You can channel your emotions, energy, vibrations into the words you type. I don’t think many people are aware of this and sometimes I unconsciously do so. Your feelings at that moment are imbedded into your text. So when people write books that can grab or push away someone’s attention. 
Its an interesting concept I’ve been playing with and I’ve found it to be true. 
An example of this would be self doubt about why you are writing what you are writing, which may push people away or make them less interested. It sounds kinda out there. I should actually check if it’s just a vibrational match that the person is connects to. What I mean by this is the reader connecting to the vibrations of the person at the time of writing or is she or he only connecting to the words own vibrations/ meaning stand alone.
the reason I believe this to be true is because I have felt people’s emotion through text. Which is quite surprising  from a view point from the average person. <— this only happened sometimes and it’s not a 100% going to happen every time kinda thing for me. 
The more I grow consciously the more things appear to me. 

One's political position on this graph shouldn't be a fixed thing. It should be a dynamic balancing act in response to one's current political climate.
Today, in America, it makes sense to be in the green quadrant given the current imbalances in our society. But 50 years from now, or in a different part of the world, it might make sense to shift to another quadrant in response. Because what's most important is proper balance, not a fixed position. Which is why ideology is such a problem. Ideology acts as if one quadrant is absolutely the best, which then leads to imbalance.
If you think right is always the best, you will fall into imbalance. If you think left is always the best, you will fall into imbalance. Life is far too complex for such simplistic attitudes. The only reason the left seems like the best today is because things has been skewed so far right in recent times. It won't always be this way. The whole key is to have such a flexible mind that you're able to move your position to what works best in the current situation.

Yes!
You are literally imagining the new reality you want. Basic LoA.
You are using the power of imagination to drill a portal to God. Many spiritual techniques rely on this mechanism without being explicit about it. That's how prayer works, for example. If you pray long and hard enough to Jesus, he can manifest himself to you. Because in fact Jesus is just a facet of your own mind. This is why some people worship Jesus, and it works for them. Other people worship an elephant man, and it works for them. Other people worship the devil, and it works for them. You can even worship Leo and one day I will appear to you and guide you to God. It doesn't matter what specific form your worship.
This is why an infinite number of different religions can exist. The details of the imagery are largely irrelevant, as long as you take it seriously.
The whole point is to blur the materialist boundary between "real" vs imaginary. This boundary itself is imaginary! The more you can blur this boundary, the more powerful you can be at manifesting and manipulating reality. This how yogis develop supernatural abilities/siddhis. They train up their imagination skills.

Ego is God imagining it is not God but a human.
God is free to imagine itself to be anything: a rock, a tree, a coffee table, a kangaroo, a man, a woman, an alien, or... it can be aware that it is God.
It's like when you play a video game so hard you forget you are a human. Well, God is playing your life so hard right now that it forgot it is God. As soon as you remember, that will be Awakening.

For those of you into Kriya, I would highly recommend that in addition to reading the original Kriya book I suggested, you also read the books of Santata Gamana. I now prefer his more simplified techniques. It's a much more streamlined version of Kriya which I think will be even more effective. I found too much needless complexity and variety in the other way.
Right now my technique stack is very simple:
Mahamudra x3 Kriya Pranayama x24 Kriya Supreme Fire x3 One-pointed Concentration for 5 mins Eventually, with lots of practice, you should aim for something like the following stack:
Mahamudra x3 Kriya Pranayama x36-x72 Kriya Supreme Fire for 10-20 mins One-pointed Concentration for 10-20 mins (Bonus: Yoni Mudra x3) (Bonus: Kechari mudra) EDIT: ideally, do this stack twice per day. But if you don't have that much time, at least once per day.
Don't attempt to do this second stack right off the bat. It will not be sustainable. You need to gradually build up to it, like with heavy weightlifting.
I think the original book I recommended is still very good as an introduction and foundation because Gamana's books are so short and thin that they do not provide enough information about Kriya to a total newbie. They are aimed at people who have already been initiated in one school or another.
If you are strictly following the original book, that is okay. You can keep doing that if you want. Or you could switch to this more streamlined version like I decided to do. I don't like learning too many complicated techniques. But that's just me. Both ways should work in the end. It's mostly a matter of style. Although I actually think the streamlined version will end up to be more effective because it concentrates your limited time on the most powerful techniques, and less time is wasted on learning new complex techniques.

2. What contemplation is not.
 
 

This book changed me a lot. I read it twice - easy to read. It introduced me to networking, and it led me to find a job that matches my startup. Now I'm partly working online and have a business partner. All these things triggered for me due to this book. This is Kiyosaki's third book - the first one being Rich Dad Poor Dad.

This diagram, which is in the book, is a great puzzle to help in discovering your life purpose + startup + passive income. It will have to be paired with the Spiral Dynamics diagram starting at stage orange and going all the way to turquoise. 
A story to help in understanding the triangle diagram (B-I triangle):
Bill and John (One of Kyosaki's story on networking):
There was once a village with a huge water problem. All they had was a huge bin in the middle of the village that supplied all the water. The villagers had to walk a mile away to the nearest river with buckets. After scooping the water in their buckets, they carried the heavy buckets home to dump it in the main, big bin. They used that common water for everything -- drinking, bathing, washing, etc.
Until one day, the leader of the village got tired of all this, and summoned Bill and John to solve this problem. They were known to be the best problem solvers. They immediately set off to work. John went to the general store and bought two huge buckets, and went back and forth from river to bin, working 14 hrs / day, almost non-stop. The villagers appreciated his efforts, and he got paid well for it.
Bill, on the other hand, disappeared. No one knew where he went. Everyone thought he had given up.
Did he? No way! He went networking and came back after 6 month, but he didn't come back with nothing. He came back with two investors, a lawyer's contract, and a water pipeline construction company. He built pipelines from bin to all the villagers' homes. Now, they had at least a bathtub and a sink. The pipeline cooled, warmed, and cleaned the water, so the villagers had no trouble using the water. Bill realized that nearby villages and small towns had this problem, so he built pipelines there too. He got paid only 1 cent / gallon, but that's ok. He got billions of orders.
So, what is this story about? Well, it follows this diagram:
From the book: Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki 
Mission = To provide effective water supply
Leadership = Bill
Team = Bill and Bill's investors
Product = water 
Legal = lawyer's contract 
Systems = pipelines 
Communication = word of mouth
Cashflow = billions of dollars 
***
Now, actualized.org is Leo's life purpose. You can see that it follows a similar pattern. Except his life purpose is more meaningful than just making money because it incorporates non-duality in it. If you can solve the triangle puzzle and follow through with it (with Spiral Dynamics), you will have your life purpose. You got to couple the triangle diagram (B-I triangle) with the Spiral Dynamics diagram to make it a complete life purpose. Otherwise, it's only about entrepreneurship and the money. The meaning will not go beyond that. You also have to ask yourself, "What skills do I need to solve this puzzle?" And then, go and gain the skills. Here is my life purpose. You could refer to it and use it as an example if you wish. I have not walked my complete journey yet.
Wishing Everyone A Happy Journey! 

Hi everyone  
I am excited to announce a little project I've been working on for the past couple of months.
The Actualized.org Textbook!
I have assembled a document of summaries of foundational Actualized.org videos based on the "Start Here" section of the website. In addition, there are some extra video summaries at the end.
A lot of these summaries were written by me but I would also like to acknowledge that a very major part of the work came from the video summary thread and also some YouTube comments. I would like to thank @Juan Cruz Giusto, @TimStr, @Huz, @Nic, @Hello from Russia, @AleksM, and @Dan Arnautu from this forum for their significant and very helpful contributions. 
I have tried as best I can to standardise the format, but doing this perfectly would take a massive amount of time. So please do note that the summaries are written by different authors with different stylistic preferences, some with English as a second language. Secondly, there are still small mistakes and probably some typos that I haven't picked up.
This document is best suited for:
-People who have seen the videos and want brief notes
-People who are up to speed with the latest videos and have followed for a while, understanding the conceptual frameworks within spirituality
 
For complete newbies, or people who have recently joined, the summaries may confuse you a little so I recommend you watch the original videos. A lot of the nuance and subtlety is lost in text.
Also,
This is version 1.0 and I have linked word and pdf attachments to this post. 
You are free to download them and modify them as you see fit. However, if you wish to update this version (i.e. fixing mistakes or adding in more fundamental videos) for the community, please keep a couple of things in mind:
- There is a changelog on the 2nd page, so please insert changes made and also update the version number (i.e 1.1 from small fixes or 2.0 when a significant amount of content is added)
- Also, please consider that when content is added, page numbers may not sync up so you will have to update them.
 
Think of this as the textbook for the undergraduate course.
- Watching the video is like going to class
- The textbook is like all your classes in one place in note form.
- To get a good grasp and to orientate yourself you will need a massive theory base at the beginning (i.e an 3-4 year undergrad degree)
- Taking action and watching the advanced videos will be like post-graduate study
- Doing this work seriously and taking massive amounts of action, and going off on your own is like doing a PhD
 
You need to get the basic theory down BUT YOU MUST NOT GET LOST IN THEORY AND CONCEPTS. Orientate yourself, and go take action (a Masters/PhD candidate does experiments in the lab, he doesn't just sit in lecture theatres) 
My main reason for assembling this is I see a lot of wasted time on the forum (myself included) of theorising and arguing and advanced people not communicating at the newbie level to newbies. Don't get me wrong, the forum is a great place and many people have helped me here (thank you!)
This is my parting gift to the community. I saw that I avoided doing the work by visiting the forum too much so I will be leaving to do the work for the next 5-10 years. My main focus is embodying and fully integrating stage orange, green, and yellow, as well as doing the spiritual practices and planning for psychedelic retreats.
Finally, @Leo Gura, I'm so sick of hearing your voice. I've probably listened to 20 of your videos in the last 3 days  I only now have caught a tiny glimpse of how much work has been put in by you over the past 5 years. Thank you for what you do! I'll still be sticking around for the advanced stuff  
Actualized Textbook.docx
Actualized Textbook.pdf

Within Buddhism, full and total enlightenment is the same as completely ridding yourself of avijia. Avijia = ignorance.
Ignorance isn’t removed all at once, however. It is shed step by step. Step by step our defilements & our impurities are purged from our systems. This purging eventually culminates and results in the dropping of the first fetter: the identity view - the immense self involvement and attachment one has to one’s personality, identity, body and mind. This is what the modern spiritual community calls non duality.
For those that enter non duality, however, it becomes abundantly clear that regardless of the dramatic loss of tension upon awakening, tension still remains. Ignorant actions, thoughts and behaviours still remain.
Traditionally, within the non dual community, such tension is easily dismissed as “mind stuff”. Yet why does such “mind stuff” still remain post awakening?
A lot of the same people also report growth and deepening. How can that be?
If ignorance is gone and one’s clarity complete, there should be no growth. If one has completely disidentified with the body mind organism one should not report such things. Yet not only do such things happen, but many teachers even talk about levels of enlightenment.
 
