Vaishnavi

upvoting this. PLEASE everyone, read this book.

My top 3 <3

What image pops in your mind when you hear the word "Shaman"? (Much appreciated answers, really. Need them. Thanks in advance!)

A few things to consider if you haven’t already- What do you mean when you say “drop out of society”? You can never isolate yourself completely unless you’re in the Himalayas or some remote island of that sort. Its a noble goal. Thus learn to keep the boundaries of involvement with society VERY clear. Become SPECIFIC. Specific ways in which you “drop out of society”. Is celibacy your plan? What would your day look like? What kind of a diet? Vegetarian, vegan, raw Vegan? What would be your guiding values? And you say you’d do “mantras throughout the day”. Does that mean you’ll be doing your mantras even when you’re involved in some kind of an activity? How would you manage that? If not then how would you plan your day to maximise your practice? Have you considered these questions? Written them down for yourself? Have a strategy? And do you plan to do all these at once? Start with them all together?

Valuable question, even more valuable answers in here! Here's my take There is no way to be mindful throughout the day except for being mindful throughout the day. It sounds so ludicrously simple but it is so! Someone on this forum once posted, the demons (ignorance, need for distractions) are too big to fight. You cannot win against them wi†h rumbling, wining, wishing, so be mindful whenever you catch yourself not doing so! That is as simple as it can get. However since it can get a difficult to keep up with that, here are a few strategies: You can set triggers in your day time, say every time you enter your room it's a trigger to bring in mindfulness to the moment. Similarly specific activities can be used as opportunities to practice mindfulness, say lunch time/shower is when you specifically practice mindfulness (something you do everyday) (With both these activities, the more you practice the more automatic they become) A less desirable though effective strategy- Cellphone reminders with rituals, say every 2 hours the reminder goes off on phone and for the next 5 mins you practice complete mindfulness meditation, no matter where you are (can make you addictive to your phone though, you'll always need it) (A personal practice of mine if you enjoy music) complete mindfulness while listening to it. It's effective cause music is one instrument which is a result of multiple elements dynamically interacting; the artist and his voice, the lyrics, the musical instruments, the background music, the tonality, pitch, mood, feel, its a complete orchestra in itself! all being independent and interdependent at the same time. you can try being aware of any one single element of the whole of music (say you focus just on the voice or just the instruments) blurring everything out (would bring in ton of surprises and moments of awe as you'll start to become aware of the same music you've been listening for so long, like unconscious elements coming to light! or you can be aware of the whole symphony and see how everything is balancing itself out, being really aware of how one element is compensating for the other (a little complicated but again a lot of fun) You can try this even with cinema and conversations, observing how the emotions rise and feel in your body.

Hey there! Tbh, the world can use folks like yourself who believe that they can make an impact, and expanding the western belief model of Yoga would be great! though you'd have much competition I feel given it's the trend, but something that precisely people need. Things you can start with- Making a website of your own for real low value, Wix can help you with that! It gives a professional look to your work you can add blog/picture sections sharing your philosophy and why people should really consider you starting an Instagram page to connect with people can work given there is a HUGE audience there. You need to learn to promote your work though there is Udemy in case you want to create online courses (but its's a lot of investment and not worth it really) workshops, seminars, YouTube, instagram stories, all those can work (you can even go for free workshops for starters) A niche! specialising in something and being a master at it having something unique to offer because a lot of Yoga teachers are already in town, but honestly you don't have to think about it. Just find your USP if you can oh and the fact that you mentioned a Yoga "School" gives me great happiness. Keep that as your long term big dream, something to fuel you and something you diligently work everyday bit by bit. Sending Luck!

Long Time Coming

i second this

*love* *love* *love*

Growing up One thing that I know as I continue to evolve and change, and especially as I actualise my seemingly "grand work”, is that, it will make me more human. I am, have been, limited in my experiences for 20 years. Dissociated and lost most of my life, I’ve never have had “experiences”. Going out and "doing something on my own", "venturing on an adventure”, meeting and “talking to people”, creating something, DATING! … its already bringing in a new array of feelings and emotions, and it will, I can see, morph me into a completely different person. To make sure it is for the better is my job.

