Arman

Dude funny you say that cos I typed the follow post a little while before you posted but just forgot to press submit: I went hiking in Iran and came across this ledge that looked out on this timeless red landscape full of mountains and sat there to meditate for a bit and never had I so easily sunk into complete peace. It was like a level of feeling grounded that I hadn't remembered experiencing before, like a total relaxation and warmth of being. I don't know if it was the beauty of the vision or the localized energy but it was awesome.

You better start drinking more beer then

I've been thinking about this subject a bit over the last day and have some slightly off topic thoughts about the subject of healing itself, and of pursuing various modalities. More specifically for people who are seeking to heal difficulties in their life. I hope it isn't minded if I share my perspective in this thread for fun as well as personal processing: If memory serves, I have heard a few times that specific or overt focus on chakras isn't always a good idea. I think it is because if one doesn't quite know what they're doing then sometimes at best it may be a bit clumsy, and at worst it can cause imbalance, disturbances. etc. Some pursue chakra healing in order to alleviate certain life circumstances and may wish to focus on 'clearing' a particular energy center. The risk is that this may come without awareness that their subject has its corresponding imprints throughout the entire energetic column that would ideally unravel in its own elegant way, as opposed to our desire to really push through it. Sudden releases of energy into 'unrefined' centers can be strenuous both physically and to the psyche. Not to say that I think working with energy or chakras is invalid; rather perhaps it can be a very useful paradigm for some, and a distraction for others. I'll elaborate on why. It's fascinating to explore just what healing actually is. At one level it is useful to examine it as part of cause and effect, but often in my experience it seems to be occurring completely of its own volition in accordance with a divine intelligence. Effective healing seems to be less about doing and more about releasing control to allow that intelligence to flow. My understanding is that reiki doesn't require a lifetime of study or extensive knowledge of the energetic system, on the contrary it can be learned relatively quickly, even intuitively. This is ideal, after all; how could the mind work with such profound and complex levels of energetic orchestration? it cannot, but it can release itself to allow the higher intelligence/energy to guide the practitioner and do what it intends to do. This allowing is the principle of Yin (the feminine, the receptive, flowing, pregnant, awareness,) Therefore I think it can be said that if you are guided to any practice via your heart/intuition (yin) then I would say that it's going to be useful for you. Trouble arises, however, when we are more forcefully seeking healing as a result of our ego (ego as manifestation of Yang: the masculine, the creative, the penetrative) trying to lead and make healing 'happen'. When yang tries to lead, chaos ensues. This trouble occurs because the practice of healing is undertaken via the ego's apparent attempt to escape suffering. Attempting healing out of 'neediness' or other negative emotions creates a counter force which leads to self sabotage and lack of progress. The ego says it wants to heal and change but careful examination of its underlying dynamics reveals that this is impossible. The mind cannot change or transform anything, though it believes that it can. Its only true aim is to survive and perpetuate its programming, which is the very antithesis of the transformation we're after. In our attempt to escape suffering, we create more of it. Yang tries to create the effects of yin through feats of exhausting and destructive effort. This is why it's important to surrender and release our emotions and attachments on subjects that we wish to heal so that yang may give way to yin. This is experienced as the release of tightness, increased energy and softness, being okay with the outcomes, forgiveness, allowing ourselves to breathe. For as long as we are clenched tightly to our problems, we are resisting our own transformation. The illusion of the ego is that it thinks it can do the healing, and that healing needs to occur in the first place. The entirety of our Unconscious psyche (Yin!) is imprinted in the energetic system and we refer to it as blockages. And when we assume we are blocked, we assume we need healing and that then we will return to balance. In practice, when the unconscious is integrated (kundalini as manifestation of yang flowing in its receiving of yin) it is not just a return to normalcy, but the birth of something far greater. This union is the birther of worlds. The process is more akin to the metamorphosis of a butterfly, rather than of the closing of a wound. Can this be said to be healing? Not hardly! The glamour of certain healing practices is that it allows our ego's to juice our narratives and problems. The key to circumventing the tricks of monkey mind is to surrender our attachments and emotions to god/the universe/consciousness. The ego repulses at the idea of surrender because it thinks it means being passive, not doing anything, resignation, not having things change. In actuality, surrendering and releasing our attachments and emotions is ideally a very proactive mechanism. It doesn't even mean that we don't pursue healing modalities, only that it is done with more effortlessness, trust and enjoyment as a result of courage and willingness to let go of our grief, guilt, desire for change, and other emotions on the subject. Paradoxically when we release our wanting things to be different is when things really start to change. I can attest to this. ok, glad I wrote that because it's been bouncing around in my brain

You can definitely train yourself out of it, and as mention in a previous post, it's a method used for speed-reading. You can end up just almost kind of defocusing your sight and looking at sentences in chunks, and without internally vocalizing it you digest it. It's a really useful technique if you do a lot of reading, and of course you can always slow down to regular pace for more effective absorption of information, as speed reading doesn't necessarily allow time for processing. It doesn't take that long to learn. I learned it one evening and practiced it and found I wasn't very good at it. Months later I tried again on a whim and it was suddenly really natural without having put in any extra time. I bet with a few days practice it can become effortless for most people. It also makes you feel like some kind of sherlock holmes genius ninja because it feels like you're scanning through the lines and just downloading information.

