Naviy

Thank you It's also inspiring to see how people participate in this enterprise of spreading knowledge about deep personal development and enlightenment. Spreading consciousness, "fighting" devil. It is like watching LoTR or Star Wars

Just felt like I want to share this video I just saw: To me it seems that the guy is saying similar things to what Leo is sharing. He uses different words, probably, but messages are similar.

Emotions follow thoughts (interpretations of the situation). If you have thoughts about a situation like: "Oh no, it's horrible, what I'm gonna do? It's bad, no, it's dangerous, I need to avoid it", then you will experience stressful emotions. What you can do, is to notice and try to change your interpretation of the situation. Try to see the situation in a different, positive perspective. Force yourself instead of thinking "Oh no, it's horrible" to think "This is an opportunity". Like Leo said in one of the videos. If a girl was cheated on, she may think: "Oh no, what a bastard, everything went so well...", she will get depressed, her self esteem will lower. She will break up and then close to relationships, stop dating. And she will not find another man. This will lead to more interpretations like: "I am worthless, I will never find anybody". So she will have bad results. But there is a choice. She could have changed her negative perspective to a positive one: "Actually that guy does not fit me, wow I am free now, I can go dating again, there are exciting opportunities out there" and she will feel excited. She will go dating again and will get results. By default ego does not want to change negative perspective to positive. Because this is how survival mechanism works. But if you want to take control over your life, you have to take responsibility for your interpretations. Changing negative interpretation to positive leads to change of emotions. Change of emotions leads to change of actions. Which leads to better results. You don't have to be neurotic doing this. Internally you can practice full acceptance (meditation, yoga, journal, self inquiry, contemplation). But externally you can take responsibility for your life, emotions, thoughts and interpretations.

Why not try social networks? Like FB. Go to consciousness-related groups and write-write-write useful valuable comments there. Get traffic from social networks. Make Twitter and Instagram accounts and post some inspiring quotes or valuable fragments of your FB comments and blog posts there with pretty pictures. Interact with everyone. + And also you could try live webinars, online marathons, online school with groups and live streams, etc.

Have you guys started doing Kriya Yoga by reading those books from Leo's list or did you use some other resources?

I'm trying to sit how Leo showed in this blog post: https://www.actualized.org/insights/sitting-posture-for-yoga-meditation I like this posture, but the problem is that after sitting like this, I feel discomfort in the area between my nuts and ass for about an hour or two after practice. It's the area where my heel is putting pressure on my body while I'm sitting. I tried adjusting my pose in different ways, but heel is putting too much pressure anyway. Are there any possible solutions to this?

Yeah, I forgot to mention, I sit on a yoga block:

@c_wave_arts Isn't this a good list from Leo's "Start Here" page? + I think what helps not to backslide - to reinforce your motivation. Watch inspiring videos and movies on topic of growth, sacrifice, meditation, etc., read books and articles, biographies.

Maybe this could help? When you concentrate on a sound, you do not need to change it. You only need to concentrate on what is actually there. If the sound is quiet and overpowered by other sounds, so be it. Keep concentrating on what is there. So maybe you can concentrate on this quiet sound of breath even if it feels unsatisfying because you would prefer this sound to be more loud and clear.

This guy has practical techniques: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1500578037 The Phase: Shattering the Illusion of Reality The Phase: A Practical Guidebook for Lucid Dreaming and Out-of-Body Travel

I've noticed that recently I became so sensitive to movies and music that I can barely hold my tears even while watching some cartoons. If I would read or watch Lord of the Rings now, I'd cry almost non stop. Nowadays I want to cry when anything reminds me of: Hero's Journey Self sacrifice Mission that is higher than your personal interests Following your passion Overcoming fears and limiting beliefs Cutting through majority's delusions Before I have never been noticing how many stories, music, art projects, movies have these motives in them.

