hihi... new ard n recently got to know abt Bate's Mtd...
I have been reading abt his theories and practising palming for the last couple of days... and i realise that my home actually has a pretty gd spot to practise 'palming', and that's the storeroom...
in the night when i close the storeroom door, very very little light is able to enter the room and i get to stimulate an environment of total darkness in which i can't even c my fingers with my eyes open... any cons of practising palming within this environment?
another problem i experience is that though there seem no visible difference whether i open or close my eyes, i realise that my eyes tend to strain when i open them (sorta like my eyes r 'searching' for something to c) n relax when i close my eyes... can any 1 gimme some advice?
Becoming aware of things like that is the first step. So congrats on that. You've already proven to yourself that you strain your eyes when you open them, even in complete darkness. So that's one thing to play with. Palm for longer periods before your open your eyes, to see if that helps. Then when you open your eyes, think of a memory, whether a visual memory, sound, or smell. It has to be something you like. With a little practice that could distract you from the fact that you're opening your eyes, and you'll find you open them differently, in a way that doesn't involve strain.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
I've had interesting results from swinging in a dark room with my eyes open. After a while the darkness suddenly got darker. A little disorienting but I understand is a sign of relaxation.
SkyersZ Wrote:any cons of practising palming within this environment?
Seems to me that it would be a benefit! Since you're able to effectively "palm" with your eyes open, you have the added benefit of using your eyes as you normally would while practising relaxation. If you palm and then open your eyes, you won't have any visual stimulus to distract you from noticing the muscular tension in your eyes.
btw... abt how long do u all palm one-shot? i try palming 30mins yesterday and my fingers got numb abt half-way thru... i sorta can't imagine how a guy mention in bate's bk could have palm for 20hrs...
i was reading chapter XIV yesterday when a sentence also confused me quite abit, "It is not light but darkness that is dangerous to the eye. Prolonged exclusion from the light always lowers the vision..." Does this concept oppose palming?
to Dave K:
do i continue palming in the dark environment such that when i open my eyes n try to distract myself, i c no visual difference? Cos i find it quite hard to distract myself while opening my eyes... i'm always conscious of it...
From chapter 13:
"...one sees a perfectly black field - that is nothing at all."
I've always found it much easier to see "nothing at all" instead of black - that is, being so absorbed in a visual or some other sensory memory (I usually see the Simpsons, especially Homer) that you have no consciousness of the blackness or whatever other off color you might otherwise imagine it to be. Then when you open your eyes, you're still thinking of that, so that while you're conscious of the fact that you're opening your eyes, you still see the image in your mind. And the image in your mind is in a different place than the world you see with your eyes, so you won't see it there. But it took me lots of practice before I was able to even let go of the semi-blackness I saw with my eyes closed and feel safe about losing myself in visualization.
By "prolonged" exclusion from light (especially sunlight) being harmful, Bates meant more in terms of several days or longer. Nothing wrong with a long palming session. When your hands get numb after only 15 mins, I'd be interested in the position of your hands and body, and if your wrists are bent or anything. You should be in the most comfortable position possible. Even lying down is ok, as long as you don't fall asleep.
Dave
Site Administrator
"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
i'll juz keep on practising...
btw... when i palm, i sit in front of a table and sometimes put a pillow on the table to rest my elbows... i try to relax my eyes n shoulders while my wrists r straight... pretty comfortable i will say, juz that i fidget ard once i start to run out of patience...
Most of my "palming" nowadays is laying in bed with a pillow over my eyes. If you have a down pillow you can mould it around your eyes so it doesn't block your nostrils. I also used to sit in a chair with a small towel over my eyes. You just need to figure out the best way to position whatever you use to block out maximum light.
If you're running out of patience while palming may I venture to say that you might not be relaxing your eyes. Eye muscle relaxation tends to make you feel more "at ease" in general, sometimes tired, so if you feel fidgety (because of impatience) you're probably not relaxing - as much as you could be, at least.
