physical movement with psi

[yokusa]

I had this idea that I thought was sort of absurd, until I was browsing psipog and found out a lot of other people had thought of the same thing.

Nearly everyone knows that when most newbies start creating their first psi constructs, they usually cup their hands to help make a mental focal point to center their psi, wherein they'll create the psi ball.
Now the more experienced of us know that it doesn't matter where you put your hands and that you can create a psi ball wherever you want. So, this technique newbies use with the hands merely helps them concentrate, thereby strengthening their first task, (creating the psi ball).

Now if we simply wished to increase our practices in the same way that newbies do, wouldn't mody movements and motions help us to further concentrate? Of course one wouldn't do this while walking along in public, but when simply practicing, it should serve the same mental purpose.

[wolfdancer]

Do you mean like the "triggering" that Frozen mentions in his article?

[Cullen]

I've got to admit, sounds a whole lot like triggering. I actually find the very usefull, especially when I'm trying to generate/gather large ammounts of energy at a time. Yes, it works well as a focus, and can get to the point where the right motion can tell your sub-c to do complex tasks. (read the article)

[The Devil's Advocate]

Mostly ditto on what Cullen says. It is not a technique I use often to /create/ constructs, but it is one I use a bit more to target more complicated constructs or psionic applications that I am not as skilled with (Biofeedback for example). One thing I discovered was true for myself (when I started with psiballs as a practice tool.) Using gestures to work with anything I wasn't trying to 'shape' in the space between my hands provided ME with no benifit. And in counter point to the counter point. It's not something I have actively tried to develop either.

~The Devil's Advocate

[lunin]

I frequently use it when experimenting with stuff.

I have also found that if you do get used to a motion with a skill, especally an inconspicuous one, you can trigger said ability much more quickly at times because its a mental reflex, though it does end up being a bit of a crutch as it gets harder to do it without said motion. (havent read the article on triggering so forgive me if that is in it)

[wolfdancer]

*nods* it is and your forgiven---since you mentioned that

~wolf

[ryakoth]

i usually use physical movement, when i want to be discreet i use hand shapes like mudras, when i am alone or dont care i do whatever i feel goes with the task, i also do kung fu warm ups in public so everyone already thinks I'm crazy, they hardly notice my odd hand spinnings

[wolfdancer]

I would be concerned about becoming too dependent upon them if they were used on a regular basis. Wouldn't you want to try to keep a balance between using physical movement and triggering as an aid and using your mind to expand and refine mental skill?

[The Devil's Advocate]

also you get the problems of accidental triggering (which was covered in the article). Your body 'remembers' that this position over here means THAT... and poof you have a construct whether you meant to make one or not. So Useful, but not exclusively so.

~The Devil's Advocate

[wolfdancer]

*nods* Good point. I had forgotten about that side effect of triggering (which is probably why it is such a risk)

~Wolf

[The Devil's Advocate]

In most cases it's not a great 'risk' (ie there are few detrimental occurances). It's just an annoyance, and something you have to clean up. There ARE some cases where it can be problematic... and I've had issues with over zealous mental triggering so it's not exclusive to the physical. (Anger + psionics = interesting messes to clean up. The downside to doing EVERYTHING mentally.)

~The Devil's Advocate

[ryakoth]

hmm i havnt had problems with accedental triggering, and i do practice building things at a distance and while absolutely still/in meditative sitting posture

[Cullen]

My usual way of handling triggering is making sure I have directed energy in a specific reference to my hand, or whatever I'm using. If the energy flow isn't right, the trigger won't work. This requires a bit of conscious action behind it.