Yeah, I know. For me not having access to psychedelics is one of the things that bother me the most. I want to grow further and I'm getting a little bit sick of being so slow and inefficient in the process of discovering truth. I want to have access to psychedelics. I think I am ready to start using them efficiently. But there are obstacles right now. My life circumstances are changing radically at this moment (moved to another country, married, quit my profession, working on a Life Purpose and figuring out how to financially support myself in all these new circumstances). It's planned for me, though, to get access to psychedelics in future, of course. I'm disappointed that I have not done it yet, but there are objective reasons for it right now, really (yeah, yeah, not an excuse, I just want to express my bitterness and disappointment that's it ).

Well, in the country I am currently living in, there is death penalty for owning, buying, selling or even using almost any psychedelic. That would be a little bit too direct way to enlightenment for me

Do you know any good Green and Yellow websites and blogs? Please, share? Here is a couple of websites that I read from time to time (they are mostly Green, I believe): medium.com/topic/self collective-evolution.com elephantjournal.com/ + tinybuddha.com

@luckieluuke Yeah, but it is a little bit different from blindly jumping from one technique to another. Because in "freestyle" technique you actually know and feel what will bring you the most clarity/awareness/healing right now and you do it. For this you need to have some experience with each of the popular techniques. You have to "get" what's the essence, idea, usefulness of each technique is, so you could consciously switch between them and even effectively improvise and follow intuition. I guess, that if you've been doing a technique for less than a year, then you might not have enough reference experience to actually get the purpose of this technique. And you cannot effectively use it via intuition then. Actually, what I've mentioned in my post, is more an improvisation and intuitive inner action than switching between formal techniques.

Recently I started to feel resistance to any formal techniques. When I am performing a formal technique, it feels like I'm missing something or sabotaging myself. Now I do something that I call "freestyle" meditation. Basically, it's a combination of all the popular techniques and also some intuitive internal action. I sit and feel what would bring me the most clarity now. And do it. For example, I might feel that I need to give attention to my thoughts and let them run through my mind for a while. Then I might feel that I need to focus on my breath more. Then gently let my thoughts go. Then focus on some physical feelings. Then inquire what a thought is and how all my knowledge is based on thoughts. And keep inquiring on different topics. Then -- feeling my emotions. Trying to see the source of them. Let them go. Intuitively let mind and body to heal. Then Do Nothing with no control for a while. And then focus on breath. Count breaths or just focus on the sensation of breathing. And so on. Sometimes I do even guided meditations. I like it, but I am not 100% absolutely sure that it's not just me trying to avoid effort, that is especially necessary for strict formal techniques. However, intuitively this style of meditation feels effective.

Guys, are any of the Kriya Yoga books from Leo's book list available for purchase in digital form? I could not find...

"Environment is stronger than willpower" -- Yogananda.

I'm currently beginning to work on a youtube channel and a blog about conscious lifestyle. Also in my native language. People, who can speak English, have access to high quality resources on the web (and to books, communities, lectures, courses, teachers etc.). But there are many others, who are doomed to consume worthless information and keep living unconscious lives simply because there is no proper information for them. Almost all "self help" or "spiritual" resources in my language are whether a scam or purely ego-based. Many people in their current cultural and informational environment don't even have a chance to start researching how to live more consciously. Yeah, like Leo said, speaking on camera with confidence is easier, when you are very competent in your topic and sincerely passionate about it. And it's very difficult to be truly an expert in such fields as meditation, mindfulness, high consciousness values, society, cultural influence, nature of mind, beliefs, honesty, self-sabotage, delusions of mind, subconscious, paradox, mysticism etc. I'm not even mentioning such things as Truth, Enlightenment. BUT. I think, we, amateurs, students of conscious living, can still have a positive impact on the world. You don't have to teach others as if you were a master. Don't try to be who you are not. It creates a lot of pressure. Just share your experience as a student of personal development, spirituality, psychology. It is interesting for others too. They can see value in this too. It can be life-changing for them too. This can show them the possibility. The alternative perspective. And hope too. And, also, what helped me with videos -- you may try to write down your whole video script first (in OneNote, for example). Try to read it aloud, then edit it, then read again. Give yourself time. It might take several days at first. Write again. Read again. Edit. You will know your weak and strong points. Through editing you will reassure yourself in what you really want to say. This will give confidence before on camera. Also, you will have a better structure of your speech before recording. While recording, you can have your written speech or a brief plan of it in front of you. Don't read it, but it also gives confidence and makes structure of the speech more clear in your head. Try to make videos shorter and as simple as possible. If a topic is too complicated, try easier topic at first.

