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EMPATHY WITH ANIMALS
Broadband Sensing

Appendix A to Chapter 1.
Extra Seeing Exercises

A. It's the opposite of screwing up the eyes and staring. Maybe it's good to just physically open your eyes as wide as they will go. But then cause your eyes to open just by looking out for shapes and colours all around the peripheries.

B. Something else which somehow stuck in my memory from the Carlos Castanada books, is looking a little above the horizon while walking, this almost forces the downward peripheral vision to be active for where you're walking.

C. Stretch out your arms to the sides, turn your hands inwards, and wiggle your fingers (like leaves) then slowly move them upward, then down - trace out and recognise the shape of your field of vision, the whole oval shape.

Its quite easy to select points, or areas of around 30-40° on both sides, and to be aware of both simultaneously. Then either expand the areas, find more points, or find new areas on the diagonals, until it stimulates the whole oval shape.

i believe every 15° or so at the perimeter of your field of vision, is an area which is sensitive to, responds to and stimulates our moods.

Closed Eyes
Doing the seeing exercise with closed eyes may be a similar sensation to babies in the womb who turn in the direction of light. Babies can distinguish light and shade through the mother's body. Animals who have a second eye-lid can probably distinguish much more. (Babies also respond to sound and react to familiar voices. They respond to taste, and have cravings. But i doubt if they can smell anything because they haven't started breathing.)

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Looking with two eyes
A letter from Michael Heinbockel :
I found a way to fall asleep very quick. I don‘t know why but it almost always works.

I close my eyes and focus on the back of my lids. That totally stops me from thinking and having pictures in front of my inner eye.

It reminds me of your idea to look at a wall without focussing.

My Answers:
first i noticed my eyes felt warm,
then a far stronger sensation, i noticed how i'd got two eyes - rather than one vision point or field which i was looking at.

>Two eyes, yeah, same experience here.

and then the abstract thoughts started and i thought ... if it works, it's something to do with the two brain halves not being connected and coordinated by the one field or object of vision.

its connected with what im talking about because its a way of using the senses directly, rather than thinking.

I have got to sleep with this a couple of times. It quickly blanks out the thinking, like a vacuum. But I much prefer it with open eyes and being awake, and it recreates the broadband feeling.

'Looking with two eyes' may help some people get the broadband feeling.

just did a google search for
"birds eye open controls brain awake"

Obviously it's common knowledge: birds can sleep with one eye open and half of their brain awake, and they control how awake they are, by how open their eye is.
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Falun Dafa
There are a number of 'Gong like' exercises which i find stimulate broadband seeing. The main problem is that almost all teachers on you tube etc. do the exercises with the eyes shut. Falun Dafa exercise nos. 2 and 3 are good, but even Master Li does them with eyes closed. I obviously learnt wrong because i do it with my eyes open - and i have no intention of changing that.
The good videos i learnt with are no longer online - unfortunately only this exercise 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PztOlHxdimc (turn off the sound, the commentary is irrelevant)
a good example of exercise number 2 has yet to be found.

Chi Gong
The 5th exercise of the 8 Brocades is remarkable, it is called : The Wise Owl Gazes Backwards.
I'm glad i didn't learn this with youtube. When i learnt this the teacher said look as far as you can see, and to do this you must narrow the eyes - actually this was incorrect : you just open the eyes wide,like an owl - the only youtube videos which show this even vaguely
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUQqCAPOJZ8
0.50 to 2.00 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e-r_7H_Cao

Experiment how to look as far as you can see: almost closed like Clint Eastwood in a gun fight, or with the eyes wide open like an owl. I also find looking as far as i can gives the best neck exercise.

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With glasses on, it's quite interesting to try and watch whats happening outside the rim of the glasses, but it's difficult to do, (no animal would have this experience!) - i wonder what effects it could have therapeutically to black out the glass, so that you force yourself to use only the peripheral vision?

A relatively new idea is to let the eye lids hang so you only see a thin line of light and shadows. It's as though the hairs of lower and upper lids are touching .. it's just enough to let light in and see if anything is moving.

If you want to do a meditation with candles - instead of staring at one candle, set up two on both sides, or four on the diagonals. A therapeutic idea for hard case addicts, would be to have their TV. screens set up with laser beams to blink irregularly on the walls all around.

With Listening
The experience of having my hearing stretched for 5 miles and more was 30 years ago. Old fashioned cars went 'brrmm', (modern ones go 'whhee'). These days, If i hear a motorbike driving away, i focus on it.

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