pluto8

This quote below is a response to a question on quora asking, "What am I supposed to focus on in the breath during meditation?" "I always advise against trying to teach oneself to meditate. Why? Because as the great meditation master Mel Brooks tells us, we should “Hope for the best; expect the worst.” An example of “the worst” - your meditations are so effective that, as in the case of Gopi Krishna, you suddenly and unexpectedly experience Kundalini arousal. But instead of rising through the Brahma Nadi as it would in a trained Tantric, it rises due to inexperience through the Ida or Pingala, causing ten years or more of discomfort and anxiety. Such mishaps in meditation are not common but they’re not unknown either. Reason enough to learn in person from an authentic, qualified teacher. Without in any way challenging the motives of John Yates (Dharma name Culadasa), author of “The Mind Illuminated,” He does make the perilous attempt in his book to teach meditation at second hand. Further, his qualifications pale beside those of neurologist and Zen master James Austin, emeritus professor of neurology at University of Colorado Medical School and student of the Rinzai Roshi Kobori Nanrei Sohaku. Notwithstanding his status as author of six important books on Zen and Zazen meditation, Dr. Austin does not attempt to teach meditation in his books, although he discusses it in great detail from the viewpoints both of neurology and mediation. I urge you not to attempt meditation in this unproven, idiosyncratic way. Learn in person from a teacher who can instruct you in detail according to your personal experiences, not necessarily a Zen teacher but one trained in a recognized lineage." -Bill Phillips https://www.quora.com/What-am-I-supposed-to-focus-on-in-the-breath-during-meditation I had heard about people going through some rough kundalini experiences in the past. Some of those people had never even heard of kundalini before. After reading what this guy has to say and connecting that to the fact that you actually can go on youtube or something and find all sorts of stuff related to negative kundalini symptoms I feel like what he said should have some truth to it. Am I missing something or is that the truth? Thanks for reading :), -Ray

I never knew it was caused by the kundalini rising through the Ida or Pingala because of inexperience, rather than rising through the Brahma Nadi. I don't know what any of those things are lol, but still, my point remains xD.

well then what the hell is the point of meditating for decades?

What if, after you hear of that quote by Rumi, you start sitting in patience as a way to go after what you want? Know what I mean?

What exactly did Rumi mean by his own place of patience. Did he mean what is obvious or is there some sort of deeper method there? Know what I mean? I just want to make sure what he said is as easy to understand as I think it is basically. May someone elaborate a bit on why what he said is true? Or, would elaborating on it decrease its effectiveness??

Buddha says life is suffering, but are we able to overcome this with our minds. Also, I believe the Buddha also said he wanted to transcend suffering. What does that mean?

So, is your day to day consciousness different than a normal persons.....like, have you permanently changed or enhanced your consciousness? Or in other words, is your perception different? Things along those lines..... Do you even want to answer this question lol?

I was meditating for a while, fyi, but not as much lately. I don't want to risk awakening kundalini on top of this or altering my consciousness. I also haven't been doing it as much because I end up thinking about it all to much afterwards and the energy just feels a little stronger when I'm in that state. I don't really know what to think of that post-meditation state though. TY TY. You've answered a lot of peoples questions winterknight...

I have one last question for you. This one is a bit more personal and I would be surprised if you were able to answer it, but I would like to give it a shot. Sooo, I was in a car accident a while back, I was like 18 years old or something and based off the circumstances of it being my first crash, the car not being mine or my families, my location being multiple states away and other reasons which are hard to explain, ummm, I had like uncontrollable anxiety I guess, like I was really shaky that's all. Something happened in the hospital too. Anyways, I've been stuck with this energy thing for at least two years now and I can only attribute it to that crash. I have tried to get some help, but its basically turned into something that I'm trying to extinguish on my own. Do you have any insights for me?? I'd be surprised lol. FYI: I don't think it's kundalini because I don't feel like it is associated with the spine or lower spine. I do feel it......, but it seems to be connected to the eyes/head more than the spine.

Thank you very much(for both replies, I just happened to quote that one randomly).

Are we living inside of a computer simulation? Was becoming enlightened scary?

Why is that you would gain the ability to answer so many questions just because you are enlightened? Like in other words, why is it that someone who is enlightened magically becomes a know it all? FYI, you probably don't literally know it all, lol...I think you get the point.