Happy Birthday!

I've done 30 minutes while listening to northern shamanic drums. Felt tingling on my face, hands, legs and stomach. Legs got kind of tired. 30 minutes was easy to do physically for me, so I think I'll move to 40 minutes next week. Emotionally I did not notice anything very special. Time passed fast. No visuals with open or closed eyes. However, after doing this practice, I meditated. There were definitely less monkey mind, more patience and more calmness.

It is painful, but the fact is, if the person does not want to change, they will actively resist change. I think that some of the reasons why normies do not want to change are: 1) They don't know that they need to change 2) They don't know that they can change 3) They cannot face the discomfort that comes together with change/growth (because they automatically react to discomfort with distraction, being unaware of doing so) Knowledge about growth + awareness can help to overcome these obstacles. But they will not put effort to gain knowledge and awareness, because of 1), 2), 3). So this is how they are stuck in a cycle of suffering and doing nothing about it. Maybe most of us in modern society are stuck the same way. For me what helped to break this cycle was my intense suffering + accidentally I found Eckhart Tolle teachings about 7 years ago. Later I found Leo. Being aware of your suffering makes the need to change more obvious, while teachers and books give you knowledge that you can change. So you start the work. With work you become more aware, so you can grow even more efficiently. I think it is very difficult to help other person to break this cycle of suffering and doing nothing about it. What helps me a little bit is that I'm trying to be not so arrogant, judging normal people's lives, because I remember how totally impossible it was for me to start growing and working on myself, before I found high quality knowledge about growth + I was so fueled by intense suffering. It's like when you know how to play guitar, and you look at your friend who cannot play, and you get surprised: "But why he cannot?! I can, it's not so hard! Just do it, like that, like that, see? Why he cannot?!" Well, remember yourself when you could not play guitar. It was impossible for you to take a guitar and start playing. It is same impossible for your friend now. So, for him, in his world, he does not see all the problems in his life that you see. He does not know that he can change. He does not know that he needs to change. He does not know that change is possible. He is automatically distracting himself from growth (ego default job). Imagine yourself in these conditions. Of course, he has no chance to start the work. Understand and forgive

Have you tried guided meditations? Like Headspace, for example. Because when you do a guided meditation, you just follow instructions, and less space is left for worry about you doing something wrong.

@Charlotte @egoeimai Interesting, just today I was trying to pay special attention to this feeling of automatically repressing thoughts when you observe them. What I've noticed, it is possible to be very aware even in the midst of mental storm. But it might not feel like you're truly aware, though, because thoughts still get most of the awareness space and attention. We have an idea that when you are truly aware, thoughts are supposed to subside. What if thoughts and emotions do not have to subside when you become aware? So, for example, you become aware of your crazy thought-emotions train, and it does not subside. It becomes even stronger. But this still counts as being mindful, same as if you had an empty mind. We expect mindfulness to remove our suffering (because otherwise, why would we start practicing it?), so we like to say that we are successfully mindful only when we feel some relief from our minds (in particular, when thoughts and emotions subside due to our effort to be mindful). This idea might be the source of frustration from accidentally repressing thoughts when we want just to observe. Because when we become mindful (observe, become aware), and thoughts-emotions do not subside, we do not feel relief, so we think that we failed to become mindful, while actually we succeeded. In meditations recently I like to pay attention to the difference between non-aware and aware states. It seems, that on deep level there is no particular difference. Non-aware state consists of present experience and aware state consists of present experience too.