In this thread I will answer
 1 - why that is? 
2 - What the substance of the path is, pre and post awakening.
3 - how can one open one’s self to the substance of the path and shed one’s defilements, and achieve complete and total enlightenment.
 
Let’s start with number 1. Why is that?
The human being comes with some built in programming. We are programmed to survive, and we primarily rely on our intellect to do so while our intellect relies on its understanding.
The issue is, the world is a complete unknown. We can never understand the world. It is unpredictable, always changing, moving and way beyond our scope of understanding. This threatens our survival.
Once we feel threatened, we are now at odds with everything that threatens us (this also separates us from what threatens us.) The more threatened we feel the more at odds and separated we become. The more self involved we become.
Now let’s get back to the path. On the path, as we decrease our level of self involvement, we progress.
This is the case with people off the path as well. For example, a sociopath or a serial killer is completely self involved and doesn’t even see other people as human. This is why he can kill, maim and torture them.
At a certain point we hit a threshold and our level of self involvement results in the dropping of the first fetter. In non duality. Yet the subconscious and instinctual need to survive, our fears, traumas and control mechanisms are deeply ingrained in us.
This creates cognitive dissonance. Why, you might ask, do I still feel fear, anxiety, depression, joy, pettiness and all these human emotions even though I see clearly that I am not the body mind? Why do I still put others down and think of myself as primary even though I see that so on and so forth?
Because your seeing is surface deep. Only on the level of the conscious mind. You still fear, you still attempt to control on many levels within your subconscious and beyond.
These questions are often ignored and shut out by people in non duality for the drop in self involvement has resulted in a previously unimaginable peace that they do not want to question, that they do not want to rock.
So just as a religious person clings on to his god for comfort (and ultimately survival), the non dual man does so with void.
 
2 & 3 - what is the substance of the path pre and post awakening? & how to shed one’s defilements.
The substance of the path relates to clear seeing of three things within Buddhism. Three major facets of truth.
These three things are 1- Anicca 2- Anatta 3- Dukkha. The more clearly you see these three aspects of truth the less self involved you become, and the less self involved you become the more progress is had. This is true pre and post awakening. In fact, complete seeing of these truths on all levels of the mind (subconscious and beyond) without any cognitive dissonance left = full enlightenment.
Before I delve into these three facets of truth, however, let me talk a bit about truth itself. Truth is never not present. I don’t mean this in a non dual way, but the facts of life, if they are indeed facts of life, should be evident in every waking second of life itself. If you do not see it, you are simply turning away from it. By that logic if you do indeed want to see them, you should first reflect on what is making you not see such truths, and then reflect on the truths themselves.
Now, let’s define and then talk about the truths a little bit.
1 - Anicca. Anicca has two translations that I think capture its essence nicely. One is “one can not maintain anything to one’s satisfaction” while the other is “impermanence”.
2- Anatta. Anatta, popularly translated as no self, has another more nuanced translation that I personally think is superior: “the inability to control”. A self is merely a series of complex control mechanisms created in response to fear after all.
3 - Dukkha - suffering that can be stopped from arising. 
Why are these truths so important, you may ask?
Self involvement and ignorance are both a direct result of not seeing these truths clearly.
When we do not see the impermanent nature of the world, and our absolute inability to maintain anything to our satisfaction (Anicca), we attempt to control life’s circumstances. 
We exert our will onto the world (the opposite of Anatta) and then, when life shows us that it can not be controlled and pinned down and eternalised, Dukkha arises. Suffering arises.
Instead of constantly living through that loop of pain, the next time you feel pain, and the next time you suffer, reflect and ask yourself: in what way am I attempting to pin down reality? To eternalise it? In what way am I attempting to control life? In what way am I failing to recognise the absolute truths that are anicca and Anatta at this moment?
Then, by reflecting on and seeing these fundamentals of reality all around you, In death, decay, aging, and every second of our waking life, the clarity of them will increase further.
Bring your ignorance to the light by asking how you are failing to recognise these truths, then burn them slowly through constant reflection of these truths : )
That was a really long post. A lot to take in too I assume so sorry if it wasn’t too clear. If you have any questions regarding it, feel free to ask.

This is an opportunity for us to share some resources. Many teachers have helped me along my path, including but not limited to:
Bentinho Massaro Christine Breese Eckhart Tolle John Vervaeke Osho Paul Selig Sadhguru Ram Dass Ron Legarski and of course Leo I highly recommend researching any of these people if you haven't heard of them!  

In my opinion, we are incarnated for specific reasons and things we must learn. One of those things is to find a balance between love and strength. Ive noticed that many people that naturally have a lot of love are many times internally weak and need strength. Many people that have a lot of strength many times need to build their love.
Ive seem to get a lot of questions from people after I post something about the occult. Usually it involves spirits harassing them or they just feel beaten down. Knowing how to build one's inner strength is important, which can help with both these issues. Some people wait for the universe to grant them strength just because they are loving but it doesnt work that way. We are responsible for creating ourselves according to our will. Only we can do it. We alone are our own creators.
This might be a long post but if you want to build inner strength and your intention is pure, these techniques can radically change your life. I will underline points to pay particular attention to.
In all energy work, the keys used are visualization, breathwork, emotion and intention. Ritual is used as a way of intensifying emotion and intention.
This requires you to have a healthy relationship with strength and power. If you reject strength and power, it will always be a problem. This is similar to people thinking rich and prosperous people are evil and selfish. They attract poverty and weakness like a powerful magnet and repulse prosperity.
1. Get yourself comfortable in your sacred space. Breathe deeply through the diaphragm and scan your body to release any muscles that are not relaxed. Lock onto the present moment as it flows and stay there.
2. First thing is to concentrate the mind. Many "energy workers" have very little energy because they dont know whats important in building energy. This can be done by simply staring intensely at a point, such as a candle or dot. Focus harder than you have ever focused in your life. After about 10-15 minutes, you should feel an obvious shift in your consciousness. After you feel the shift, you are ready to work with energy. Skilled meditators can get into this spot like flipping a switch. When you are in this spot, lock yourself into it.
3. Next, I like to clear the area and myself of any negative energies. There are banishing and cleansing rituals but my favorite way to do it is to chant the divine's name 3-5 times. Then I express gratitude to the divine and ask for guidance. Chanting is done similar to how the Tibetan monks do it. Its like a low, monotone vibration. After you do this, allow yourself to fully feel the divine energy in the room. 
4. Next, you will raise your vibration and purify yourself by utilizing gratitude. Gratitude is an extremely powerful energy that can be utilized for healing and building internal strength and love. Turn your attention to some things you are grateful for in your life. It could be something as simple as being grateful for the extreme beauty you experience in nature. See, in your minds eye, a small spark in your chest. This spark represents the gratitude you have summoned. As you exhale, purify yourself by releasing attachments, fears and aversions. Feel your body relax even more as you release these.
5. FULLY FEEL THE GRATITUDE. FEEL IT. FEEL IT. FEEL IT. - with all the intensity you can muster. I put this as a separate point because it is so important.
6. Turn your attention to the divine energy you have called into the room. As you breathe in deeply, see liquid light being absorbed into your body with with your breathe. This light represents the energy of gratitude. You are drawing it in from the divine as a source outside yourself to get something you dont yet have. As you exhale, you see the displaced negative energy being expelled. As you breathe in this light, see the light in your chest getting brighter and brighter until it shines like the sun. FULLY FEEL THIS INTENSE GRATITUDE.
7. Next you are going to transmute this high vibrational energy of gratitude into high vibrational inner strength. This type of transmutation is referred to as inner alchemy in the occult. Start to feel this strength. Allow this feeling to grow in intensity. Feel this strength coursing through your body. Notice your posture. Are you sitting like a god/goddess? How does a king/queen hold their head? FULLY FEEL THIS STRENGTH.
8. Know and accept that your "identity" is simply what you are in this exact present moment and has nothing to do with the past. Know and accept that this strength is "attaching" to your energy and permanently changing you bit by bit. Be mindful of doubt as that will detract from your efforts.
You can work with this regularly and take it to whatever level you choose but its a very powerful technique. I like to end any session with gratitude and devotion towards the Divine.

Disclaimer: I don't know what I don't know. 
It was day 7, noble silence was about to be lifted the very next morning & my mind was going nuts. It was about to end and I was ready to break the rules so I grabbed a notebook, a pencil and asked myself "What did I learn & How will my behavior change?". 
The following is a list of the lesson I learned and How I am aiming to integrate these lessons into my daily life. 
 
1. Equanimity lies in a "Higher Order" than any sensual pleasure.
This insight is so deep and so radical that I cannot even fully accept it as I am typing this. What I am saying is that if you develop and maintain the equanimity to anything "Evil" like torture, depression, genocide, or the murder of your daughter beats the gratification derived from experiencing anything "Good".
What can I do?  I am the very mechanism which reacts.
Equanimity & Awareness is prior to behavior. 
 
2. Surrender to the fact that I don't know what I don't know.
Speculating is a subtle addiction of mine. This habit so sneaky and painful to admit because it fuels most of my other habits and behaviors. 
I had crystallized a habit of speculating during my meditation sits. Constantly imagining up arbitrary thoughts like "that guy farted 20 minutes ago, and the teacher coughed 40 minutes ago, so there is only 15 minute remaining". Imagine doing this again and again and again during my meditation sits which prevented me from really soaking in and surrendering to the fact that I don't know. 
This addiction permeates through out my life at very subtle levels. If I were to re read this post after I am done, I would discover many instances of speculation which in itself is a speculation. There's layers to this shit.
An Immediate behavior change is that i have began to say "I don't know" and let go whenever my mind begins to speculate during meditation. Also I can foresee that contemplating "what is speculation?" will help me navigate and differentiate the instances when speculation is helping me and when its harming me. 
 
