Meditation
I have always been interested in meditation and as a long time meditator, nearly 20 years of it has been an important element in my life.

I'm largely self taught and have practised a number of different meditation techniques over the years. Some are easier to do than others and involve to a more or less degree a relaxation in the stringency of breathing methods or don't require you to assume a full lotus for example. However, all require disciplined concentration.

No matter which meditatve technique you use, the object with repeated practise is to come to a realisation of awakening. The opposite to awakening of course is asleep however, not in the literal sense of being fast asleep in bed. A realisation of awakening is detachment from thoughts and emotions which leads to less suffering. We identify so closely with our thoughts that its easy to fall into that old trap of anger, depression, anxiety and hate. The function of these emotions is to cause us pain and suffering, so why on earth would anyone want that in their lives?

This is what it means to come to a realisation of awakening. We are asleep because we identify with our thoughts, our emotions and this sleep blinds us to what reality really is. We develop opinions based on our thoughts and our emotions and not necessaraly on facts. In his book Psycho Cybernetics, Author Dr Maxwell Malts, Phd gives an example (my words):

You are with a friend or in a relationship and your friend routinely breaths through his teeth after dinner the result of which is a high pitched whistling that annoys you greatly. You start thinking that he is doing this on purpose to deliberately annoy you. This is an opinion you have formed in your own head. You are annoyed, it is causing you pain and you wish that he would stop. You then start to resent him until finally you accuse him of deliberately annoying you, which he denies (and gets defensive about it) until eventually a full blown verbal exchange has reared its ugly head. Your opinion is that he is doing this on purpose however, the fact is that he is simply trying to clear out his teeth and was totally unaware of his actions. While 'asleep' we form an opinion that is not related to any fact. If we were awake, we could have simply asked him about the high pitched whistling and thus avoided a confrontation.

I want to emphasise here that being being detached doesn't mean not being involved in the everyday things that life brings us like going to work to make a living, being involved in projects or making love or neglecting our responsibilities. On the contrary, you fully engage and live that life to the fullest.

Brain Wave Entrainment and the Mind Body Connection
I first started experimenting with this piece of software technology in late 2005 when I discovered Transparent Corp's website: www.transparentcorp.com

There is actually 70 yrs of solid scientific research when it comes to inducing altered states of consciousnes with entrainment. Brain wave entraiment means that the brain responds to a stimulus whether that stimulus is auditory or photic or both.

We know that while awake and alert, our brains exhibit what are known as beta brain waves. These brain waves as produced by the brain, vibrate at a frequency of 12-20hz (cycles per second) . When we go to bed for sleep or on the couch, our brain waves slowly lower down to what is known as Alpha waves at a frequency of 6-10hz. As we continue to fall asleep, our brain waves fall further to the Theta level at 4-6hz until finally we fall asleep at the Delta level < 4 hz.

While the above description is somewhat simplistic, what is interesting to me is that science has identified several states that you can use to help you achieve specific goals. For example, Alpha brain waves are commonly associated with Creativity or Beta waves are commonly associated with IQ increase. And I used a specific entrainment goal to help me realise a 1st place and 2nd place win at the World All Styles Championships in 2006, Austrlia. It was pretty cool!

The idea of using a sports enhancement protocol via brain wave entrainment rests on the fact that peak performing athletes exhibit high levels of alpha waves meaning they are relaxed and yet very alert during their performance. They experience what is known as the 'zone' or flow effect and this is what the sports enhancement protocol is designed to do. It helps you to familiarize yourself in this state and then its reletavely easy to recreate the state while training or in competition.

The human brain can't really tell the difference between reality and fantasy and there is ample scientific evidence that has been conducted that shows this. This simply means that if you couple your physical training with visualising your performance can yield incredible results. This is nothing new of course and many top class elite athletes do this. Its also within reach for every man and woman not into competition who simply want to get better. The key with visualization however, is to visualize your performance in as perfect form as possible. What you want to do is to make the imagery in your mind as crystal clear as you possible can. Try and use all of your senses when visualising as this will increase the effect. In addition, try and visualize in the 3rd person as if you are watching a movie rather than behind your own eyes. Science can't explain it (or rather its not well understood) but it seems that when visualizing behind your own eyes, the effect is compromised because the mind treats it as a memory. When visualizing in the 3rd person, the effect is multiplied.

So, learn to visualize and reap the rewards this brings you. It may be difficult at first to develop clear mental imagery but with a little persistant effort, it will get easier.

Workout Tuesday 25, March 2009
Bent Press 32kg Ladder Method
Round 11rep left and right
2reps left and right
3reps left and right

Repeated for 2 more rounds all up 18reps left and right

Snatch 16kg Tabata method
20sec left, rest for 10sec 20sec right etc

5mins = 10setsManaged 10 reps per set all up 100reps in 5mins. HR shot to 175beats/min. Next time i'll try and get a 10min tabata and see if i can pull out 200reps.

Rested 2mins then did a descending snatch routine without stopping popularised by Steve Maxwell several years ago. Again with the 16kg.

20reps left then 20reps right
15reps left then 15reps right
10reps left then 10reps right
5reps left then 5reps right

All up 100 reps. Interestingly, took me 5 mins to complete.

Total volume lifted = 3776kg

Total training time = 30mins with the bulk of the time spent bent pressing. Its a great exercise!