Swirling, whirling, spinning and twirling are ways of going round and round repeatedly, using one leg as a pivot. The action sends you into a trance state. The use of sound and music or rhythmic drumming also helps the process. The full description can be found using this link https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/swirling-whirling-spinning-and-twirling/112

An Obligation is a requirement to take some course of action, whether legal or moral. Obligations are the things we have to do. But obligations require memory and reason and will, and thus prevent you from being able to receive spiritual input. The aim of this activity is thus to try to find ways of reducing the obligations we have. It is based on both the attempt to eliminate those we have accumulated and an attempt not to accumulate any more. On a permanent basis you may still need to follow laws, for example – but there is also the aim to try to minimise any that are imposed on you by those who seek to control – misuse of power.

One of the biggest blocks to spiritual experience is our Memory - its learnt functions and so called ‘facts’. There is no need to forget learnt functions used to do things like speaking and writing, driving a car or riding a bike. These become automatic in time and rarely get in the way of spiritual experience . But everything else has an impact, and particularly Belief systems and 'Predictive models'. A predictive model is a model of how we think the world or the universe works. Both can be severely detrimental to spiritual experience, because they are rarely right The spiritual world is unlike anything you will have come across before and it is based on concepts and symbols. As such , during an experience you should record but never analyse it. If you attempt to make any analysis during the experience you will be wrong. And indeed you may lose it More details of this activity together with a number of observations showing how effective it is, can be found by following this link https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/suppressing-memory/155/main

This activity sounds almost Machiavellian, but the objective is actually totally benign. Even if we use temporary sensory deprivation, we can’t block out all sensory input on a permanent basis! So we have a conundrum – we have perceptions being recorded all the time and we have a learning function whose job is to use them to detect patterns and systems, so we can operate in this complex world of ours. Furthermore, if you are a bright cookie the learning function will always be on the go – ‘what does that mean? why did she say that? why has it done that? what should I learn from this?’ So this technique is for use on a temporary basis and seeks to help you still the learning function. The aim is to attempt very repetitive activities which require absolutely no learning whatsoever, but which require the Will to be relatively active in keeping them going. So shelling 6000 pea pods, or weeding a 60 acre field by hand, or repeating a mantra, or counting beads on a necklace over and over and over again. Some call this mindfulness and indeed that is what it is …

One of the biggest blocks to spiritual experience is the ego, Ahaṃkāra in Sanskrit, a word meaning "excessively conceited, absorbed in oneself; self-centred, selfish, and arrogant". The Ego is the self important you, the one who thinks he cannot possibly be wrong, or the one who won't forgive or seek forgiveness, who lords it over others, who bullies or manipulates - the control freak. One total block on any form of ecstasy or union with your Higher spirit is the ego. Thus this activity is also absolutely key to achieving any progress on the Spiritual path. Interestingly enough, there are a number of Overload techniques that also squash the ego – Humiliation is one, but these are for people with very big egos. This is a lifestyle approach not an occasional ‘once every so often’ activity. This is because you can have no impact on the ego unless the pressure is always on. The entry on our website describing this activity can be found by following this link https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/squash-the-big-i-am/112 This entry also makes reference to a number of methods Humility - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/humility/120 Generosity https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/generosity/120 Avoiding conflict - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/avoiding-conflict/120 Follow don’t lead – https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/follow-dont-lead/120 Minding your own business – https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/minding-your-own-business/120 Patience- https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/patience/120 Serving others - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/serving-others-charity/120 For those with egos that are beyond help, the entry for humiliation can be found by following this link https://allaboutheaven.org/overload/humiliation/155/main

Sensory deprivation is an activity that seeks to temporarily deprive one or more of your senses - smell, hearing, touch, taste and sight with input. Although your senses generally provide you with useful information, processing the endless stream of input, distracts you from spiritual input. This activity must be used in conjunction with others that reduce threats, reduce opportunities and suppress obligations. Otherwise it won't work. But in combination it is exceptionally effective.