3. Ultimatums are very deceptive. 
One of my major self sabotaging behavior is to react unconsciously with the intention of compensating later. "Lemme pig out, I'll fast tomorrow" occurs very frequently. This behavior of creating but not fulfilling ultimatums contributes  to the very root of my major misery which is my toxic relationship with food. During the breakfast / lunch period at the retreat, although I was quiet aware that a full stomach leads to weaker meditation sessions, I leaned towards being indulgent. It was a rude awakening to realize that even at a setting where I signed up to maintain awareness & equanimity, I was unable to do so. 
Slow conscious change of contents has slowly made changes to the structure. I've been swinging in a pendulum of extremes, fasting for days, overeating for days, being a food cop, then recklessly giving into backlashes. It is because of my tendency to lean into extremes, I adapted a habit of generating ultimatums because If I didn't do so, I would face many instances of death which I couldn't have handled.
Behavior Change = Wear a rubber band and every time I see it, remember to remember this insight. 
 
4. Cooked Food = Blockages in Body & Increased Sleep Quota
Especially wrong Food Combinations and Toxic Ingredients
Ultimatums and pendulum swings have helped me in one way and that is to make new discoveries through experimentation. From being a person whose diet consisted of only meat, dairy, egg, and potatoes for 17 years of my life, a few deep psychedelic trips lead to making an instantaneous change. I went from a person who told vegans to "eat a steak" to becoming a full fledged ideological vegan myself. 
For the last few months, I've been experimenting with Sadhguru's advice that it is possible to reduce sleep quota to 3-4 hours with a simple switch to a diet. I started to eat mostly raw foods with the intention to sleep quota so I can supercharge my life purpose. For a little more than a month, I had managed to reduce my sleep quota to 4-5 hours by simply following this advice. I abstained from garlic, onion, tomatoes, potatoes as these foods are known to increase inertia and lethargy in the body. 
Through my direct experience, I verified this during my time at Vipassana. A sudden change to my diet occurred when I entered Vipassana. 100% of calories were coming from cooked food, unsuitable food combinations and questionable ingredients. From the very first day, my sleep quota increased to 7 hours even though my activities were static. My digestion was shit for the whole week, I am pretty sure I have at least 5-6 meals I ate which has still not come out and I feel many blockages within my body which has greatly affect my energy levels and clarity of my mind.
Even though I realize this, I have already decided to give an ultimatum of starting a 30 day juice fast in the beginning of January and until then I will allow myself cooked food. 
The change here is simple, I will return to the regime that I was following before Vipassana after my solid food vacation in December. It is not what I eat... why I eat seems to be my major problem. 
 
5. I do not experience Hunger
I only experience real hunger when I am fasting and even then it passes so quick that I eventually feel satiated without having to eat. I acknowledge that my desire to eat is solely for pleasure and taste although I have sneaky mechanisms to fuel my eating disorder that tell me to "eat enough calories" & that "I might not have energy tomorrow".
A radical behavior change for me would be to eat only when I am hungry which would require me to be very mindful and honest about my energy levels and hunger. 
Overall my food habits have to be reconciled with my budget, my energy expenditures, and a regime that works best for me. 
 
6. Praying before eating is good practice
Throughout my days at vipassana, I discovered that a moment of closing my eyes and verbalizing compassion and gratitude before taking my first bite helped in subtle ways. I managed to do a bit of prayer before every meal at the retreat center, with the intention that I will continue to do the same before every meal however after having come home from the retreat, I have begun to forget, especially when I am reacting to cravings. 
I am continuing to make an effort to spend a minute or two closing my eyes and practice compassion and gratitude as this has helped my relationship with food in very subtle ways.
 
7. Time is imagination
After surrendering the fact that I don't know how much time has passed or is remaining, I glimpsed a few instances where I was fully present and the concept of time was completely absent. Having experienced this, the moment I started thinking about time, I was aware that I am imagining it and this imagination is relative to the reactive / materialist paradigm. 
This truth has permeated throughout my life, especially after reading "the big leap" where Gay Hendricks talks about time as something that is created rather than something that is inherent to reality. I am conscious that I am not a victim to time and that I create time so its not that the alarm clock will ring in time and space but I will imagine the alarm clock ringing within time and space.
My behavior has already begun to change, my vocabulary doesn't consist of saying "I don't have time" but recontextualized into saying "I will not create time for that".
 
8. Maintaining Awareness after a sit is difficult
This one was very counter intuitive. You might assume that after an hour of mindfulness would permeate to the moments after the sit however I realized that the moments after my sit, I was agitated & reactive. Although this is not an ‘every time’ thing because I do have some sessions where I am left with a serene presence but in a retreat session, I seem to react with unconsciousness. 
I have started to set a few moments aside after the alarm rings to just chill & soak in the accumulated presence instead of reacting unconsciously and moving onto the next worldly activity.
 
9. Looking down while walking helps with mindfulness
This one came full circle. Previously, I would walk looking at the ground because I couldn’t summon up enough self esteem to walk with my chest high up. In the last year, after having done a lot purification work and practice self love, I finally learned to walk with my chest up, looking forward. 
I have resorted once again to looking down 4 steps ahead of me when walking as it has made me realize that I am more present. This switch has been liberating because neither I ever liked having to say hi to everyone I make eye contact with, nor there is anything I am going to miss out on by frivolously looking around. 
10. Going to sleep with Awareness = Waking up with awareness
Goenka puts a great emphasis on maintaining awareness of bodily sensations ALL THE TIME. I have a hard time believing that I will reach a state where I will be able to maintain mindfulness 24/7 even when sleeping. 
A famous quote which fascinates me goes something like this: “When the world sleeps, the yogi is wide awake”. Not that the yogi doesn’t need rest but that he is mindful when resting. 
To reach the stage where I am mindful 24/7, I make a conscious effort to observe bodily sensations right before going to sleep which has resulted in me waking up in the morning aware of bodily sensations. I’ve also had instances while asleep where I am aware of sensations on my body.
 
11. Bad Habits are very apparent in a retreat setting
This reminds me of the video from Leo called “Awareness alone is curative”  and during the 7 days, I summoned up enough awareness to recognize immediately the unconscious patterns that are fueling my bad habits. My tendency to look at the mirror in complete “unknowingness” and doubt of whether I am attractive to others or not & my subtle habit of rolling in thoughts about food were revealed at a very surreal level. I became conscious of the very thought / energy pattern that sparked and perpetuated this unconscious behavior.
Having articulated this phenomenon, I now immediately realize when I am fueling these patterns. I catch myself looking in the mirror for no reason and it is very humbling because here I am thinking of myself as a noble selfless person but I seem to care so damn much about my physical appearance. Same with food, I like to think and project myself as a healthy person but deeper lies a great deception.  
 
12. Dreams seem to be conscious choices
It is becoming very apparent to me that I am the one who is in control of my dreams. Not in the sense that I am always lucid dreaming but that it is I who makes choices within dreams. I’ve had many dreams where I can recall having make conscious choices and decisions. The choices I previously made and still make within dreams are mostly fueled by unconsciousness but I am beginning to have dreams where I choose to make better choices that are aligned with my values. 
 
13. Vibes Matter
Having entered the world of spirituality, it was very easy for me to buy into the idea of energy, vibrations, frequencies, etc. without actually having experienced it. Although I experienced such phenomena at very subtle levels, for example, I knew people emit positive vibes and negative  vibes and that the vibe of a night club is different than the vibe of a funeral however there was never a point in my life where I could tangibly pinpoint these phenomenon.
This vipassana sit really got me in touch with the experience of positive vibrations. Moments where I tangibly experienced good vibrations was when I was meditating in my pagoda cell (a small dark room for meditation). I could distinguish a different energy surround me when meditating in the cell in contrast to meditating in the hall with others. A pagoda cell is supposed to deepen one’s meditation by amplifying positive vibes and although I previously believed that this was true, I now have a direct experience that vibrations are certainly a thing. 
I have begun to take note of what vibrations are and how they work in my own daily life. For example, it is very clear to me the vibrations I emit and how it affects my surroundings and also how my surroundings interacts with my being. One of my mentors always mentions that meditating at night is less conducive because the whole city is emitting lower consciousness vibrations and that morning meditation is superior because there is less negativity in the mornings. I get the sense that this is true through direct experience
 
14. Sitting with the base of spine erect = concentration. 
Pretty self explanatory. I discovered that all the times I’ve spent leaning my back against something and avoiding the pain and suffering that initially comes with sitting for an hour without resting my back lead me towards inertia and drowsiness during my meditation. I had developed a habit of maximizing comfort as an escape from pain and suffering of strong determination meditation sits (it never worked). 
It is critical that the base of my spine is erect as it leads to a deeper session. I am still struggling to maintain an erect back because I’ve only recently let go of the habit of having to use a back rest however I can foresee that in a few months, my posture will be awesome. 
 
15. Empty stomach meditation hits harder
It is a blessing in disguise that they only provide 2 meals at the retreat centers. Food is a culprit if your aim is to have deeper meditation sessions. It is absolutely necessary to eat a reasonable amount and always have a part of your stomach empty so you’re not bombarded with lethargy and drowsiness. Many of the students including myself tended to over indulge, especially because the only source of instant gratification throughout the day was breakfast and lunch.
I am using the “awareness is curative” approach to resolving my tendency to eat a lot. During meditation, it is very clear when I ate more than I needed to due to the pain and suffering I feel. I am definitely getting better and this issue is bound to be cured if I keep walking this path of awareness.  
 
16. This work is not for the faint hearts
This one is mere speculation because I am not faint hearted but I cannot imagine that people would be able to go through the pain and suffering consciously with the aim of developing oneself. It seems to be very easy for people to rationalize their way out of difficult situations so the mind will have 101 deception mechanism up its sleeve to never actually surrender to this work.
If you are doing this work, I salute you, I appreciate you, and I love you.