Its interesting to me how I can continue to do really stupid things and still maintain the illusion of being a conscious enlightened person. And by stupid I mean clearly lacking rationale or logic and not stupid as an insult. All this while, I thought if I could just somehow distract myself enough by doing “important things”, I’d forget about my need to socialise, that I’ll no more need people or companionship or intimacy. Yea I’ll socialise some day, but not today, "I got imp things to do for now”. It was really stupid, and it still is to think that way. Yes I do enjoy my own company and people can be exhausting and overwhelming for me, but that is no reason for discounting my basic needs for intimacy and connection and exchanging laughter and book ideas. Giving this need a recognition and deciding to no more repress it, well, its like a burden lifting up. It feels as if all this while this repression was exhausting me, was draining me, like it was effort, and it was! It really was. (Phew.. I gotta stop being so conscious about what I write here and seeing if the grammar is alright) . . (There you're doing it again)

Hey Amy! Leo's LP course in my case helped me with finding bits and pieces which came together over time to provide me with a bigger and clearer picture of my vision. The exercises mainly helped me with exploring my own interests and ideas and how to's and what if's. There's work on your part and the course is not perfect but it does help you with extracting answers from your own psyche by hitting the questions from multiple perspective. I took the course about 2 years ago? but i still revisit it from time to time. Its not a one time i've seen it all, finished it all course. the exercises and the concepts, you need to keep coming back to them, sometimes to specific topics where you're stuck. As long as there is effort and sincerity on your part, the course will help.

The Joy that missing my meditation session brought! I used to worry so much about developing a proper meditation habit, fretting over consistency and how everything has to be perfect. It has been 2 years now and I still struggle with consistency and perfection, and I still worry about it, i've had results, things changed for me but i would still fret over it not being so perfect. But something happened today which gives me hope that its not all that bad after all. So i missed my meditation for the last 5 days consistently for I am starting with this new habit and "I wanted to completely devote myself to it". Duh what an excuse. I ended up having a headache for whatever reasons I did, unplugged from everything and sat by myself, and I realised how much I actually miss my meditation session. MISS! Like you miss a person :') Missing my sessions made me realise that I have in fact developed a taste and a liking for it. A sense of relief and joy washed over me. I meditated, of course, and now i'm writing this cause this is happy news, and I had to share it =)

A simple yet significant re contextualisation example: In family therapy Here’s the gist: Imagine two dysfunctional folks coming together for marriage and eventually producing a baby. Since the marriage is dysfunctional, the parents are dysfunctional, the child ends up being dysfunctional, pretty obvious. In family therapy, the patient which is brought in with all these emotional and mental issues is actually seen as a symptom carrier of the dysfunctional family. Take this (and I’m borrowing this from this must read called Bradshaw on Family) Emile is an alcoholic and appears to live in fantasy. She is labelled “unstable” and “sick”. However, seeing things in a larger context changes our perception. We see her interaction with her mother and brother as crucial to keeping the family together. She is no longer the sick, unstable maladaptive daydreamer/alcoholic but instead is seen as a person necessary for keeping the family balanced. The tension b/w the son, Tom, and the mother Amanda are only tempered and kept in check by Emile. When the voltage of these tension gets too high, Emile steps in and gets tom and Amanda to focus on her instead. This distracts them and lowers the voltage. Thus Emile performs a crucial role and Keeps the family together The family system functions precisely cause of Emile’s intervention and not in spite of it. One could even call her the caretaker of the family. ------- One might get the impression that this is irrational but for someone who has been studying family systems for some time now, I can assure you that this is in fact a very real possibility. I’ve observed the intimacy gap being filled in marriages by kids who get into say drugs or fights. A personal example involves my parents getting close by remunerating n stressing over my brother’s school performances and behaviour. so the dysfunction actually serves a purpose. Also in family system the role of the trouble maker or the lost child or the scapegoat serve various well defined needs of the system The point being seeing things in a larger context and how they serve a function changes the perception.

