn't always work out, of course. Or rather, it almost never works out. But the fact remains a fact. The vast majority of great poets and artists abused alcohol. After all, alcohol gave them the opportunity for inspiration. That is, he changed their consciousness so that they were able to find something original for creativity. And as a rule, any abusing person fills the “grayness and frailty” of his existence. And by and large – the materiality, finitude and structure of the world. If we do not want to completely turn off consciousness (which often happens with alcoholism), but strive to come to some kind of truth (that is, to comprehend something), practices for changing consciousness are embedded in yoga, and in religious actions and rituals. But for some, such generally accepted versions are not suitable. They strive for rapid trance states. The speed of achieving a certain change becomes an important factor: you don’t have to spend years learning the basics of relaxation or meditation. That's why people start trying hypnosis and/or recreational drugs.
Let's get this straight. In our country, the production and use of narcotic substances is illegal. No, of course, you can make a voyage, for example, to Holland. But, in a foreign country, without accompaniment and support, you can get into trouble. Moreover, even if some insight happens, you will not know what it is for and what to do next with all this.
Hypnosis
Your eyelids become heavy, you want to sleep, your body is relaxed.
This is roughly how hypnotists work in movies. A mandatory attribute in this case is a pendulum in the hands of this specialist. Then the suggested object with a glassy look gets up and goes to do what the master ordered. In real life, the abilities of hypnosis are more limited. A modern hypnotist, or rather a hypnotherapist, works with the patient’s subconscious in order to solve his mental problems. That is, this is one of the types of psychotherapy. The process of hypnosis is similar to the introduction of trance among ancient tribes (but not so loud and large-scale) using certain monotonous actions, keywords and sometimes suitable sound accompaniment. The patient is brought into a state of absolute peace, relaxation, and abstraction, and then the hypnotherapist hacks the person’s operating system and enters developer mode. Of course, everything is not so serious, but he can perform certain manipulations with the consciousness of a gullible patient.
But this is if the experimental subject is suggestible, is disposed to hypnosis and believes that he needs it and it will help him. Hypnosis is not a one-size-fits-all therapeutic tool. Rather, it is a trick for the brain that a person who is delighted with a rabbit taken out of a hat will take seriously, believe in “magic”; and a lover of revelations will always find a double bottom in this hat.
If you are afraid that after a hypnosis session you will wake up on the street without clothes and realize that your gold teeth are no longer yours, then you can try self-hypnosis. The banal technique “relax and count to ten” is also one of the types of self-hypnosis, when you concentrate your attention on mental counting while you experience the peak of surging emotions. This technique also helps with special phrases, with the help of which you “code” yourself and make fine tuning. But from the outside, such things look scary. In some cases, self-hypnosis is used to relieve pain. I recently read in a book how one of the characters experienced post-operative pain: he gave himself the attitude that it was impossible to cope with the pain “entirely”, but he could easily experience every single second of it, that is, he divided the pain into parts and dealt with it in this way . We experienced something from this series in our childhood: “A spoon for mom, a spoon for dad.”
Completion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! Choose the most suitable method for yourself and start implementing it. Just take care of your own safety. As you can understand, the AIS process does not always go “smoothly”.
Good luck to you on your path to a new life!
We also recommend that you read an article about human superpowers and the ability to realize them.
The material was prepared by psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Alina Zhuravina
Read further:
Methods and practices for expanding consciousness
What is mass consciousness and the main methods of modern manipulation
TOP 12 films to change your thinking about the meaning of life
Suspiciousness: causes and ways to get rid of this condition
Basic ways and methods for changing the qualities of your character for the better
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Solving Problems Using the Alpha Brain State
In this trance state, you can tune in to solve the necessary problems and simply observe thoughts and images. Once you learn to enter a deep alpha state, you can master problem solving through this technique. Before practice, tune in to solving the desired problem, otherwise you may not remember this in the alpha itself and immerse yourself in the alpha. If you have found a solution to the problem, immediately get out of this state, otherwise you may not remember later.
With the help of an assistant, you can do great things, including writing books. To solve simple one-answer solutions, just enter alpha and observe what is happening there. We received an answer and left alpha.
If you need to receive a large amount of information, it is difficult to remember it. In this case, an assistant would be an ideal option. You received a piece of information in alpha, spoke it out loud and immediately entered alpha again. The assistant wrote down the information.
A new piece of information arrived, was spoken out loud again, the assistant wrote it down again, etc. Thus, you will practically not leave this trance state and dictate information to the assistant. Of course, you can also use a voice recorder for this.
It is very easy to get out of the alpha state. A little effort of will and you are already in betta. When leaving alpha, try to endure this wonderful state that you will have.
Thus, you will become stronger and happier, stress and problems will affect you less and less, you will become a more confident person. I prepared some fragments of texts on this blog using the alpha state.
Most people get into the first shallow alpha the first time. As I already wrote in the article about neural connections, it takes 21 days to create new skills. I recommend that you start practicing entering an altered state of consciousness for 21 days. Ideally, this should be done 3 times a day for 3 weeks.
When I started learning to enter a deep alpha state, I practiced 3 times a day and the day came when I entered deep alpha. I immediately felt this and, out of curiosity, looked at the calendar of my classes. And what do you think? It was 21 days of classes. This may be a coincidence, but it seems somewhat natural.
It is very pleasant to do this practice before bed. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to enter this state 3 times a day. If you want to learn a new ability, look for conditions for practicing. Do this practice at least once a day, but daily. Once you have established this skill, daily practice will no longer be necessary. In order to enter an altered state of consciousness in 10 seconds, it took me about 2 months of daily practice.
Holotropic Breathwork
Yoga classes usually begin with an explanation of the principles of proper breathing: students are told how to inhale and exhale so that your next change of position does not end with shortness of breath and a red face stuck on the floor.
The technique of holotropic breathing is associated with its excess. In the 60s, American scientists were absorbed in the ideas of altered states and their influence on humans - either in order to create super-soldiers, or in attempts to create new X-Men. The result of such research was the invention of LSD and other substances, for which modern ravers can thank them. But after a series of unsuccessful experiments (there were no explosions of laboratories or the creation of monsters - just the experiments did not give any results, except for the experimental subjects ironing the carpet), the substances were finished, and psychologist Stanislav Grof came up with this very holotropic breathing, based on the history of breathing techniques.