Rocking, swaying and swinging all trigger memories of safety of when you were a baby in the womb. The motion is a calming one, subconsciously we have become surrounded by a womb and safe from threats. The 5 senses are stilled and the lack of threats and sensory input mean the mind has no need to work as hard, reasoning what to do next. Boats, rocking horses, cradles, rocking chairs, swings, hammocks, - all work, - all have this same calming effect. And without the input of a mind in turmoil, the Will has nothing to do. The Composer can take over and you have your spiritual experience.

References are frequently found to "Meditation" as a means of achieving spiritual experience. But which version should you use - because many versions exist? And how much are the classes going to cost? And do they really help with spiritual experience, or are they simply a means of keeping fit? And what if you are old, inflexible or overweight, unable to sit with your legs crossed in yogi fashion? The answer is to use "Relaxation" instead. It may not keep you fit, but it provides the right conditions for obtaining an experience for all those unable or even unwilling to go to a yoga or meditation class [or pay for one]. Even if you do fall asleep, no harm will have been done and you may find the sleep helps you anyway. The process reduces nervous sensations to a minimum and also helps eliminate the "mind chatter" which blocks the whispers of experience. And it is benign, does not hurt you and costs you nothing. And for those who are over 60, weigh 18 stone [and above] and have no wish to be seen in a pink leotard by a group of fit 30 year olds, it is a godsend.

An opportunity is the chance of pleasure. But if lots of opportunities for pleasure are constantly presenting themselves to a person, their Reasoning system will be working overtime trying to work out how to take advantage of the situation, the Will will be hyperactive in carrying out all the steps needed to get what they want and the emotions will be high in anticipation of the possible pleasure it may bring. So, the objective of this technique is to decrease the number of opportunities with which we are presented. The aim is thus not to repress, or totally eliminate, but to reduce . We have a full description on the website of suggestions for how this can be done https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/reducing-opportunities/112

Objectives/Desires drive the Will and Reason. Objectives/Desires, Memory, Will and Reason acting in concert, prevent spiritual experience. If you attempt to get a spiritual experience, but preface it by thinking ‘I want’, for example, ‘I want to have an out of body experience’ you will not get one. We have a page on our website that provides ideas on how to simplify your life by greatly paring down our ‘wants’ and ‘wish list’, thereby making you more open to experience on an ongoing basis. Please go to this link https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/reducing-desires/112

A Threat is a sensation received by our 5 senses, the Nervous system or the Autonomic system which is causing or may cause us pain - both emotional and physical pain. A Threat can be a threat to our survival or our very existence, or it can be a Threat to our happiness. As time has progressed, we have become, in the west at least, more creatures that respond to Threats to our happiness , but there are still many countries that have not managed to put systems in place to help people, so their Threats are still the old threats. This is a link to our website suggesting methods that can be used to reduce threats, and observations of how it has helped https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/reducing-threats/112 The Methods The webite entry provides a number of methods that could be used to help in threat reduction. These, along with the link to take you directly to the entry on the webite are shown below - The Safe House - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/safe-house/120 - Staying in a retreat - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/staying-in-a-retreat/120 - Friendship and companionship - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/friendship-and-companionship/120 - Meekness also called 'turn the other cheek' or avoiding conflict https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/avoiding-conflict/120 - Peacemaking and diplomacy - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/peacemaking-and-diplomacy/120 - Stop Anticipating imagined Threats - https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/stop-anticipating-hope/120 - Justice – https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/justice/120 The playlist Rather than find videos that simply reiterate what has been said in the descriptions for the methods, we have chosen some videos that capture something of the principle of each method or way of tackling the problem. In some cases they are songs, in other talks by various 'gurus' but each provides a useful perspective on this topic

Real love without the expectation of presents, security or pleasure can be used to find divine love. The loved one could be an adult, a child or even an animal, as no sex is involved only visualisation, where one raises your loved one to the status of the divine. Indeed the beloved may be a figure you have not even met, as long as you love them. No destructive emotions can intervene such as jealousy or distrust, possessiveness or lust, only your Higher spirit searching for Eros.