Hello, I have encountered similar situations when reading other spiritual-like literature so I felt like now would be a good time to bring this up. The example I am going to use here will be from Osho's book - Meditation: The First and Last Freedom. "Whenever you can find time for just being, drop all doing." My question is, how come write more of the book? Why not just stop there? I will begin to answer the question ok. Well, actually the book does by saying, "Thinking is also doing, concentration is also doing, contemplation is also doing." Then skip a line and it says how slowly you will be able to do things without losing your center..... A bunch more text goes by and it brings up the watcher thing from earlier in the book, "You are not the doer, you are the watcher. That's the whole secret of meditation, that you become the watcher. Doing continues on its own level, there is no problem: chopping wood, drawing water from the well." It seemed like it was answering my question by going on to say, "Thinking is also doing, concentration is also doing, contemplation is also doing." So it's like explaining itself more.... The problem is that I don't really see how the rest of the book is part of that explanation. I must say that I have not read the rest of the book, but I did jump ahead to just poke my head in and see if he's still elaborating on "Whenever you can find time for just being, drop all doing." Honestly, I did just make a little connection between some of the texts that I directly quoted here so maybe there is a small chance that it all does link up somehow.....I don't know.... The whole book could be a trick too, not actually meant to be read. lol. (after that one line) Thanks for reading my post everyone :), good day :), -Ray Last Edit: I got it now! It is a trick. If not, the author would have said, whenever you can find time, drop everything, BUT you can read the book first. Idek, cause now I'm going into the "whenever you can find time" part...... and I am just going to leave it at that. I'll look forward to your responses.

https://www.mindlabpro.com/blog/nootropics/nootropics-meditation/ Well, it is an interesting article about nootropics and some other supp's in relation to meditation. I'm wondering what the experienced ones over here have to say. Well....Good day everyone

@PsiloPutty About the first paragraph. Is that all something that should(or can) be applied during daily life? Like, bringing attention to the breath whenever possible? Obviously it be more suitable for the breath practice....rather than a mantra lol. Maybe you should not try so hard when out of meditation though because it may not trigger your mind as much when you actually decide to meditate. Ya know? We don't need to get into the difference between focusing on breath and mantra here, I can look that all up. Well, imagine, and, try for myself too lol. mk..... TY for the reply. TY for the replies everone.

Hello everyone, Sooo ya with what I said in the title being said, well, there's just so much I guess. I really don't know what to do. Do I listen to what Osho said in his Meditation is a Phenomenon video? Do I listen to what Alan Watts said about meditation? Do I listen to that cheerful monk on youtube who said to just give the monkey mind a job by focusing on the breath? Do I practice the do nothing technique, which seems kind of similar to what Osho said? Except Osho definitely did not specifically say to do nothing. There is the Vispassana way in which after focusing on your breath and feeling the breath move over your upper lip and what not to slowly scan your body. So do I start scanning my body at some point? Control the breath or to not control the breath? Control the thoughts or to not control the thoughts? Osho said to not have a specific goal I think. Pretty sure goal is the right word there.... I understand that certain techniques are for a specific purpose, such as walking meditation, but I think you get the point... Ok well with all that being said, it still much more complicated than that ok. Yesterday I just sat and thought about all of that and I had many more of my own thoughts arise on this topic as well and I have had many more in the past. I just can't come up with any at the top of my head right now except for this way of my own. Basically the way of my own (I'll call it) is that I just try to feel into the deeper state (or states) that I have reached before. Like a combination of imagining and feeling my way into. Just trying to release tension. Relax. Sink. Sink into it....... deeper..go deeper.... Umm, pretty sure I can do that whether I focus on my breath or not. My deepest session was when I was focusing on my breath while listening to something through headphones with a blindfold on. O ya, I do try to control the thoughts usually, it depends I guess, but if I take it seriously enough it is not too hard to control them. My deepest session including control of the thoughts by use of breath. I also don't think I say to myself, deeper, deeper....it's more of a feeling. Alright so I guess another thing that seems up there is that I want to be able to take this more seriously alright. Like I kind of want to be able to push out large amounts of hours. I am dealing with something right now which I feel could vanish through meditation, but not these 1-2hr sessions lol. Maybe after doing 1-2hr a day mb even twice a day for a long time, but I kinda want to speed that up and get in long sessions each day. I have a lot of time on my hands right now so I really want to take advantage of it. ya know? ONE more big thing that's up there. So I had said I want to start getting into loong sessions because of all this time I have to take advantage of. Ok, well if that is what I want would the key be to basically just push push push. Like when I'm just flat out sick of it, dig in and continue? Really just grind to through all the shit with hopes that it will be transformed into something? Or could that be counterproductive? Maybe there is a specific technique more geared towards serious/long meditation lol. I wouldn't be surprised lol. I ended up going into some personal stuff, but the point remains that there is just so much that it becomes overwhelming. Don't feel pressured to comment on the personal stuff. Thanks for any comments and have a good day everyone!

May I ask which yoga grounding exercises? Mb, there is a link? Thanks

Artaemis, May you just talk some more lol? What you said was interesting.... Can elaborate on what you said above or not, idc. Maybe what you said above is best left how it is now. mmmmk, well you get the point, it's all up to you right? TY, pluto8 -o, can meditation be viewed as work while still getting significant gains? or is it beyond that, more than that? like, is the purpose beyond getting gains? lol...