This method is based on oversaturation of the blood with oxygen and hyperventilation of the lungs. The instructor stands above you and tells you to breathe quickly, and now deeper, and now quickly and deeply. And you inhaled so much that, in fact, you are poisoned by your favorite oxygen. Continuing to follow the trainer's instructions, you move from a state of oversaturation to oxygen starvation. And then the “miracles” begin. The brain, experiencing a lack of oxygen, loses control over itself, and the subconscious begins to sketch out the most emotional impressions from the past. And your “teacher” heals your sick mind while you are suffocating. It is not known how effective this is, but after the procedure you will definitely feel better - mainly due to the fact that you can now breathe normally.
Some people simply lose consciousness or feel dizzy after these exercises, and some are literally reborn and forget about their problems forever (perhaps these are the same people who were waiting for a collision with the planet Nibiru). But everything can go according to the worst scenario: it is not difficult to guess that if cells, like any living creature, lack oxygen, then they may soon die, and if brain cells die, then very soon you will begin to drool while sitting at table, or you’ll spend all day watching a cartoon about Dasha the Explorer.
Techniques related to oxygen fasting are used in other areas of life. For example, during sex, someone likes to be choked (you can read more about this and other tough lovemaking in our article). You could also get acquainted with such an altered consciousness at school. I remember how we had a common progressive “dog high” technique, when after a few squats you were choked by an experienced high school specialist and you passed out or experienced a minute of unconscious delirium. I still don’t understand the people who agreed to this then.
Story
History of the use of ISK
Altered states of consciousness could be used by people as early as 30,000 years ago. Mind-altering plants and/or excessive dancing were used to achieve an ecstatic or mystical state. Examples of early religious uses of altered states of consciousness are the rites of Dionysus and the Eleusinian Mysteries, as well as yoga and meditation. Followers of various shamanic traditions "enter altered states of consciousness to serve their community." Terence McKenna has suggested that the use of psychedelic mushrooms in prehistoric times led to "the evolution of human language and the use of symbols." Some theorists have suggested that mind-altering substances such as Soma may have contributed to the formation of some of the world's major religions.
Meditation in its various forms is being rediscovered by modern psychology because of its therapeutic potential and its ability to "calm the activity of the mind." In psychotherapy, methods such as hypnosis and meditation support psychological processes.
History of science and theoretical modeling
Due to the behaviorist paradigm in psychology, altered states of consciousness were rejected as an area of scientific research in the early 20th century. They were pathologized and viewed simply as symptoms of intoxication or demonic possession.
Their return to psychology began with William James's interest in various altered states, such as "mystical experiences and drug-induced states." James' research into first-person subjective experience contributed to the reconceptualization of self-reflection as a valuable research method in the academic community.
The social changes of the turbulent 1960s decisively led to a change in scientific perspective to the extent that introspection as a scientific method and ASC as valid areas of experience became more widely accepted. The foundations of the study were laid by various scientists such as Abraham Maslow, Walter N. Pahnke, Stanislav Grof and Charles Tart. They focused on the perceived beneficial aspects of ASCs, such as their potential to “promote creativity or treat addiction.” Rather, oppressive conditions such as detachment from trauma were ignored.
The results of Pahnke's famous Good Friday experiment suggest that mystical experiences may be induced by psilocybin. Later research by Rick Doblin found that participants rated these experiences as "spiritually high points in their lives."
At the height of the rise of the New Age subculture, Stanislav Grof and others formed the new field of transpersonal psychology, which emphasized "the importance of individual human experience, the validity of mystical and spiritual experience, the interconnectedness of the self with others, the world, and potential. self-transformation." Abraham Maslow's exploration of peak experiences as moments of "greatest happiness and satisfaction" further contributed to the depathologization of altered states.
Abraham Maslow's exploration of peak experiences as moments of “greatest happiness and satisfaction” further contributed to the depathologization of altered states.
The first summary of the existing literature was performed by Charles T. Tart in his book Altered States of Consciousness
, leading to more widespread use of the term. Tart introduced the key terms “discrete” and “basic state of consciousness” and thought about a general classification system for ASC. He also called for “state-specific sciences,” in which researchers should pursue ASC science from within those states.
How to enter the alpha state - practice
three, three, three
If you don't know how to relax, first practice relaxing to the point where you can do it in a few seconds. I'm not writing about deep relaxation. Primary general relaxation is enough.
After this you need to lie down for a few seconds. Next, take a deep breath and as you exhale, say the number 2 three times (two, two, two). All the same. With number 2, you relax your face, cheeks, jaw, back of the head and eyelids
Notice the relaxation of the eyelids. Then lie down for a few seconds or a little longer, as you wish.
Then comes one. We also say the number 1 3 times, not forgetting about the image of the unit. Now we are not relaxing anything, but simply concentrating on one.
Then we lie down for a few seconds and begin the second countdown from 10 to 1. Now there is no need to take deep breaths and exhales. We do everything easily and relaxed. Let's start with ten. We also mentally pronounce the number 10 and imagine it. After 2-3 breaths while exhaling, we mentally pronounce the word “deeper” and mentally, as it were, fall into the depths, into something pleasant, like into a pillow.
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Then we do the same with nine. We also mentally pronounce the word “deeper” and dive into the depths again. This is what we do with all numbers.
If at some number you start to get confused and forget what your score is, then you are already in alpha.
This can happen on any number. Once this has happened, there is no need to count anymore. Feel this state. There should be no active thoughts. If thoughts appear, just watch them as if from the outside and they will go away. A large flow of thoughts takes you out of a state of altered consciousness.
Stay in this state as long as you want. If time is limited, you can set an alarm clock with a pleasant melody.
In a normal alpha there is a period when you are overcome by love and happiness. Just observe this state and go deeper. If you want, you can remain in this state, but it is easy to slip through it, it is fleeting. For me, this state happens within a few seconds. Although this state of love may not exist, we are all different.
Sometimes 10-15 minutes in deep alpha can replace 1-2 hours of sleep.
In altered states of consciousness, various images may appear. Observe them and remain aware at the same time so as not to fall asleep. After some time, watching the images, it may dawn on you, you may understand something that you never understood, an interesting thought or idea may come to you, the necessary information that you have long forgotten may emerge in your memory.
Shamanic rituals
We learned a little about the shamans of the Amazon, but we also remember that Russia also has its own people with tambourines, and not only in Russian song ensembles. We are talking about shamans of Siberia and other remote parts of Russia. Now they even have their own organizations and bosses. The demand for enlightenment is growing, which means that the number of wizards who can offer their services is growing, so that on the shore of a lake among deserted expanses they can shake herbs over your head, make sounds in their throats and bill you for the services rendered. Of course, many of them will simply be actors of a local youth theater with a suitable appearance and skills of fooling.
Real shamans don’t care about the problems of “white people”. The deer getting sick is a problem, the wife can’t give birth is another problem, and stress due to lack of praise from superiors is a lesser problem.