Post your best psychedelic resource links here.
NO SOURCING!!! No links to online drug stores.

Nonduality is the philosophical, spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and fundamental intrinsic oneness.
For thousands of years, through deep inner inquiry, philosophers and sages have come to the realization that there is only one substance and we are therefore all part of it. This substance can be called Awareness, Consciousness, Spirit, Advaita, Brahman, Tao, Nirvana or even God. It is constant, ever present, unchangeable and is the essence of all existence.
In the last century Western scientists are arriving at the same conclusion: The universe does indeed comprise of a single substance, presumably created during the Big Bang, and all sense of being – consciousness – subsequently arises from it. This realization has ontological implications for humanity: fundamentally we are individual expressions of a single entity, inextricably connected to one another, we are all drops of the same ocean.
Science and Nonduality is a journey, an exploration of the nature of awareness, the essence of life from which all arises and subsides.
What is nonduality, anyway?
There are many shades of meaning to the word nonduality. As an introduction, we might say that nonduality is the philosophical, spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and fundamental oneness.
Our starting point is the statement “we are all one,” and this is meant not in some abstract sense, but at the deepest level of existence. Duality, or separation between the observer and the observed, is an illusion that the Eastern mystics have long recognized, and Western science has more recently come to understand through quantum mechanics.
Dualities are usually seen in terms of opposites: Mind/Matter, Self/Other, Conscious/Unconscious, Illusion/Reality, Quantum/Classical, Wave/Particle, Spiritual/Material, Beginning/End, Male/Female, Living/Dead and Good/Evil. Nonduality is the understanding that identification with common dualisms avoids recognition of a deeper reality.
So how can we better understand nonduality?
There are two aspects to this question, and at first glance they appear to be mutually exclusive, although they may be considered two representations of a single underlying reality.
The first aspect is our understanding of external reality, and for this we turn to science. The word science comes from the Latin scientia, which means knowledge. The beauty and usefulness of science is that it seeks to measure and describe reality without personal, religious, or cultural bias. For something to be considered scientifically proven, it has to pass exhaustive scrutiny, and even then is always subject to future revision. Inevitably human biases creep in, but the pursuit of science itself is intrinsically an evolving quest for truth. But then quantum mechanics turned much of this lauded objectivity on its head, as the role of the observer became inseparable from the observed quantum effect. It is as if consciousness itself plays a role in creating reality.  Indeed, the two may be the same thing. As quantum pioneer Niels Bohr once put it: “A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself!”
The second aspect is our inner, personal experience of consciousness, our “awareness of awareness.” We have our senses to perceive the world, but “behind” all perception, memory, identification and thought is simply pure awareness itself.  Eastern mystics have described this undifferentiated consciousness for thousands of years as being the ultimate state of bliss, or nirvana. Seekers have attempted to experience it for themselves through countless rituals and practices, although the state itself can be quite simply described. As Indian advaita teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj said: “The trinity: mind, self and spirit, when looked into, becomes unity.”
The central challenge to understanding nonduality may be that it exists beyond language, because once it has been named, by definition — and paradoxically — a duality has been created. Even the statement “all things are one” creates a distinction between “one” and “not-one”! Hardly any wonder that nonduality has been misunderstood, particularly in the West.
Excerpt above from: https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/about/nonduality/
Other resources, explanations, & pointers to nonduality:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-O_KhOnJ62o
http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/what-is-nonduality/  ,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondualism
https://endless-satsang.com/advaita-nonduality-oneness.htm
 
 
Meditation Preparations & Considerations of The Temple (The Body)
Make changes in accordance with listening to the body via feeling. Let go of assumptions about what you know, what you can & can’t do, and who you are & are not. Be mindful of the distinction between what you directly experience, and your thought about something. Be mindful the term direct experience does not refer to a past, a now, a present, a future, or a self (these are thoughts). 
Be conscious of breathing, and breathe from the stomach. Notice the increase in awareness of feeling in the body when you do so. 
Maintain toxin free care & hygiene, such as with: preservatives, fluoride, aluminum, mercury, & neurotoxin free products and water. 
Get a routine physical & full comprehensive blood report, and review it with your doctor (preferably a Holistic Dr).
Eat clean. Food is mood, mood is clarity. Listen to your body & educate yourself about food; calories, nutrients, vitamins, supplements, etc. Your second best friend in this whole world, should be your stomach. Try several approaches to eating. Realize you only know about food from direct experience and let assumptions go. Listen to the body, put habit & preference of taste secondary to energy and clarity. Put direct experience, of how you feel, first. 
Exercise to the extent you are able, as early in the day as you are able. Don’t eat after 8pm, drink water instead. Be mindful of honesty, humility, & compassion. Pause to allow the presence of love when creating responses, vs mindlessly reacting.  
Get 8 hrs of sleep.              
Meditate early in the morning, before eating, and before any thought engaging activities like;
    - All screens, reading anything, listening to any thing or anyone, talking to anyone, etc. Instead, step outside and express gratitude. 
    - Thinking. Develop letting thinking go from waking up until after meditation. Every thought that arises, let it go by being aware of breathing & feeling. Use ”not till after meditation” as needed.
Love yourself enough to do this, your quality of life will be greatly enhanced by your commitment and followthrough with daily meditation. This is putting your inner well being first -  and then going about your day. It is a total game changer. Get up as early as needed to make this possible for yourself.  You’ll only fall asleep earlier as a result, and get a better night’s sleep. 
Maintain a dream journal. Every morning when you wake up, write any recollections of dreams in the journal. If there were none, write “no dreams last night” in the journal. Doing this daily develops connection and communication. After writing a dream down, let it go completely. Revisit it after meditation. Consider that in between the pure peace of sleep and awakening, the dream is the reconciliation of those two states. After meditation, contemplate the dream message. Consider it from the perspective that you are dreaming right now, and the message is that everything is fine, even this (whatever the dream was about). You will notice perspectives you’re believing, as to how ‘everything is not fine’. Those, can be let go in meditation. 
Maintain a journal for writing about how you feel. If meditation is overwhelming, don’t persist against the grain, write about how you’re feeling in your journal. Expressing in key. It is a ‘getting it out’, or emptying, by which being fills in. This is the same as saying misunderstanding is let go, and understanding arises.
Add creative expression in your days with what feels right for you, such as; creative writing, drawing, learning an instrument, singing, sculpting, building, carving, dancing - any act of creating and expressing, which feels good to you. Sign up for a drawing or painting class, etc. 
Clarity, emotional intelligence, understanding, focus, patience, and more feeling / connection, are natural outcomes of this. 
Regarding meditation, loving yourself, journaling, expressing, and making changes:
Do not ask others to accommodate you so that you can do this. Accommodate them, if needed, so that you can do this. Do not create conditions or contingencies which “allow” that you can do this. Refrain from entangling any other person in ‘enabling’ you. Simply get up earlier, and be patient when tired, you’ll be falling asleep earlier soon enough. 
Past trauma may be deeply entwined in the body, with regard to perspectives, and unknowingly suppressed, held out of the light of understanding. It is important to be humble, and be smart. Take advantage of all resources available to you. In addition to the things mentioned above, experience assistance bringing things to the surface, into the light, out into the open. That is relief. ’Getting it out’ is the key. Schedule time with practitioners of well being; massage, reiki, therapy, yoga, liberated experienced meditators, etc. Making the choice to directly experience is 99% of ‘the work’. Choose to experience the combination that feels best to you, but do not rule anything you have not experienced out. You will be glad. 
 
Proper Foundation
The quality of tomorrow’s meditation is impacted by all of the above. Recognize those as the basics, your foundation. This is - first “cleaning the house”, “emptying the cup”.  If you are not yet finding peace in meditation, the things above are likely insightful and actionable. Use them as a checklist, add to it what you learn works and doesn’t work for you. Understand why. Be mindful of the direct experience always, not the goal or outcome. Never do practices for the sake of getting them done. Never do practices with the intention or expectation of attaining, achieving, or becoming. Let go of these in your practices. Never force pracitices, and never guilt or shame yourself regarding practices. Let go of these in your practices. Likewise, never pride yourself on or claim the benefits of your practices. A phone which knows the truth of wifi, yet claims it as it’s own, is no longer listening to the wifi. It is always about letting go, and feeling the inner being, the source, within. 
 
Posture, Balance & Relaxation
Sit with spine straight, entire body equally balanced, head tilted slightly forward. 
Scan for any muscles in tension - from balancing the body, and reposition in better balance. Repeat until seated in balance; drop all muscle tension, and see if you lean; if so, adjust again / reposition for balance.
Relax every muscle, from crown of head, through body, to the toes - in waves of letting go, over and over. If you struggle to ‘find the particular muscle’ to be able to ‘let it go’, simply tense that muscle with the appropriate thought, ex: “tense the right shoulder” - this is to locate it specifically - only to relax it / let it go, specifically (only needed initially, if at all).
Stay with each muscle until you feel it release: Feel the crown of the head muscles release, feel the temples release, feel the eye sockets release, feel the cheek muscles release, feel the neck muscles release, the shoulders, the upper back, the lower back, the arms, the hands, the fingers, the chest, the stomach, the hips, the thighs, the knees, the calves, the ankles, the feet, the toes - all tension pouring out through the toes. 
*Stay with each muscle until you feel it release, then move to the next. Be mindful, vigilant of any habit forming. Feel every step. Feel each specific muscle release. 
* Repeat this, from crown to toes, over and over, feeling each “pass” more deeply relaxing each targeted muscle than the pass before.  Notice the entire body unifying in relaxation. 
 
Meditation
Do not move the body, allow it to relax into deep sleep and disappear from sensation & awareness. 
Mind fully alert & present; awaken every cell, enthusiastic presence,  a tiger at-the-ready to pounce.
Notice all senses are one sense, being.
Being is breathing, being is breathed in, being is breathed out. 
Notice the ineffable spaciousness, the silent emptiness.  It is whole, perfect, calm, peaceful. It continues on in all directions. 
Revel in the perfect peace, in innocence, as you recognize the purity that you have always known.
 
