Ima Freeman

Hello, After starting krya yoga again a week ago I have some questions about it. I guess this is the ideal place to ask 'em. So, years ago I was initiated into Sadguru's Shambhavi Mahamudra krya. At first I was hesitant to do the practice even though I wished to learn it. I lived in an shared apartment and didn't like to chant AUM because I didn't want to attract the attention of my flatmates. Besides that I had problems holding muscle contractions and doing the breath work. I switched to doing mindfulness meditation and did that daily. Because I really want to develop my consciousness, I stick to doing daily practices. But plain meditation has it's shortcomings too, so I started the krya again. What I notice from doing it, is that I have a calmer breath and am a little more relaxed afterward. At the end of the practice you hold your breath while locking your bandhas. You do that as long as comfortably possible while holding the bandhas and after releasing them you should watch your breath. Her is where I feel the most of the practice. I have some seconds of increased clarity and calm. But after these 10 or so seconds my mind slowly takes over again and I'm hardly able to watch my breath carefully. I'm skeptical about how much the practice is doing for me, because I don't really feel any different even after weeks and months of practice. Roughly 3 months of daily practice is the longest I did if I remember correctly. Maybe a little more. I do some intense heavy metal detoxification as well, which affects my consciousness state quite heavily, so it's hard to tell any subtle effects any practices have on my from the health symptoms I have. So, how do I know if krya yoga is doing something for me? How long does it normally take to see results, and how to they feel? Do you have tips for doing krya yoga more effectively? My mind is very dominat and I have difficulty concentrating. Is it any good to do krya yoga even if I'm mentally absent most of the time? And maybe some of you know Sadguru's Shamhavi Mahamudra. Did any of you have had good results? What are your experiences? Thank you in advance for your answers

@LSD-Rumi Descript It works very well, but still editing the transcript of a episode still takes a few hours.

So, this is all I've got so far. More episodes will follow.

What Is God What Is God.pdf What Is God (original).pdf

Episode series are merged into one file, like the one following.

What Is Truth What Is Truth.pdf What Is Truth (original).pdf

What Is Consciousness What Is Consciousness.pdf What Is Consciousness (original).pdf

What Is Reality What Is Reality.pdf What Is Reality (original).pdf

What Is Ego What Is Ego.pdf What Is Ego (original).pdf

I meditate daily for ~2 years now. Before I meditated consistently for months, then had pauses of some months. Tried standard mindfulness meditation, krya yoga and currently noting using labels. I know that meditation is an skill which must be cultivated for a very long time, but I see only very, very little progress. My biggest hurdle is, that I seem to have too little wakefulness, like my awareness is underpowered. My "brain-power" really is a bottleneck. I am a very restless person, so fatigue is most often not a problem. But staying at a mindful state of consciousness for more than 20-30 seconds seems impossible, except by having some mystical breakthrough experience. Noting with labels definitely is helping, because it forces part of my mind to actively look at what is happening. What other things can I do to get more wakeful? What did work for you? Thanks in advance

Thx for the detailed explanation. I made a plan to put more thought into my life, so I will definitely contemplate on the why of my meditation effort.

I may start krya yoga again. I was initiated into Sadhguru's Shambhavi Mahamudra, so I already have a basis. I'm looking forward to doing vipassana, because I'm more aware in practices when others are around.

Is it best practiced in a formal way or while in everday's activities?

Thank you all for your recommendations

@Sugarcoat Interesting I already noticed that some of my thoughts showed me unmet desires. I have a lot of deficits and unmet needs, especially in the social domain.

What practices do you use now? I'm not against ditching meditation if I find better ways. It's just meditation practices are free and can be done almost everywhere, in the flat, while traveling, etc.

But I really love to get into states of higher consciousness. I spontaneously started meditating years ago before learning about actualized.org.

I had this deterministic, non-doership thoughts lately too. Seriously, it feels like creation is doing my actions and I am just able to watch them. They are very frustrating for me. I understand that they make you feel bad, but that might only be a necessary phase. I'm not saying that it is this way ultimately, but how to disprove them, if every doing is so unfathomably rich and complex, that they can not be created by a human?

It sure can be, but from what I heard from multiple sides, it is. And also it is in my experience, since I only made very little progress so far.

So, when I would achieve a non-dual god-consciousness state, do I get blissful?

Why is it there? Types of suffering How does it work? Can one overcome it? What are the benefits of suffering ...

Are you kidding?

Stuff that helped me with constipation: Decrease pathogenic bacteria in your gut with herbs like neem or golden seal root. Epsom salt or sauerkraut juice will soften the stool or even flush out the intestines if you take enough. I heard the herb senna and the herbal preparation triphala can help to counteract constipation, if you take them periodically. To be honest, nicotine is by far the best remedy for constipation for me, but, you know, nicotine is nicotine. Because of the pain you have i would suggest being gentle in your approach. I only wrote down remedies, but not the underlying issue.

What I want to discuss here is the role of wellbeing in the pursuit of personal growth. By personal growth I mean all aspects, spirituality included. Wellbeing is a fundamental somato-emotional quality-spectrum, I would say. Body and mind (if you want to split it) have a certain function and the degree of this function is correlated with somatic and emotional qualities. More wellbeing – better function. Everybody knows this: You feel good – that means your consciousness expands, you feel secure, you are creative, you are benevolent, you are tolerant, you are simply loving. Somatic unwellness are symptoms like aches, nausea, pain, itching, etc. or illnesses which are syndroms or injuries Emotional unwellness is anger, agitation, fear, sorrow, apathy, etc. I heard this from Sadhguru: With wellbeing consciousness expands. With unwellness consciousness contracts. Things like pain, nausea, anger and fear can lead to higher consciousness, to higher intensity, somehow, but the nature of life is, that it’s fleeing form unwellnes, while it is attracted to wellbeing. If something gives you wellbeing, like drugs, music, a vacation, there is no need to put in effort. The nature of life ensures that things go in that direction. In fact you have to put in effort not to take drugs, not to eat for emotions, etc. If I’am happy everything is more effortless. Even things, I’m not inclined to do can become effortless. Drudgery, effort, austerity, fear and pain are parts of growing. The process of growing can decrease wellbeing temporarily, but it is still very important to ensure a well milieu of being to expand. It is like the fuel for growing. Without wellbeing, it seems to me, one will stagnate. Regardless of personal growth, it is the nature of being to be attracted by wellbeing. Is it possible to ommit this? What to you say about my take on wellbeing? Anything to add? Broader perspectives?

You're right. All these countries are more developed, industrially and/or intellectually.