Joscha

@Leo Gura I see. Good point, I probably just went too far back then. @Nahm What is a solid foundation? How do I recognise that I am there?

@acidgoofy nice how you remember that! I also tried talking to friends about this, but it is somewhat difficult because they don’t have much experience. Also I feel like most people don’t understand why I would still have positive associations with LSD despite everything and even would want to take it again. I also have this fear that it won’t matter even if I would take 10ug. That my mind has locked inside this association with terrible fear that it needs to escape, which it thinks it can only do by killing itself. I know this doesn’t really make sense, it’s just this irrational fear that I have that I easily get into this state, no matter how much I take. Have you been able to up the dosage since your bad experience?

@Leo Gura Hmm yea I guess you’re right. Nothing can be done without risk. I was just hoping there were ways to reduce the risk dramatically. To an extent that you are pretty sure you won’t physically die from it, or hurt anyone. Maybe that’s a pipe dream.

I've dipped my toes into many spiritual practices and I kind of want to do everything. But I also feel maybe slightly overwhelmed and I have to study as well so time is limited. I also don't want to "burn" myself out. The practices I do/would like to do are: - Vipassana meditation - The work (by Byron Katie) - Kriya Yoga - Self enquiry I also trip on either LSD or magic truffles regularly. I've consistently done "The Work" for many months now and its one of my favourite practices. I resolved many emotional blockages with it, so I will definitely continue with that. Meditation I have been doing on and off but more consistently the last months. The other two I've just now been doing a few times. I've had many temporary awakenings on my trips and feel more motivated than ever to awaken more in a sober state. And I've been speculating on how easy it is to really awaken on only meditation. Is it better to use multiple techniques and broaden the range of practices, or to go deep with just a few? And if I were to choose just a few, is there a specific combination that would be preferable? Or does it all depend on personal preference? I'm afraid to miss out on specific benefits if I leave one out , like enlightening the body with Kriya for example. Maybe you could share your perspective. Thanks for any help and have a nice Sunday!

@Chumbimba Nice to know I'm not the only one with this problem! You are right, there are so many practices, so difficult to choose. Good luck to you too. @fridjonk You're right, it probably will take some time, but that is actually good. Do u know why Kriya Yoga in particular is so effective? I've done it and its so different from everything else I've done before. But I do believe it's powerful. @Leo Gura I didn't think of that, switching them up throughout the year to keep from burning out. Thanks for your advice! I think I will do all or most of these but not all at the same time. Listen to my intuition and what I need right now. Lol I'm so happy this forum exists.

Use the work. Think of a situation where you felt triggered by someone. Write down your beliefs and judgements about them. For example: He is unconscious People should be more conscious etc. Then ask 4 questions: Is that true? Can I absolutely know its true? How do I react to this thought? Who am I without this thought? Give yourself time for every question and answer the first 2 only with yes or no. Then turn the thought around, aka: He is unconscious -> I am unconscious (find reasons for why this might be true) People should be more conscious -> I should be more conscious. This is a meditation called "The Work" by Byron Katie. It helps you get in touch with reality. "Unconscious" is a projection of you, in reality there is no such thing. Do this process with all your judgments. Read "Loving what is" if u want to know more.

@Aaron p Thanks! I'll incorporate it

Im planning my first meditation retreat. I only have from Wednesday till Sunday next week, and I don't have the money to go anywhere fancy - thus the idea to do it at home. The plan was to do mostly mindfulness vipassana meditation, some concentration practices, shamanic breathing and kriya Yoga. Is mixing it up a good idea or would u rather stick to just one technique? I also intend to take some mushrooms tuesday evening, so I have time to integrate any experiences. The reason I wanted to use different practices is that I was afraid I was gonne get so bored with regular meditation that I would quit.. On good days an hour of meditation works fine. I've been meditating for years very inconsistenly, and very consistenly now for a few months. Mostly 20 mins up to 1 hour depending on the mood. On bad days I tend to lose my focus towards the end of the meditation. What do u guys do when that happens, particularly on a retreat? Just push through? Take a break? What would "taking a break" even look like on a meditation retreat.. I would appreciate some tips and tricks if u guys have time

I don't know much about the occult but I am interested and want to learn some stuff about it. I was wondering if any of you have some books on cultivating clairvoyant and psychic abilities (for beginners). Or good occult books in this direction anyway.I've already heard of The keys of Perception by Ivo dominguez but I thought maybe there are some more good sources.

I have been doing meditation on and off for a while but decided I wanted to delve deeper into it. So I got "mastering the core teachings of the buddha" by Daniel Ingram. He emphasizes a technique called noting in which you mentally note arising sensations. Multiple per second. He says every in breath we note "rising", every out breath "falling" and everything in between we note as fast as possible. He also gave an analogy about shooting aliens (which can be any sensation/object in awarness I guess) like in a videogame, but shooting them means noting them. It was very stressful when I tried it. I thought meditation is peaceful, which is why it confused me. Maybe this is the difference between concentration meditation and investigation meditation? I wanted a technique to work on awakening. He says awakening is basically getting insights into these three areas: impermanence, suffering, no ego. Do you know any techniques which achieve this effectively? There are multiple techniques I know but I don't know now what specifically they are for. For example: - Observing awarness itself - Being aware of the sensation of self wherever it is (for me in the back of my head) for a long time (is this basically self enquiry?) - Nothingness technique from Leo (I think) - Bringing awarness back to breath after thoughts arise technique. And of course just simple concentration techniques, which I like most because they are so simple. I'm just really confused right now. I really kind of hate the noting technique. (is it the same as "labeling", just a different name?) but maybe Im doing it wrong. What are the techniques I listed for and can they be used for enlightnening? Are there any others you could share?