But there are also professional commercial shamans who perform rituals for those who wish. The bulk of people who turn to them are women who cannot get pregnant, people with diabetes and cancer, says Artur Tsybikov, Deputy Supreme Shaman of Russia. I’m not sure that the tambourine can cope with cancer, but no one has canceled the placebo effect. These serious rituals cost about 15 thousand rubles.
Some of them are carried out for help, while others are carried out to achieve an altered state. But if in South America additional substances are used for this, then the traditions of Russian shamans involve going beyond the borders of this world through dancing, throat singing and the rhythmic sounds of a tambourine. The shaman invades the pure consciousness of a person while his brain is focused on monotonous sounds and movements.
But not all shamans are satisfied with citizens turning to them for help: some see the problem deeper and want to influence it with decisive action. Thus, a shaman from Yakutia, Alexander Gabyshev, moved towards Moscow in early March to “drive out demons from the Kremlin.” It seems to me that this is the plot for the anime that we deserve.
Altered state of consciousness - medical aspect
The human brain constantly emits energy impulses. The devices record this. Over the course of long-term studies, it was found that these impulses are oscillations and constantly change rhythm. In different states of consciousness, the brain emits energy waves at different frequencies. To simplify work and research, notations were introduced and states were divided.
Result: - beta waves - 13-25 oscillations per second (waking state); - alpha waves - 7-13 oscillations per second (sleep state with a dream); - theta waves - 4-7 oscillations per second (state of deep sleep without dreams or trance); – delta waves – up to 5 oscillations per second (coma or megatrans)
Measurements of psychics at work, yogis in meditation, people artificially put into a trance gave an interesting result. It turned out that: - a person does not have to sleep to be at the alpha or theta level; - children under 7 - 10 years old are always at the alpha level; - a sharp slowdown in rhythms is caused by closing the eyes.
William Hewitt, a famous hypnotherapist, researched and developed methods for controlling the state of the brain. Moreover, he published the book “The Secret Possibilities of Your Psyche,” which teaches people who are not endowed with paranormal abilities how to become a psychic. The first thing the book teaches is to consciously slow down the biorhythms of the brain, while moving, as he himself puts it, to the Basic Extrasensory Level (BEL). I can tell you from my own experience that it’s interesting. The altered state of consciousness caused by this technique enhances all abilities (both natural and paranormal).
Why in practice do you need to be able to achieve OES?
- increasing efficiency when working with extrasensory abilities;
- work with self-programming;
- formation of energy protection;
- quickly achieving a state of deep relaxation;
- working on intention through visualization;
- with sufficient skill - entering deep trance states and consciously exiting it, etc...
The Basic Extrasensory Level is an altered state of consciousness in the most accessible and safe form.
Psychological treatment of addiction.
6.1. Rehabilitation, socialization.
After the patient is “taken off” of the chemical substance, a period of rehabilitation follows, the goal of which is to return the body’s ability to do without the drug and begin to independently produce the necessary neurotransmitters in sufficient quantities. But this is only the somatic component of treatment. In addition to treating the body, you need
It is necessary to treat the psyche as well. And this process is more labor-intensive, and no less important. After all, if you cure the body with the help of medications, then there is no guarantee that a person will not start taking drugs again in order to hide from a reality with which he has never built a relationship throughout his life.
The task of the psychotherapist will be to teach the patient to see the roots of his problems, be able to take responsibility, and build relationships with other people. To put it simply, such a person needs to be socialized and taught to observe and respect one’s own and others’ psychological boundaries.
This requires a fairly deep and versatile study of the psyche.
A person needs to be given a new understanding of the world, to show that he can find his place in it.
After all, a dependent person has many presuppositions, attitudes and prohibitions that he cannot criticize, such as: the unshakable authority of his parents and their approach to life, the conviction that whoever has a lot of money is evil, various sexual prohibitions, religious attitudes, the conviction that being angry is bad, and so on.
The psychotherapist needs to find and isolate such attitudes of the patient in order to carefully study them. Find out what function such attitudes served, what they protected from, what character qualities they reinforced.
In addition, it would not be superfluous to work on the physical-psychological level. A person with addiction will have a lot of bodily clamps that block normal breathing and, as a result, the blood does not receive enough oxygen and because of this, naturally, the brain also does not receive enough oxygen, which leads to even greater psycho-emotional stress.
To open muscle tension, it is useful to teach the client breathing exercises and deep muscle relaxation methods. This will work to reduce the overall level of anxiety, reduce fears and exposure to stress.
It will also be useful to send the client for a massage to increase the level of bodily sensitivity.
But the main thing in all psychotherapeutic work will be teaching a person methods of bodily and psychological self-regulation and reflection. So that a person begins to understand his internal processes and they stop scaring him.
6.2. Addiction through the prism of family.
To overcome addiction, the desire of relatives is not enough. Moreover, it is the family system that often keeps an individual in a state of dependence. If the patient recovers from addiction, the entire family mechanism must be ready for serious changes, for which family members are not always ready. A change in family routines entails the need to change the usual ways of interacting with each other, which, as a rule, is not very well accepted by families.
It usually seems to them that the addict is dependent solely because of his own weakness and disorganization of the inner world, and they do not allow the idea that he is like this because he lived and was raised in this particular family and that the problem with the addiction of one of their members is a problem created by their common efforts.
That is why the motivational aspect of treatment is very important. The addict must have a number of his own, deeply personal reasons for getting rid of addiction.
If he does not have such reasons, then he needs to work on it and find them.
In the practice of treating addictions, it often happens that a person who has been treated in a clinic and has successfully dealt with the problem of addiction, returning home, again begins to resort to self-destructive habits, since he finds himself in those conditions because of which he began to resort to methods of escaping reality, which and led to addiction.
In such cases, psychotherapeutic treatment should include changing the individual's relationship with his family and building his independence from it. With success in this area of treatment, there is a good chance that the person will not return to addiction.
How to choose a device?
Different degrees of ASC require different devices. Among the most well-known on the market, we can recall several modified generations of the Novodimmer device, electrosleep devices or xenon inhalation devices. But how to choose from all this? After all, sometimes the described effects are not always necessary or even achieved in reality. For example, the same mentioned “Novodrimmer” appears in the description as an audiovisual drug, while its undoubted advantages in therapy are somewhat less covered.
How do you generally understand what to try and what devices are suitable? What is their power of influence and what will it be necessary for certain studies? Denis Burkhaev devoted an entire webinar “Hardware Methods of ISS” to this topic. So, before purchasing any device, it is certainly worthwhile to thoroughly familiarize yourself with its instructions, the results of practical work on it, and the experience of practicing psychotherapists. Besides, it's worth trying. Where is this opportunity? First of all, in sleep medicine clinics, and secondly, in special psychotherapeutic clinics.
