Exercises - Max Cade

These papers were often used as a talk within a workshop, which would be followed by practical exercises. There are many exercises which are appropriate for this topic: for the first part, emphasizing concentration as a pre­requisite to meditation and for the second part, emphasizing the internal state, or "attitude" conducive to effective meditation, both in the quiet and "in the battlefield of life".

All these exercises, if practiced correctly, will bring about a level of relaxation in the body.. In the biofeedback workshops, participants monitor this change
using the Electrical Skin Resistance meter. (The model used in Max’s workshops was normally the "Omega 1", manufactured by Audio Ltd.). In order to avoid drowsiness, participants are seated in an upright posture. Breathing should be from the abdomen  a relaxing breath, filling the lungs no more than three-quarters full, so the rib cage will remain still.

The presentation of these types of exercise to a group obviously requires a level of experience in maintaining rapport, appraising the state of the group,
timing and so on. Some instructions have been included in square brackets throughout the exercises.

Exercise 1: Stillness of Mind and Body

"Before one can learn to meditate, it is desirable one might almost say  essential, to learn to concentrate. In orthodox yogic training it is not left to
the whim of the pupil to decide whether or not he will learn concentration before proceeding to meditation; he is obliged to learn concentration  Dharana  first.. In many parts of India, the learning of Dharana is by means of the Kasina exercises, which are still largely unknown in the West. Without possessing a certain degree of Dharana, a person would hardly be able to live at all, and certainly could not work properly. Hence, without even being aware of the fact, everyone is continually practicing Kasina exercises, by which their energy is directed towards a single goal..

"First of all it is necessary for you to realize that if you are relaxing properly, your mind is WIDE AWAKE and AWARE, even though your body is deeply relaxed and almost beyond movement.... Take a few moments to become centered and relaxed.... breathing easily from the abdomen..relaxed lips, tongue and throat, but keeping eyes open..... [1 minute]

"Now hold one of the Kasina objects in your hand. [an object is given to each member of the group. Max had a basket of coloured alabaster eggs for this purpose, and each participant chose an egg as the basket was offered. Other objects could be used instead.

"I want you to study your chosen Kasina object carefully, with both your hand and your eyes. Feel it and note its smoothness, or occasional flaws, its
temperature, its texture. .. . Study it with your eyes and note the colour, the shadíngs, the patterns.concentrate upon it completely, losing all awareness of
your body in the process, yet remaining fully awake and aware.  [5 minutes]

The Anatomy of Meditation (part 2) Maxwell Cade Foundation

MEDITATION AND BEING

It is enormously important that we should be quite, quite clear in our minds concerning the distinction between the absolutely essential mental development exercises which precede true meditation and meditation itself.

 Krishnamurti says:
"If you deliberately take an attitude, a posture, in order to meditate, then it may become a plaything, a toy of the mind. If you determine to escape from the confusion and the misery of life, then it becomes an experience of the imagination  and this is not meditation. The conscious mind and the personal unconscious mind must have no part in it: they must not even be aware of the extent and beauty of meditation. If they are, then you might just as well go and buy a romantic novel.

“IN THE TOTAL ATTENTION OF MEDITATION, THERE IS NO KNOWING, NO RECOGNITION, NOR THE REMEMBRANCE OF SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED. TIME AND THOUGHT HAVE ENTIRELY COME TO AN END, FOR THEY ARE THE CENTRE WHICH LIMITS ITS OWN VISION. 
At the moment of illumination, thought withers away, and the conscious effort to experience and the remembrance of it, is the word that has been."

