TAMING THE HEDEHOG
Buddha (reportedly) compared the mind with a monkey - (always restless, never at peace) - taming the monkey is said to be the hardest thing in the world.

I suggest we let the monkey play ! ... however it seems comparatively easy to tame the lower brain ... I call it the hedgehog brain ...

This simple idea is that by direct contact with the lower brain ... through tasting smelling breathing listening or singing exercises ... to stimulate the senses peripheral abilities (as in "mindful" rather than focussed and concentrated) ... we can develop a more realistic feeling of who and what and why we are.

im sure the ideas could be developed in many different ways

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TAMING THE HEDEHOG
The mind has been compared with a monkey - always restless, never at peace - taming the monkey is said to be the hardest thing in the world.

I suggest we let the monkey play ... however it seems comparatively easy to tame the lower brain ... I call it the hedgehog brain ... thus, "Taming the Hedgehog"

I dont really want to narrow down how these ideas may be understood and used - but it is PARTLY this is about letting the senses de-focuss and redevelop their basic peripheral usage, .... and partly about making contact with the lower brain ... and i believe by allowing the thinking sense to develop a peripheral ability (as in "mindful" rather than focussed and concentrated) ... we can develop a new perspective and feeling for who and what and why we are.

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HOW TO DOZE
and OTHER KEYS TO PEACE AND HAPPINESS

Possibly the best starter is the SENSE OF SMELL and SCENTING the world around you : Flare the nostrils consciously as you breathe in (and even with this first small step, notice how it opens your cheeks and eyes) - maybe tilt the head back a little - you can experiment with small sniffs and long slow inhalations ...

More important seems to be letting the air/scents linger or hang in all those cavities under your eyes, behind the cheeks, at the top and back of your mouth, ... and isnt it interesting how when we start using all those little cavities - they sort of start waking up ... and your cheeks start to fill out ...

please dont start trying to look full cheeked and happy, please just think about trying to scent.

I am starting to discover that when i breathe out through the nose it disturbs the ligering scents - so my recommendation may be to breathe out through the mouth (see note*).

Only practice any of these exercises for ONE MINUTE at a time (because new experiences need time to be digested, Please avoid the frustrations connected with concentration and will power - see note* )

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TWO MODES
i believe many animals may laugh at the idea, but for beginners, it is useful to think of the senses as having an active and a passive mode. The passive mode uses no effort, for example, when dozing, you will find that you can still let the scents linger, without making any effort to flare the nostrils.

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The PERIPHERAL VISION
This is probably the most difficult of these exercises. Focus on a point infront, but be conscious of what you see with your peripheral vision. Start at the sides (the most important for land animals) simply trying to see colours and vague shapes.

Here is a trick which will help you : practice on a bus or even better a train - fix your eyes somewhere upfront and then just be aware of the things passing by the windows on both sides.

To exercise : Focus on an uninteresting point infront of you (not anything bright), then go round, by directing the attention (NOT the focus) downwards, finding a „peripheral-focal point“ on the floor, then to both sides, then upwards (ie. NOT inwards towards the "third eye", animals have no need of this, and as part of these exercises it has only a confusing effect).

To start with you will need these "peripheral-focal points". You can divide the periphery into 7 or 8 little points.

Now, focus on a point infront of you, but simply use your peripheral vision ALL THE WAY ROUND. being aware of all around this oval periphery shape for a few seconds, first its a cheap way of feeling stoned, but then do you notice how all the muscles around your eyes start opening up, and relaxing ...

I am far from sure of the different possibilities in this exercise - maybe simply defocussing is better than finding a focal point and then directing the consciousness around it - defocussing is also a cheap way to feel stoned, but i believe it makes me drowsy - so, please live experiementally.

and again, please dont try and relax around your eyes, please just be aware of the peripheral points and oval shape of your full vision.

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FASCINATING
It is astounding how most other animals EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE TRAUMATIZED through cold, hunger, storm, even illness; they seem to have no trouble in times of plenty, dozing in the midday sun, in a state of easy relaxed readiness ... any dog or cat owner knows this dozing state of watchful readiness.

Its like we used to do when the weather was good and we had all we needed in life - sitting by the caves and in the trees .... relaxing, smelling the wind and listening far into the distance ... for food and danger .... for anything and everything which was around ...

I am fascinated (and dont really understand) but I am amazed at how this state of the senses : dozing in watchful readiness ... is ALSO a state of happiness and peace of mind.

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LISTENING IN THE DISTANCE
I discovered listening into the distance first consciously when lying at night by a long winding country road where I could hear one car every 5 - 10 minutes and then follow it for miles and miles into the distance, it was wonderful, it felt like it opened the pores behind my ears and released all the stress of months and years of noisy city.