it makes sense. i've always had this feeling of things not being real and me missing out on something right in front of me, like being blindfolded but i can still sense that something's there. Changes in perception and not being able to process things (which i'm going through) obviously threatens your foundation of knowing and reality so yea like you said, almost envisioning reality to be in some way when its not and now you're starting to see through that, make sense. Thanks for wording it well, its comforting. @Wisebaxter @Nahm sometimes you need that encouragement even if you don't consciously acknowledge it so thanks! i don't mind them really, its just a new experience, something I'm not used to the reason why it got a bit freaky. The mystical, the MAGICAL! the unknown and all the possibilities that reality holds has always fascinated me and yes, these changes in perceptions and states have their perks, i'm starting to explore them

Just to give you a little background, I.. have been going through a kind of an emotional detox lately, its been long actually. Digging in the past, uncovering traumatic (otherwise considered normal) events, learning more about myself and my not knowing, crying my guts out and giving expression to pent up rage and resentment, trying to meditate and bringing awareness to my dissociation, yes things have been heavy. But as the “detox” continues, I also am more in touch with my genuine needs, practising healthier expression and being more accepting of all that’s me. Except, lately I’ve also been.. tripping, but on my own, which is a bit freaky. Would I really call it tripping? Probably no cause its not intense and I with effort can distract myself from the experience. I've never been on psychedelics or even alcohol. Have always been a highly sensitive child though and experience heavy dissociation. Pareidolia (seeing faces in ordinary objects or literally anywhere) has always been intense for me, and lately has gone all the more pompous and overwhelming; a curtain, a cloud, effing grass! you name it. There is enhanced pattern recognition, I mean its difficult to look at my sofa set (with geometrical designs on) or the home tiles straight for more than a minute for then I’m experiencing flowing and melting, but more pronounced is the visual of breathing, like a heart pumping. My sofa set literally goes like this wall- https://vimeo.com/21240204 I’m just curious. Anyone else ever had a similar experience?

