I've recently learned a great trick. Of course, I can't find the website now, it's buried in my thousands of supposedly-organized bookmarks. The trick is tickling your amydgala.
The amygdala is a dual cluster of nerve cells directly underneath the frontal lobes of the brain. If you imagine a spot about an inch behind where your fingers touch between your eyebrows, that's it. The amygdala is part of the limbic system or primitive part of the brain. It controls strong emotions such as the fight-or-flight response and is also involved in pleasure, such as orgasm. It is also a gateway to the higher functions of the frontal lobes and the cerebral cortex.
Scientists have known for a long time that by running a current through electrodes implanted in the amygdala, both panic and pleasure can be induced. Some have also noticed that some subjects have reported OBEs, spiritual insights and feelings of love and oneness. By using the power of your own visualization, you can do this yourself. Visualize that spot an inch behind your eyebrows. Imagine that spot being tickled with a feather. Or, imagine a beam of lovelight entering your skull and gently bathing and energizing that area. It's almost a form of masturbation, except that the pleasure isn't sexual.
This is something that just takes a little practice, and you can do it anywhere and anytime. It's a great way to take a 30-second vacation. I'm told that this practice can lead to "popping" the frontal lobes into amazing experiences such as connection with the Divine and OBEs. That hasn't happened for me yet, but if it does I'll let you know.
8-D
Hi Dave,
I am definitely curious about your feather tickling of the amygdala. I do believe I will give it a try. If you ever find the bookmark(I struggle with organizing them also and lose much as a result) let me know.
Peace,
Jim
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Nada, that's an interesting site, and it'll take me a little time to read it. It may be related, but the method I've learned doesn't cost any money. It's also, I'd say, less specific or directed.
Jim at al, I've found my original bookmark at http://www.mondovista.com/neil22.html. Hope you find it interesting and fun!
I've incorporated this into an exercise I call "Two-Minute Vacation," and I put up a whole page about it at my site.
8-D
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Dave,
Fantastic job on the Two-Minute Vacation! You have done a wonderful job of integrating Sacred Love with the amygdala practice. I can't wait to try it out. Your website is worth spending some more time with. Thanks for letting me know about it. Your work in finding the link to this practice and your integrating it with Sacred Love was well worth it. Thank you for all the effort to integrate these two into wonderful singularity that it is and posting it on your website.
Interesting that you fancy yourself as an Indigo. I was identified as an early Indigo myself several years ago. The incredibly intuitive soul that identified this in me just passed over last week. I am looking for his going out in a blaze of glory now that he is on the other side.
I was curious what the hyperlink was for the following sentence on your site: "For a more detailed history of how the higher functions of the amygdala we[re] discovered and explored, click here."
Blessings,
Jim
Fantastic job on the Two-Minute Vacation! You have done a wonderful job of integrating Sacred Love with the amygdala practice.
Jim, thanks a lot for that! They seemed like a natural combination to me, and it's how I spend some of my meditation time daily. I have often been struck by how often when folks need something to relax, they are naturally focused on their own needs. I wanted to find a way to show that it's possible to look outward as well as inward, and that great benefits are available from that.
Interesting that you fancy yourself as an Indigo. I was identified as an early Indigo myself several years ago.
Well, it's a self-diagnosis - but it explained so many things to me about myself. It gave me a framework to examine recurring issues in my life without self-recrimination and without using society's paradigm as a measurement. I probably first heard the term around 1995, I found it explained things about my children and that everything I was learning applied to me as well.
I was curious what the hyperlink was for the following sentence on your site: "For a more detailed history of how the higher functions of the amygdala we[re] discovered and explored, click here."
It's just one of the glitches I still have to work out. It is intended to be a link to the site that I posted here. For some reason, on my site everytime I add a link in a line of text, it puts that one word on a line all by itself. It appears I have to discover some code that tells the browser to limit the width of the link, otherwise it takes up a whole line and plops the word down all by its lonesome. Just one of the many things I still have to learn. I am not a programmer! I'm learning as I go.
8-D
For those who may be interested, I've continued using the amygdala technique. Of real interest to me on the website where I first learned this, was the statement that the frontal lobes can suddenly "pop" into synch with what's happening with the amygdala, and the results can be transporting.
I've had several such experiences. Most were quite brief and I suppose I could describe them as epiphanies of a particularly vivid and poignant nature. One experience was quite wonderful. This is the one I wrote you about, Chris!
I'd just gone out for a walk and a smoke, and it was quite late. I rarely go walking down by the creek in the dark, as it's so easy to step in mud or fall over something, but this night the moon was bright and I went and sat on a boulder. It's hard to describe what it feels like when the amygdala kicks in, but there is a definite physical component as well as a mental one. Typically if I'm in a natural setting, I can almost literally see the energy of every living thing, very much like what is described in The Celestine Prophecy. There seems to be poignant emotion attached, too, a rush of love that's almost like being on acid or ecstasy. (Yes, I've tried X). Anyway, as I continued my walk, I suddenly felt myself arrested by the mysterious ambience of the creek with its trees and its sleeping animals, as well as the ones who scurry about at night. The deep shadows, the bright patches of moonlight...the rustles among the leaves and in the tules... And as I stood there, my amygdala twanging like a banjo string, I suddenly felt my frontal lobes pop, and I was instantly opened up to a whole new world of perception. I did literally see the life energy of every thing. The trees were outlined in their own auras, a shimmer of deep pink I heard called a lightskin in my mind...I didn't know this, but they do sleep at night. The grass, the bushes, the cacti and even the rocks and the earth beneath my feet, each had its distinctive "note" and I heard it all...as I stood in the darkness I could tell my body was twitching slightly, and I was slightly relieved that it was so late, there was no one else on the sidewalk at that time. I'd say I stood there for five minutes or less, but it seemed like forever, simply One with the Something that speaks to me from the land where I live. It was an awesome experience.
Learning to self-stimulate the amygdala is something I enthusiastically recommend to anyone! If you try this and work with it, I hope you'll post your experiences here. It's like using a Neti pot for the first time....a real WOW!! moment.
8-D