Listening to music and playing music can produce immensely positive effects - inspiration, bliss and peace, healing, and wisdom. Another name for this is "music immersion", because you become so emotionally involved in the music you are hearing, that you feel as if you are swimming in sound. The principal mechanism by which music works is via very high emotion. Music of the right sort can generate memories, images and feelings which can overwhelm. But it has to be the right music – that composed when the composer himself or herself was in a state of spiritual openness. Hazrat Inayat Khan said that "Composition is an art rather than a mechanical arrangement of notes. A composer of music performs his small part in the scheme of nature as a creator. Music being the most exalted of arts, the work of the composer of music is no less than the work of the saint. It is not only the knowledge of technicality, of harmony, of theory, that is sufficient, the composer needs tenderness of heart, open eyes to all beauty, the conception of what is beautiful, and the true perception of sound and rhythm and its expression in human nature."

Any gentle beat at the pace of the heart is subconsciously associated with comfort, warmth and safety. It has a relaxing hypnotic effect. It is a sound we associate with lack of threats, thus it is ideal as a promoter of spiritual experience,usually of a very benign gentle nature. Drumming, [as an example of a beating sound], when studied scientifically, is shown to have an effect on brain waves. They induce a hypnagogic state. But a number of sounds of a prolonged but regular rhythmic low throbbing or beating noise, can do the same. Examples include the ticking of a clock the drum drum drum of a train at constant speed on rails of equal length. the use of a rattle, maraca or similar the beat of a metronome the beat of clapsticks the low throb of an engine the drip drip drip of water listening to your heartbeat using a biofeedback machine beeping machines – for example the machines in hospitals listening to rhymed verse trance music A single monotonous beat has a suppressing effect on the intellect, there is both nothing to Learn and nothing to Reason about, so as long as we don’t try to read Plato’s Timaeus whilst we attempt this, the mind can relax too.

Everyone canlaugh, as such this activity has universal applicability. It has been proven to help healing and helpsrelieve stress and anxiety. It was evenrecognised by Sigmund Freud and used by him as therapy. Dr Robert Holden opened a Government backed ‘Laughterclinic’ in the UK as part of the NHS. The humour must be stress relieving, inoffensive, and recognisably be a joke. It must also be entirely absorbing, becauseit works in part by suppressing the intellect. If the humour is good and utterly absorbing, then it invokes a feeling of deeprelaxation, and inspiration, wisdom and healing are all yours. If nothing happens console yourself with thewords of Alan Alda: "when people are laughing, they're generally notkilling one another!" Orthodoxy – G. K. Chesterton Seriousness isnot a virtue. It would be more sensible to say that seriousness is avice. It is much easier towrite a good Times leading article than a good joke in Punch. Forsolemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easyto be heavy; hard to be light. Satan fellby the force of gravity.

Hypnotherapy can produce a light trance - useful in obtaining past perceptions, to a deeper trance useful in obtaining well buried perceptions you need to confront, and then on to even deeper trances used in healing and anaesthesia. A hypnotist entertains, but a hypnotherapist heals and it is healing we seek, which means the person must be trusted and known to you. The website entry for this activity - https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/hypnotherapy/124/main provides numerous methods of hypnosis many of them invented by Milton Erickson , who is also on the site. Hypnotherapy provides almost complete suppression of any intellectual activity or input, as well as removal of threats and obligations. The real disadvantage and the danger is that it works just a little too well. Michael Nash in Scientific American when writing about the ‘The Truth and the Hype of Hypnosis’ found that using hypnosis, scientists have temporarily created compulsions, certain types of memory loss, false memories, and delusions in the laboratory. According to a Dr Hartland, in 1971, a patient who was terrified to go into the street because of the traffic was once told by a hypnotist that when she left his room, she would no longer bother about the traffic and would be able to cross the road without the slightest fear. She obeyed his instructions so literally that she ended up in a hospital.

