PsiloPutty

Tsuki, I wish everyone here wrote like you do. Easy to understand.

Yeah, your brain waves are different at that time of day, and I find that they're some of my deepest meditations. Another cool thing is that it only takes me a minute or so to really get quieted down and on my breath at that hour. It's like my brain is already in a meditative state.

Flow state, yep.

Ha, love your screen name. Have you done strong determination sits? Set your alarm for 2am and do a sit? Those are a couple Shinzen-approved ways to pep up your practice.

@DoubleYou That was beautiful. That's the frame of mind I often get into when wired on mushrooms. Exploring my senses as though I'm 2 years old again. It's wildly fulfilling and strange at times. Not at all a waste of time or a waste of a trip.

That's a good start! I think most people quit meditation after a couple weeks, because they think they suck at it or they are doing it wrong. Keep it up and get through a couple more weeks of it....you will start to see more benefits after a month of daily meditating. Changes in the way you react in stressful situations, the way you treat yourself and others, etc. KEEP IT UP!

I've been watching some YT videos on them, and I'm curious. I may do a week at some point, but if you've done it before, do you think a person would likely get much benefit from say a 3-day retreat? One guy said that he spent the first 2-3 days to just sleeping and getting his head around his situation in there, so maybe a 3-day wouldn't be long enough for most. It's an intriguing concept to me.

@Outer Come on, man. It's a post on a forum; why call it nonsense? The OP put time into watching it, thinking about it and writing his/her thoughts. It was significant to him and he wanted to share. There's a kinder way to go about getting your point across, if you absolutely HAVE to.

They aren't a cure-all, but their potential has been waaaay underinvestigated by modern methods. And Leo looks like a Zen devil alien in that picture.

CAN it? Well maybe, but I wouldn't be getting in line for it. The probability for major mind fuckage is running at about 91% there.

@Uchira I understand, brother. I wasn't laughing at you, but more the image it created in my head. And I'm happy that you're doing well again!

What about strict Islam? Would a previous devotee still espouse Sharia Law after enlightenment? Can't help but think that huge chunks of former belief would have to be dropped.

@ajasatya I follow you completely. The religion becomes a model. Edited to add a thank you. Thank you.

Geez, glad you snapped out of whatever that was. Hard to say what happened to you, but it was some sort of mental episode. LOL, I think we could substitute your story with the script from Coming To America, and it'd be a much better movie than the original. Yeah, the 7-11 part cracked me up. Off he runs!

Very nice! I may do an at-home retreat in the future. But how....the...hell....did you do 60 mins of holotropic breathing? I did ~40 minutes of it once and felt ready for the morgue afterward, including the next day.

Uhhhhh, yeah that actually does look like one of his popular photos.

All sounds normal from what I know. I get the buzzy eyeballs sometimes while meditating, too. Don't try to control your breath, though. Let it happen as it wants to....your job is simply to focus on it going in and out of your nose. Youre the Witness, the Observer. Keep it up and it will change your life!!! It's already changing mine in a number of ways, and I've only been at it daily since December.

I think you're trying too hard. Taking life too seriously in some ways....maybe not seriously enough in others. I don't know you, so I won't assume. What are the biggest worries you have currently? Hard to help without knowing what's going on.

Man, there's been a lot of suicide talk here lately. Do you think you've gone as far as you can in your life? Nothing more to figure out? You're here to learn.

I use them as casual mile markers only. Not of my life, but rather my growth progress.

@Morten Yeah, I don't get it either. The picture on the wall looks like my aunt Starla and her husband Jim. But I doubt that's what you thought, unless you're my cousin. I would kind of like to have a cousin named Morten.....

@Leo Gura Nope, this is the only known pic of him after doing 5-meo. He's like "Cute medicine there....what else ya got?"

Good stuff! I use this one sometimes when I meditate.

Cannabis can absolutely be trippy. One of the wildest trips I've ever had was induced by only cannabis. It was after I hadn't done it for a while.

@Leo Gura Pfffft, LOL. And I've read where Ram Dass gave Maharaj-ji high doses of good LSD and it apparently objectively did nothing to him. Just went right on talking with his devotees like normal. And OP, my story of cannabis is similar. Got into it later in life than most, felt I'd found a great ally, swung too far into its use, cut back and here I am pondering whether it'd be a good idea to just ditch it completely. There's nothing at all wrong with the stuff, but like any substance, food, thought or activity, it can be overdone by us. Dammit, I do enjoy that shit, though!