I just watched Leo's video on how to shop for healthy food. I want to follow an almost vegan diet, so at least no meat of any kind. He say's no wheat and no soy which concerns me because I get most of my calories and protein from that. Protein powder is appareantly also off the table. What options are there for calories besides quinoa and rice? Is couscous okay? I would love to follow Leo's instructions I'm just not sure if it really works if you don't eat any meat or eggs. Especially if you're trying to add a little mucle I don't know if it would work without soy or protein powder. Any experiences and suggestions?

Note: I wrote this post in an emotional state. I don't really know if this is the right place for that. But if you got nothing else to do you may as well read it. Why is life difficult? Sometimes I feel so tired of it and wonder why it even is like that. Is there a way to make it not difficult? Even when I have hope to one day come to a place where life flows and is beautiful, I dread the path that leads there is full of difficulty. And thats the way it seems to be. Its just always such a struggle. I am tired of it. I want to let go. But if I do I will just lie around and then after some time I will probably get even more depressed. If we are all god I don't know why theres so much struggle in becoming happy. I want to flip a switch and make life nice but it doesn't work that way does it. Its a cruel joke. Every step I take towards a better life is a drag and makes me wonder if its really worth pursuing it. It just doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good to live. I know that it could be better but just the thought of all the stuff I have to do to make it so paralyzes me. I want to be happy now, not in the future. It feels like everytime I try to make life better it just gets worse. Why does feeling bad lead to feeling good? Pursue suffering to feel better. Meditation is painful, exercise is painful, reading is painful, socializing is painful, discipline is painful. All painful things lead to happiness. And all things that aren't painful ultimately also lead to pain. It all leads to pain. I am so tired of this concept. I feel like a guy who has to carry a large rock on top of a mountain in order to be happy. But why can't he just be happy down there? Why all the carrying stuff. The sad thing is I've been in this place of mind so many times in my life and I know exactly whats going to happen. I will keep being depressed until it gets a little bit better, maybe try some new technique or something. I will push through the struggle. But then soon enough I will be tired again. And wonder why I am really doing all of this. And then maybe if I am depressed enough again I will search for a quick fix because I am hopeless. And I will look for answers like right now. And maybe find something remotely helpful. And so the cycle begins again. I know all the techniques. I know suffering is in the mind. I know the self is an illusion. I know meditation and the work and all these fancy things. But my psychology keeps me stuck. The happiness never lasts. Nothing you will tell me can help me. I am stuck. I am afraid one day I won't have enough energy to start the cycle again and just stop. Stop everything. I just don´t want life to be difficult. I don't care if its petty. I just don't want to suffer. I want it to stop. Everytime I try again I have a little less hope. M hope is running out.

@Nahm I'm not sure I understand or how I could implement that

@crab12 Your post speaks to me a lot. Thank you for your answer. How you described the cycle is the exact pattern my life follows. I'm having a hard time accepting the thing about effort, but at the same time I can intuit that you are probably right... There's a part of me that wants to rebel against this, that doesn't want to accept that life is resistance. I don't know if I really can follow a path of most resistance, but I can certainly try. I don't understand why loa teachings always seem to preach the reversal, but I guess I don't really understand the law of attraction anyways. With techniques I also meant more "high consciousness" stuff like meditation. But I guess the problem is that it always comes from a place of trying to avoid pain. (maybe loa does make sense if I look at it that way!). I really really wish I could implement this wisdom and do the things that are emotionally difficult but something in me is also extremely afraid of doing so. I also kind of tried it before after watching Leo's video on it but I guess I never really surrendered to the idea in the first place. I have to get it into my head that emotional effort is not unpleasant. I don't know why I'm so senstitive to it but I keep projecting it into the future and it scares me a lot. I have a hunch of what I want in my life, but its also not clear. And also there are multiple things I want.. So I guess working on the vision would be good. @MuddyBoots Thank you, you're very sweet. Yes the basics are fine I guess. I am studying abroad so it gets a little lonely, but I do have friends here. I have been studying for a week now and I hope the stress won't degrade my mental health too much. I don't know if I can make volunteering work because I am already very busy with studying right now and I tend to get overwhelmed easily. But I do love the idea, maybe I can implement focusing on others in some way.. About therapy I don't speak dutch and live in the netherlands so I don't know if that works but if it gets a lot worse I will look into it. I don't know if I have depression, my baseline happiness is rather low I'd say and in between I get into very bad emotional states (like yesterday). Sometimes I'm afraid of my emotions because they can get so intense. Whatever the case, thanks guys I think sharing in itself already helped a lot.

@Dwarniel Wow nice to know! I was always a little careful with them because of the digestive issues but I guess if it works for you it might for me too. I'll try it out (maybe not as hardcore though haha)

@effy01 Honestly I haven't gotten into it yet.. Something about immune diseases and that our body doesn't know how to properly "handle" it. I just wanna leave it out for a while and see if what Leo says is true (better energy etc.) But tbh most wheat products are empty calories (and many have sugar in it) so it does make sense to me.

@Dwarniel Oh right I kinda forget about legumes for protein.. Sometimes it gets a little bad digestive wise but I guess they're a good alternative. I heard though that when you get used to it you can digest them better but idk. Thanks for pointing out the environmental problems with soy, that is problematic indeed. @Waves I'll look into the soy thingy and thanks for the other tipps. I thought potatoes are also kind of bad but I guess more so because people make them unhealthy. (as in making fries etc.) Dang it! I love couscous, maybe I'll make an execption once in a while..

This forum is a gold mine!

@Girzo @Brenzo2 Thanks! I'll look into it then I think.

Can you take this psychedelic as an absolute beginner? If you dose it low I mean. Its legal in my country. I am tempted. Is there any substance you can take if you get a bad trip with DPT? I've heard there is stuff you can take to minimize experienced fear or something.