Kazman

I've read how to win friends and influence people by carnegie. Other than that I've read Mastery and recently several by Seth Godin. I really liked Martin Ball's book that he talked about in his interview with Leo, though that is more about spirituality.

@Passionate thanks! Any fav books in that area for me to check out? Yes I think i read a few

@aurum I'm difintely a figure it out a long the way type of guy myself. I just finished reading Purple Cow by Seth Godin and got some insights. I think for now it is important for me to focus on what to give and how to give what I want in the best way and explore it as much as possible, regardless of money. I'll experiment with creating a brand/product/series that will stand out and see how much interest I can gather, how it makes me feel and the rest will reveal itself. thanks for the comment!

@Gladius Recently started a topic somewhere here where I said that cutting out gluten from my diet helped my skin a lot. Though your problems don't sound identical, I'd give it a try if you haven't already. And for your sinus, get a neti pot! I love mine! I was very skeptical but got one as part of an assignment for a yoga course I went too. For a long while I used it everyday, more important than brushing teeth IMO. Now I use it more seldom but still love it ?❤️

@Annie wow thanks! Wasnt aware of the b12 thing. Great answer, I appreciate it!

Hi! I've been doing taoist meditations for over a year but I got a teacher a few months ago and now I've started seeing results! Curious about if anyone else do similar things here. I've learned to sublimate and move at least some of my energy around from my sexual region to the head and circulate through the body. I've attained peaceful and ecstatic states that I never reached using more Vipassana/Zen style meditations of the kind Leo usually describes, although of course those help a lot in grounding me and giving me a framework to understand what's happening. Lately I've really been having a spiritual flow with many insights and spontaneous altered states of consciousness, some reached in my dreams which is new. I attribute it to being able to not ejaculate for 40+ days now. I definitely see a connection. I've been trying to make periods of non ejaculating longer for over a year but only recently have I been able to have intercourse without ejaculating. Another thing that happened yesterday was that I went to bed after a meditation session (the one Mantak Chia calls Testicular Breathing+Microcosmic Orbit) and I saw a vibrating light, as if a fluorescent lamp was broken. I realized it was even more apparent when I closed my eyes. It went away after a minute, but it was interesting, I haven't experienced anything similar before. Curious if anyone else here does similar tantric/taoist practices and what you think about it.

@Arman yeah, that needs some elaborating: of course I could've done it without ejaculating earlier, but now I am able to do it while still being a fairly satisfying lover (not just super slow and quitting when tension starts to build). I think it's very satisfying to give my lady orgasms while I am feeling centered and not "losing it". When we are finished I just feel amazing and full of life. it used to be challenging, something that's felt like an impossible dream, but now that I'm starting to learn where to relax, where to contract and where to focus it's surprisingly easy. What I'm currently practicing can be used to "injaculate" during lovemaking but I'm not there yet. I'm raising some of the energy but it doesn't bring me spritual ecstacy, right now it just makes me last longer and feel powerful. I realize that whatever part of me that wants to control everything will have to go at some point. But I feel it's a necessary step that will benefit both me and my partner. It needs to be mastered before I feel comfortable and confident enough with my practice to let go more, and just flow with the experience.

Reminds me of Carlos Castenada "A warrior knows that he is only a man. His only regret is that his life is so short that he can't grab onto all the things he would like to. But for him, this is not an issue; it's only a pity"

@eskwire absolutely, I think a lot of sensitive people become super powerful when they find the abilities their sensitivity give them

@ULFBERHT that's some great mindful observation! I always felt intuitively that ejaculation seemed so unsatisfying, that there had got to be some other way. I have a long way to go before I can control the energy in the same way in its hot sexually aroused state and am by no means a master, but I feel like I have some of the keys now.

@Vytas no problem, good luck! ???

@Vytas Like I wrote, it's the one Mantak Chia calls Testicular Breathing and the Microcosmic Orbit. I first read about them in his book called Cultivating Male Sexual Energy. I haven't read this page thoroughly but it seems to give a rough outline: http://www.allabouttantra.info/en/english/46-taoist-testicular-breathing This is the thing: the practice is really quite simple, but there are a lot of subtle nuances and similar steps that are really hard to get from a book. It's sooo much easier to find a teacher to help you and guide you. Now I have a recording of my teacher that I listen to but he specifically asked me not to share it on forums also it is in Swedish. Mantak Chia is one of the authorities on this stuff, you can go to one of his retreats or read his books, start there maybe

@Leo Gura I will keep you updated senpai ?

@eskwire too bad for you! I can't see how it could hurt, I have had to struggle to feel anything, in the beginning it felt like it was all fake and I couldn't grasp what "feeling the energy" would be like. Now I definitely feel it, but some places/points aren't as open and I need to work with those more, I don't feel as much there.

