The LOA Experiment (DIY)

[Acting Like Godot]

Four people (3nigma; Joeschmoe; Jawillie & Aspiring to Clarity) are currently conducting their own LOA experiments, with me as the consultant. Please feel free to participate. The experiments will run for about two months and have just started, so it's not late for you to join in.

Your experiment will only require 15 - 20 minutes per day, three to five days a week. Many of the exercises can be easily incorporated into your daily routine.

Furthermore the experiment will be designed such that even if LOA is untrue (a view which, of course, I personally reject), you should get some practical benefits out of doing the experiment. For example, you will learn how to do relaxation exercises; gain clarity on your goals; work on your action plans, and so on.

I suggest the methodology and the LOA exercises, but you choose your own intentions and are free to adapt the structure of the experiment to suit your own needs and preferences.

See next post for details on how to participate.

[Acting Like Godot]

Original post here. This is what you need to do:

1. Get a file, notebook or blog, to keep proper written records of your experiment. Choose one or two areas of your life, for the purposes of this experiment. For example, "Career"; "My Hobby"; or "Health".

2. Suppose you choose "Career". Now do a writing exercise, to describe the reality of your career as you currently see it. A very simple framework could be as follows:

(a) five things you like best about your job, and why
(b) five things you dislike the most about your job, and why
(c) what you expect your job situation would be like, in 2 months' time, if you just carry on with your life pretty as usual.

3. Date your piece of paper, and keep your paper somewhere safe. Note: You will not be looking at this piece of paper again, until the experiment is over in two months' time.

The paper is just to record your current reality as it is, and your current thinking as it is. In 2 months time, you will revisit this piece of paper and see what kind of changes your use of LOA has created, over a 2-month period.

[Acting Like Godot]

Original post is here. In Step 2, we do an exercise, one purpose of which is to get your brain familiar and acquainted with what could be possible, in your chosen life area.

1. Get to a quiet, comfortable place where you know you won't be disturbed. For best results, you need to be feeling calm, happy, peaceful or at least neutral (not angry, stressed etc).

2. Helpful to do some simple stretching exercises beforehand, to get the body all relaxed and comfortable.

3. You can lie down or sit. Just get comfortable. Once you're comfortable, stop all unnecessary body movements. Don't wiggle your legs, scratch your nose, fidget etc.

4. Now, breathe. Very deep .... very slow .... Exhalations should be longer than inhalations. Hold your breath briefly at the end of each inhalation, before beginning the exhalation. At the end of the exhalation, pause briefly, before beginning to inhale. Count nine deep, slow inhalations + exhalations.

5. Keep your attention on your breath. Don't think about other things. If you get distracted, just start from zero and do nine inhalations and exhalations again.

The above steps are preparatory. They may be used for visualisation exercises in general. Next:

6. Run a mental movie of your chosen life area. For example, suppose you'd chosen "My Job". You will visualise a mental movie of your daily routine at work, comprising typical daily scenes and incidents. Do this movie, as if you're "in your own body" looking out.

7. Unsure about how to visualise? Just replaying your memories of your workplace. Eg if I ask you, "What does the guy sitting next to you at work look like? How does he sound? Do you remember anything unusual about the way he walks? Or the kind of clothes he wears?", certain images should start appearing in your mind. Your mental movie will consist of images like that.

8. You may feel that your movie is not very vivid. Whenever you have that problem, slow down your movie and pick out very, very specific details in the scene. For example, if you're visualising yourself sitting at your workstation, pause and focus on details like the exact location of your pencil holder; the Microsoft Word program running on your screen; the feel of your buttocks on your chair.

9. Note - your movies are not just about visual images. You can have sound, tactile sensations, taste, smell etc all incorporated. Also emotionally feel the movie - how would you feel if this was really happening? Feel that. What are your emotions, as all these different things happen in your movie?

The above are general tips for visualising effectively, And now, for the magick .....

10. As mentioned, your mental movie is like replaying your memories as clearly as possible. But for your LOA exercise, do not simply replay memories. Alter them.

11. For your first exercise, don't attempt anything too amazing or drastic. As you play your movie, simply substitute the little things and details in your movie that you don't like, with things and details that you DO like.

12. For example:

(i) suppose your boss often walks to your workstation carrying a blue file and with a frown - he then proceeds to speak rudely to you in front of everyone. Now instead of playing this exact scene in your mental movie, have him walk to your workstation with a blue file and a big smile - and he proceeds to praise you, in front of everyone, for a piece of work you did well.