@robdl @robdl @PsiloPutty Interesting stuff guys... One point I noticed is that trying to control the thoughts is a thought. That thinking can be sneaky and self-deceptive in that way. hmmm. Ok, well PsiloPutty added a bit there about bringing your attention back to your breath. ya? What is the purpose of that? The monk on youtube said that too...... you know, bring attention back to breath. So why? What do you guys think about this idea? Soo think of someone entering a trance with a drum, or drum beat on youtube. After envisioning that I got the idea that thought could take different forms. One form, may be a trance. As if you are putting all the energy into the trance, leaving none for thought creation. Or maybe instead of a thought being created and trance wave takes its place instead.... just ideas haha. Not sure if this is true, but trying to control the thoughts could create more annnd that might tie into what is below. And, are you suppose to try to nip it at the but or catch the thought in the act as soon as you possibly can, as soon as it even starts to appear? Or just forget that idea. I guess, if you were trying to do that you would always be on the look out for the arrival of a potential thought. Ya you would be maintaining most focus on the breath, but still on lookout. I have tried this, they have unfolded into thought trains... mb it was a lack of focus at times, who knows. Like I said above, not sure if this is true, but trying to control the thoughts could create more. Sometimes I can get sucked into a thought. It becomes like a dreamy thought. Yup, deff hard to explain... It's like spaced out, automatic thinking. It is deeper than normal, if you know what I mean. Eh, don't take the description tooo seriously, but is that all normal lol? Should I switch techniques?

@luismatos You said you would procrastinate...Which practice? Which is best?..... I have a question for you. Did it ever get deeper than that? The questioning and what not. Umm, for example, did you ever start coming up with your own questions, but which revolved around the meditation at hand? Those questions I would have a hard time putting into words I think, but do they mean anything? Or should they? Is it just up to you to determine? There is definitely stuff which can not be explained. Maybe there are questions which only you can ask yourself and answer? Namaste

So how I control my thoughts is that I try to create enough interest towards the breath so that when a thought comes up that is interesting I just go no, as appetizing as a thought it may seem I just build the will to focus on the breath instead. lol, heres a good example of something. Do I bring it back to breath as fast as can or slowly? because you know what, although I do not care about forgetting a thought, what I do care about is the idea of being able to let go of a thought so my mind will try to check to see if I have forgotten about it hahah. annnnd that will create a little cycle sometimes. I think the key here is to just let it all go because although you may have noticed something interesting about meditation(something that may help you) it is probably best to just let go. and just to be clear that release of tension, continued relaxation getting deeper, deeper. thats all good right. pretty sure I saw an Osho quote saying there's utter relaxation yet alertness, more alert than before even. at some point you reach like, actual deep point where you like pass through a little wave or maybe are just subconsciously watching the breath(probs didn't describe that right, but happened to me once). That's all correct? thanks for the replies. Just so you know, the comments have helped yes. There have been some good points.

@Enlightenment yup, the biggest thing to me, just from my personal thinking and feels would be time as if time is the great equalizer or something. not sure if equalizer is the right word, but hopefully you get the point. you know why your comment is good though? Is because I want to read something. I need more information. I went to a public library a couple weeks ago and actually had trouble finding information on meditation. I know there are plenty of books on amazon, guess I oughta check that out too lol. but ya, thank you.

haha two problems may.... 1: While meditating I may feel like I have figured something out or SOMETHING like that lol. Something that I have not heard someone explain or mb even something I do not think that someone could explain. So mb I feel like it's a deeper insight or that I'm getting into the zone of being able to merge away from the starting points of all those videos I listed above. 2: I think I'm able to get deeper if I take it seriously, but if I try to push more hours or something lol it is much harder to maintain that mindset. The mindset which I have when I just take an hour or two for serious high quality meditation. mb because it becomes more about pushing through the boredom or the whatever.... honestly, sometimes, it doesn't even happen because of a push for that long session. It could be a day when I just don't want to get into it so I sit there and think or focus on how I feel about everything. eh, I wan't to be able to take advantage of all this time. soo... kinda hard to explain some of this stuff, but it is what it is. like I said, you don't HAVE to get into all this more personal stuff, but I would appreciate it yes. thanks again, just couple more thoughts to add...

Id love to just talk on skype or maybe the phone, so i can walk around lol. But ya... Literally like about anything. Sports, science, life, food, the mind, like anything ya know...? Same goes for anyone else. Hmu. Pc

You see though, one of my good friends has kinda moved on, but does he care about me being confused? I dont think he has the guts to tell me because its because I was not as outgoing and popular or mainstream. In other words it woupd make him look bad to continue hanging out with me. Just so you know, I am quite lonely now too. good day, im done lol