@Leo Gura thanks for sharing! Been interested in kabbalah since I have some Jewish family and a lot of them in jerusalem, looking forward to diving into it at one point in my life. But this sounds a bit above me still, I need more experience to ground this in

@Emerald Wilkins Hallucinations interwoven with reality... sometimes eyebrows disappeared, sometimes the mouth disappeared, there weren't much colours, and sometimes there was no point of focus and all details were treated equally and then sometimes all would be almost black except for the face in the middle. The face would look old, beautiful, alien, monstrous and just sort of morph around. But it was all tied to what my eyes were perceiving, it wasn't like a DMT-trip

Hi! I want to ask about some of my experiences during eye meditations with my girlfriend. We don't do them super frequently since we have a baby and usually when we both have time alone it's not the first thing you think about. But whenever we do it it's really powerful, brings us closer together and all kinds of things happen. The reason we started with it was because I read an article saying something like looking into someone else's eyes for more than a couple of minutes can give hallucinations, which sounded exciting. It goes like this: basically we sit and look in each others eyes, and not much more to it, both relax and calm themselves and focus. We usually have a song in the background and when it's over after about 10 minutes we hug. At several occasions doing this I've gotten really scared. I don't get any powerful hallucinations but her face does change and different features become more or less prominent. Sometimes I become terrified. It feels like I'm looking at a new person that I've never seen before, and I don't know this persons intentions. Is she good or evil? From this world or the beyond? It almost seems like she is just an empty shell, and I don't know what I'm looking into. The last time this happened it was very strong but I managed to remain calm and remind myself that everything is just content in my experience and shouldn't be taken too seriously. But it's just so freaky. Something about looking into eyes for a long time. I've experienced this with my own face as well, after a meditation session I've looked in the bathroom mirror, still in a pretty open mind state, and tried to detach from what I see, and when I feel that the face I'm looking at is empty, a stranger that I really don't know, I want to scream and I feel crazy. This has happened a couple of times. The feeling is similar to very scary experiences of sleep paralysis that I've had during stressful periods in my life. I know that meditation and enlightenment work can be unnerving sometimes because the ego feels threatened. But this is almost too much. Should I watch out with this, is it normal or am I slightly crazy? It would help me a lot to hear similar experiences you've encountered or some words of wisdom from somebody further along the path. TLDR; I get (almost) panic attacks during meditative states when looking into eyes for long periods of time. What's going on?

@Frogfucius @Bizarre @Emerald Wilkins @oysterman Hi all! Just wanted to say I had an insight last time I did the eye meditation. I've been reading mushroom wisdom by Martin Ball and in it he talks about how to approach mushrooms for spiritual practice. A lot of it has to do with letting the mushrooms show you how you construct your own reality, and something just clicked. I had even more powerful hallucinations then usual during the eye meditation but I realized it was my mind struggling to interpret my sensory input in different ways as best as it could, and I was able to relax while my mind was struggling and trying to put things in a box. Almost like it was trying to scare me into letting it do what it always does. Biggest spiritual aha-moment I've had in a while, so I wanted to share it ?

Made a quick search on this, couldn't find what I was looking for. Sorry if there's similar threads already. What are your best books about mushrooms? I've currently read two of Martin Ball's books and I like them a lot. He has one called mushroom wisdom and I'm interested in that one, but in Being Infinite he mentions that he wasn't very satisfied with the outcome of that book. So, which is the ultimate mushroom guide? Thanks!

Originally posted on Reddit. Thought I'd get some good replies here. I'm a seeker as I believe many on this forum are. I try to look at as wide sources as possible and am really interested in Esotericism and the Fourth Way in particular. I'm also a follower of Actualized.org and also really like the approach Peter Ralston talks about enlightenment. He puts it so simply and clearly. I find it odd that there is so much more in Gurdjieff's teachings, cosmic laws and all kinds of amazing stuff. Both teachings (more zen oriented and western esotericism) seem to suggest dropping all beliefs and attachments but Gurdjieff's way contains a lot of diagrams and intellectual material and I feel there's a danger of becoming too caught up in illusions. At the same time I love it. Can anybody straighten this out for me? Thanks for all answers, cheerio! Also! Do you think it's good to become too immersed in one spiritual tradition for proper progress? Or is it better to jump around on different retreats and read various sources?

@GTITurbolover al righty. I'm mostly confused at this point, but not more so than before. well I'm gonna check out James Swartz and work on myself and keep on truckin'. I don't know you so no best friends, but no hard feelings either, just confusion. At least I got replies

@GTITurbolover also, it's noticeable that you think I have emotional problems based on the fact that I liked somebody's comment. maybe I didn't even fully agree, just thought it was a sensible perspective. How could you know from such a small gesture? But maybe you do see things I don't see. So I'm still curious

Now I'm curious. Who are you and what do you do? Maybe I'll get to know some day. but yes, as a human being I have emotional problems, quite common I believe. I feel like I'm healing myself so further along we'll see what happens.

@GTITurbolover i do like the sound of what you're saying. What would the pointing in the right direction consist of? Thanks

@cetus56 i have not read it, will take a look