Here is a system of yoga that essentially has TM as one of the central practices. It has a lot of elaboration on the subtleties and energetic process behind the practices in other lessons, and leads into other stuff if that is attractive to you. This is the meditation lesson and it has a suggested mantra which is proposed to be ideal for 'purification of the nervous system': http://www.aypsite.org/13.html It's essentially TM without the politics.

Ah okay cool. Unfortunately I don't really know much in the way of specific practices other than things like focusing on the third eye, expanding the heart for love, grounding into the root, etc. Like yourself, a while back I became interested in learning more about the energetic system but didn't really find any useful resources. All the information seems fairly vague and without much substance.

For insight, may I ask why you specifically want to do chakra exercises and what you aim to achieve?

Every now and then when something preposterous happens I can't help but let out a "HOW SWAY??"

Best to release and detach from these useless narratives regardless of the glamour. Any story structure that you place your energy in will naturally grow and start to create all kinds of synchronicity. Paranoia is a stuck focus. Doesn't matter if it's numbers, demons, the government or your mother in law. Ask yourself: of what use is this to me? Stories and paranoia all share the same quality: they feed off your energy and will continue to expand until you choose to release your attention to it.

'Asanas, Mudras and Bandhas - Awakening Ecstatic Kundalini' by Yogani - for practical guidelines and exercises. His work is clear, enjoyable and systematic.

Mudras arise naturally out of the nervous system so it makes sense that they'd be discovered in different paths. The prayer hands posture is an awesome mudra in and of itself. Opens the heart right up.

cos we finna actualize

Sounds like humility

Yes: extensive research Start with erowid.org

Are you willing to surrender even life itself?

Law of Attraction as a framework suffers from being oversimplified, misunderstood and marketed dishonestly. Effective leverage comes from proper understanding of the underlying dynamics. To explore the subject more fully, try The Kyballion, Parallel Universe of Self by Frederick Dodson, and Reality Transurfing.

Thanks for the write-up and for sharing his story telling course, I'm excited to read it. I love Dan Harmon, the dude is hilarious. The documentary 'Harmontown' is a lot of fun. Not super deep but is a nice exploration of vulnerability.

I'm catmatic myself

psst, I think he was being sarcastic

Likely suppressed energy/emotions/trauma When digging deep and hitting certain emotions or subjects I have gotten nausea and all kinds of strange pains and feelings. For me usually they usually have a very bizarre quality. The nausea for me feels very localized to a specific area or organ as opposed to the softer more 'generalized' nausea of non other experience. The key here is to just allow it and be with it. Allow the nausea to be there and breathe through it. You may not be able to work through it all at once so when it comes, be grateful for an opportunity to uncover and dissolve inner garbage. Just be okay with the the potential that it will arise in your practices. In time it will dissolve and be out of your experience. Release the resistance to the experience. Funnily enough you may also notice that you have resistance to not having it. You may wish for it to come up fully, or you may have a frustrating feeling of inability to fully dive into it. You may feel that you really wish you could just puke it up but there is a sensation of being barred. It doesn't seem to want to go away, and yet it doesn't seem to want to fully come up either. That is a kind of polarized resistance, so consciously let go of needing it to go away, and consciously let go of needing to dive fully into it, too. This will allow for most effective release. Also be mindful of using self-inquiry and other techniques as distractions from simply being with it. Simply choose to be with it. If your self-inquiry is causing any further thoughts, mind-stuff or sense of 'doing/looking' then it is distraction and resistance against the more simple act of being with it. Often the sensations and experience will get heavier and more intense as you start to allow it. That's a good thing.

Ohhhh nooooooooo it's juuuulliieeeeeenn blaaaaanc!

Don't have advice to offer but thank you for being a caring and responsible son.

Oh, and an analogue ayahuasca experience that went severely 'wrong' due to once again being young and stupid. Was not prepared for it and had naive confidence due to using a lot of other psychedelics. It was meant to last around 3 hours, but lasted much, much longer. It was extreme and quite traumatic emotionally, energetically and physiologically. I think I had a severe reaction to the SSRI. I had what I would consider moderate brain-damage that took a few years to recover from. That first year and particularly the first few months were really awful. Memory, focus, concentration were all messed up. The first week or two I would wake up from sleeping randomly LOADED on DMT. Like I would wake up within a DMT experience (they say we might produce DMT in our sleep and my experience seems to anecdotally verify that) and it would last a few minutes and reside. It was really really strange and scary. It is an experience I'm likely still paying for to this day. Jeeze, I have forgotten about these things. Surprised I can still walk and talk! It's a testament to the body and brains capability to heal itself though, as I consider myself fairly healthy and grounded now.