(ii) suppose your workspace is disorganised and untidy. Instead of playing this exact scene, visualise your workspace being as neat and organised as you want it to be. Etc.

(iii) suppose you often find yourself stressed at work, looking at your project materials and feeling unsure about what to do next. Instead of playing this exact scene, visualise movie scenes where you are feeling happy and competent and interested at work, enjoying working on your project.

Do this throughout your mental movie - and what is happening? You are actually visualising a perfect, or at least, a very good day at work.

Now, even if you (currently) do not believe in the "magical' aspects of LOA, this exercise will show you what is possible at work - how it could be much better than what it currently is - so that you have a better idea of what you can strive towards.

Anyway, have fun playing your movie. 20 minutes is good. Next record some notes on what you did, for the purposes of your experiment. Date your record.

[Acting Like Godot]

Joeschmoe's experiment relates to dance. Joeschmoe would like to dance better.

I don't know anything about dance, but I do know that mind methods can work very well with improving sports performance (including those requiring a high degree of body coordination, skilled movement etc). Therefore I would suppose that mind methods can go a long way towards improving dance as well.

Here is an article about hypnosis & sports. As a matter of fact, it also briefly discusses how hypnosis can be used to help dancers.

How hypnosis can help your athletes to produce their top performance

In case you are wondering how come I am suddenly talking about hypnosis instead of LOA, well, basically all this stuff is related. Hypnosis; meditation; creative visualisation; prayer and magick are all different descriptions of the same thing - how we create reality with our minds.

[All Is Well]

I am very excited to sign up for this experient. There are three areas I would like to work on. I finished step 1 last night and did step 2 for one of the intentions. I did not check the time but I guess it would be more than 20 minutes.
I have two questions regarding step 2.
1. Does one 20-minute session meant for one intention? If so, does it mean I need three sessions for the three areas I want to improve?
2. During the visualization, do you focus on one scene or several scenes? For example, for a job related intention, do you just focus on visualizing a meeting with your boss in one session? Or you visualize doing presentation at seminars too?
Thanks for all your time and help, ALG.

[All Is Well]

Actually after I finished writing my step 1 last night, I thought how nice it would be if ALG could start a new thread on this experiment so that more could participate.
See what happen today!

[Acting Like Godot]

Hello AIW:

15 to 20 minutes is just a guide. You can do it for a longer time, but I'm suggesting 15 - 20 minutes in general, because some participants are skeptical.

If I say "Lie down and visualise for one hour", they will run away because they think that they can't afford to waste that much time.

You can do more than one intention per session. If in a single session, you are doing an intention quite different from the previous one, I recommend that you do a short breathing exercise in between, to clear your mind first.

For example, you can again take slow, deep breaths, nine of them, focusing on nothing but the sensation of breath around your nostrils. After that, move on to visualise the next intention.

[Acting Like Godot]

For our next exercise, we will rely on words rather than images. This example is very simple.

1. Write about your chosen life area, or some aspect of it.

2. Write about it in its ideal form, just as you would like the situation to be.

3. Do not pre-plan this exercise. Once you start writing, just keep writing continuously, without pausing, without allowing yourself to stop to doubt or analyse or edit or delete. Just keep going, no matter what, until you have completed one entire page.

4. Write in the present tense, as if your ideal situation has already come true and is your current reality.

5. When you have finished, date your paper and file it away.

Here is a personal sample of mine, where I was manifesting to do very well in certain exams. Naturally I passed the exams quite easily.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_9ZAhhMQJYOY/...0/IMG_0001.jpg



Go here:

http://bp3.blogger.com/_9ZAhhMQJYOY/RlMHhELObCI/AAAAAAAAAEE/zErq0nTQhi0/s400/IMG_0001.jpg

for bigger image.

[Vee]

I am planning to take part. I've got two intentions. I've done step one - and plan to start step two tonight. x

[Acting Like Godot]

And for now, for our next exercise. In the context of your chosen life area, choose one (just one) simple, positive idea or thought ...... which would help improve things significantly (if it were true or if it was successfully implemented or if you really felt that way).

This must be a very simple idea. It should be easily expressible in one or two sentences.

Example - suppose your chosen life area is "health". You have been trying to exercise regularly, but on many days, you just don't feel like it. A simple, positive idea or thought which could help you significantly could be:

"Exercising is fun! I love exercising."

Another example - suppose your chosen life area is "studies". You are a maths student. Currently you are having some problems with calculus. A simple, positive idea or thought which could help you significantly could be:

"Calculus is easy. With practice, I can definitely do it."