Allow Meditation “Practice” To Become A Meditative Lifestyle
As you go about your day, notice this peace is still present, this silence, this being - is always present, always the soundbed underlying and allowing all sounds, the spaciousness underlying and allowing all objects and activities, the emptiness allowing all thoughts to arise.
Carry this into each day, mindful of the effortless nature of awareness. Conscious of any tension in any muscle, relax it, mindful of the one sense; without identification, without reaction, peaceful non-engagement. 
Notice the arising perspectives of unification & connection. Surrender perspectives of separation by allowing them to pass, and return to the everpresent peace and silence which allows all things. 
When you notice reaction, wether muscular or mental, relax, detach by being again aware, non-reactionary. 
Even as reactions occur, wether physical, mental, or verbal, be aware of, not involved in. Relax crown to toes, effortless awareness is always available & ample.
Notice the sound of a voice, is not the sound of your voice. Be that unattached, and that aware, ‘that’ voice is no longer your voice, it never was. You are all sounds, all voices, all things. Be aware all transpires in the ‘one sense’, precisely where it is seen, exactly where it is heard. One Sense, one awareness. 
Notice thoughts are not your thoughts,  be aware thoughts are things, like trees are trees; there is no mechanism found for justification of  “yours”, that is just another thought; awareness is unconditional and omnipresent, and never appears in pieces, and has never not appeared, it will never let you down. Notice there is one sense, one awareness, notice the body and mind are a body and mind which transpires in this peaceful awareness, notice a body and mind is not your body and mind, notice there is one sense, one awareness, all is transpiring and arising in. 
 
After some practice a couple new things arise...
When you have ‘returned’ home, in the peace of non-reaction, the ‘finite ceo’ / “decision maker”/ over thinker/over thinking - naturally recedes, and well being of infinite intelligence will manipulate the body (it actually is “the body”) , aligning things, stretching things, cracking things, etc, just allow this. It’s difficult not to mentally react to this at first because it’s new, but just relax, it is curative, trust it - notice a person is not doing this, infinite intelligence is. Mindfully revel & appreciate this miracle. 
 
A word of caution regarding thought stories & dualistic narratives
Meditation at it’s most basic level is focusing on breathing in the stomach & relaxing the body, thus indirectly detaching attention from thoughts. Thought ceases in activity, simply from not receiving attention. The body is infinite intelligence, but the thinking dualistic mind believes it’s running the show. This is brought to an end in meditation, in ‘returning to’, or realization of, who you really are. 
When the body relaxes deeply, it releases contractions; tension from emotions created in misunderstanding via one’s forgetting who one is and  “making sense” of self & reality in an apparent physical universe & separate body. These ‘held’ tensions are the root cause of overthinking. The mind keeps churning in an attempt to resolve with thinking, what is only resolved in feeling. 
When the body (infinite intelligence / nothing to know) begins releasing the suppressed falsities (all knowledge & specifically the idea of “me”), the mind creates narratives of the experience to perpetuate “it’s control”. In perpetuating the misunderstandings, rather than relaxing & releasing the suppressed emotions by maintaining focus on stomach breathing, the mind (thinking) weaves & latches onto varies models of duality to control the narrative. (Kundalini, demons, assertion, death, nervous disorders, past “bad” trips, guilt, shame, unworthiness, fear, anxiety & past stories, depression & future stories, projections, deflections, identity, loss, sacrifice, etc)
But meditation is focusing on breathing from the stomach & relaxing the body, and thus indirectly detaching from thoughts. To believe any narrative which arises in meditation, is to sustain and perpetuate the “idea of you”, so as not to ‘directly experience’, you. 
So if you don’t want to awaken, but enjoy the fundamental benefits of meditation, just meditate for twenty minutes a day. Ideally in the morning. 
If you do want to awaken, realize you got caught up in a thought story, and meditation was focusing on breathing from the stomach, and thus indirectly letting thinking go. The truth is the mind is making it all up, and the “fear” is the mind’s label to justify denying the truth “of itself”, the profound love that is, that you actually are.
Write about how you feel and why, in a journal, to understand yourself & develop emotional intelligence. 
Talk to someone who listens, so you can express yourself and your emotions.
Write what you want in this experience of life on your dreamboard, and allow the surfacing of desire & authenticity to help you realize & release resistance thoughts. Live the life you actually want to live, the way you actually want to live it.
 
https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices
Posture Meditation
This body-based meditation is a very effective way to get grounded and centered. It encourages an embodied, calm, and open awareness, and discourages disassociation. If you have a tendency to "leave your body," feel ungrounded, or disassociated, this is a good practice. 
Sit with your spine straight and aligned, and the rest of your body relaxed. Keep bringing yourself back to this condition. 

1. Take a reposed, seated posture. 

2. For this meditation, it is very important that your spine is straight. Your neck and back should be in perfect alignment. Your chin should be down very slightly. 

3. If you are sitting in a chair, do not rest your spine against the chair. Sit forward so that your spine is supporting its own weight. Let the muscles of the spine be engaged. 

4. All the other muscles of your body can be completely relaxed. Allow your face muscles to let go, and your jaw to drop slightly, so that your teeth are not touching. 

5. Let your shoulders hang freely, and let your belly be soft and open. 

6. This is the posture you are aiming for, with your spine erect and your body completely relaxed. 

7. As you sit, keep bringing your awareness back to the fine details of your posture. Notice any time your spine slumps even slightly, your head leans to either side, or any other deviation. Correct these gently and repeatedly. 

8. Also notice if any other areas of your body tense up even slightly. If anything is tensing, relax it in a gently and soft manner. 

9. Keep checking in with the body, using your body (somatic) awareness; the feeling in your body. Mental images of your body will probably arise, which is fine, but these are not what you are concentrating upon. Instead, concentrate your awareness in the sense of your body. The sensitivity in your muscles, tissues, viscera, skin, and so forth. 

10. The more detailed and minute you get with this awareness, the better. Each tiny area of the body has its own sensitivity to contribute. 

11. Every once in a while you can zoom out to cover the entire somatosensory field -- the awareness of your entire body -- to bring the overall body back into alignment. 

12. Keep relaxing every muscle everywhere. Use just enough tension to keep your spine erect, but no more. 

13. Continue this meditation for at least 10 minutes, continuously contacting your body awareness. 
 
CAUTIONS:
If you have any spinal injuries or severe back pain, it is fine to allow your spine to rest in a pain-free position.                    If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. 
For example, when checking on the spine, you can say to yourself, "spine in alignment." 
When checking on the body, say, "body relaxed." 
 
 
Awareness of Thoughts Meditation
By learning to watch your thoughts come and go during this practice, you can gain deeper insight into thinking altogether (such as its transience) and into specific relationships among your thoughts and your emotions, sensations, and desires. This practice can also help you take your thoughts less personally, and not automatically believe them.  Additionally, this meditation can offer insight into any habitual patterns of thinking and related reactions.  
Observe your thoughts as they arise and pass away.  
·       By “thoughts,” we mean self-talk and other verbal content, as well as images, memories, fantasies, and plans. Just thoughts may appear in awareness, or thoughts plus sensations, emotions, or desires. 
·       Sit or lie down on your back in a comfortable position.
·       Become aware of the sensations of breathing.
·       After a few minutes of following your breath, shift your attention to the various thoughts that are arising, persisting, and then passing away in your mind. 
·       Try to observe your thoughts instead of getting involved with their content or resisting them. 
·       Notice the content of your thoughts, any emotions accompanying them, and the strength or pull of the thought.
·       Try to get curious about your thoughts.  Investigate whether you think in mainly images or words, whether your thoughts are in color or black and white, and how your thoughts feel in your body.
·       See if you notice any gaps or pauses between thoughts.
·       Every time you become aware that you are lost in the content of your thoughts, simply note this and return to observing your thoughts and emotions. 
·       Remember that one of the brain’s major purposes is to think, and there is nothing wrong with thinking.  You are simply practicing not automatically believing and grasping on to your thoughts.  
·       When you are ready, return your attention to your breath for a few minutes and slowly open your eyes.  
Optional:
·       There are various metaphors and images you can use to help observe your thoughts.  These include:
o   Imagining you are as vast and open as the sky, and thoughts are simply clouds, birds, or planes passing through the open space.  
o   Imagining you are sitting on the side of a river watching your thoughts float by like leaves or ripples in the stream.  
o   Imagine your thoughts are like cars, buses, or trains passing by.  Every time you realize you are thinking, you can “get off the bus/train” and return to observing.

Awareness of thoughts and emotions is one of the areas of focus developed when cultivating mindfulness.  In Buddhism, mindfulness is one of the seven factors of enlightenment and the seventh instruction in the Noble Eightfold Path.  
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment:  https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/piyadassi/wheel001.html
The Four Noble Truths:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths
The Noble Eightfold Path: https://tricycle.org/magazine/noble-eightfold-path/
 
CAUTIONS:
Please be gentle with yourself if you notice that you are constantly caught up in your thoughts instead of observing them.  This is both common and normal.  When you realize that you are thinking, gently and compassionately return to observing your thoughts.  
If the content of your thoughts is too disturbing or distressing, gently shift your attention to your breathing, sounds, or discontinue the practice. 
·       Remember that you are not trying to stop thoughts or only allow certain ones to arise.  Try to treat all thoughts equally and let them pass away without engaging in their content. 
·       This practice can initially be more challenging than other meditations.  As you are learning, practice this meditation for only a few minutes at a time if that is easier. 
·       It can be helpful to treat thoughts the same way that you treat sounds or body sensations, and view them as impersonal events that arise and pass away.  
·       Some people like to assign numbers or nicknames to reoccurring thoughts in order to reduce their pull and effect.
 
 
Breath Awareness Meditation
Stress is an extremely unhealthy condition. It causes the body to release the chemical cortisol, which has been shown to reduce brain and organ function, among many other dangerous effects. Modern society inadvertently encourages a state of almost continuous stress in people. This is a meditation that encourages physical and mental relaxation, which can greatly reduce the effects of stress on the body and mind. 
Sit still and pay close attention to your breathing process.
Take a reposed, seated posture. Your back should be straight and your body as relaxed as possible.

Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breathing process. Simply notice you are breathing. Do not attempt to change your breath in any way. Breath simply and normally. 

Try to notice both the in breath and the out breath; the inhale and the exhale. "Notice" means to actually feel the breathing in your body with your body. It is not necessary to visualize your breathing or to think about it in any way except to notice it with your somatic awareness. 