As for the disadvantages of the devices, it is most likely high cost. After all, almost all of them are certified as medical. But, let us remind you once again that such devices are legal in our country, they allow you to control the ISS process and achieve the results that are included in your plans.
Expansion of consciousness, or Eight ways to tune the mind
The human brain contains about 86 billion nerve cells and consumes up to 25% of the body's total energy intake.
The mechanism of gradual spontaneous defocusing of attention is associated precisely with the energy consumption of cognitive processes: in a state of intense attention, especially in a situation of responsible choice or lack of time, the brain consumes significantly more energy (the excess can be from 2-3 to 150-200%) than in a state of rest . The human brain is the most complex information processing system we know of. It has a lot of useful design features, but it also has a lot of weaknesses, as well as outright glitches. The problem is that this system comes to the user without a user manual. Pure “ez from” and “plug and play”. Received? Use it.
But for any no-name system out of a box without inscriptions, there will always be a specialist. Even though he may not know thoroughly how it works, he will be able to give a couple of practical tips on operation. There are such specialists in the functioning of the brain. These are mainly neurophysiologists. They have been researching this complex system for decades, and based on the results of their research, they can already try to sketch out a short overview user manual.
So.
ATTENTION
Improve your ability to pay attention and you can improve anything. So much of what the brain does begins with attention.
It makes sense to constantly, while observing the outside world, filter out almost everything from it, focusing on what is relevant to the current matter, on what we can do at all. It is also useful to focus on things that are important for learning and relevant for remembering. That is, if you improve your ability to pay attention, you can improve a lot in your life.
To put it simply, the brain has two attention systems. The first, the Bottom-Up system, is tied to our natural awareness of what new information is likely to be potentially important. This system responds to sudden sounds, moving objects, and the sensation of touch. It is unconscious, fast and always works (at least when we are awake).
The second system, Top-Down, creates intentional attention focused on what we need to think about, and think long enough and productively so that, for example, we do not lose our job. This form of attention is useful for tasks that require concentration.
Unfortunately, there is a bug in this system - pathological distractibility. That is, this is not even a bug, but, so to speak, a feature, a feature of the brain structure. Therefore, applying a Top-Down system requires effort, and the system as a whole is prone to involuntary loss of focus. Also, her work can be rudely interrupted by the unconscious intervention of the Bottom-Up system.
However, there is some good news. And the main one is that some parameters of the conscious attention system can be adjusted. The simplest settings can help not only keep the Top-Down system from spontaneously defocusing for longer, but also prevent distractions from an envelope appearing in the tray notifying you of a new email, from the shaking of a mobile phone with the sound turned off, and so on.
Nilli Lavie, cognitive neuroscientist at University College London
) believes that
to prevent distractibility, you need to give your brain more work .
Lavie's research has shown that it is easier to control a top-down system not by reducing incoming signals, but, on the contrary, by increasing them. The idea is that at one point the brain reaches its limits in terms of processing sensory signals and can no longer accept anything, including distractions. “This works for both major types of distraction, i.e. both from “mind wandering” and from the influence of external distractions,” says Lavi. What does this mean in practice? Lavi suggests thinking about adding visual aspects to the task at hand, some elements that make the work item more eye-catching without making the task itself more difficult. So, a discreet (for example, purple) border around the document you are working on puts emphasis on it, takes up some part of your perception and can help you avoid being distracted by any background noise.
Researchers working with children with ADHD and/or brain injuries report that cognitive training , especially when combined with non-invasive magnetic brain stimulation , can also improve performance on tasks requiring sustained attention ( Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
, vol. 4, p 60).
Wider research is underway right now, and early results suggest that cognitive gymnastics can help more or less everyone.
In the meantime, we are waiting for results, it makes sense to take up meditation . A study of people who have been meditating for many years showed that they have thicker areas of the brain associated with attention. At the same time, other studies have shown that even short-term courses of meditation improve results on tests of attention.
WORKING MEMORY
Working memory is your brain's workbook, it contains everything that requires concentrated, focused thought at the moment. But how to keep the inner brain pencils for this notebook always sharp?
Like attention, working memory is one of the most important mechanisms for the brain, operating at the forefront of its interaction with reality. Everything you know and remember, be it an event, a surprising fact, or a work skill, began its journey into long-term memory storage from the working memory sketchpad.
But working memory is not only a mediator, a bridge to long-term memory. It is a place where information is stored so that it can be manipulated. If you're doing something demanding that requires concentration, you're also using working memory.
In the 1970s, Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch from the University of York (UK) proposed a model of working memory that became very popular. According to Alan Baddeley, working memory is part of long-term memory and includes short-term memory. Working memory contains only that information from long-term memory that is being actively processed. Working memory contains the visuospatial sketch, the phonological loop, the central control element that coordinates cognitive processes (linking information from a variety of sources and controlling attention), the episodic buffer, and other subsystems. The episodic subsystem of working memory connects information from the auxiliary systems of working memory and from long-term memory into a holistic episodic formation.
Particular importance was attached to the so-called phonological loop, consisting of 1) a short-term phonological store that accumulates sound information or sound memory traces, with rapid decay processes, and 2) an articulatory repetition component. Without articulatory repetition, the phonological information in the phonological loop decays within approximately two seconds. Actually, this is why we repeat the phone number we hear while we are looking for what to write it down with.
This model, although based on practical observations, is still largely speculative. Its weakness is that working memory, in fact, does not occupy any special part of the brain, which can be separately scanned by comparing its work with the processes of handling stored information. Many neuroscientists believe that this is not a separate system, but simply that part of long-term memory that we are currently paying attention to.
Regardless, working memory comes standard with the human brain, and it works better for some people than others. Moreover, a good working memory capacity is the most important predictor of academic performance, for example. What about those who do not have enough volume?
Research shows that the useful capacity of working memory can be increased with the help of exercises (repetition, memorization) and special training (mnemonic techniques, etc.) . There are entire packages of training materials on the market aimed at increasing working memory. True, it is not entirely clear whether most of them affect anything other than memory performance with verification tests of the same materials.
Cognitive microbiologist Jason Chein, who studies working memory at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says the effects of memory training are typically extremely small. However, given that we constantly use working memory, even a tiny effect can be important, because a small addition to the daily share of knowledge gives a significant result if we consider it over any extended period of time.
LOGIC and RATIONALITY
Be logical and rational. Logic is a necessary tool for cognition and rational behavior. This tool is not innate for a person, it is generally not easy for many, but if you make an effort, you can learn to be guided in judgments and actions by something more reasonable than contractions of the rectum.
