using holosync with eyes open

Hi all.

Does anyone have any experience of using holosync with their eyes open?  I have practiced 'formless' meditation for years and like to keep my eyes open whilst doing it. I now incorporate  this practice into  my holosync sessions to good effect.

I have heard Bill say the best approach  is to keep your eyes closed whilst using holosync so I'm wondering if it will have a detrimental effect if I keep my eyes open?

warm regards

Joel

Re: using holosync with eyes open

Hi Joel:

No real experience on my own of this.  I have occasionally started off with my eyes open, to experiment with the hypnotic effect of the CD, but found it difficult and somewhat distracting away from how Holosync builds up to do so, and my eyes just naturally want to close.

My thought on this is that while Holosync stimulates the same areas that one does whilst meditating, it does so in a much more “mechanical” fashion, rather than just moving naturally into the areas/depths where it takes you.  Because of this, I'd think that having ones eyes open would detract from the purpose of using it, on the basis that if you are maintaining an outward focus, the distraction of what your eyes would pick up visually would interfere with the binaural process - that of entraining both sides of the brain to work as a whole. 

It may work differently for you, having done eyes open meditation before, though you might want to consider if having your eyes open actually brings up thinking and judging/measuring types of activities within you, which trigger different halves of the brain.

To me, Holosync is such a relaxing time, why would you want to, or need to, keep your eyes open to distract from that relaxation?  On its own, Holosync pushes you - is it necessary or even desirable for you to add to that pushing?

Be well!
Gem

Re: using holosync with eyes open

Thanks for the thought provoking reply Gemstar.

I think you hit on one of my fears of using holosync with my eyes open in that it might interfere with the binural process.

My experience has been that keeping my eyes open often reduces the amount of distracting thoughts I have and how much I identify with them. This happens as I relax into a spacious awareness and my sense of boundry dissovles. I've found that holosync enhances this.

Could I be trying to have my cake and eat it by using holosync and meditating with m,y eyes open at the same time? As I have become busy recently I no longer have the time to sit twice, once with Holosync and once without. I fnd both very valuable and so have tried to combine them.

But I also found that I was becoming slightly bored and zoning out whilst using Holosync with my eyes closed. I guess that just highlights some adjustment I need to make in my approach - working with whatever is arising.

Thanks again Gemstar

best wishes

Joel

Re: using holosync with eyes open

Hi Joel:

What you might want to think about is doing Holosync and your regular meditation on alternating days.  It will take you perhaps a while longer to go through each level doing it that way, but there is no race.

You mentioned that keeping your eyes open reduces the amount of distracting thoughts (even when using Holosync). But if you use Holosync alone you get bored and zone out.  This is how Holosync is supposed to be working, although you may also find that at times your mind will be very active using Holosync.  It doesn't matter.  Like Bill says “Let it all be OK.”  I often find that during the Dive my mind is very busy, to the point that I sometimes lose track of the gong and rain sounds.  If I catch myself doing that, then I just switch over to watching my breath, and with a little persistence, the mind settles out.  Using it this way, I've found that over time I've incorporated the “take a deep breath” thing into non-meditating life, with the outcome that not a whole lot stresses me out anymore.

A busy mind while meditating (regular or HS) just means that there is stuff the sub-conscious mind is working with, possibility to resolve it, possibly to bring it to your attention so that you work toward resolving it.  On the other hand, being bored isn't a sign that it's not working, either, because some of the stuff we are working with in life is buried pretty deep.  Eventually Holosync will bring it to the surface, for the subconscious and/or conscious mind to deal with.  That doesn't always happen right while you're meditating, but it will eventually happen.  Holosync works faster at doing this than regular meditation.  So yes, as you put it “working with whatever is arising” is the best way to flow with it.

Cheers!
Gem

Re: using holosync with eyes open

Your suggestion is in line with what I was thinking. It's time for me to start alternating the days that I use holosync.

I guess it was more the experience whilst getting bored that wasnt satisfying me rather than thinking it wasnt working. So I was starting to see it as a chore sometimes and wanted to spark things up and recapture the sense of curiosity thats important to me in meditation.

I suppose I could pose the question “who is the one that is getting bored?”

Time to mix things up again!

Thanks Gemstar

Joel x