Bird song may seem the nicest to start with, but a blackbird close up seems to have an effect like classical music, quite relaxing, but not what i am trying to explain.

You dont need to wait for things which are nice to listen to, it works with passing cars, or even airplanes. It doesnt work at all with constant noises, radio or television, but even then, if they are in the distance, you can use them to release stress.

It does not work easily in rooms with closed windows - but in the country or even in a CITY AT NIGHT and EARLY MORNING ... listen all around you ... search for sounds happening a mile to the left, the distant road on your right - a plane above, a neighbour 3 houses away ... and then just remain open and ready for any new sound ... (for tinitus and headaches see *note) ...

I find this listening exercise is the EASIEST practical technique to quiet the everlasting chatter in our upper brain, ... i also quite sincerely believe it is the simplest and most direct way to experience a sense of peace of mind.

again i believe hours of concentration will be counter productive ... but 10 minutes flexible creative dozing should now be possible - with listening as basis - now and then sensing smell - and occasionaly checking the taste in your mouth and throat ... maybe for a while, even opening the eyes - de-focussing and checking all around

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THE BODY
i believe to "creatively doze" longer than 10 minutes we would need to start being aware with our body, ... almost listening with the body ... (i start to wonder if among animals, hair and fur might also have a function as antennae ...).

I am fairly sure that - without the knowledge that we have lungs which are pumped by a diaghphram - the experience of breathing, would be an experience of the entire body expanding and contracting ... an experience which every amoeba knows and values ...

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NATURE AND COMMON SENSE
All these exercises are very easy to do.
They are easy to do because they are totally natural.
They are natural because they are/were a life necessity -
All animals have been doing this for millions of centuries as a necessity for survival

and i believe these simple exercises could give a sense of life which would help many people to be a little more comfortable in their skin ... a little more at home in their body ... a little happier and with a little less need for the never ending babble in our upper brains ...

These exercises do not require any higher inteligence to understand any deep mystical paradoxical philosophies ... no unbelievable tests of faith ... and no money! Essentially, i think, all they need is a bit of common sense and an attitude of wanting to enjoy life.

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NOTES

*note - Normally, to give the body all the time possible to assimilate oxygen etc., a healthy persons out breath should take about twice as long as the in breath. To exercise scenting, you will want to reverse this, you will want a quick out breath ... so you will get dizzy experimenting.

*note - Getting "the feeling" for something normally requires time for the subconcious to digest the experiences. - So the simplest and safest way to start learning anything new or difficult, is to start exercising and experiencing for only a minute at a time to let your body and mind have the time they need to digest. And stop while you are still feeling creative and interested, before you even start feeling tired or frustrated.

*note - i have an important question: when dogs and cats doze, do they beathe out through their mouths? and then, when they doze inside and outside, is it different?

*note - when listening, if you have peeps or buzzes or even pains in your head try to listen to and beyond them ... i dont have tinitus or migrane, what i have is just a bit of local tension, however i find i can clear up these minor peeps and pains by listening to them and ALSO all around them .. i find they go quieter and then disappear, ... i think it has something to do with listening to the whole environment

*note - I "discovered" the peripheral vision, after doing the chi-gong exercise of looking over the left shoulder, through the corner of the left eye, then repeating this to the right - (gently turn the head) - To look as far as possible, one must open the corner of the eye - (use your common sense as with all experiments).

*note - the spinning exercise stimulates peripheral vision.

*note - I could swear that every section around my eyes is connected with different feelings ... at present and just roughly, my sense is that the lower peripheries are connected with worry and bereavement, the upper with happiness and peace.

*note - the idea of flaring the nostrils comes from:
Daniel Reid "The Tao of Health Sex and Longevity" Simon and Schuster 1989
I believe he learnt it from
Andre van Lysebeth "Pranayama the Yoga of Breathing" Unwin 1979
There are many other books with crazy simple ideas - specfically perhaps Carlos Castenada's "Don Juan" series, but i dont think i have ever seen any of the above ideas anywhere else ... this essay will, i hope, be added to that select little branch of literature .. and i would love to have of any other interesting references.

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PERSONALLY
The first experiences and ideas for this essay ocurred around 25, 12, and 15 yrs. ago. Over the years i have slowly gathered experiences and ideas. Since 3-4 yrs. i have been taking it more seriously, and now, every day enjoy 2-3 minutes or so, of sensory yoga, as part of a flexible creative daily prayer routine

i have never heard or seen anything like THIS published anywhere ... how important might these ideas be for other people?

if someone, anyone, would start thinking about these ideas and experimenting - please contact me ... and particularly young people, because ideas and feelings like this need years to develop ... i would really like to build on these ideas ...