Each time your attention wanders from the act of breathing, return it to noticing the breath. Do this gently and without judgment. 

Remember to really feel into the act of breathing.

If you want to go more deeply into this, concentrate on each area of breathing in turn. Here is an example sequence:

    1. Notice how the air feels moving through your nostrils on both the in breath and the out breath. 

    2. Notice how the air feels moving through your mouth and throat. You may feel a sort of slightly raspy or ragged          feeling as the air moves through your throat. This is normal and also something to feel into.

    3. Notice how the air feels as it fills and empties your chest cavity. Feel how your rib cage rises slowly with each in breath, and gently deflates with each out breath.

    4. Notice how your back expands and contracts with each breath. Actually feel it shifting and changing as you breath. 

    5. Notice how the belly expands outward with each in breath and pulls inward with each in breath. Allow your attention to fully enter the body sensation of the belly moving with each breath.

    6. Now allow your attention to cover your entire body at once as you breath in and out. Closely notice all the sensations of the body as it breathes. 

Repeat this sequence over and over, giving each step your full attention as you do it. 
Suggested time is at least 10 minutes. Thirty minutes is better, if you are capable of it. 
If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. For example, on the in breath, mentally say to yourself, "Breathing in." On the out breath, say, "Breathing out." Another possibility is to mentally count each breath. 
 
 
Self Inquiry
This is a meditation technique to get enlightened, i.e. "self realization."  By realizing who you are, the bonds of suffering are broken. Besides this goal, self-inquiry delivers many of the same benefits as other meditation techniques, such as relaxation, enhanced experience of life, greater openness to change, greater creativity, a sense of joy and fulfillment, and so forth. 
Focus your attention on the feeling of being "me," to the exclusion of all other thoughts. 
1. Sit in any comfortable meditation posture. 
2. Allow your mind and body to settle. 
3. Now, let go of any thinking whatsoever. 
4. Place your attention on the inner feeling of being "me."
5. If a thought does arise (and it is probable that thoughts will arise on their own), ask yourself to whom this thought is occurring. This returns your attention to the feeling of being "me."
Continue this for as long as you like. 

This technique can also be done when going about any other activity. 
 
CAUTIONS:
Many people misunderstand the self-inquiry technique to mean that the person should sit and ask themselves the question, "Who am I?" over and over. This is an incorrect understanding of the technique. The questions "Who am I" or "To whom is this thought occurring?" are only used when a thought arises, in order to direct attention back to the feeling of being "me." At other times the mind is held in silence. 
 
This practice of Self-attention or awareness of the ‘I’-thought is a gentle technique, which bypasses the usual repressive methods of controlling the mind. It is not an exercise in concentration, nor does it aim at suppressing thoughts; it merely invokes awareness of the source from which the mind springs. The method and goal of self-enquiry is to abide in the source of the mind and to be aware of what one really is by withdrawing attention and interest from what one is not. In the early stages effort in the form of transferring attention from the thoughts to the thinker is essential, but once awareness of the ‘I’-feeling has been firmly established, further effort is counter-productive. From then on it is more a process of being than doing, of effortless being rather than an effort to be.
 
 
Do Nothing Meditation
Many respected spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and Hindu Advaita just to name two, claim that the highest state of spiritual communion is actually present in our minds at all times. And yet many meditation techniques focus on  creating some special state that wasn't there before the meditation, and which goes away at some point after the meditation. If the highest state is actually present all the time, shouldn't it be possible to simply notice it without inducing some change, or special state? 

That is exactly the purpose of the Do Nothing Meditation. This technique (which is really an un-technique) will allow you to contact the highest spiritual state without actually doing anything. Each time you notice an intention to control or direct your attention, give it up. 
1. There is no need to get into any particular posture, unless you feel like it.
2. Do not position your attention in any particular way.
3. Let whatever happens happen.
4. Any time you notice yourself doing anything intentionally, stop. 
Doing anything intentionally means something you can voluntarily control, and therefore can stop. 
If you cannot stop doing something, then it's not intentional, and therefore you don't need to try to stop doing it. 
So. Anything you can stop doing, stop doing. 

Some examples of things you can stop doing are:
* Intentionally thinking
* Trying to focus on something specific
* Trying to have equanimity
* Trying to keep track of what's going on
* Trying to meditate
Let go of doing anything like this.
5. Keep doing nothing for at least 10 minutes, or as long as you like.
 
CAUTIONS:
It may be difficult for some people to notice any difference between the Do Nothing meditation and gross "monkey mind," that is, the ceaseless, driven and fixated thoughts of the everyday neurotic mind. If this seems to be the case for you, it may be helpful to do a more structured technique. 
 
 
Concentration (One-Pointedness) Meditation
One of the hallmarks of modern life is the proliferation of distractions. As media become more pervasive, and media connections more ubiquitous, time away from distractions becomes ever harder to find. Previously, people were content to sit in restaurants, or stand in line, without a television screen to stare at. Now these have become standard. The result of all this, and many other causes, is that people find it increasingly difficult to focus their minds. 

Concentration is a necessary human skill. It makes proper thinking possible, increases intelligence, and allows a person to calm down and achieve their goals more effectively. A concentrated mind is like a laser beam, able to use all its powers in a single direction to great effect. 

Concentration is critical to many human endeavors. Being able to listen to another person, for example, in a compassionate and connected manner requires being able to shut out distractions. The experience of making love can be greatly enhanced when one is not, for example, thinking about other things. 

Concentration allows a person to stop being a "reaction machine" or "robot," simply responding to stimulii, and instead to become more thoughtful, self-directed, and confident. 
Concentration is an interesting thing. It is a very general ability. That means developing concentration in one area will help you concentrate in ALL areas. So, for example, if you learn to concentrate on a particular idea, it not only helps you think about that idea (which would be very limited), but actually helps you to concentrate on anything, which is very generally useful for everything! It's like lifting weights. It doesn't just make you strong for lifting weights, but strong for anything else you want to do!

Think about one thing. Every time you get distracted, return to that one thing. 
1. Find an object on which to concentrate. This can be a physical object, like a pebble or a feather. Or it can be a mental object like a particular idea. It could even be, say, your homework.

2. Cut off any sources of distraction. These include, but are not limited to, telephones, emails, computers, music, television, and so forth. Turn all of these off during your concentration practice. 

3. Begin your period of by mentally reminding yourself what you are concentrating on. 

4. Now begin to concentrate. If your concentration object is an external object, this may mean looking at it. If it is a mental object, then think about it. If it is your homework, then do it now.

5. Each time your mind (or eyes) wander from your concentration object, bring it back to the object. It is important to do this very gently and without judgment. 
6. Repeat this process of coming back to the concentration object for as long as you wish, or until your homework is done. 
Cultures worldwide have developed concentration practices for both spiritual and practical reasons. 

Concentration is called dharana in Hinduism, and samadhi or shamatha in Buddhism. It is considered to be a key skill for meditation.
 
CAUTIONS:
Concentration can at first seem to trigger a lot of anxiety. This is, however, not the fault of the concentration practice. Rather, it happens because many people use distraction to avoid feeling emotions. Then when the distractions are removed, a tremendous amount of ambient, unprocessed emotions (i.e. emotions you are feeling but were unaware of feeling) are present. So it is not the practice of concentration that is causing anxiety, but instead it is the habit of distracting ourselves from our emotions. This may be the root cause of much inability to focus and concentrate. If that is the case, try meditating on emotions (below). 
Concentration and meditation are not the same thing, although they are related. Meditation (usually) requires concentration, but also requires relaxation or equanimity.
 
 
Emotional Awareness Meditation 
This meditation brings about a great deal of equanimity with emotions. They will not seem to affect us as deeply or adversely. 
Many people have trouble contacting their emotions directly. Even if we feel that we know what emotion we are having, that does not necessarily mean that we are contacting it directly. 

To contact an emotion directly means to feel it in the body. This is the opposite of most people's experience, which is to related ideas about the emotion.

Here is an example. A person asks you how you are feeling. You respond by saying, "I am angry, because..." You then go on to tell the person all the reasons you are angry.

In this example, only the first three words, "I am angry" have anything to do with contacting emotion. All the rest of the explanation is about concepts.

A fuller example of contacting emotions directly, that is somatically, would be to say, "I am angry. I can feel a sort of gripping tension in my belly that is uncomfortable. The tense area feels kind of twisted and sharp. Parts of it are throbbing. It also feels like it is radiating heat outwards." 

Notice that the cause of the anger is irrelevant. The practice here is to feel the physical expression of the anger as completely as possible. 

Extended practice of this meditation will bring about "skill at feeling," that is, a tremendous amount of clarity in the emotional world. Emotional intelligence. 

It will also help emotions to process and release much more quickly and completely, because we are not holding on to ideas about the emotions. The body processes emotion quickly, naturally, and fully. 
Feel the physical expression of an emotion as completely as possible. 
1. Settle into a comfortable meditation posture. 

2. Breathing normally, bring your attention to your emotions. Notice if you are feeling any emotions, no matter how faintly. It is not necessary to know precisely which emotion you are having, or why you are having it. Just knowing that you are feeling something emotional is enough. Guessing is OK.

3. Once you detect an emotion, see if you can find its expression in your body. Maybe there is a feeling of tension, gripping, tightening, burning, twisting, throbbing, pressure, lightness, openness, etc. 

4. If you like, you can mentally make the label "feel" when you detect a body sensation of emotion. Other labels are possible ("emotion" for example). 

5. Each time you detect an emotional body sensation, try to actually feel the sensation in your body, as completely as possible. Feel it through and through.

6. Completely let go of any ideas you have about the emotion, or self talk you might have about why the emotion is arising. Return to the body sensation of the emotion.

7. Continue contacting these emotional body sensations for as long as you wish.
 
Meditating on emotions is a traditional part of Vipassana practice in Buddhism. It is, for example, one of the four main techniques covered in the Vissudhimagga (The Path to Purity), an important Buddhist text.
(The version presented here is a summary of a practice given by American Buddhist teacher Shinzen Young.)
At first, practicing this meditation may make it seem as if the emotions are getting bigger. If they are negative emotions, this may seem overwhelming for a while. This is natural. It is occuring not because the emotions are actually getting bigger, but for two interesting reasons. The first is because we are no longer suppressing them. We are allowing them to actually express themselves fully. The second is because we are observing them (actually feeling them) very closely. Just as a microscope makes small things look bigger, the "microscope" of attention makes the emotional body sensations seem larger than they really are. 

