Deep Relaxation While Gaming

[traveler]

10 minutes ago, DrewNows said:

@traveler love that game and I’ve never even played it 

stumbled onto it through YT and being a soccer player it naturally pulled me in to enjoy the strategy and mechanics 

Yea, it is basically soccer with cars lol, such a basic idea but they really nailed it.

[LfcCharlie4]

@Raptorsin7 Once you discover that your  happiness is not dependent on any sort of outcome of the game, you can be fully involved in the game and want to win, but if you lose it’s okay with you and you’ll remain happy. 
 

I couldn’t disagree more that you shouldn’t want to win, when you play a game of course you want to win, and you want to be fully involved, that’s where the joy of playing comes from, BUT, if you are also okay with losing you won’t be moody all night when you lose.

The 2 best people I’ve seen speak on this are Francis Lucille & Sadhguru, in relation to actual sport. 
 

Here’s some links that will help you, this is something I struggled with as I play sport, and I realised I will always want to win and give my all to win, however my happiness isn’t dependent on any result. If we win that’s awesome, but if we lose I’m not suddenly going to become unhappy, as happiness isn’t dependent on anything. This way you can be fully involved in every game, but not dependent on it for your happiness. It also reduces a lot of anxiety and allows you to play freely, without worry. 

https://isha.sadhguru.org/global/en/wisdom/sadhguru-spot/be-a-sport

 

Never stop truly involving yourself in life, that’s where the fun comes from. Just understand your happiness isn’t dependent on anything, and that way you can truly enjoy it even more! 

[Mulky]

Play some vanilla minecraft

[lmfao]

This post reminded me of something Om Swami wrote, so I'll just transcribe it here. 

Quote

Even while playing most video games where it might seem that the player is concentrating hard, the concentration is no more than elementary concentration. The player is expected to react quickly, the brain has to process information and act more instinctually than creatively . It is for this reason that playing video games or watching TV does little to enhance your creativity.

So my opinion. This reminds me of a question I've wondered before, in what way is automaticity antithetical to mindfulness. We live our lives on autopilot. Enlightenment work involve unlearning what is "false". Which involves unlearning bad habits as well. 

Yet the problem comes in the fact that it is pretty much undeniable we operate from memory. Don't take it for granted though, just pretend that you don't. Breathing, walking, moving your body, talking, skills, it's all memory. The smallest glimpse we've all seen, to a degree at least, of where the resolution to this conflict resides is the flow state. But my direct experience is still weak.

In the domain of the relative. Video games make it easier to go into low mindfulness and autopilot for most people, imo. And that's what the quote I posted is referring to. You're reacting quickly to shit. In spiritual work, you're usually introducing a bit of a pause between your neurotic instinct and action. But video games make it hard for this, and you become a robot. It's a bit easier to get consciously absorbed into sports since its more wholistic and involves your entire body.  Whilst it's theoretically possible to be fully mindful whilst playing video games, I think it's a difficult one for most people. But don't let me stop you. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by lmfao

[Kalki Avatar]

@Raptorsin7 If you play or do any activity that requires great attention and you are not self centered, relaxed and calm, you are easily going to get triggered. Back to low level emotions and animalistic responses. 

When you play alot, especially if you are not centered in your presence-being, you will notice that you repeat the same patterns and strategies stupidly. And even after seeing it doesnt work you keep trying that way.

Now, try this. Stop gaming for a few days. And dont come back until you are fully relaxed. Your whole body, mind, emotions and compulsions. It will be a difficult process at the beginning because your mind will tell you to do things and your body will want to move. But if you get to the point of total relaxation your mind and muscles will be smooth and undivided. Then after that you can start to become more self centered and grounded on your being. Meaning your energies are starting to become one/pinpointed in the now. Your mind will also respond faster to spontaneity. Your vision field will be more open to see things you did not noticed before. If you use headphones you will also hear more footsteps. Make yourself blissful and unreactive to everything that happens. Have good sleep too. If you sleep bad trying to get good it will back fire you. Also, be hidrated, your mental energy is everything in the game. 

And before playing, do breathing practices like Pranayama. Empty your mind and then meditate until you are fully present. Make sure you make your breathing deep and slow consistently as a habit to stay calm. Basically you want to become one with the controller and the screen. No thoughts, just full zone and the genius of your presence being creative. This is a different paradigm to gaming. 

There are many things you can do to improve apart from practice. Like inquiring your limiting beliefs of certain skills in the game. Contemplating deeply the mechanics of the game and your strategy. Positive thoughts and meta confident thoughts to win your psychology when loosing etc. 

So, just like zen martial artists practice for the sake of truth discovery and fun. You can also make it in gaming. The source won't be to compete and win, but just pure being and feel what is God as a gamer. I used to do this when playing mw2 and bo2. The results where astonishing. I did things I never imagine I could. Crazy shots and feeds with the sniper like its the daily norm. 

Philosophy: just be present and Flow with the objective in front. Forget about winning or loosing, those will be the after results of your actions in the now and still you do not have complete control of the outcome. 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Kalki Avatar

[SamueLSD]

@Raptorsin7 What game are you speaking of, specifically ?

[Raptorsin7]

@Kalki Avatar  Thanks that's great advice.

I believe that as i go deeper with practices it will translate into how i play the game. I think one issue i have is i'm not reaching a deep state of relaxation in my practices, so even when i meditate before playing it's not like i'm in the zone already ready to go.

Let's say i were starting from scratch in trying to apply this philiosphy to my gaming. How should i go about it?

@SamueLSD League of legends.

[SamueLSD]

7 hours ago, Raptorsin7 said:

 

@SamueLSD League of legends.

Assuming your teaming with people and communicating well, focus on that.

Teamwork can be fulfilling, especially if you take the lead. More so than the content of the game itself. ( I dont like LOL personally ) 

[Raptorsin7]

@SamueLSD What i'm after the joy inherent in flow states. I don't how much you've read about flow psychology, but there's a state of being that gets accessed in various sporting events etc that is a large reason why certain sports like surfing are so popular. It's the state of flow that they're accessing.

I want to access a flow state in league of legends, but i've been playing for the past few months and there's no flow at all.

I don't know what it takes to get totally immersed in the game, but i'm trying to figure it out.

[SamueLSD]

@Raptorsin7 Hate to tell you man. LOL is not an immersive game. 

Star Citizen, maybe. 

And even that is no where near as immersive and flowing as real life surfing. 

Keep trying though, if you think you can make something of it. 

Edited May 31, 2020 by SamueLSD