Hello everyone.. How great to have found this forum and see other people going through the same thing. Tomorrow I'll receive lesson two.

I have a couple of questions regarding the first exercise of the Master Key System:

  1. Do you do the first exercise with your eyes opened or closed? I've tried both, with my eyes opened I have the blinking, the swallow reflex and my respiration. A trick I learned elsewhere was to paint a dot on a paper, stick it on a wall and stare at it. It's easier to focus that way.

  2. Do you do abdominal breathing or chest breathing? I try to stick with the abdominal one, but not done so consistently.

The greatest thing I've experienced with this exercise is the sense of being just mind (to some extent), the body just kind of happens to be there. I thought at first that the exercise was about being aware of the body (breathing, heart beats, room temperature, etc), but the more I do it I'm leaning towards the opposite end (focusing on thoughts)

Any thoughts? Thank you very much

asked 16 Mar '10, 21:15

Alejandro%20Salas's gravatar image

Alejandro Salas
4213

edited 12 Jul '13, 07:23

Barry%20Allen's gravatar image

Barry Allen ♦♦
11411

1

Hello, neither answer addresses the poster's the question of whether the eyes are open or closed. Could someone please comment on that. Thank you.

(05 Nov '13, 09:08) inquiring mind
1

Eyes: It's more about you being able to fully immerse yourself in the process or not. Having trouble? Start closed. But try both.

Abdominal breathing and chest breathing are both "incomplete" methods of breathing. Sometimes physical health trainers or vocal coaches will highlight one area or another for the purpose of strengthening weaker areas or developing better fine control, but the 'proper' way of actually breathing when your objective is full breathing is 360 degrees * 360 degrees.

(05 Nov '13, 10:02) Snow
1
(07 Nov '13, 02:28) Stingray
showing 0 of 3 show 3 more comments

For the eyes open/closed question, see here.

Regarding the breathing, I'm not sure it matters too much. This is only the first exercise of many. And it is my view that it is better to accomplish it in any way that is comfortable for you rather than aiming for perfection and then not making it past the first few parts of the book.

I believe that these early exercises of The Master Key System are really just to give you a taste of what it is like to start to gain control over your body, and eventually, thoughts. Take it easy on yourself if you don't manage to become a master of them immediately.

As you progress through the course towards the more difficult exercises, these early ones become much easier anyway.

There is one exercise coming up shortly involving stopping all conscious thought. When I first tried it, many years ago, I thought it was some kind of joke. I thought no human being can just stop all conscious thought like that. Now, it seems so easy to me that I can't understand what the fuss was about. :)

Also, if you click on the master-key-system tag, you may find some other useful information regarding these early exercises.

link

answered 16 Mar '10, 23:09

Stingray's gravatar image

Stingray
93.6k22130369

Imagine a desert storm or sand storm. Rush of thoughts in mind can be compared to it. You can't do anything except let it settle. Sitting for 20-30 minutes quietly at the same place around the same time everyday creates helps curb thoughts and bring the mind to silence. Silencing the mind is the core goal of this exercise. Open eyes or closed eyes should not matter. You seem to know all of it. Because the answers are hidden in your questions and you are mostly right. Self experimentation can tell what suites you best :-)

link

answered 18 Aug '22, 18:05

CJLove's gravatar image

CJLove
1305

'Just be there' is the mantra. Thanks for reading. :-)

(18 Aug '22, 18:06) CJLove

We all have a vast list of things that we do by habit, those things that we've learned by experience and education including positive habits such as walking, speaking a particular language, driving a car ... and negative habits like a poor self image, embedded anxieties etc. and our subconscious takes care of these tasks obediently ... they are carried out by the subconscious in a robotized fashion, it's like being switched onto autopilot

alt text

The aim of this 1st master key exercise is to inform our subconscious that we now wish to regain complete conscious control of the physical body, that we are now switching from autopilot to manual control,

alt text

we are taking control of all those functions of our physical body that can be consciously modified for our benefit.

By being perfectly still we enter into harmony with the life force of the physical earth, our vital bodily functions take on their natural rhythm ... just let your body function naturally, eyes open or closed, breathing normally - allowing your subconscious to perform these tasks without conscious effort.

link

answered 14 Jul '13, 04:29

jaz's gravatar image

jaz
2.4k312

Click here to create a free account

If you are seeing this message then the Inward Quest system has noticed that your web browser is behaving in an unusual way and is now blocking your active participation in this site for security reasons. As a result, among other things, you may find that you are unable to answer any questions or leave any comments. Unusual browser behavior is often caused by add-ons (ad-blocking, privacy etc) that interfere with the operation of our website. If you have installed these kinds of add-ons, we suggest you disable them for this website




Related Questions