http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/fourelements.pdf
Mindfulness is always necessary to balance faith with wisdom, concentration with effort, and concentration with wisdom. Mindfulness is desirable under all circumstances, because mind-fulness protects the mind from becoming agitated due to excess faith, effort, or wisdom. P. 12

Second brain in the gut? Gastroenterology - Vagus nerve

In the Reference book 'The element encyclopedia of the psychic world: the ultimate a-z of spirits, mysteries and the paranormal by Theresa Cheung' c2006, ISBN 9780007211487, p 273, its mentioned that,

"the body has a 2nd primitive 'brain' in the layers of tissue lining the stomach, small intestine and colon. It is actually a network of neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins called enteric nervous system (ENS). The ENS and its interaction with the brain in the head are so complex that it is a field of study in its own right, called gastroenterology.

It further said that eventually the connection between the two brains shrunk to a single nerve, called the Vagus nerve.

 

Scientific info on Vagus nerve is on the following site.

http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/grossanatomy/h_n/cn/cn1/cn10.htm

Encyclopedia Britannica Online

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/621522/vagus-nerve

Its interesting to note that this nerve is connected to the larnyx which as mentioned by Samuel Sagan in his book, 'Opening the third eye' that activating the Larnyx is very important in achieving the results from deep meditation. Also breathing into the solar plexus (stomach area) is important for deeper meditation. It looks like all the important points in meditation, have the Vagus nerve going through them. It might be the magic connection between the third eye, throat chakra, heart and the nabhkamal / solar plexus.

Clairsentience, the ability to get intuitive insight and information through your sense of touch or feeling what is around you is what we refer to as gut feeling, intuition or vibes etc. This ability, I believe is developed more and more with regular meditation.
So can we simplify meditation in its first stage as the awareness of the Vagus nerve and its connecting places? Is it the magic nerve?

Now I have found a yoga site that calls this nerve the cool nerve associated with the feeling of Gratitude, Compassion, Love and Happiness. There you go! So I just figured out something that everyone already knows! :)
http://www.subtleyoga.com/220/



Seeing a jagged tree trunk and then a log

I woke up at 2 am today which would be 3 am, my regular time with day light saving. Since yesterday I was too tired at work and I didn't have that natural urge to meditate which I usually do, I decided to go back to sleep. At 6.15 am after enjoying chatting with my beautiful son in the bed, I felt rotten that I hadn't meditated. So I started it, just to keep the practice going. After a while, I saw a jagged medium size tree trunk which looked miserable. I prayed to fix this trunk and saw a neatly cut log on the ground. I didn't understand if it was any better thank the jagged trunk standing.

According to the dream dictionary
Seeing a trunk in your dream, represents old memories, ideals, hopes, and old emotions. It may indications issues and feelings that you have not dealt with.  Seeing the trunk of a tree means your inner sense of well being and personality. If the trunk is thick and large, then it indicates that you are a strong, rugged and durable person. If the trunk is thin and narrow, then it suggests that you are a highly sensitive person.

Reading this explained  that it truly was how I feel about a certain old memory which came up to the surface after listening to the 'Asa di var' yesterday, which my son had put on. Some situations really don't have a solution when you really don't want to address them thinking there is no hope of a changed behaviour on the other end.

That was the very reason, I didn't feel like meditating this morning. I didn't want those memories to come to the surface which did show up as jagged tree trunk anyway. So I know now how jagged my soul is, in relation to that issue. However, seeing the log was good. The dream dictionary says that a log is a new opportunity.