Using this link please turn to The Model of the Mind on our website which shows where the subconscious is in relation to the Mind https://allaboutheaven.org/heaven/model-link/the-model This Model has three parts, the Subconscious can be found at the bottom of the diagram. It has five main functions [shown as blue boxes] - the Emotions [joy, gloom, bliss, love, hate, anger etc] - the system of Perception [labelled Perceive, the system that adjusts the inputs to a form suited to our environment and what we are], - the 5 Senses system [hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing and feeling] - the Nervous system [pain and pleasure] - and the autonomic systems[which strictly speaking belong to the body and not the mind, but are included because they send sensations to the mind such as hunger, thirst, the need to wee or poo and so on Its drivers are pleasure and pain – the pursuit of pleasure, the avoidance of pain. And it judges what is pleasurable and what is painful from the emotions perceptions provoke. It has no language, or learning, it is instinctive and without inhibition. And the Subconscious is not under our [conscious] control. All the Will and our Conscious self can do is to adapt our behaviour to whatever the Subconscious does. But it has no ego, no driving personality pushing it on. It doesn’t plan, it just lives from day to day. Since it has no ‘Memory’ , it only uses Perceptions, so it knows the truth. The Conscious mind can spin all sorts of myths and madness around a perception until it is a lie. But the Subconscious knows, you cannot lie to the subconscious FOR IT HAS SEEN and it has felt and it knows the truth. It knows what pain and pleasure were attached to a perception and in that respect it never forgets. One event of overwhelming hurt can set it on a course of avoidance for ever after and the Conscious mind will be bewildered at the emotions being provoked by something it thought had been ‘forgotten’ or 'dealt with' in a ‘mature’ way. But the Subconscious is the key to all spiritual experience, because only the Subconscious has access to spiritual input.

Using this link please turn to The Model of the Mind on our website https://allaboutheaven.org/heaven/model-link/the-model This Model has three parts - The Subconscious mind, the Conscious mind and the Higher spirit. Beyond the Higher spirit lies the area Beyond the Mind, and this is the only source that we can turn to, to obtain real wisdom, real inspiration, divine love, bliss and peace. Unconnected we are like a stand-alone computer - isolated, dependent on the information we enter into it, but with no access to the Internet that lies beyond the mind. The Mind sits in its underground 'cave' and sees only shadows. But once we realise there is an opening - a bridge that can be used to gain access to the Higher spirit, we can climb out of the darkness of the cave and connect to this virtual Internet using our Higher spirit. The Higher spirit in turn can give us the input we need . But it sends what we need to our Sub conscious mind not our Conscious Mind. Our Conscious Mind has all the functions able to do something with this data, but only our sub-conscious mind is able to receive it. Thus all spiritual experience - this connection to the virtual Internet of discovery and inspiration - is dependent on us being able to keep the channels of receipt open, principally by quelling the Conscious Mind long enough to hear the still small voice of our Higher spirit calling to us with help.

Using this link please turn to The Model of the Mind on our website which shows where the Higher spirit is in relation to the Mind https://allaboutheaven.org/heaven/model-link/the-model This Model has three parts, and the Higher spirit is found at the top of the diagram. Only it has access to the realm beyond the mind. This is our Immortal soul, whereas the Conscious and subconscious mind together make our mortal soul. When we die, the Immortal soul continues, but the mortal soul goes. All that book learning, all the desires, the old ego and Personality that drove us on, go; And we are left "with the face we had before the world was born" The Higher spirit also provides us with a unique identifier within the spiritual world, a bit like an Internet address. It is why organs can get rejected in transplants - all your body parts use this identifier to keep together and inter communicate. The Higher Self is immortal, eternal and indestructible. It has no gender and it is our Higher spirit that we ‘meet’ in near death [and death] experiences. The Composer is a part of the Higher spirit It provides the spiritual experiences, 'composing' dreams, visions or hallucinations or finding us needed input for our imagination, or to help us be wise. Premonitions come from our Higher self and pangs of guilt. There are numerous synonyms for this concept - the I-There and the I-Self, the Immortal soul, the Atman, jiva (or jiwa), gidim, etemmu, the zaqiqu (or ziqiqu), kelah, the atai, navujieip; mzimu and doshi, the iruntarinia, the eno, the moya, the ort………… The Greeks used the word Daemon……….. so does Philip Pullman. What survives on death is the Higher spirit and our Perceptions. In other words, ‘we’ are really defined by these two things, the essence of us is the things we have perceived - what we have done - together with the core nature - who we really are. Hence the expression 'Know thyself'. So there is a very good reason to make sure our Perceptions are joyful, they go with us and affect us eternally. We are what we do.

