GreenWoods

So the most difficult part is not getting the tongue into the nasal cavity but then to get it all the way up? about sushumna. I never really thought about that, I just do it the way it feels right. Perhaps I am doing it wrong but I never really visualized it. I rather tried to feel my way up. And now I slightly can feel the energy down there (from the 4th chakra on I can feel the energy much more strongly). so I just try to guide it up. I guess it would naturally go up through the sushumna as it is made to transport the prana. But I am probably just too sloppy, that's why I do it according to Gamana. Perhaps another one following Stevens can help you more

@Chumbimba Not having sexual thoughts at all does in any case make sure that you won't relapse. What would you say is the purpose of total abstinence other than that? No ejaculation is obvious. But some monks/yogis also abstain from sex,orgasm and sexual thoughts. Because of your equation : uncontrollable lust =suffering? Would you say this applies only to normal people or is a general rule? Would you say that if someone like Buddha decided to have a wife that he would suffer therefore? I guess you watch Gabe Dawg?

Love is fundamental to Reality and perhaps the most God-like trait one can express. I found 3 ways how to increase your capacity to love: 1. raise your consciousness and realize that we are all one. The techniques are obvious: Meditation, psychedelics, kriya yoga,.... 2. Open your heart chakra: Kriya/Kundalini Yoga is quite effective for this. Once you feel the prana, you can consciously bring it to your heart chakra (I prefer the heart chakra on the front but the one on the back is also fine I guess). keep focusing on the heart chakra and additionally try to feel love. 3. Samadhi with love: You can have Samadhi with all sorts of things objects, emotions... Thus you can also have Samadhi with love. Santata Gamana recently published a new book called Smadhi. Basically you just concentrate on the object till you become it (so just generate the feeling of love and remain in it). When you have samadhi with love, you on the one hand get insights about love and become love-like (Gamana mentions, that when you have samadhi with a thing, you adopt qualities of that thing). Even if you never achieve samadhi with love, you will become way more loving nevertheless because you spent so much time immersed in the feeling of love. I love this exercise, currently it's my favourite. Tip: Do 2. prior to it. with the prana in the heart chakra it will be much easier to generate the feeling of love. Of course there are other ways like selfless giving, getting into a lovely relationship or doing things you love (they however probably are not as effective) You got any additional ideas on how to increase your capacity to love?

my parents are the same. What do you think why you got those bloodshot eyes? From lifting weights?

@John West Get Gamana's book on Kundalini. I guess those are the most direct and powerful practises. Another, more indirect way, is through whole body orgasms. checkout the youtube channel sexual kung fu. gabe from the channel vegan aesthetics also had an kundalini awakening through an orgasm I believe, but his videos are long and repetitive. Mantak chia is an expert in getting whole body orgasms (and thus potentially to have mystical experiences or kundalini awakenings)

@John West Thank you

You mean with the ujjayi breathing? construct it such that it is still comfortable and you can breath smoothly. When you constrict itbso much that you struggle breathing, it's obviously too much. with experience you will fins the sweet spot. But even if you don't, I doubt that it will have that much of an impact. If you do the rest well, it shouldn't matter

your pranayama is not correct when you don't do it according to the descriptions/ explanations. But even when you follow all the instructions, you probably aren't doing them perfectly at first. So over time you approach perfection of pranayama. Breath slowly, don't daydream, feel (or imagine to feel or visualize) the prana, don't do it mechanically,.....

wow, that's impressive:) Are you now able to do full Khechari Mudra? Did you already watch that one on feeling the chakras?

@Chumbimba is right. I felt similar benefits but not as strongly, but that's because my longest streak has only been about 30 days so far. when your streak is more than 100, it will probably be insane. Feelings like anxiety or anger can occur when all the energy remains at the root chakra. You have to channel the energy through your whole body (thus you can also prevent blue balls, wet dreams and lessen urges). opening the microcosmic orbit can be helpful and kriya yoga. watch some of the videos by "sexual kung fu". That's one of the easiest way to draw the energy up. you don't have to flex your muscles though. The most important thing is to gently and repeatedly contract your anus, perinium and pc muscles and guide the energy up through the spine with your mind when you find a sex partner and still want to retain your seed you have to learn how to have orgasms without ejaculation. there is plenty of stuff on the internet if you search. And the youtube channel I mentioned is masterful at this.

To those who are able to do Khechari Mudra. Once one can touch the bottom end of the uvula with the tongue (without the help of fingers), how long does it take till one is able to stick the tongue into the nasal cavity with the help of the fingers?

I would definitely buy the first two by Gamana. He has some practises like Kriya supreme fire which aren't mentioned in Steven's and are really powerful. If I were you, I would buy Gamanas books and do his routine (which is way simpler) and add the ones you find most powerful/effective from Steven's (or thoses you intuit are worth doing). I first did Steven's, but switched quickly to Gamana's as I liked his more direct approach more. I've been doing it for half a year (about 95% of the practise according to Gamana and 5% to Steven. I do about 12 pranayamas of Stevens to have the spine breathing and then continue with Gamana's pranayama which I find more powerful). If I feel like it, I will perhaps add some more of Gamana's in the future. When you are already familiar with yoga, you can skip 95% of Gamana's books and go straight to the practises. Except the chapter about the after kriya / parvastha state, that's very important

Some additional help to achieve khechari mudra. This guy is amazing

Perhaps You can optimize your diet or sleep patterns. Exercise in general (not during the retreat) should help as well I have done only one retreat so far lasting two weeks. But I meditate for several hours daily and will do a long term retreat soon

yesterday was the first time I think I actually fell asleep while mediating... I usually do it this way: I meditate/self-inquiry/kriya-yoga as long as I am fit, once I become sleepy, I open my eyes and do self inquiry with open eyes or contemplate. You can also do a walk outside (contemplate there) or take a cold shower and continue. I suppose u don't meditate 17 hours a day, so arrange your schedule such that you do things like cooking when you are most sleepy.