The good news here is that as the emotions express themselves freely in the body, they are being processed. Usually this means that they will pass much more quickly. 

If we are feeling a positive emotion in this way, it may pass quickly, but we will also derive much more satisfaction from it, because our experience of it is so rich and complete.

If we are feeling a negative emotion in this way, we will experience much less suffering from it, because we are not resisting and suppressing it. 
 
 
Equanimity Meditation
The cause of much of our upset and emotional instability is clinging and neediness around people we like, and aversion and negativity towards people we don't like. We also have an unhealthy indifference to strangers, who may need our help, or at least our good will. 

This equanimity meditation helps us to examine our feelings towards people, and correct them where they are mistaken. This leads to a more balanced, wholesome, and helpful viewpoint. It also cuts off a lot of emotional turmoil at its root. 
Meditate on three people (a loved one, an enemy, and a neutral person), examining and correcting your feelings toward them. 
1. Sit in a comfortable meditation posture. Follow your breath until you feel centered and grounded.

2. Bring to mind the images of three people: someone you like, someone you dislike, and someone towards whom you feel indifferent. Keep these three people in mind throughout the meditation.

3. Focus on the friend, and look into all the reasons you like this person. Try to see if any of the reasons are about things this person does for you, or ways they uplift your ego. Ask yourself if these are really the correct reasons to like someone. Then do the same thing with the person you dislike, instead asking about the reasons you dislike them. Finally, do this for the person you are indifferent towards, asking about the reasons for your indifference. In all cases, notice where your ego is involved in the judgment of the other person's worth. 

4. Next, ask yourself whether you consider each of these relationships as permanent. Would you still like your friend if they did something terrible to you? What if the person you dislike really did something nice for you? What if the stranger became close to you? Think about all the relationships in the past in which your feelings about the person have dramatically changed. 

5. Now, visualize the person you like doing something you dislike or that is unacceptable to you. Would you still be their friend? Remember that many people have changed from friends to enemies in the past. There are people who you used to like, toward whom you now feel emnity. Think about how there is no special reason to feel good about a person who is only temporarily your friend. 

6. Next, visualize your enemy doing something very kind for you. They might visit you in the hospital, or help you to fix your home. When you imagine this, can you feel positive emotions toward this person? Can you remember times in the past when an enemy became a friend? Is it necessary to feel that your strong dislike for this person will last forever? Isn't it possible that they could someday become your friend? 

7. Now visualize the stranger. How would you feel about them if they did something very kind for you? Isn't it the case that all your current friends were at one point total strangers? Isn't it possible that a stranger could become your best friend? It has happened before. 

8. Think carefully about how everyone deserves equal regard as human beings. You must discriminate and make decisions based on your knowledge of a person's character, but you do not have to hold strong feelings or judgments towards them. It is very likely that your emotions around a person will change many times, so why hold onto these emotions so rigidly? 

In Buddhism, equanimity means a very deep, even profound, state of mental balance and stability. It is considered one of the seven factors of enlightenment, and a hallmark of the third and fourth jhanas, which are deep states of meditative absorption. 
This is a traditional meditation from Mahayana Buddhism. Its goal is to arouse "bodhicitta' or the mind of enlightenment. There are other equanimity meditations from other Buddhist lineages (e.g., Theravadan), as well as from other contemplative traditions.

(The version presented here is adapted from the book How to Meditate: A Practical Guide.) 
 

CAUTIONS:
It can be upsetting to bring an "enemy" to mind. When working with the mental image of an enemy, be careful not to get lost in negative thoughts and feelings. If you find that you can't handle working with a specific person without getting very worked up, switch to someone less upsetting.
 
 
Body Scan Meditation
The Body Scan is designed to help you feel and bring awareness to the myriad of sensations that occur throughout your body.  By practicing this meditation regularly, you can improve your body awareness and also better work with pain and difficult emotions in the body.  Additionally, people report feelings of relaxation and renewal after this practice.  
Sit or lie on your back and systematically bring your attention to each region of your body, beginning with your feet and moving upwards.  
 
As you begin:
·       Sit or lie down on your back in a comfortable position with your eyes open or gently closed.
·       Take a moment to check-in with yourself, observing how you are feeling in your body and mind.
·       Begin to focus on your breath wherever the sensations are most vivid for you.
 
During the body scan:
·       Try to bring an attitude of curiosity to the practice, as if you are investigating your body for the first time.  
·       Notice and feel any and all sensations that are present, such as tingling, tightness, heat, cold, pressure, dullness,  etc.  
·       If you do not feel any sensations in a particular region, simply note that and move on.  
·       See if you can be aware of any thoughts or emotions that arise as you move through the regions of your body.  Note these thoughts and emotions, and then return to the bare physical sensations that you are experiencing.  
·       Whenever you come across an area that is tense, see if you can allow it to soften.  If the area does not soften, simply notice how it feels and allow it to be as it is.
·       Feel as deeply and precisely as you can into each region of the body, noting if the sensations change in any way.  Also notice where they are located.
·       If you notice any pain or discomfort in a region of the body, see if you can practice allowing and exploring it for even a few seconds, feeling the various aspects of the sensation(s).  
 
Suggested sequence of body parts:
·       Begin with your left foot and toes, then move awareness up the left leg until you reach the left hip.
·       Right foot and toes up the right leg until you reach the right hip.  
·       Pelvic region and buttocks, stomach, low back to upper back, chest and breasts, heart and lungs
·       Hands (both at the same time) then move up the arms until you finish with the shoulders.
·       Neck, throat, jaw, mouth (teeth, tongue, lips), nose, eyes, forehead, ears, skull and scalp.  
·       Finally, become aware of the whole body and rest for a few minutes in this expansive awareness.  

The Body Scan is a variation of a Burmese Vipassana meditation practice that involves scanning the body for physical sensations.  This meditation is also done in various yoga practices.  The Body Scan is used in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.  

CAUTIONS:
If you have experienced physical abuse or trauma in the past, it is not recommended to do this practice without a trained professional.  Additionally, if you notice intense fear or other strong emotions related to a particular part of the body, please discontinue this practice.  
It is generally advised to take at least 30 to 40 minutes to complete the body scan.  However, if you wish to do a shorter body scan, spend less time on each region of the body, and/or focus on both feet, legs, and arms together as you move through these regions.  
If you wish, you can practice the body scan in the opposite direction, moving from your head to your toes. 
 
 
Walking Meditation
Walking meditation is a great way to begin integrating the power of meditation into your daily life. It is the first stage of meditation in action, that is, learning to be meditative while "out and about" in the world. 

It is great to do while, for example, taking a walk in the park, at the beach, or in another natural setting. 

Walking meditation is often recommended for people who are doing a lot of sitting meditation. If you are getting to sleepy, or your awareness is getting to "muddy," walking meditation can perk you up. Alternately, if you are getting to concentrated and mentally "stiff," walking meditation is a perfect way to loosen up a bit. 
Walking meditation is a common practice in Vipassana and Zen Buddhism. 


Pay close attention to the physical activity of walking slowly
1. Before walking, stand still in an open, balanced posture. Bring your awareness to the feeling of your feet touching the ground. 

2. Now begin walking. Keep your gaze fixed on the ground about six feet in front of you. This will help you to avoid distraction. 

3. Note and mentally label three parts of each step you take. The labels are "lifting," "pushing," and "dropping." 
 
     Lifting - when you are picking your foot up

     Pushing - as you are moving it forward

     Dropping - as you are lowering it to the ground

 As you make each label, pay very close attention to the actual physical sensations associated with each of these actions. 

4. After these three components become clear, you can add three more, so that the entire sequence is: "raising," "lifting," "pushing," "dropping," "touching," and "pressing."

5. Your mind will probably also engage in thinking extraneous thoughts, but just allow these to go on in the background. Your foreground attention should stay on the physical sensations of walking.

6. If you find that you have been completely lost in thought, stop walking for a moment and label the thinking as "thinking, thinking, thinking." 

7. Then re-establish your awareness on the feeling in your feet, and begin the walking meditation again. 

8. A typical session of walking meditation lasts a half an hour. 


CAUTIONS:
Make sure to watch where you are going, especially if you are around traffic, other people, etc. 
 
https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices
 
 
 
The Yoda Meditation
https://www.thedailymeditation.com/learning-to-meditate-with-jedi-master-yoda-online-meditation-course/amp
The Neo / Matrix Meditation
https://www.dc-acupuncture.com/lifestyle-personal-transformation/how-meditation-makes-you-more-like-neo-from-the-matrix
F That - A guided Meditation
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY

The technique takes some months to learn, but once mastered, you can have instant OBEs and lucid dreams whenever and how long you want.
The technique is mainly from John Kreiter's book "Out of body experiences". (I just give a brief explanation of it and elaborate on some more points, so definitely buy his book, it is invaluable.)
When you have an OBE, there are basically 3 places to go. 1. you can explore our physical universe 2. you can go to paralel universes/ other dimensions and 3. you can go to what John Kreiter calls the Grey zone. Every daydream or night dream takes place in this Grey zone. So dreams are a kind of OBE . Whenever you daydream you already have a very very faint OBE. The difference between a daydream and a lucid dream is that daydreams are way less vivid and your consciousness is not fully established in your daydream body, but is still in your physical body to a large degree. The difference between normal visualization of your neighbour's house and a real OBE in your neighbour's house is that the visualization is way less vivid and that you visualize the house, so you don't yet see the actual house. 
- The technique:
Upon closing your eyes, you visualize your etheral/astral body in your room. You try to perceive everything from this new body through the new sense organs. Over the course of weeks and months, it gets more and more vivid and your etheral body starts to perceive the actual environment instead of visualizing it. You probably say that this is not possible but I believe it is. Google thought-forms/servitors/tulpas then it's easier to understand. A servitor is a real entity in the astral realm which you create through visualizations. The difference to your etheral body is, that the servitor has its own will and consciousness, whereas when you have created an etheral body, your consciousness can access it, such that it will eventually make no difference in vividness and realness whether you are in your physical or etheral body. If a servitor can pick up legitimate data from the physical world then so can your etheral body. If you doubt that a servitor can do that then google, there are too many people talking about it as that it could be untrue.
Once your consciousness establishes more and more in your etheral body, your physical body will be in a trance and eventually enter sleep paralysis.
 