Using this link please turn to The Model of the Mind on our website which shows where the Conscious is in relation to the Mind https://allaboutheaven.org/heaven/model-link/the-model This Model has three parts, the Conscious can be found sandwiched between the Higher spirit and the Sub conscious . It has only three main functions [shown as blue boxes] but they make a world of difference - Learn - the making of memory from perceptions. It is a flawed process, because most learning is based on the models we have already made as memories , and we tend to build on these rather than building new models when we find we are wrong. This is why the experiences of our childhood have such a major impact when we get older. They become the foundation of our beliefs - Memory recall - the retrieving of memories from Memory based on some prompt from the senses or perceptions - Decision making - using reason to come up with a decision via the Will. But the Reasoning process uses our Memories and if our memories are flawed then the result will be neither logical or rational The Will uses not only memories, but is guided by our Personality and ego, our objectives, desires and obligations. The Will may want to make a decision it feels is rational, but our Personality and Desires can serve to result in action that is against everything logic tells us is not wise. If the Ego is strong, Decisions can be simply stupid. The Conscious mind has no direct access to any Spirit input. As such it prevents spiritual experience. The only source of real help. The only way we can receive any spiritual input is via the subconscious. This is why people meditate, dream or practise mindfulness. These take the functions of the conscious mind - learning, remembering , reasoning and decision making and still them. As such the temporary stilling of the functions of the Conscious mind is key to all spiritual experience

Home schooling is not doing the standard government curriculum at home instead of school. It is a term that has taken on a special meaning - and applies to all of us - children and adults. It means continuous learning all our lives, by being open to new information - always learning by using keen observation - being alert to every new piece of data. It also requires continuous cross checking and verification of the mental models we are building up. Ideally at school we can be taught how this is done - observe, marshal the facts, analyse the facts, then gradually synthesise the results and thereby, from observation, form mental models that are the basis of all our reasoning. But at every stage we need to be prepared to throw the models away and restart as new observations contradict a faulty model. Children in state schools are fed 'facts'. Except that generally speaking they are not facts, they are beliefs. Children are fed the Belief systems of a small number of 'experts' in various 'subjects'. And how do we know they are experts? Generally because they have told those who set the curriculum that they are. 'Clever' people can memorise rubbish and reproduce it in exams. Wise people question everything they are told. The world does not become a better place by having trained parrots. Why is this important? Because Memory and the rubbish it contains is the biggest block to spiritual experience there is.

The path of suppression is one geared to spiritual experience without pain. It is the path of Inspiration, Wisdom, Bliss and peace, Divine love, leading to Moksha and nirvana. You do not achieve nirvana by going the path of overload. Thus it is imperative that you 'Heal yourself' emotionally and physically in order that the 'still point' - the pain free state - can be reached. Nobody can heal you. All any healer can do is help you heal yourself. Thus this activity is about what can be done to help you mend yourself physically and emotionally - both are needed as both are linked. We have a lot of information to help you with this - Healing yourself - a more detailed description to explain how healing works accompanied by numerous related observations from PuMed , eHealthme and personal testimony - https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/healing-yourself/124/main - A portal that enables you to find an even more detailed explanation, if you have been given a diagnosis - https://healing-illnesses-disabilities.org/ - An uplifting video about the 'Wounded Healer' Chiron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNUtv09fujw

It is no accident that both the Chinese systems of spiritual experience and the Hindu yoga system include methods by which we can keep fit. If our body is fit and well, no nervous system sensations will interfere with any spiritual input. Pain may even drown the very messages that may help us with healing. Although Taijiquan [Tai Chi] and the asanas in yoga all serve to keep the body flexible and fit, any gentle physical exercise that serves to relax us and keep all our organs working is effective. More details of this activity can be found on our website https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/exercising-and-keeping-fit/155/main and this page also has links to descriptions of over 40 asanas in the Commonsteps section.