We like to think of ourselves as rational beings, and we may well be one. Logic requires us to behave like a processor, performing operations on information step by step in accordance with certain rules. This, unfortunately, is not natural behavior for most people, and even after years of training in the art of rational thinking, many have to struggle to remain rational in everything. Research shows that when new information conflicts with existing beliefs, our brains are willing to pop out of our skulls to keep the beliefs intact rather than revise them.
There is a widespread opinion that the main enemy of rationality is emotionality, but this is not entirely true: people who have damage to the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is mainly responsible for the emotional sphere, constantly struggle with themselves to make at least some decisions, especially when one of the options does not have obvious formalizable advantages. Even in situations where inaction cannot be called a rational choice.
However, strong emotions, especially those associated with personal and social attachments, can interfere with rational decision making. For example: we trust those we love, this may be enough to turn off the mechanism of rational information processing.
So, how to resist faith, prejudice and strong emotions, how to increase your own rationality and ability to think logically? The answer is simple: practice . Thus, recent studies have shown that after several months of methodological training in rational thinking (as part of legal training), students had an increase in the number of connections between the frontal and parietal lobes, as well as between the hemispheres of the brain ( Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
, vol 6, p 32). The truth, however, is that without regular practice, these connections disappear a few months after completing the course.
EDUCATION
Think like children to learn faster. Learning new skills can rewire your brain in a matter of hours. But to reinforce these new patterns, you may need to think back to a time when you didn't know anything.
Learning is what your brain does most naturally. He has been doing this every minute since the moment you were born. It is the process by which useful (and unhelpful) skills and information can be acquired and stored. Is it possible to make this process more efficient?
The answer lies in what happens physiologically when we learn: the brain processes information, causing old neuronal connections to break down and synapses to grow and strengthen, connecting neurons in new ways. Studies on rats have shown that this process, similar to pulling wires, can be quite rapid - within a few hours, the skill, reinforced by food reward, forms new neural connections. In some parts of the brain, particularly the hippocampus, the brain even grows new cells when it is actively learning.
But once the chain is ready, it must be used. This leads to its strengthening. In general, strengthening comes down to myelination. Myelination makes the nerve connection stronger, speeds up the passage of nerve impulses and generally increases the efficiency of implementing the acquired skill.
What needs to be done to achieve myelination of the nerve connection? The answer will not come as a surprise to those who went to school: first concentrate on the subject of study, repeat what you remember, training your working memory, and then, after some time, actively try to remember and reproduce what you have learned .
The learning process accompanies us throughout our lives. However, why does learning become more difficult with age? You will probably be pleased to hear that there are no physiological reasons for learning disability (at least not before the onset of dementia). Moreover, in the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills, children and adults have more similarities than differences. The fact is that we simply spend less time learning new material and do not devote ourselves to learning with such powerful enthusiasm as children do.
Part of the problem is also that adults know too much. Research by kinesiologist Gabriele Wulf from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, has shown that adults, when learning a new physical skill, for example, learning to hit a golf ball, focus on the details of the movement (since the very principle of hitting a golf ball) the ball or similar movements have long been familiar to them). Children simply experiment, trying to get the ball where they want it to go, and as a result, they gain more experience with learning that particular skill. When Woolf tried to teach adults the way children learn, they picked up the skills much faster.
The same mechanism works in information training. Adults have huge reserves of shortcuts that allow them to skip many details. But we still have the potential to learn things the way children do. We just have to resist the temptation to cut corners and we're likely to learn a lot more.
Another proven method to improve your own learning ability is to lead an active lifestyle . Aging causes loss of brain tissue. Not least because of how little adults move (eg dance, play sports) compared to young people. However, just a little bit of physical activity can bring your brain back to life. Research shows that forty minutes of exercise three times a week for a year leads to an enlargement of the hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a crucial role in the transition of short-term memory to long-term memory ( PNAS
, vol 108, p 3017). Also, thanks to gymnastics, the processes of formation of new connections in the brain improve, the importance of which for learning we have already talked about.
KNOWLEDGE
Expand your mind using the power of knowledge. Knowledge goes beyond memory itself, forming a rich and detailed picture of understanding the world. You can know a lot. Maybe even too much.
One of the most useful features of the brain is the ability to absorb pieces of information and make connections between them. Knowledge truly is power: the more you know, the better you cope with life.
But what is knowledge? How are they stored, organized and recalled when needed?
Knowledge obviously relies on memory. In particular, a type of memory that stores general information about objects, places, facts, and people. This type is known as semantic memory. This is the part of memory that knows that Paris is the capital of France, a constitutional republic in Western Europe, but it is not the part where memories of vacations spent in Paris are stored. Knowledge is not so much what information is stored, but how it is organized and systematized.
When you see a dog, for example, other bits of information about dogs are automatically activated in you: how they look, smell, move, what breeds there are, knowledge that they are domesticated wolves, dog names, recall of dogs you personally know, your feelings about dogs, etc.
How the brain achieves this titanic feat is not yet entirely clear. A recent suggestion is that it has some sort of “hub” that sort of tags, categorizes everything we remember, encounter, and that allows us to mentally connect related things.
In 2003, Tim Rogers, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, proposed the anterior temporal lobes as such a hub ( Nature Reviews Neuroscience
, vol 4, p 310). In fact, in people with semantic dementia, the anterior temporal lobes tend to be in poor condition. Such people lose knowledge of words, names of objects, find it difficult to articulate general information about things, but at the same time retain motor skills and autobiographical experiences. Experiments conducted since then support this idea: when the anterior temporal lobe is temporarily “knocked out” with a small electromagnetic pulse, people lose the ability to name objects and stop understanding the meaning of words.
Rogers says that without this system, we would waste a huge amount of time on the simplest actions, because we would not understand how some objects can be related to others. For example, knowing how to make a collage using an adhesive pencil, we would be at a dead end if we were asked to use tape for this, the adhesive properties of which we would have encountered before in a different situation: the tape does not look like a pencil in appearance, we need the ability to find similarities in for various reasons.
The good news about this part is that there appears to be no limit to the knowledge that can fit into the brain . At least for now, such a limit is unknown. There is always a place for any new knowledge.
However, you may suddenly find that you know too much. Michael Ramscar of the University of Tübingen, Germany, believes that anyone who lives long enough should eventually feel it. And the point is not that cognitive skills weaken with age, but that there is so much information that working with it, filtering what is necessary from this entire array begins to take too much time.
CREATIVITY
Get creative on demand. Great ideas sometimes seem to come out of nowhere, spontaneously, suddenly. But we don't always have time to wait for this wonderful moment.