- So are these OBEs actually as vivid as classical OBEs (including lucid dreams)?
according to John Kreiter's book, it seems so Someone on the forum dreamviews says: "my level has increased tremendously, but I am not quite at the max. Right now, within 10 minutes of sitting down for a visualization, I can enter into a lucid dream, any time of day (...) I am hoping to be able to, with persistent practice, take this down to an almost instantaneous WILD at any time.   https://www.dreamviews.com/general-lucid-discussion/163199-how-effectively-visualize-part-1-incubation.html and I have read similar things by other people  but I do have a small doubt. Because - even though your body is in sleep paralysis - you are not in REM compared to classical lucid dreams (and OBEs in general I guess). I am very sure that you are not im REM, because these OBEs you can do as long as you want, longer than any REM phase would allow. So perhaps these OBEs are less stable or less vivid. I don't know, but according to the above-mentioned it seems that they can be equally vivid. But even if not, then it wouldn't be that bad. The solution: OBE-WILD - OBE-WILD 
This is the most instant and reliable WILD variation. Wake up in REM. get into your etheral body. Now you already have an OBE (potency depending on your level of mastery) but within a few seconds/minutes your body enters sleep paralysis, you are in REM and have a very vivid lucid dream. If you want you can use this lucid dream as a gateway to a classical astral projection.
- Advantages of OBE-WILD (compared to other lucid dreaming induction techniques)
Far more reliable then any other technique imo (if you already have a strong etheral body). You can probably reliably WILD in every REM (if you wake up). The problems with the classical WILD variations are that you either can't enter sleep paralysis because you are too conscious of your physical body (which is solved with OBE-WILD because your full consciousness is established in your dream body and your physical body would enter sleep paralysis anyways even if you weren't in REM) or you fall asleep because you can't stay conscious (which should be solved because being in your vivid etheral body, it should be more easy to stay conscious) you don't need to be in REM. you can have non-REM OBEs whenever you want and as long as you want (during the day, not during non-REM sleep). I guess that you could easily do this 10h a day if you wanted Full day-time consciousness, very stable and high dream control (just like every WILD, because you directly enter the dream with your day-time consciousness, unlike with DILD) Very vivid. Because your OBE is already very vivid and then gets potentially amplified by the REM phase you are (almost) instantly in the dream, compared to other WILD variations which often require you to lie still for 15-60 minutes  
- How long does it take?
Let's assume that you have average visualization skills and practise 1h daily. So here are my assumptions:
1 month to build a strong etheral body. that means that you truly feel like you are in that body and not the physical body. These visualizations will probably feel like a very weak DILD. That also means that now you can start trying the OBE-WILD during the night in REM phases.  But it will probably be still very unreliable  2 months: When on the physical plane, you start picking up legitimate objective data from the physical world. And many of your OBE-WILDs will be successful   
- Enlightenment
Lucid dreams are a powerful tool for mysyical experiences. 
If you master the OBE-WILD technique, you can have mystical experiences every night. On top of that, I guess that you can have mystical experiences in the non-REM OBEs as well. But I am not sure because you are not in REM. Perhaps you would just get thrown back to your physical body because the OBE might be too unstable if not during REM (even though your physical body is in sleep paralysis during these non-REM OBEs). But if you can have mystical experiences there then that would be a game changer. You could induce any kind of mystical experience like a zen master (probably more instantly amd more reliably than the zen master) without decades of meditating, just some months of practising the OBE technique ( for non-REM OBE induced mystical experiences, you probably need at least 6 months of 1h daily practise). The reason that we can't easily have a mystical experience is because our consciousness is so firmly bound to and identified with the physical body. With these OBEs you instantly go around that problem by leaving the physical body and entering an etheral body. Once in the ethereal body it is way easier to induce an awakenig because everything is less dense on this plane. 
 
- Some Resources:
Book: Out of body experiences by John Kreiter https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1535560479/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1576691019&sr=8-7  or kindle edition $3.61  https://www.dreamviews.com/wake-initiated-lucid-dreams-wild/128996-mancons-simple-visualization-wild-technique.html That's basically the OBE-WILD, he calls it V-WILD (I don't call it V-WILD because in the above-mentioned technique you actually have an OBE to induce the WILD)  https://www.dreamviews.com/attaining-lucidity/141703-ldd-lucid-day-dream.html make daydreams so vivid that they are like lucid dreams https://www.dreamviews.com/general-lucid-discussion/163199-how-effectively-visualize-part-1-incubation.html  visualization to WILD, so the same again.  
I have found out about it just a week ago. I am on day 6 and already see many improvements. I currently practice as many hours a day as possible. I have already tried the OBE-WILD during REM but without success so far, my etheral body is still too weak. 

Not sure if this belongs in the Meditation or Health section, but I feel this can benefit everyone so I'll put it where most people are most active. 
A lot of westerners neglect their body, even after getting into Spirituality and Non-Duality (some even more so) so I thought I'd come up with this 30 Day Wim Hof Challenge to get people more interested in their health and self-healing. 
The method is very simple, it is 3-4 rounds of 30-40 deep full breaths, with a gap of 1-2 1/2 minutes of no breathing (go longer if you want to) after every round, usually followed up with a cold shower of 2-5 minutes, but starting at 10 seconds at the end of your normal shower. The 3rd component of the method is Stretching/ Mindfulness/ Meditation which most people here will be familiar with anyways
Firstly, anything that helps our lungs and immune systems can't be a bad thing during this Covid-19 outbreak, and secondly, Wim has helped so many people with varying issues from crippling Anxiety to Lyme disease, his courses and retreats of course go more into cold exposure and the method with Ice Baths, snow walks and runs etc. but to start with even this can help so much. 
What I'm proposing is a 30 Day Challenge of doing this EVERY morning (and night as an optional extra) and then reporting back the results either daily or weekly. 
The guided YT video has 3 rounds x 30 breaths, in his course, there are 4 rounds x  40 breaths with longer pauses, so practice whichever you prefer.
So it would be 30 Days (ideally mornings on an empty stomach he recommends) of the breathing exercise, followed up with a cold shower. Mindfulness/Meditation/Stretching can be done before or after, whenever you normally practice. 
So far, in the one week it's helped me 1) clear my sinuses 2) Boost my energy HUGLEY 3) Improve focus massively 4) The buzz afterwards is pretty cool too
So, here's the video for anyone interested
 
Couple podcasts of Wim 
 
 

Hello!
I recently found this community as part of a search for the reasons why no one seemed to see the world as I do. 
I grew up excessively Mormon, but left after I found out the religion wasn't a full description of reality. From there I went to college and studied both philosophy and psychology, especially linguistics. On day one of my intro to philosophy course, I realized I wasn't to find truth there either. Everyone argued for their beliefs so vehemently that it wasn't hard to see that no one was "right." They were simply exhibiting their own subjective point of view. 
I coined this term "belief-mongering" and saw it everywhere I went but no one talked about it. No one saw the pattern.
So I began to look for people who had already realized this and found and read more than 3,000 books on all kinds of personal development topics. I started a business and since I'm alone all day shipping in a warehouse I listen to them on 1.5x speed and get through a book a day. I've been doing this for about seven years.
I recently and joyfully discovered spiral dynamics (thanks, Leo) and realized I'm very yellow. I don't have any beliefs, just cause and effect predictions that are either maximally effective or minimally effective. I became interested in systems thinking and even wrote a book on systems before I found the spiral (yet to be published). I gave up afterlife predictions and most black and white thinking. 
My chief problem these days is that this is a very lonely way to see the world.
I recently attended a funeral for a close family member and listened with interest to all the descriptions of my family's afterlife beliefs. Some of my family talked of heaven (blue), one man who came from Samoa talked about animals taking part in the afterlife (purple), some talked only of the deceased achievements and how they hoped to achieve as much (orange), etc etc. It was dizzying and interesting! There was even a lot of red behavior from the children of the deceased, fighting with each other for "stuff."
Driving home, I talked of all the beliefs with my husband and children and how we all have different ways of looking at what happens and how that is integral to culture and upbringing. I had the sense that none of them understood what I was talking about. They could only see within the confines of their belief structures. The very LANGUAGE I was using appeared not to make sense to them. My spouse is very green and he sees things in a very kind, green way, but does not fathom yellow.
Other attempts at communicating systems thinking to people in other spiral categories have led to a profound lack of understanding and more belief mongering. This has been going on for a very long time now. Even my highly-educated, well-read friends appear to be in green in that they insist their way is "right."
I am recently struck with the sorrow of how lonely it feels to think in ways that are not in alignment with the culture. I am hitting something of a wall of dilemmas. Here they are:
- Are yellow ideals just another form of belief-centrism and should they, therefore, be hidden from the world? Should yellow communicate their point of view to others?
- How does one build a social life around a community that is only interested in belief-mongering and flaunting orange status or blue and green virtues?
- Is profound acceptance and tolerance of all belief systems enough to satisfy an evolutionary urge to connect with others given the fact that we sort according to interests and beliefs?
- If we are all system drones, and free will is non-existent, how must we live with such knowledge?
- How can one love others and progress to turquoise if one feels so separate?
- If one has a greater awareness of systems, how does one ethically use this? It feels a lot like manipulation.
- How does one feel grounded when one realizes there is no ground? Is grounding necessary? If all beliefs are suspect, then how can one progress through life with such knowledge?
- How does one live in the material world when one feels how immaterial it all is?
 
These questions are on my mind almost constantly now. It's a lot of questions but I think it boils down to the idea that how can one exist in the matrix when one begins to see the code, and others do not seem to. I am not nieve enough to think I see the whole picture yet, by any means, but it's starting to reveal itself and I am terrified.
I'm only 38 and the thought of living another 40-50 years like this seems to be a painful lot. If only I'd learned this stuff later in life.