Ok so I came across some interesting work by Mark Passio (http://www.whatonearthishappening.com/bio) which I found quite insightful. He basically talks about "natural law" and other related concepts. Since the video (seminar) is more like a 9 hour session I'll just give you an overview of it so that you know what it is about but I highly encourage you to look into it yourself since this is only an overview. So he starts by saying that there are REQUIREMENTS for everything we desire (love, happiness, peace etc..) in a sense there's a cost attached to everything and therefore educating oneself about these costs is important (obviously). This education or knowledge is what he calls as occult knowledge. (hidden knowledge). This occult knowledge can be divided into two parts: Knowledge of human consciousness (that of human psyche) Knowledge of natural law (that of already existing laws which "govern the consequences of human behaviour") This natural law is given names like consequentialism, karma, moral law etc. This knowledge is "hidden" in order to create and maintain the hierarchy of power. Next he differentiates between Nescience and Ignorance Nescience: To not know cause knowledge was absent or unattainable Ignorance: is to not know despite the presence of the information since either its wilfully ignored or disregarded. Our society is Ignorant. We're "asleep" and "hypnotised" (hypnosis: suppression of knowledge) Steps to Problem solving: Recognising that there is a problem: Dealing with fear based denial. (Heart-mind-gut i.e. care enough- to know- and put in action) Treating the cause rather than the symptom by way of knowledge which requires effort and time Action Coming to truth, its objective and indifferent. It's not based on perceptions. Consciousness is simply one's ability to recognise patterns and meanings with respect to reality, meaning you have an accurate understanding of that which is taking place within and around you. The higher the consciousness, the more accurate is the perception and vice versa. Perception is the filter we use to see reality. Next he talks about Solipsism. And then moves to the word "definition" explaining the etymology of it. This is one thing I personally liked about his teaching style, that he break words down and give comprehensive definitions and etymology of it at every stage. (coming to natural law) Natural Law: Law/existing condition that is binding and immutable (cannot be changed) which governs human behaviour. Laws that are inherent; have a base in reality/nature/truth; not made/caused by humankind. Also called "spiritual law" which also manifests itself in the physical domain. Also these laws don't care if you're ignorant/nescient. They are immutable and binding. Next he talks about Discovery vs belief; the word "absolute" quoting that "Humanity's greatest fear is that the truth is absolute" Coming to Consciousness, It has 3 expressions- Thoughts: creative force which is the expression of consciousness within the individual (mind component) Emotions: The feminine aspect- internal expression Actions: The masculine aspect- interacts with the physical world. A marriage between your thoughts and emotions give rise to action. Brain structure and behaviour The triune brain model: http://www.whatonearthishappening.com/part-1-the-solution/65-the-triune-brain (worth reading: about left/right brain dominance and the problems it leads to) Mental Schism Left brain dominance leads to: Rigid scepticism, scientism, atheism, solipsism, authoritarianism etc. Right brain dominance leads to: Naiveté, blind belief, religious extremism etc. He also talks about worldview schism for being either too masculine or too feminine. How our reality is built Knowledge: Available info which may be gathered, processed, understood and acted upon Decision making: Understanding- which depends upon the available info Wisdom: Human behaviour- knowledge and understanding that has been "Applied". Wisdom=action Generated result: Manifested reality PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL LAWS (this is the core of his work) Principle of mentalism: states that everything in creation is a manifestation of mind i.e. everything that exists physically has to have a mental creation in the beginning. Thoughts leads to this manifestation. Therefore be responsible for everything you create by being responsible for everything you think. Changing reality requires changing thoughts. Principle of correspondence: That which is above is similar to that which is below. The macrocosm (the very large; totality) and the microcosm (very small; individual units that comprise the whole) are mere reflections of each other. The universe is like an individual and the individual is like the universe so the knowledge of the working of the individual will lead to the understanding of the macrocosmic laws and vice versa. (Movie suggestion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0) So the universe is holographic (whole contained in parts and vice versa) and also self similar. Principle of vibration: states that nothing called "rest" or "dead motion" exists. Death in a sense is an illusion since that would be cessation of all motion and energy. Nothing rests. Everything moves at the fundamental level, everything at its core comprises of pure vibratory energy manifesting itself in different forms. Principle of polarity: States that everything has a dual nature to it, everything has poles, its pair of opposites. These opposites are identical in nature but different in degrees. Eg. Hot and cold are seen as opposites but they can be seen as absence and presence of heat energy (cold and hot resp.) Presence changes our perspective but at the core they're the same. Another eg. might be yin-yang Principle of rhythm: Everything flows, out and in. Everything has its tide. All things rise and fall. The "pendulum swing" manifests itself in everything. Eg- the stronger the tide, more the effort to row the boat Principle of cause and effect: Every cause has an effect and vice versa. There is however a time gap between the cause and the effect. Humanity as a whole remains ignorant of the underlying causes which leads to self inflicted suffering. (this is in much depth in the video) Principle of gender: Everything has a masculine and a feminine aspect to it be it mental world, or phy or spiritual. Eg. Mental Gender: co existence b/w masculine (left brain) aspect and the feminine (right brain) aspects of the mind. Principle of Care: (Generative principle): what are you giving your attention to/focusing upon. Care: what matters to you; different from compassion or love. That which you put your time in. (Heart-mind-gut i.e. care enough- to know- and put in action) Spiritual currencies: Time and attention. What you "spend" your time in and what you "pay" attention to. Expressions of natural law. This part I believe is very important whereby he mentions how these natural laws actually express themselves. Its given in a chart form and therefore I'll just attach the pictures of my notes. There's a positive and a negative manifestation which leads to the next expression of it. This I found (regardless of the natural law) can be applied to one's own personal development. Also the stages cannot be skipped and are unilateral. I couldn't keep up with his 3rd video since he went into Anarchy and government and mind control. I understand a bit of it but it didn't interest me much. He also talks about "right and wrong", morality and the skills needed to bring change (marketing and promotion; organisational skills; courage and persistence etc.) Please keep in mind that this is just an overview, a summary of an extended 9 hour seminar. I personally gained a lot from his content, but again there were places I couldn't agree to and that is ok. Also avoid skipping the instructions he provide in the beginning of his 1st video. His teaching style might come across as rigid and opinionated, just try balancing between skepticism and being open minded. The seminar's divided in 3 parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASUHN3gNxWo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57UBuxnicOA&t=6330s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=204aGDVa3Vw Also I have attached the notes related to Expression of natural laws. Would love to hear your opinion on this.