"Meditation", says Claudio Naranjo, "is concerned with the development of a PRESENCE, a modality of being, which may be expressed or developed in whatever situation
the individual may be involved. This presence or mode of being transforms whatever it touches. If its medium is movement, it will turn to dance; if stillness, into live sculpture; if thinking, into the higher reaches of intuition; if sensing, into a merging with the miracle of being; if feeling, into love: if singing, into sacred utterance; if speaking, into prayer or poetry; if doing the things of ordinary life, into a ritual in the name of God or a celebration of existence." [Notes 1 & 2]

Just as the spirit of our times is technique oriented in its dealings with the external world, it is technique oriented in its approach to psychological or spiritual reality. Yet, while numerous schools propound this or that method as a solution to human problems, we
know that it is not merely the method, but THE WAY IN WHICH IT IS EMPLOYED that determines its effectiveness, whether in psychotherapy, art or education. The application of techniques or tools in an interpersonal situation depends upon an almost intangible “human factor" in the teacher, guide or psychotherapist. When within the self, as is the case with methods of meditation, the human factor beyond the method becomes even more elusive. . .

The question of the RIGHT ATTITUDE on the part of the meditator is the hardest for meditation teachers to transmit, and though it is the object of most supervision, it may be apprehended only through practice. It might be said that the attitude, or "inner posture" is
both the path and the goal of the meditator. For the subtle, invisible HOW is not merely a HOW T0 MEDITATE but a HOW TO BE, which in meditation is exercised in a simplified situation. And precisely because of its elusive quality.... the attitude that is the heart of
meditation is generally sought after in the most simple external or "technical" situations - in stillness, silence, monotony, "just sitting".

Just as we do not see the stars in daylight, but only in the absence of the sun, we may never taste the subtle essence of meditation in the daylight of ordinary activity in all its complexity. That essence may be revealed when we have suspended everything else but US, our presence, our attitude, beyond any activity or lack of it. Whatever the outer situation, the inner task is simplified, so that nothing remains but to gaze at a candle, listen to the hum in our own ears or "do nothing". We may then discover that there are innumerable ways of gazing, listening, doing nothing (and also,innumerable ways of NOT just gazing, NOT just listening, NOT just sitting). Against the background of simplicity
required by the exercise, we may become aware of ourselves and all that we bring to the situation, and we may begin to grasp experientiaíly the question of ATTITUDE.

While practice in most activities implies the development of habits and the establishment of conditioning, the practice of meditation can be better understood as quite the opposite: a persistent effort to detect apd become free from all conditioning, compulsive
functioning of mind and body, the habitual emotional responses that may contaminate the utterly simple situation required by the participant. This is why it may be said that the attitude of the meditator is both his path and his goal; the unconditioned state is the freedom of attainment and also the target of every single effort. what the meditator realizes in his practice is to a large extent HOW HE FAILS T0 MEDITATE PROPERLY, and by becoming aware of his failings he gains understanding and the ability to let go of his wrong way. The right way, the desired attitude, is what remains when we have stepped out of the way.

1. From "On the Psychology of Meditation" by Robert
Ornstein and Claudio Naranjo.

2. Max comments further: "Naranjo's commentary is enormously illuminating, if only because he highlights the paradox that, in learning to meditate, it is necessary to work in a manner that is Contrary to the ultimate aim. As Naranjo says, meditation is most readily
learned in a simplified situation, away from the hurly­ burly of life. Yet, as the Japanese Zenist, Lin Tsi says, ’To concentrate one’s mind, or to dislike noisy places and seek only for stillness is the characteristic of heterodox Dhyana. It is easy to keep self­=possession in a
place of tranquility, yet it is by no means easy to keep mind undisturbed amid the bivouac of actual life. It is true Dhyana that makes our mind sunny while the storms of strife rage around us. It is true Dhyana that secures the harmony of heart, while the surges of struggle toss us violently.'

"The same paradox arises in relation to training in the production of alpha rhythm states. Most students find that, at first, opening the eyes, forming mental images,thinking in a focused, logical manner, all cause the alpha rhythm to disappear. Usually it is necessary to
have a quiet environment and to keep the mind very still and restful in order to learn to produce ’continuous alpha’. Yet it is only by slowly and painstakingly training oneself to maintain alpha while the eyes are open, while the mind is forming images, while one
experiences emotions, while one solves problems, that one eventually gains 'fifth state' consciousness, in which one's everyday state of mind is infused with continuous bilateral alpha rhythms of a particularly persistent and self­-petuating kind.