Ritual and ceremony are acts of magic, and magic is used by countless systems from Egyptian to Kabbalah, from Christianity to Magic itself. Ritual and ceremony are acts of magic because they are based on suppression of reason, befuddling and the heightening of Emotion. And all magic works on the emotions. So this technique is an odd combination of suppression and overload. The whole point about any really good ceremony or ritual is that the person must be left with no idea whatsoever of what is about to happen, or even what is going on. The repetition, the ritualistic behaviour, the bowing down, the standing up, the touching of the forehead, the waving of arms, the taking of implements, the reciting of phrases, the monotonous intonation, all of it is intended to befuddle the Reasoning system and defeat the Learning process. Once the intonations are intoned in an unknown language, it will act like a spell. Strange clothes, amazing lighting, and interesting smells all help. Music with a rhythm and steady beat also help. Enacting Ritual and ceremony - links and notes An entry for our website, along with observations can be found by following this link https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/enacting-ritual-and-ceremony/112

One of the strangest aspects about dreaming is that nobody calls them spiritual experiences. We access a world which is often totally outside our normal experience. But nobody says ‘aaah’ this must be a Vision or some communication with Intelligences! They say …. ‘I had a really odd dream last night’…. Lucid dreaming evolved from dreaming. It is also called Dream yoga. A person who has a lucid dream is asleep. They are not in a trance condition, and have generally passed from a waking state into unconsciousness. But what makes lucid dreaming special is that by various methods within the dream, they are able to recognise that they are dreaming and thus, from then on, they are able to ‘direct’ events. The link on our website where the method for dreaming is described can be found here https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/dreaming-and-lucid-dreaming/112 Lucid dreaming is described here https://allaboutheaven.org/commonsteps/lucid-dreaming/153/main

Conscience is a remarkable thing, it affects even the apparently most hardened person. It is its own spiritual experience, because it is the opposite to love and we are supposed to be creatures of love not hate. EVERY religion embodies this principle - Don't hurt. Rabbi Hillel in the Talmud said that the whole of Jewish law can be summed up with the words DON'T HURT. “That which is hateful unto thee do not do unto thy neighbour. This is the whole of the Torah”. Ahimsa in Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, is the ethical principle of not causing harm to other living things. The concept is embodied in the so called “Golden Rule” which states that one should treat others [that is all living things ] as one would like others to treat oneself – do as you would be done by . It was even embodied in Ancient Egyptian beliefs, for example, a Late Period (c. 664 BCE – 323 BCE) papyrus states: "That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another’ Every religion Don't hurt A description is provided on our website page https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/dont-hurt/112

Controlled breathing is abnormal breathing consciously controlled. During this activity, we control how many breaths we take per minute, how deep each breath is, how long we inhale and exhale and how we use the lungs. There are literally hundreds of breathing techniques that are classified as controlled breathing. Some are totally ineffective, but do no harm; some are potentially dangerous; some heal; some produce visions, hallucinations, and out of body states. Some produce states of relaxation conducive to the receipt of wisdom and inspiration, and movement along the spiritual path. Thus this is one activity where you need a teacher, who really knows what they are doing.

Communing with nature means getting away from cities and centres of man-made and high population and relaxing in natural surroundings. Woods, meadows and fields, moorland, and gardens. Wild flowers, birds and animals - hares, badgers, rabbits, deer and so on are a welcome addition. You should do this alone or if anyone at all is with you a sympathetic friend who does not talk. There must be no noise from either of you. The vast majority of people who commune with nature get 'invisible input' – inspiration and wisdom, bliss and overwhelming peace and joy, a sense of oneness with the universe and all of life. This feeling can change people’s lives. It will remind you of things long gone, of things within our deep subconscious that lie buried, of how human beings were once a true part of nature and not in opposition to it, or trying to conquer it. It will remind you of what we have lost by fighting nature instead of working with her. The beauty can inspire intense emotions if we let it, the silence or sounds of insects and the wind in the trees But we have to let go, and we have to stop trying to name every plant or analyse every event. We must just let it be. There is a page on the website you can visit for more detail https://allaboutheaven.org/suppression/communing-with-nature/112