| | I looked at the Yoga nidra stuff, and had not been familiar with it before, thanks! I think that the muscular relaxation is probably the most important element, and my own theory is that it mimics sleep paralysis, thus allowing a higher degree of visualization. Probably at the point of profound muscular relaxation, one is at least at the point of access concentration (and can therefore enter easily into 1st Jhana) without any visualization. As far as I can tell, given the criterion that Daniel provides in his book, the point at which one can interact with a virtual environment would correspond to a 4th (Samantha) Jhana - and from my experience it can be entered into directly, without passing through the preceding states. I'd be interested in the feedback of advanced Theravada practitioners here, as I am relatively new to the "Jhana system." What I can tell you is that a degree of physiological control is possible from this state that is not normally achievable, including the ability to block pain. This is straight up self-hypnosis and if it's not a jhana, I'd like to know what it is. The guy who taught me hypnosis was a surgeon, and he used it in burn victims. As it turns out, most of the tissue injury from a burn is due to secondary inflammation, and he claimed he could drastically reduce it with this technique - he showed me some amazing pictures of patients he worked with, including an aluminum worker who had dipped his leg in molten aluminum, and had not needed a skin graft. At any rate, I think that this is definitely relevant to the concentration states (though as you point out, in some ways it's more difficult to visualize a stable image of a triangle than a moving environment), and has direct relevance to cultivation of the siddhis or powers (which by definition require the cultivation of concentration states). Insight meditation is indirectly related but interdependent on the ability to access these states. |