Sufi Teaching Story You think that because you understand "one" that you must therefore understand "two" because one and one makes two. But you forget that you must also understand "and"

Gabor Maté talks from experience and his own suffering. I'd highly recommend his work to anyone looking to learn deep about human functioning and especially addictions. This 18 min video is a great starter.

Grieving the Loss of Self If my mother dies tomorrow, people will come to my rescue, and in a very genuine sense they will feel sorry for me. They'll be by my side, they won't lecture me, they'll just let me grieve. Why is it then when a part which belongs to me, which makes me me, is lost (read murdered), that I have to grieve alone? The loss of vitality and joy, of anger and resentment cause it poses a threat to my parents, the loss of expression and touch, the loss of the authentic self. And funny but i consider myself fortunate to even be in the position of being able to grieve the loss of self, because observation says that most of us fail at the acknowledgement stage alone, let alone accept and grieve. It speaks volume about the society that we are. The death of my mother will be grieved because the value of the relationship I share with her is recognised, and so the sympathy. What a sick society we've created which fails to acknowledge the most basic relationships of all, the one with self.

was listening to the podcast when i accidentally saw this background cover. Thought it's an eye. oops!

the link to the full podcast- https://www.russellbrand.com/podcast/053-dr-gabor-mate-damaged-leaders-rule-addicted-world/ they talk about mainly addiction, childhood trauma and even ayahuasca. Worth your time I promise.

as far as i've seen, the only meaning any caring has is for you. The realisation can be depressing and at the same time liberating for you can consciously choose to give that meaning of care to anything you like.

a situation like that can have tons of reasons IMO. Your situation can be just hormonal and due to lack of needed supplements (as it turned out in my case. I was suicidal, partly cause of lack of b12, trust me) n you wouldn't know; or it can be another existential crisis (or the first serious one), can be the dawning of nihilism; can be your repressions and unconscious speaking up, trying to get your attention; can be your emotions just messing around or a serious dawning of the deep seated inauthenticity and cluelessness (because of how illusory self is), about which I have little knowledge. You'll be getting a lot of advise on the last part which might be your possible cause BUT, I'd suggest you also look into the other possible reasons, like your unmet needs (these exist for everyone to some extent), basic body supplements and nutrients, basic body movement. Trust me emotions can turn anything, especially repressions into "I don't know why this is, I feel confused not sure why but I do."

Loneliness I don't want to deny my loneliness even if I want to, for, its there. Loneliness is interesting. A lot of my loneliness is cause of me forcing myself to live up to the ideal of not needing someone. But the needs for mirroring and acceptance are real. Maybe only by having these needs met that you can really transcend them. As a child, or just as a person of any age for that matter, you're (funny) never accepted for just who you are. I mean yes you can be a and b and x and z but all of it within a domain, like you can choose but only from within what's acceptable. There are parts of you that are not somehow "right" and aren't even acknowledged, let alone accepted. When society does that, i don't think it matters really. But when your significant others do that, well, I think it hurts then. My mum would say me things and I would tear up like a baby (for which I was shamed since strong emotions were always condemned in my family). She would tell me that if I cannot handle it coming from her, how would I handle it if it comes from someone strange? My mom could never understand that it was because it was coming from her that it was so hurtful. Being in a fantasy bond with my parents (more on that later) and repressing my needs for undifferentiated acceptance and care deepened my loneliness but in a mysterious way. In a way that I could not recognise it, in a way I couldn't even name it, in a way I was somewhere ashamed of it.