JK Rowling says she came up with the idea for Harry Potter while she was riding a very slow train. We are all more or less alike, we all know those moments when - “Aha!” - and insight happens. But why does it happen? And is it possible to make it happen when we need it?
Experiments led by John Kounios, a neuroscientist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, show that the reason we aren't all million-selling bestselling authors is because some brains are better wired for creativity than others. . EEGs taken while subjects were asked to think “about nothing” showed higher levels of activity in the right temporal lobes of those who tended to solve problems using insight rather than sequential logical search. And although Quiños's latest work hints that this trait can be inherited and that whatever brain you're lucky enough to get is what you live with, there are still some general recommendations on how to switch your cognitive mechanisms into creative mode.
As boring as it sounds, first of all you need to get a lot of information into your storage so that the unconscious has something to work with . Years of research into the unconscious have poured cold water on the once fashionable idea that knowledge can drift into the brain without any conscious effort. Therefore, you need to focus extremely on the details of the problem until all the initial facts relating to it are located confidently on the shelves of your memory storage. And at this stage, anything that helps you concentrate will help. Caffeine ? Yes, for example, caffeine.
But when the brain is full of work information, you need to try to create a calmer and more positive mood for yourself: take a break, do something completely different. For example, watch a video with cats . Studies in which people watched either a light comedy or a thriller before coming up with ideas for solving a problem showed that a relaxed, cheerful mood was much more conducive to the generation of new ideas than tension and anxiety ( Psychological Science
, vol 21, p 1770).
This, of course, is not everything, but it will allow you to slightly turn the tuning knob in the desired direction. Research conducted in 2011 also showed that early risers usually get their most creative ideas late in the evening, while night owls , paradoxically, come early in the morning ( Thinking & Reasoning
, vol 17, p 387) .
INTELLIGENCE
Whether we like it or not, a large part of our intelligence is determined by what is genetically embedded in us.
Intelligence has always been difficult to express in numbers. If only because it is not just one “thing” - different parts of it are involved in processing different tasks to varying degrees and in different ways. However, even if this is true, scores on a variety of IQ tests have long shown us that people who perform particularly well on one type of task tend to do quite well on others. Those who show too bad results show them, again, on all types of tests. This can be boiled down into a single overall measure of intelligence that correlates fairly uniquely with academic success, income, health, and life expectancy.
That is, high intelligence is good, and most of the answer to the question of where it comes from is exhausted by the word “genes.” As early as 1990, research showed that the IQs of identical twins raised apart were more similar to each other than the IQs of fraternal twins raised together ( Science
, vol 250, p 223). Since then, several specific genes have been linked to IQ, but it is clear that they all have a very tiny effect on IQ levels. In general, thousands of genes are probably involved in one way or another in the formation of the physiological component of the mechanism responsible for intelligence.
The environment also plays a huge role. At least in childhood. As the brain develops, everything from diet to education to stimulation plays a huge role in developing the structures needed to develop intelligence . Children with poor diets and poor education may never take advantage of even the most remarkable genetic potential.
However, even for educated and well-fed children, the influence of the environment wears off over time. As you grow older, the type and quality of intelligence is determined more and more by genes and less and less by environment. According to various estimates, intelligence is determined by heredity in adults by 60-80%, while in children - only 30%. Whether we like it or not, as we age we become more and more like our close relatives.
But, although intelligence is determined to such a large extent by genetic inclinations and living conditions in childhood, this does not mean that it does not develop in adults. It has been proven that the ability to reason, learn, clarify and destroy old and form new structures of behavior and thinking develops throughout life. With age, its development slows down, but does not freeze. Therefore, be that as it may, we always become smarter with age . Of course, the smarter we are, the more actively we develop all the structures of the mind described above .
CHOICE OF TIME
The mind is a fickle beast. Sometimes sharp as a razor, sometimes soft and tangled like a ball of wool. At least part of these changes can be explained by fluctuations in circadian rhythms. Which means, in theory, that if you tackle the right task at the right time of day, work will flow more smoothly and productively .
However, the exact timing of these fluctuations, firstly, depends on your personal regime, and secondly, they differ by at least two hours for “night owls” and “larks”. Because the general universal routine is a la
“there is no such-and-such-a-task-for-everyone-to-do-in-so-many amount of time” and there cannot be. However, there are a number of general recommendations that do not depend on your specific natural wake-up time.
The main idea: don't do too much in the first couple of hours after waking up . Depending on your individual characteristics, this period can vary from thirty minutes to four hours, in general, as long as it takes to get rid of the inertia of sleep and shake off morning lethargy. However, if you want to think creatively and hope for insight, lethargy and relaxation can even contribute to this (see point 6. CREATIVITY).
If hard work can't wait, there is, of course, a fallback option. Most people know it: a good dose of caffeine will help you cheer up and do more or less work ( Perceptual and Motor Skills
, vol 116, p 280).
Another tip: correlate the intensity of mental stress with body temperature . It is already known that all functions of the mind, from attention to verbal thinking, decrease when the body's core temperature decreases. By this measure, the worst time to do anything involving thinking (in the most general case) is between midnight and six in the morning. The second such decline, especially for people who do not have a lunch break or it is too short (we are talking, again, about people who adhere to the most standard daily routine), is from two to four o’clock in the afternoon. In general, the best time for mental work is from mid-morning to noon and between four in the afternoon and ten in the evening.
It is possible to hack this system. According to observations, body temperature affects mental abilities regardless of the time of day . So a hot shower or exercise can work wonders .
Reaction and hand-eye coordination increase gradually throughout the day, peaking (again, in the most general case) around 8 p.m. This is, accordingly, the best time for, for example, computer games or ink drawing. Then the brain is focused and energetic for some time, but after that the body cools down, the brain slows down, and we can no longer do anything better than go to bed.
ASC research methods
In the early 1980s, a research team led by Adolf Dittrich conducted a cross-cultural study of altered states of consciousness, for which a psychodiagnostic questionnaire for the severity of ASC was specially designed, initially in German, then in English with the name: Standardized Psychometric Assessment of Altered States of Consciousness
(1981), which has been translated into major European languages. Factorization of the questionnaire scales made it possible to identify three independent factors that describe ASC: the first is associated with changes in visual perception, the second is called “fear of personality disintegration,” and the third is associated with the experience of dissolution in the surrounding world and unity with nature and was called “oceanic feeling.”
Headliner's main points
The headliner of the conference and the person declaring the trends for the coming year is traditionally Andrey Chernyshov (Chief Digital Officer, Densu Aegis Network Russia).