This complete contradiction between the approach to learning quiescent mental states and the approach to their utilization is the cause of a great deal of confusion to students of meditation. They often ask, ’What are the ultimate benefits  , and the teacher must
truthfully reply that they fare largely in the form of better and more effective mental and physical interaction with the everyday world: I: Yet their early lessons are often in the form of both physical and mental retreat from the world !

"Also, we must remember the words of Krishnamurti:
’Do not think that meditation is a continuance and an expansion of ordinary experience. . ...'. It is not, and in its higher reaches, where it passes over into mystical experience, it is ineffable and therefore cannot be discussed at all except with someone who has had the same experience. Perhaps the worst effect of this is that it makes the student cling, still more, to outward forms and to believe that SOMEHOW, if he could only see how, meditation could be understood 'scientifically' through a study of the techniques."

Maxwell Cade Foundation  The Anatomy of Meditation

Stylised drawing of the awakened mind by Anna Wise

Before I continue with Max's manuscripts, I would like to share with you some research that I came across from Dr Richard Soutar's website. Dr Soutar, also a pioneer of neurofeedback, is making comparisons with the Awakened Mind pattern (as seen by Max  Cade) and brainmaps (qEEG) of meditators.

Loreta image showing distribution of 9hz EEG.

Above is an image from the Soutar's website showing their EEG analysis - called LORETA - 
this image is from an experienced meditator of 10 years doing a concentrative meditation, similar to Theravaden, Zen and Ashtanga techniques. 

The LORETA image, shows the distribution of 9hz (alpha) as being dominant, the drawing in the title by Anna Wise (stylised pattern on what we see on the mindmirror eeg) shows 9hz at the middle peak.

The Soutars' have also shown in their qEEG analysis that symmetry (the balance of both hemispheres) are balanced in the meditator, this agrees with the awakened mind pattern.





 

 

The anatomy of meditation - C Maxwell Cade

Thank you to Isabel Cade for permission

Maxwell Cade Foundation  The Anatomy of Meditation

Published by the Maxwell Cade  Foundation 9 Chatsworth Road, London, NW2 4BJ, copyright Mrs I. D. Màxwell cade 1990

1. MEDITATION AND CONCENTRATION

In its beginning, meditation is an exercise in control of the attention. Attention is not an
achievement. Attention has no border, no frontier to cross; attention is clarity, clear of all thought.
Thought, as Krishnamurti emphasizes, can never make for clarity, because it has its roots in the dead past; so thinking is an action in the dark. Awareness of this is to be attentive.
The Bhagavad Gita states: 

"The mind is the slayer of the real; therefore we must slay the slayer".
This is not the doctrine of despair or of mindlessness; it means that, as Kenneth Walker wrote in Diagnosis of Man:
"By means of sensuous perception and inference, we shall never stand face to face with
reality".

To know something, as distinct from knowing about it, or knowing some of its attributes, we need the higher mental power of the intuition. Krishnamurti puts it like this: "meditation is not an intellectual process  which is still within the area of thought. Meditation is the freedom from thought, and a movement in the ecstasy of truth".

We must be very clear that meditation is NOT concentration. Concentration comes before meditation: a long way before. Christmas Humphries writes: "Before a man can fence, he must learn to handle a rapier, so that the rapier, hand and eye can follow the will as one.
Before a girl can dance, she must train her muscles until the body as a whole will express the beauty in the mind. Before a man can use his mind to develop his inner faculties, to increase his understanding and to integrate the vast range of related parts which make up 'se1f’, he must develop and learn to control the instrument involved."

The best analogy is the searchlight. Here is an efficient and impersonal machine. It can be directed to a given object at will, moved rapidly from one object to another, focused as needed and equally well turned off at will. The light employed comes from a supply that has no ending and is drawn on by the skill of, but not from the person of the operator. So with the mind. The more perfect the instrument and its control, the more clearly
will the light of consciousness be focused, without wavering, on the chosen field ....It is not my light or yours. It is the light of consciousness.

