What anamazing world we live in. I'm falling in love with my IPaad , here I am in Dublin Airport and feel as connected as I do at home in Mallow. This feels like magic , I dont know why it seems so amazing , it's not as if it's the first time I've been on the internet while away from home. However this is different and amazing . 

I'm so grateful to Allpe and Google and all those wonderful people who had Big Dreams of connecting us all. 

It is good to have this experience of wonder to remind me of what a Wonderful Time it is to be Alive

Lookincg forward to sharing lots from Portugall 

Reasons to practice

In this first video Sara and I are working on the ' fight set '.  This is five months old.    In the second video taken last week you can see how fluid we have become in the months since the first one was taken.
This is one of the reasons I love to take these videos , it is so encouraging to see how effective the  practice is in training our bodies.













I'm packing a bag for my trip to Portugal . Off to Dublin early in the morning and flying from there in the afternoon.
I am looking forward to seeing and sharing a little of Lisbon and Evora  ( where  I'm attending  an  energy  workshop ) .  Also looking forward to learning lots and being in the company of like minded and curious people.

On to Lismore

It was getting late

The light was fading

So the colours were not so vibrant

Vet it was still enchanting 

And magical

To see another historic Blackwater Castle

Which is further east along our river

So much more to see in Lismore we must come back soon.

Here is my first post from my new IPad ! Ithink it will take me awhile to come to terms with this way of operating , lots of new  " maps " needto be made in my brain !

 here are some of the pics I took yesterday.

Here is the road to Ballyvolane House

Beautiful luscious surrounding countryside

And a georgous drive 

We had tea in this lovely sitting room

Which looked out on the lawn

Then we went foe a walk around the garden

Here is Jo ( my daughter  ) waiting by the wall

Around  the vegetable garden 

Then it's back to the house

For a last  look around

Before we head to Lismore

Now I'm ready for bed , happy to have made my first IPad post. 

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said  " Be careful what you wish for ".

 Well I wished for an IPad, my wish came true and now I'm having a hard time coming to grips with it's way of communicating with me. I'm feeling a bit old and stupid and feel like throwing a tantrum. 

I'm reminding myself to take deep breaths and remember how I struggled with my laptop when I got it.

But I'm in a hurry to learn to know the workings before I head off to Portugal ( on Thursday ). 

We went on a great trip to visit Ballyvolane House in East Cork yesterday and on to see Lismore Castle I took some great photos on my IPad and am dying to share some but finding it difficult to get my photos from there to here.
I think I'll try uploading them directly from my IPad and see how it goes. 

Hypnagogic State and some more of the ' fight set '

"Only when I am on the brink of sleep,
with the consciousness that I am so..." ~Edgar Allan Poe

Hypnagogia is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep: the hypnagogic state of consciousness. The related words from the Greek are agōgos "leading, inducing", pompe "act of sending", and hypnos "sleep".

Hypnagogia is not new, however it was a subject I knew very little about until I began training with the International  Academy of Consciousness.  With them I learned exercises to develop my conscious awareness of this state . I find it interesting that even though I transitioned through this state each time I fell asleep and awoke I had never before been consciously aware of it. Having said that, it does take some focus to remain in that inbetween state very relaxed almost asleep and still conscious. I have been working on it since about last May and have only recently become more aware and ' awake ' during it. One of the difficulties is that when I notice it I get too delighted that I'm noticing it and that brings me right out to a more wakeful state.

Many writers and scientists have used this state to gain insights from Plato to Edgar Allan Poe .
 The best-known example is probably August Kekulé’s realization that the structure of benzene was a closed ring while half-asleep in front of a fire and seeing molecules forming into snakes, one of which grabbed its tail in its mouth. Many other artists, writers, scientists and inventors—including Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Walter Scott, Salvador Dalí, —have credited hypnagogia and related states with enhancing their creativity.

 Why does this state interest me, well I am naturally curious and fascinated by all states of consciousness that our minds can produce. It is part of my ongoing investigation of my mind and my life.
I feel that the more conscious awareness  ( or presence ) we possess the more fulfilling our life can be.

Increasing one's level of lucidity through working on awareness in any exercise enhances one's presence in all aspects of life from listening to a loved one, to ' fighting' in T'ai

Alex's Lesson and some more work on the ' fight set'

Here is Alex's lesson to the sound of torrential rain










Here Sara and I are working on the ' fight set '  I got the label wrong !














We have just reached the end of the second section. It needs a lot more polishing but it's great fun to learn and practice and it really embeds the applications in the body and mind.

Focusing attention to enhance your energy environment

As you read these lines, become aware of all the sounds that your ears perceive. Notice how, as you become aware of this, your your attention on your inner condition increases. Now start paying attention to everything that your body is feeling.  Can you feel your toes, your hair , your elbows , legs and so forth ? Keep these two perceptions in focus and become aware now of all the colours and tones that your eyes and ears are capturing. Again feel how you are becoming more aware of your surroundings, more awake,, lucid.
Now, pay attention to everything that you are thinking. Observe all the thoughts that have been coming into your mind and how you deal with them.  In deepening this condition, you develop a state of greater awareness. In this state, feeling very aware and alive, you can begin to send out ' energies ' to your room, manifesting flows that are intense so as to ' renovate' the energetic information  in your room, work place etc .

This exercise ( reminiscent of  Dr. Fehmi's  Open focus exercises ) comes from Luis Minero's fascinating book ' Demystifying the  out - of -body  Experience.

Light and shade

                    The river is very full its been raining hard the last few days

               But it's blue skies and sunshine as we walk along

              Off up to the high path as the lower one is flooded

                 The foliage is so dense you can hardly see the river below




                     

                        It's still sunny when we reach the meadow

                     But everything changes as the clouds fill in

                  The river looks like chocolate

                The sky is gone black and grey

But even as we stand there the blue reappears                                              

               
                  And just as in life contrast keeps us interested

                      From dull

                                                           
              To bright

                 
                     From solitude

To company                                                                           

                                                                                      

       

Tails wagging                                                                             

                                                                   
                     We head home from another happy walk

Back to Mallow Castle

        Having found this treasure I couldn't resist sharing
       it with my niece and nephew on their visit.

                 Gilbert loves castles and pointed out details
                            I hadn't spotted last time

                   Like the fire place here on the second floor
                    with it's chimney sloping up to the ' roof'.

                   
                                      This is interesting just look up

                I wonder why this polygonal tower has so much more algae

                    than this one                                                                            

                                 Wow this is amazing                                                                              

                         The new one is cool too                                                                              

                         Interesting how old is this                                                              

That's fairly old all right     

      

Well Auntie Ann are you coming or what 

                   Just a minute the sky is beautiful                                                                     

                                                                                   

                     And the avenue                                                                                       

             Pretty amazing                                                                                     

                 That was a fun visit lets do it again soon.