Andrey stated the topic of his report was “Natural Selection” and built the entire presentation on metaphors and associations of market development and natural selection in nature.
How to login?
Provide yourself with privacy, close your eyes, listen to the inner silence
Relax all your muscles, keep your inner attention on pleasant images. Thoughts will flow one way or another - don’t try to block their flow, just watch them, impartially and without judgment. From the thought stream, choose one image that is the most interesting and harmonious for you
Start wrapping it in thought forms. This will give you a feeling of complete merging of your senses with the noosphere. Look around and feel the inner reality you have created. If everything is correct, then your concentration will smoothly move into “parallel” space. Follow it and gradually adapt to current changes.
And remember: if you want to change the world, start changing yourself. Professor Vladimir Kozlov has written a lot about altered states of consciousness. Charles Tart has some interesting works.
And Vikium has prepared for you a wonderful course “Critical Thinking” - it will help you develop the skill of independent opinion, protect you from rash actions and give you techniques that will help you fulfill your goals and desires even without entering an altered consciousness. You will learn to value your time and resources, will not succumb to manipulation and will begin to live your own life.
How to change the state of consciousness?
One of the most commonly practiced methods is trance. But don’t think that this comes from somewhere in the realm of the supernatural. You experience a light trance almost every day, for example, when you start reading a fascinating book; plunged headlong into an exciting film; covered in your favorite music; “on autopilot” you perform actions that you don’t think about (walking along a familiar route, driving a car along an empty highway); do creativity, dance, sports; you experience euphoria from traveling, enjoying masterpieces, etc.
All these situations have one thing in common: consciousness concentrates on one image or thought and is disconnected from reality. But deep trance can already be achieved through meditation or hypnosis.
The story of the esotericist Sergei
To begin with, I want to tell you a real story on behalf of the esotericist Sergei:
At the age of 11, I fell in physical education class and hit my head painfully. Subsequently, I was plagued by severe headaches, dizziness, nausea, and sleep disturbances. Doctors diagnosed a concussion and prescribed a large number of medications. Over time, the pain recurred periodically, I didn’t want to “sit on pills”, I just had to endure it. At the age of 18, when I became interested in esotericism and spiritual practices, I was lucky enough to meet an experienced mentor. He taught me a technique for reviewing past events in a state of meditation to identify and eliminate the cause of what happened.
In a meditative state, I began to remember and, as it were, replay the events of 7 years ago in reverse. I saw that when I fell, not only did my leg twist, but also another phenomenon. At that moment, something like an energy cord stretched to my head from above. I would not be able to recognize this in my usual state of consciousness. While in meditation, I was able to, through an effort of will and imagination, break the connection with the source of pain. It turns out that in a state of altered consciousness I got rid of an illness that doctors could not cope with in 7 years.
Twilight stupefaction
Twilight stupefaction is considered one of the most specific symptoms in medicine in general. It is characterized by complete loss of memory for the period of morning and evening (twilight). The patient's ability to navigate in space is severely impaired, severe hallucinations are possible, which the patient is afraid of, as well as incoherent speech and muttering. Fortunately, this symptom is quite rare and is not accompanied by a complete loss of consciousness (unlike, for example, epilepsy).
A characteristic feature of mental confusion in somatic diseases is that some of the memories are erased. The darknesses themselves are short-lived and proceed dynamically, often moving from one to another and to a normal state.
Manifestations of an altered state of consciousness
An altered state of consciousness is characteristic of all people. The process of entry can occur in two cases: spontaneously, during immersion in sleep or trance, and consciously, under the influence of meditation or certain drugs. Manifestations of an altered state include:
- change in perception: narrowing or expansion;
- distortion of time, space and one's body;
- the appearance of hallucinations;
- transitions of various sensations from one form to another, for example, when colors sound, and sounds, on the contrary, become colored;
- intuitive perception, insight;
- prolonged experience of strong emotions such as ecstasy, euphoria or panic;
- change in the degree of suggestibility;
- change in sensitivity threshold.
Note 1
Such signs are not harmful to humans. But only if they are not caused by the use of dangerous substances - alcohol, drugs, toxic substances.
Preparation for practice
You can enter the alpha state while sitting or lying down, whichever is more comfortable for you. If you fall asleep quickly in a relaxed state, this technique is best done while sitting. During your first training, before entering altered states of consciousness, you do not need to set any goals. To begin with, you just need to get good at walking into this state. Before class, we remove all irritating factors: turn off the phone, intercom, close the doors so that relatives do not disturb. Clothes should be loose. If extraneous sounds are still present, wear headphones.
A good time to do this technique is before bed, when everyone in the house is calm. The position should be comfortable; arms and legs should not be crossed.
Positive and negative aspects of joining the AIS
Altered states of consciousness and ways of entering them have a beneficial effect on a person only if they occur naturally and have a positive effect on physical and mental health. A state of light trance from playing sports, creativity or connecting with nature allows you to get rid of negative experiences and stress. In this way, attention shifts from unfavorable circumstances to another sphere of perception, where the human psyche relaxes.
A state of altered consciousness through deep sleep, meditation or hypnosis gives people the opportunity to draw information from their subconscious. And you and I know that the human subconscious directly interacts with the energy-information field of our universe. In this way, you yourself can obtain the information you are interested in, program the events of your life, and even get rid of ailments. If a person tries to change his consciousness with the help of alcohol or drugs, the result of such experiments will be tragic. At first, a person will feel an incredible expansion of consciousness and see the versatility of the universe in the brightest colors. It will seem to him that he has risen above the “gray routine”, that the level of his intelligence is many times higher than the level of “primitive people”.
All this is temporary and ends in complete decomposition of the individual. I humbly apologize for such a comparison, but expanding your consciousness and comprehending the secrets of the universe through the use of “drugs” is the same as trying to stay warm in the cold by peeing in your pants. It will be warm for a couple of minutes, but then... The use of narcotic substances is justified only in the case of medical anesthesia of the patient during surgery.
Typology of states of altered consciousness
Systematization of the phenomena of altered consciousness made it possible to distinguish three groups. The first of them is represented by artificially induced altered states of consciousness. Their occurrence is provoked by the use of psychoactive substances, which may be contained in hallucinogenic mushrooms, dope, marijuana, as well as the influence of certain procedures (sensory deprivation, holotropic breathing). The second group includes psychotechnically induced states that arise during religious rituals, autogenic training, hypnotic trance or meditative actions. The third group is represented by spontaneously occurring conditions under normal conditions. Such conditions can include significant stress, listening to music, or playing sports.
Kinkhin
Kinhin or walking meditation is practiced in Zen schools between long sessions of sitting meditation. Kinkhin can also be practiced as a separate independent exercise for those who find it difficult to sit in a motionless position.