3rd example - suppose your life area is "social life". Your problem is that you feel shy and awkward when meeting new people. A simple, positive idea or thought which could help you significantly could be:

"I am a confident person. And I love making new friends!"

Now you have chosen your positive affirmation. When you go to bed tonight and are waiting to fall asleep, mentally keep repeating this affirmation to yourself. Don't stop. Keep repeating and repeating and repeating until you fall asleep. And put some positive emotion into it.

"Exercising is fun! I love exercising. Exercising is fun! I love exercising. Exercising is fun! I love exercising. Exercising is fun! I love exercising. Exercising is fun! I love exercising. Exercising is fun! I love exercising ..."

Don't make any special effort to stay awake. Just keep repeating and repeating, until you fall asleep. Which could be pretty quick, depending on how easily you normally fall asleep.

For a short explanation of why this LOA technique works, and an example of how it worked for me, click here.

Next morning, just make a short note to record that you'd done this exercise, and write down the affirmation you had used. Date your record. This is an experiment, remember.

[jawillie]

I can already attest to the above. One thing I want to do is walk for an hour in the morning before getting ready for work. I have been focusing on this in a positive manner and this morning, I woke up 2 minutes BEFORE my alarm went off, and I was ready to go.

Now, today is my "Friday" and I am off for the next five days, so, Honestly, it could just be that. lol. We will see how I do NEXT week when I have a FULL work week!

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Hey, ALG. Thanks for doing this experiment with us.

I've done step one on both areas I want to work on.

My question is when dealing with intentions for a relationship, I would assume you don't intend to have the other person do something specific. That would be trying to control them? So in exercise two when you you come up with the positive idea or thought, how would it be worded? Something like, "my relationship is full of trust, openness and connection." Like that?

In the visualization I could picture my boyfriend doing the things I hope he will do? In the same way you talked about changing the movie of what your boss does? Is that not intending for someone else to change?

Just confused, but I am on board!

[Zoey Jordan]

Thanks much Acting Like Godot - this is a great exercise, and I am looking forward to participating as well.

[Acting Like Godot]

Hello, Aspiring_To_Clarity:

First, a small technical detail. "My relationship is full of trust, openness and connection" is quite a mouthful. You will find it difficult to repeat it correctly in your head, as you grow sleepy. You might wish to rephrase it in a more easily repeatable form. Eg:

"I love [John]. I trust [John]. All is well."

Now, on the issue of not using LOA to influence others. This is a little debate all in itself, with many subtleties. For example, using paranormal powers to heal someone's illness (eg in reiki) is a form of using LOA on someone else - yet it does not seem to be an obviously objectionable idea.

However I do have a LOA technique which is helpful when:

(1) Your intention is inextricably linked to another person;
(2) You are concerned that it is not ethical or right to use LOA on another person.

This LOA technique is known as "subjective communication" and is taken from the Silva Method. My wife uses it with great success in relation to her boss; her brothers; her friends; her colleagues and the occasional non-physical entity.

I will explain the subjective communication technique sometime in the near future. And turn it into another exercise for our little experiment.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Thank you very much for your input, ALG. I will be looking forward to your next exercise.

This is a very exciting experiment for me. I greatly appreciate you sharing with us and taking the time to help!

[Angela]

I love that, ALG. Using words like "I love [John]", etc. feel like they have much more dynamic power in the current moment than wishing something for "my relationship." It feels more like a real, present generation of power.

[Joeschmoe]

Ok, well, I've done the sleep trick as well as i could for two nights now. I missed the writing exercise somehow but will do it asap.

[impaul99]

Since this thread moved off to the second page, does that mean everyone already gave up?

[Acting Like Godot]

I'm a bit disappointed that 3nigma, who was the original reason why I started this experiment, conveniently disappeared as soon as the experiment actually got going ...

But I've not been posting in the past few days because I'm on a short holiday, with limited internet access. Currently typing this from my blackberry.

[Vee]

Hi ALG,

Thanks for taking out the time to do this. But at the moment I am not in the right mindframe to do it properly. When I am feeling better I may look back on the thread and do it by myself.
x

[Arboretor]

Hi ALG,

I do not participate "officially" in this experiment, but I am following it closely and do my own manifestation attempts. So please do not be discouraged, there are more people reading this thread than posting, and I always enjoy your clear, insightful posts. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[Arboretor]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

I will explain the subjective communication technique sometime in the near future. And turn it into another exercise for our little experiment.

Adding to my previous post: I am very interested in the technique you mention here, so please write about it if you have the time!

[GranCanaria]

Originally Posted by Arboretor