Daniel123

Sounds fun, please share if you go through with it!

Recently, I have been very stressed due to work and personal projects, feeling very averse to working and still riled up after a weekend of mostly relaxing. I remembered Andrew Huberman talking about Yoga Nidra for relaxation, but I haven't done it in a long time. I did a short 10min Yoga Nidra session and it's crazy how fast and effectively it brought my stress levels down and energy levels up, like it targets the whole nervous system and creates deep relaxation. If you are stressed out or fatigued, give it a try.

@OBEler I actually never experienced any discomfort or loss of consciousness during shambavi mahamudra. It was another technique that involved deep in- and outbreaths that was not part of the Inner Engineering program. But it was mostly my fault for sitting on the bed instead of the floor with my back not supported.

Same thing happened to me, also doing a Sadhguru breathing practice sitting on my bed. Next thing I know I wake up on my floor with my neck hurting as I had gone unconscious and fallen backwards onto it. Stay safe.

That is a good example, it's interesting how the same activity can lead to pleasure or well-being depending on your motivations and overall approach. I think it's good to go through such transitions from well-being to pleasure and back, it makes the differences more clear.

Well-being often requires discipline, effort, planning, time - pleasure is more easily accessible. You can more easily partake in pleasurable activities with others, like playing games. Actions leading to well-being are an acquired taste and often require solitude, so it can not as easily be shared or communicated. Pleasure is mentally exhausting, well-being is mentally vitalizing.

I am working a full-time job at the moment, but am developing a skill mostly unrelated to my current job, as I am planning to maybe switch careers in the future. The development of the skill takes up a lot of time and effort and I mostly use weekends and after-work free time to work on it. Now I am noticing that my spiritual development and practice has taken quite a backseat, as there is less time to dedicate to it. I am having a hard time balancing these aspects of my life out, because I feel I lose the momentum when I dedicate less mental and time resources to it. So I am wondering, what is your approach to find the right balance for a well-rounded development?

I feel the exhausted for a few days after taking LSD, probably from the mind being so active and creative for hours. And I get acid reflux during the trip. But other than that, it feels much better for the body thanfother drugs.

I feel your pain and have been in the same position before (as many others surely have as well). The constant thoughts about your former partner haunting you, diminishing your appetite and sleep. In the end, regular contact will only lengthen the duration of your suffering, creating a false hope for a reunion while at the same time closing yourself off from future more loving relationships. It really puts you in a spot where you can't win. At least that is my experience. So give yourself time to grief, but as far as regular contact goes,

I recently stumbled upon a seemingly legal DMT-derivative called NB-DMT and I am curious, does anyone have some experience with this compound?

I think there is much to learn during prolonged silence and meditation does not have to be contrary to curiosity. For me it's about being maximally curious about exploring, actually. Just not about exploring thoughts and concepts, but rather dimensions and aspects of consciousness itself. But - at least for me - a simple 20-30min meditation is usually not enough to get to a state that is conducive to deep exploration. That's why longer sessions and retreats are helpful in that regard. But I think, both exploring thoughts / concepts and silence have their place and value.

A formal meditation practice makes me much calmer and more receptive to the wonders and magic of life. I notice almost immediately when I let my daily meditation habit slip, my ego comes to the foreground and I become entangled in drama and thoughts more easily, distracting from the beauty that surrounds me. It gets a lot harder to be conscious and present when interacting with the world. I find there are times in my life when I am drawn deeply into silence and long formal meditations and then other times when I am more drawn into expressing my cultivated love outwardly in different domains.

The man who can talk backwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNfzGuOSPTE

Usually we are so focused on perceptions in front of us that when we deliberately focus our awareness towards the back, it feels empty. I often do this during the day, it's an easy and quick way to get in touch with awareness and shift out of the small sense of self.

Yes, Leo's videos really are one of a kind, I'm glad I discovered them a few years back

I always thought of formed objects like accumulations of memory. Shape, size, past experiences... This would make the human body and mind a kind of storage / memory device for the Mind of God and get wiped clean when they perish. On a past LSD trip I wondered, what if You experience something, but you are not there to record it, would this be possible? What causes something to be saved into memory?

Fantastic, thanks for posting! This really resonated with me.

Thank you both for your input! I will probably keep experimenting a while at the lower dosages until I get more of a feel for it and as long as I feel I get some value from it. Thanks for posting this video, I remember watching it a while back but it should be a worthwhile rewatch!

I need some advice on how to approach dosing psychedelics. Having done a handful of LSD-trips now and trying different doses (70ug to start out, 150ug twice and 200ug last time) I noticed that I actually liked the lower doses more. They felt like I was becoming more conscious and was able to shift my focus on noticing consciousness more. I also was able to get some emotional release on the lower doses, but not so much on the higher one. The 200ug dose felt more like I wasn't quite "there" and my mind was racing with creative thoughts. I just wanted to explore the visuals and thoughts and didn't feel like meditating much like on the lower doses. I know four trips are not much to draw conclusions, as I know each trip is unique even when the dose is equal, but I am still curious: Is there a point in higher dosages? Do they reveal different things for you? How do you decide which dose to use for your trip?

Unfortunately not on youtube, but on audible: Shift into Freedom by Loch Kelly One of my favourite practical books on nonduality so far

I found this very interesting. The way it detects subtle emotional undertones in the voice and reacts accordingly has a lot of potential I think.