Depending on the school, the walking speed in kinhin may vary. Sometimes they take half a step in one breathing cycle, sometimes 10 steps. But the essence of walking meditation is the same: maximum conscious movements and full concentration of attention on breathing and the process of walking.
Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart, weight distributed evenly. Relax your body to such an extent that there is no unnecessary tension, but at the same time be in a stable position. Place your palms at chest level. Imagine that you are being pulled up by a rope tied to the top of your head. This will help straighten your back and neck. Direct your gaze to the ground two meters away from you, without focusing on anything in particular. Relax your shoulders, arms, face. Start walking very slowly, one step per breath.
Focus all your attention on breathing and body movement. Just like in sitting meditation, allow your thoughts to flow freely, but keep most of your attention on your breathing.
When you are ready to end your practice, stop slowly, look up, and walk at a normal pace for a couple of minutes.
Dependence and physiological aspect.
3.1. The process of chemical dependence.
Each drug mimics the hormones and neurotransmitters that our bodies produce in various glands and other organs. And our nerve cells (neurons) perceive them, thinking that they are a product of the body’s activity.
Each hormone and neurotransmitter, perceived by a neuron, causes a certain type of excitation in it in the form of an electrical impulse transmitted to other neurons. This is reflected on us in the form of a certain psycho-emotional state, under the influence of which we can feel the urge to be active, a feeling of relaxation, daydreaming, thoughtfulness, bliss, sexual arousal or something else.
For each type of neurotransmitter, neurons have their own type of perceptive receptors. They fit each other like a key to a lock. And narcotic substances deceive these receptors and are perceived by them as if they were produced by the body. They imitate real, original neurotransmitters, acting like the master keys used by burglars. Moreover, the amount of this substance penetrating the nerve cell is regulated not by homeostasis, but by the desires of the person using it, which can easily lead to an overdose.
After a certain time of such use. The body gets used to the established order of things and concludes: since substances come in large volumes from the outside, then why should I produce them within myself, spending my own resources on it. The body is deceived into thinking that it is saving internal energy, but in fact it is becoming increasingly dependent on external factors.
If such a dependence has developed, then stopping the use of narcotic substances leads to the so-called withdrawal syndrome. The body, accustomed to the constant presence of artificial neurotransmitters in it, discovers that these substances have ceased to flow, and it has already forgotten how to produce them in the required quantities. And depending on what types of neurotransmitters were replaced by drugs and what body function they affected, this will be the withdrawal syndrome.
3.2. Withdrawal syndrome in chemical dependence.
Withdrawal syndrome in chemical dependence is the most severe, since the body undergoes restructuring at the physiological level due to the use of substances. Glands and other organs stop producing the necessary hormones and neurotransmitters in the required quantities.
Due to hormonal changes, the psycho-emotional content of an individual changes. When there is no drug in the body, the body experiences a shortage of chemicals. This may manifest itself as depression, sadness, aggression, fear or anxiety. Feelings of weakness, headaches, and pain in other parts of the body may also appear, depending on the drug taken and the length of time it has been used.
To stop these unbearable sensations, a person feels an irresistible need to inject a drug into the body.
In moments of withdrawal symptoms, a person loses all criticism. He begins to be driven by the desire to get the coveted dose of the drug in order to ease the sensations of severe discomfort, although in the initial stages of addiction to the drug, its use could be simply for the sake of obtaining pleasure in the form of new sensations.
3.3. Withdrawal syndrome in psychological dependence.
For psychological types of addiction, such as shopaholism, gambling addiction, gluttony, falling in love, etc. chemical restructuring as such does not occur. A person simply finds a way to hide from the uncomfortable sensations present in his life.
Choosing a way to escape reality can happen in different ways. Much depends on the environment, upbringing and culture in which a person grows.
If a person is deprived of the opportunity to go into a process that helps him forget, then, just like with chemical dependence, he may be overcome by depression, fear, anxiety, irritability or aggression.
This happens because a person constantly avoids solving his problems and gets so used to it that he doesn’t know how to act differently. He simply does not have the necessary skill that would help him take responsibility for his life and solve problems in a timely manner.
And over the years, the number of problems grows and constantly changing life makes more and more new demands. After all, as they say: “Even in order to stay in one place, you need to constantly move forward.”
Signs
At the time of living in a state of altered consciousness, later referred to as ASC, a person experiences disturbances:
in the sense of time and chronology of events
He simply loses orientation in space, when a minute can seem like an hour, and an hour flies by like a second. For example, many people who became participants in a disaster, being in shock, cannot even approximately indicate how much time they spent at the scene of the incident. Or during the process of childbirth, a woman loses count of the hours spent in contractions and pushing.
in thinking
The archaic thinking that was characteristic of our ancestors becomes the leader. It lacks specificity and the ability to adequately perceive reality, sometimes confusing it with one’s own images and ideas.
in the ability to control oneself and one’s behavior
There is a fear of powerlessness and helplessness. A person feels that he is no longer subject to his own will, he is weak and vulnerable. Some people experience the opposite sensation of loss of control.
in body image
Depersonalization can make itself felt, that is, the loss of one’s own “I”; the personality seems to merge with space, being in a single process. Sometimes there is a separation of soul and body, or it seems that, say, arms or legs have increased in size, separated, etc.
in feelings
They experience feelings that cannot be expressed or designated in words. They are so subjective and unique that they have no name.
in perception
Hallucinations appear, and sometimes synesthesia is observed, that is, changes in sensory sensations when a person not only sees a color, but also hears it and tastes it. There are also such powerful changes in information processing that it seems as if one has learned the meaning of life or has been born again.
Why is this necessary?
As already mentioned, conditions have a strong influence on our lives. They literally define it. And by the way, our memory depends on them. You will remember even the smallest details of any joyful event when you experience joy again.
If you have read about such a direction in psychology as neurolinguistic programming, then you know about the anchoring technique. It represents the creation of a strong conditioned reflex connection.
That is, using this technique, you can create an experience that will arise as a reaction to a stimulus. For example, having “anchored” your partner to a feeling of tenderness by touching the shoulder, he will experience it every time, as soon as you repeat the movements.
In the same way, you can independently replace a negative experience with a positive one. Agree, when the only thoughts in your head are about how bad everything is and that others are more fortunate, it is unlikely that anything good will happen to such a person. And even if it does, he risks simply not noticing it.
This is why it is so important to make adjustments to consciousness, thinking and behavior. So that they not only help, but also do not create additional obstacles to the realization of needs and desires.
Only then is it possible to change your attitude towards life and its quality. Saturated directly with the emotions and events that you want.