@John West When you are new to yoga, I would recommend using the techniques by Santata Gamana. They are simple and powerful. Once you have practised for a while, you can add some more complicated of Steven's if you want.

Here Alan Watts mentions how to attain Samadhi through sex. You will like the video

@solr watch Leo's pre mortem video The biggest trap for me personally is, that my mind somehow tries to convince me that quitting and doing research on some enlightenment-related topic (like researching more on self inquiry) would bring me more benefits and is more effective for my spiritual growth. It tells me that it is wiser too quit. so watch out for that one And don't make any exceptions

@Pernani When first experiencing whole body orgasms many men report that they were sure that they were also about to ejaculate but didn't. you are into nofap? so you could just risk it. in case you ejaculate it doesn't count (or does it? idk) as you were not masturbating. how often does this occur? Does it bother you much? I am no expert but I could only think of that explanation: you are 30 days into pmo, so a lot of energy/prana accumulates somewhere around the root chakra. With kriya yoga you perhaps somehow "activate/stimulate" it (did you have sexual thoughts while doing yoga?). thus you beginn to feel orgasmic. When you get better at drawing the energy up, away from the root chakra, the urge to ejaculate will subside. your body will feel energetic and orgasmic. Whole body orgasms can also lead to mystical experiences. But usually pmo doesn't lead to getting orgasms while doing kriya yoga. I guess you are just very lucky, or unlucky, depends on how you see it You do Kriya pranayama 1 from Jc Steven's book? Another possiblity could be that you stop doing them for a while. Do the pranayamas by Gamana instead. (because with Steven's, you move the prana up and down (i hope I'm right, i don't do it according to Steven's book). with Gamana's, you draw it all up to the third eye, away from the root.) after some time you can switch to Steven's back if you want

When you are about to orgasm, do you think it would just be a dry orgasm or one with ejaculation?

@LambChop Perhaps you still love your ex subconsciously. And perhaps because you think you shouldn't love him anymore your love for him is subconsciously supressed, and your love for other people along with it. But that's just speculation... In case it applies, allow yourself to love your ex and then let him go (perhaps even meet him, tell him, hug him and then let him go). The "brick wall" between you and your new boyfriend could be due to an unresolved issue with your ex Contemplate why you can't feel love anymore You can also work on opening your heart chakra, but that doesn't tackle the root cause

also watch some of Sadhguru's videos on sleep, he says some interesting stuff

@Justincredible76 You seem pretty determined On psychedelics: You can be extremely lucky if there exists even one monastery allowing psychedelics use. But finding it - probably almost impossible... You will have to leave the monastery for some days and take the psychedelics somewhere else. On money: I don't know much about drop shipping but I guess it's unlikely that someone who is inexperienced manages to create passive income from it within a few weeks/months. But you could go to a monastery let's say for 3 years and then leave, work some months and then return or go to the next. During your break from the monastery you will also have the opportunity to study more theory to keep up with your practices. I am 19 and my situation is quite similar to yours:) I have known about enlightenment for one year and am almost as determined as you. I am about to do a one year retreat because I don't see how I could possibly be doing anything else. If enlightenment is by far your number one priority then your plan is perfect. Although... being full time in a monastery has also its disadvantages. If you have your own home, you can meditate when and how you like (unlike in monasteries) you don't have to do work which you may find unnessary, you don't have to study their dogmas, you can "freely" take psychedelics and you can visit your parents and friends more often, but you have to work to survive.... For now I guess it's best to go to a monastery for some years first and then you can reevaluate If your parents are like mine, then you probably have a lot of debates too?

Sadhguru also sleeps that little

@Justincredible76 With the internet, you should be able to find one. You can also try asking in other forums like travel forums. If you don't find anything you like, go straight to Asia, I would go to Thailand, Nepal or Japan. How strongly do you want this? Unless you are totally determined, you will probably quit a few months/years in. But that's fine. There are many ways you can live a life devoted to Truth other than being a full time monk. How old are you btw? And for how long have you been wanting to become a monk? Because in your age one can change one's mind quite often (I'm almost sick constantly hearing this from my dad :D) Yes, just work for a month or so then you can pay for the flight. In most monasteries you won't be allowed to do much internet chatting with your friends. Maybe they make an exception due to your age but don't expect to have internet access several times a month. I don't know but I guess for most monks it's a few times a year. But actually you don't need to give up your old life completely in order to get deeply enlightened. How do you think about psychedelics? I would recommend you this (that's also roughly my plan): Go to monastery for about a year. After that, your life will already have changed drastically. Then go home and go to university or prepare yourself on your own for a job you like. At the same time you can continue meditating for as much as you like, perhaps 5 hours. Let's say you do this till you are 24. By then you will be extremely conscious. And now, instead of staying in a monastery for decades, take psychedelics. In that way, your family and your friends will be extremely happy, as you can still spend time with them and are still somewhat in normal life. And you too will benefit, as taking psychedelics plus 5 hours daily meditation will propel you forwards way more quickly than 15 hours daily meditation in a monastery. At the same time you can work in conscious job and once you feel ready you can become a guru if you still want. If your parents are already shocked by your wanting to become a monk, don't take psychedelics also or they will turn crazy. The long retreat in the monastery will already drastically advance you. Psycheselics won't run away, better start to take them in your twenties