My favourite book probably is Shift Into Freedom by Loch Kelly. It's got a lot of practical advice and exercises and I always listen to it when I fall out of my meditation habit to get back to it.

150ug 1T-LSD (formerly mislabeled as 1D-LSD) Today's trip was extremely emotional for me and a significant experience. Before taking the 1T-LSD today, I decided to go swimming and then walk home. Arriving home, I already noticed that this trip was going to be very body-heavy and less head-heavy. I was somewhat exhausted from swimming, which certainly influenced the trip. First, I meditated in my darkened bedroom as I was coming up, and when I felt the peak approaching, I lay down in my bed. Every touch was full of love, and I constantly pulled more blankets and pillows towards me, squeezing them tightly to revel in this love-filled feeling. I tried to stretch my arms and legs as far as possible to embrace as much of my surroundings as I could and share in this love. I realized that I have enough love for everything within me, but my human arms are not sufficient to distribute it to the same extent. I realized that my human form serves to regulate my infinite love down to a socially acceptable level. Then I had the realization of how often in the past, out of ignorance, I have sought external love and hurt others in the process. I spontaneously began to cry and apologized to all those I had harmed. I got up and went into the hallway where there is a large mirror and looked at my reflection. At first, it was very strange, and it took a while for me to become both the one seeing and the one being seen simultaneously. Eventually, I suddenly realized that despite the endless love within me, I was having difficulty extending it to my reflection. I realized how much I fear being loved and that I had never told myself in my life that I love myself. After this realization, I collapsed and fell into a fit of crying. I felt so sorry for my little self. I said to myself, "How dare you withhold this love from yourself?" I sat on the floor and hugged myself as tightly as I could, stroking my shoulder like a loving mother. It was emotionally exhausting, but it felt good. After some time, I went back to the mirror and looked into my eyes. I realized that for the first time in my life, I was truly meeting myself at eye level. I looked at myself like a lover looks at their beloved. I brought my face close to the glass and noticed that magical moment one feels just before a kiss. A moment that feels eternal and in which everything is silently said. It was such an intimate moment, one that I rarely even experienced with girlfriends in this intensity. It's hard to put the immensity of this moment into words. I realized that my love is the only thing that makes me complete. In the past, I had always tried to discipline myself and almost treated myself like a slave. In the future, I want to meet myself more on equal terms. I will probably have to work on this frequently and revisit this moment, but it feels like a significant turning point for the relationship I have with myself.

I thought that I would gather my trips in one thread instead of creating a new one each time, like a documentary of my psychedelic journey as someone completely new to psychedelics. For the sake of completeness, I pasted the report of my very first trip from three weeks ago: First some context: I am 31 years old and have been interested in meditation, self-observation and self-development since I was 20 years old. Today, I experimented with psychedelics for the first time, marking the beginning of a wonderful journey. I had wanted to try psychedelics for some time but was always a bit deterred, mainly due to legal concerns/sourcing issues. Recently, I found out that some LSD variants are legal where I live, so I decided to try 1D-LSD. I'm a fairly cautious person, especially when trying chemicals, so I thought 70 ug would be a good starting point, especially since I'll be doing this alone. I decided to trip on a Saturday, had no plans for the rest of the weekend, and had taken care of my responsibilities for the week. After waking up and showering, I took the tablets and went for a walk outside until the effects kicked in. It took about 20 minutes for me to start feeling the initial effects and 60 minutes to reach the peak. During the comeup, I felt some nausea and a little headache, but I was prepared for that. Upon returning home, I noticed visual changes; patterns in the carpet were moving and flowing into each other. It felt familiar to me; I had similar experiences in the past when I used to meditate more regularly and frequently than I do now. I sat on my meditation cushion and was amazed at how quickly and effortlessly I reached beyond my thoughts to the sense of "I", which sometimes is difficult for me. I could literally watch the sense of myself oscillate between small and human to impersonal and expanded. This, too, felt familiar, as I have been practicing self-inquiry for some time. After meditation, I had breakfast, and while eating, I burst into laughter without any apparent reason or funny thoughts. It just felt right to laugh, and it had to come out. Then I walked through my room, letting my gaze wander over the walls. I noticed details I had never seen before. In one part of the room, I have a picture of my brother who passed away a year and a half ago. I believe I have processed his death well. However, I sat in front of the picture and burst into tears. I cried for several minutes, convulsively, as if I hadn't cried in years. But I wasn't sad; over time, I cried out of gratitude. I was so grateful for the people who accompanied my brother and my family. After that, I felt lighter than I had in a long time. Slowly, I realized that the drug was wearing off, and I decided to take another walk in nature. The colors were still more vibrant than usual, but barely noticeable. I felt a great inner peace and thought to myself: It is possible to live like this every day. So connected to life. And yet, sometimes I am too lazy to do the groundwork for it. All in all, it was a very mild trip but it showed me the potential psychedelics have. I am looking forward to experimenting with higher doses in the future. Edit on the day after: I had trouble falling asleep, so I felt a bit groggy the day after. I don't know if it was just because of the lack of proper sleep or maybe some lingering effects of the drug. In my meditation session today, I was able to go more easily into my self-inquiry than usual, although not as easily as yesterday. Will be very interesting how long some of the effects will linger.

I'm thanking you now, because I just tried this and it has been astounding to say the least!