Spiritedness

Never underestimate the gap your absence will leave, my friend. Tough times are ahead for all of us, I wish you strength and courage.

@Leo Gura What are your top tips to make guy friends Leo? I got the same problem as OP...

Sorry what is 'Follow your bliss' and 'Zone of genius'? Are those books?

@Rishabh R When you say you 'realized' they are artificial what do you mean? How does it 'feel'? Try to explain it a bit more.

Ekajivavada is what exactly?

@CARDOZZO Do you have any books on Neuro-Semantics to recommend? Also, what are its practical uses? Can it be used in human interactions?

@sda Doesn't sound good. Ask him this, "So you took care of me only to ask for something in exchange afterwards?". 3 years is a lot, he's demanding too much and the fact that he brought up your accident to make you feel guilty if you DON'T ACCEPT what he asks of you...unacceptable.

Leo please make a vid with him man the fans will appreciate it a lot.

@Butters What book would you recommend? What has helped you?

@Leo Gura Is it the DiCarlo one?

@Leo Gura Where do you find them? They seem to be nowhere, I don't know where to look...

I've seen somewhere that you can put the tip of your tongue ONLY behind your front teeth. Then, as you're inhaling, you will feel the cold air in your mouth/throat and that can aid in the sensation of the "cold stream rising". I've given it a try and it works! ONLY the tip though, the rest of the tongue should be resting on the floor of your mouth. Took this from Ryan Kurczak, a great Kriya Yoga YTber.

Start gaming single and available women. Where are your morals?

What do you mean by this exactly?

What do you mean by "I have seen how you structure you episod in Quote"?

@Spiritual Warrior Let him send his links, he responds like this to every topic almost. It's cool af and gets to the point. @Raze you're a legend!

@Leo Gura As a substitute to sunscreen (which inevitably has toxins)...what would you recommend? Preventing skin cancer is very important.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Thank God this community exists!

@Leo Gura Were you going out alone every Fri/Sat solely to do pick-up? Asking cause, doing the cold approach aside, this requires a lot of courage in and of itself (people that have known you from the past may see you alone, criticism from others etc.)

How do you even shut it down? @Leo Gura Involuntary anxious thoughts are inevitable and cannot be controlled. Just don't react to them. How can we 'shut them down'?

And how can we learn to use our mind 'properly'? @Leo Gura

I am a huge fan of Zen Buddhism and have been meditating for a few years on and off, usually stopping my meditation practice after 1-2 weeks of doing it and then taking a break for a few months before re-starting it again. Main reason this was happening was because of a phenomenon called "The Dark night of the Soul", which describes a phase that many meditators experience, whereby the meditation causes rise to lots of unpleasant emotions and feelings. Personally, I have been anxious since childhood and many years ago I had severe OCD (still have it lurking in my current adult years but in different, less severe forms I'd say). I am also socially anxious around women to the degree where I have constant 7/10 anxiety in any place I go to that has females around that could potentially be looking at me (even while working out at the gym). Point is, I believe that whenever I started introducing meditation into my daily routine it sort of caused all these feelings of intense anxiety to surface and amplified them to an unbearable degree - causing me to eventually abandon the practice altogether because I couldn't handle it. Just to clarify, the reason I say all this is not because of the fact that these negative emotions were existing AS I WAS DOING the meditation itself in real-time (as that's natural to happen), but because all this anxiety and stress were present throughout most of my day as well, even when I wasn't meditating. Sometimes it has gotten so bad that even my sleep was affected. It's a shame because Zen, and Eastern philosophy in general, has taught me the importance of things like psychological flexibility, acceptance and "letting go". It taught me how we self-sabotage by being reactive to our internal mental events, by always being judgmental and trying to change them. It has shifted my entire worldview and was the reason I got into spirituality and consciousness work and eventually...finding Actualized.org! I really want to continue treading on this path, I want to explore the possibilities but I feel this problem I have with my meditation practice is limiting me as it affects my daily life. What should I do? Is there anything I can do to make this "phase" go by any smoother? Any tips to handle the overwhelming anxiety happening throughout the day caused by the meditation? Should I just accept that it's a natural part of the whole process? Should I stop the meditation altogether and first try treating my mental disorders by going to a therapist? Is it recommended for people who are mentally ill to meditate or is it a bad idea? I am very confused and wanted you guys' opinions, hopefully Leo you can see this thread and give me your input too. Thanks in advance everyone!

@Leo Gura Would you say it'd be better if we spend some time getting involved with the paths of human spirituality before moving on to psychedelics and explore 'the Alien thing beyond' (if it exists and it's not your mind playing tricks on you - sorry, gotta remain skeptical)?

@Water by the River Any advice for beginners in Kriya? I'm hearing all the times that many teachings have been ''distilled'' and I wanna avoid that. What books do you recommend?

@YogiCosmos This is BEAUTIFUL.