When I decide to change the object of attention, I change it; when I am tired, or the time has come to do something else, or to rest, or the doorbell rings, I turn it Off. WITHOUT SUCH AN INSTRUMENT, THUS HANDLED AND CONTROLLED, ONE CANNOT MEDITATE, FOR THE MEANS IS LACKING FOR THE CHOSEN END.

"In brief", says Christmas Humphries, "no man can meditate until he has learned to concentrate; let him who denies it try." Hence our insistence that, although the
aim of meditation is eventually to transcend the intellect by development of higher mental powers, FIRST ONE MUST HAVE AN INTELLECT T0 TRANSCEND.

Maxwell Cade

“Biofeedback is a new way of learning, a way of relearning, or realising for the first time, what the body already knows.” - Maxwell Cade

Max Cade was born in London 1918. At an early age his father introduced him to yoga and meditation. At the age of 12 a Japanese boy aroused his interest in judo, kendo, Zen and other esoterica.

The world of martial arts and meditation shaped Max's outlook for his lifetime.

After school Max went to study medicine at Guy's Hospital London. However medical school raised conflicts with many of his ideas.

  “All Eastern ideas, I found, were treated with scorn and derision, so I began to keep my interests strictly to myself for fear of being ostracised by even my closest friends . . . I began to understand, too, why my father, who had studied yoga, was so secretive about it . . .” 

Max then switched to clinical psychology and qualifed at Birkbeck College. 
In 1942 during the second world war he was an air cadet/navigator, he transferred to the Royal Navel Scientific Service and became an experimental officer working in the new field of radar.


In 1958 Max won the Royal Aeronautical Soceity's Navigation Prize for a paper on new methods of astronavigation. In 1960 and 1961 he won the Radio Industry Council's National Award for technical writing, with two papers on infra-red radiation physics.

Max did not fit the popular image of the scientist as a specialist concentrating doggedly on solving a single problem in a narrow field. His interests were broad, impelled by a restless urge to explore the most advanced ideas in any field that attracted him.

Max published about 150 scientific papers on navigation, radiation physics and clinical psychology, his reputation grew and became increasingly respected.

He he was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and Royal Society of Health, a Member of the Institute of Biology and the Institute of Physics, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, and an honorary member of the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis and many others.

In 1969, he found a subject that was to hold his interest for the rest of his life and one for which his extraordinary background had prepared him well. He, together with Dr Ann Woolley-Hart - a medical researcher at St Bartholomew’s Hospital -began intensive research into altered mental states.

Max was influenced by a variety of people who demonstrated a way of being that Max later called The Awakened Mind.

Max began teaching biofeedback and altered states of consciousness in 1973.

In 1973 when Max began teaching biofeedback and altered states of consciousness, he had to be careful, as the average person was not ready for this leap into self-awareness.

. “Essentially, biofeedback is a new way of learning about ourselves, or a way of relearning, or realising for the first time, what the body already knows - how to act, how to feel, even how to heal - if we listen to it . . . biofeedback can be said to provide the means to become aware - acutely aware - of ourselves, and thereby gain the possibility of self-control.”  Max Cade

For a detailed history on Max Cade and his journey into biofeedback and meditation please click here

  I

The original mindmirror 1976

 

The orginal mindmirror came in a wooden box, it was before the age of home computers and so had the display built in.

It performed instant frequency analysis and displayed the results on rows of light emitting LEDs. Movement of the light away from the centre of the display out to the left and right showed the amplitude. 

Now the mindmirror is a small device that can fit in your hand, the screen is shown on the computer, with bars to show frequency and amplitude.

Mindmirror software as seen on a computer

The mindmirror is like observing art, only the art is your own brain, and it's an art project in progress.Observing our brainwaves on the mindmirror is different from clinical EEG biofeedback, which allows us to view our brainwaves as singular lines, flowing across a screen, lovely but linear, the mindmirror shows the interaction off how one's brainwaves flow into another, allowing you to watch your brain as a poetic description; as you move from internal to external awareness, your brainwaves are revealed, painting brainwave 'shapes' in real time. 

Your brain is your creation, the shapes will change as your meditation practice develops.