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Topics - Dean

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Hello John:

Could you elaborate on the synergies (if such exist) between the practice of focusing on the breath coming in and out of the nostrils, and EM clearing?

Background:

I recently was turned away from a 10-day vipassana retreat because of my history of depression.  Since that option is not available, I am dedicating myself more fully to daily EM clearing sessions.

10-day vipassana retreats treat breath focus, what they call anapana, as a prerequisite to vipassana.  I was advised to practice it daily for 6+ months, then reapply to a 10-day retreat.  My lay person understanding is that anapana cultivates a mental state of non-egoic concentration necessary to detect and stay with the subtle body sensations in vipassana practice. 

This makes sense to me.  Body sensations run through me 24x7, constantly morphing.  One moment it's tension in my nose, the next it's a pinching sensation in my throat.  In EM clearing I often try to "catch" one of those sensations and stay with it.  I see these sensations as a type of echo, revealing emotional energies pent up in my subconscious.  But to follow these echoes to their source in my subconscious requires a special mental state that differs from normal waking consciousness

Your alpha-state induction helps achieve the necessary mental state.  But would I be right that a daily anapana practice would also aid here?  The meditation section in "Deep Clearing" seems to imply this, specifically in the section about samadhi.  I'm not sure I understand what samadhi is, but I think anapana is a technique for getting the mind into samadhi.

Right now my daily practice is 15 min anapana, followed by a 45-minute emotional clearing session.  I have your CDs, and as 45 minutes is the length of each track, it works out well.  I think pairing like this has synergies, and so I intend to keep at this 15+45 min practice and make it as ingrained a habit as I can.  If you agree with my assessment of the synergies, that would encourage me to continue to devote the effort.

Thank you,
Dean

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Hello John,

I've read "Deep Clearing," purchased the CDs, and had a 45-minute EM clearing session most days now for about 4 weeks.  I'm now beginning to do EM clearing sessions without the aid of your CDs.  I ask for your opinion about my use of binaural beats.

My phone has an app where a steady binaural beat can be provided.  One can choose the hz.  I pick hz at random anywhere from 4 - 12.  The hz remains constant for my entire session, which includes all the steps of relaxation, awareness, acceptance, direct experience, witnessing.  A nice feature of this app is that I can overlay the tone with relaxing noises like crickets, campfires, ocean waves, or other such things.

The way in which I'm using binaural beats comes from reading on your website there should be variation from one session to another.  I achieve that by varying the hz session to session within a range of 4 - 12 hz, as well as changing the relaxing sounds superimposed upon the tone.

In your book you use "alpha" but if I understand you correctly, you don't mean to restrict to a technical definition of alpha as 8 - 12 hz.  Rather, you're referring to a deeply relaxed state of mind, the kind that emits electrical waves at alpha or lower, such as theta.

Could you kindly confirm if I'm going about this correctly, or educate me if not?  I'm a neophyte in sound use, but I gather you are very experienced.

Thank you so much.  I'm impressed by what I'm learning from you and seeking to build it into my daily practice.  I have given your book "Deep Clearing" a 5-star rating Amazon along with a wordy review.

-Dean

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