Esoteric

@David Hammond Sure it CAN raise consciousness. For me it definitely has, it can make you go very very deep. And the results carries along when you are sober (for me it does anyway) The problem is that it's addictive. I am an addict, and use it in cycles. Currently smoking now. It works great since I have learnt to use it is a part of my spiritual routine. When I get home from work I do my rapé, walk and I do my Kriya Yoga. Then I smoke the rest of the evening and go deep. Another problem though, is that there is a longing for the weed. And the thought if not doing it after my yoga makes me picture the rest of the evening a bit dull. And that's not good. But it definitely can be a valuable tool.

@SunnyNewDay Have you considered sitting like this on a zafu cushion? Keeps your back straight and everything in symmetry.

Cool. Never heard of him but I immediately liked him. Will check out his music.

Interesting times

@rorghee From Shinzen's system: 5. Do Nothing Do Nothing is an approach to rest that involves little or no effort. You don’t even have to intentionally note restful states. It is totally passive and easy going. This approach has been discovered and re-discovered many times and in many places, so it is known by many different historical names. Here are a few: • Choiceless Awareness (term used by Krishnamurti and others); • Open Presence (term used by neuroscientists); • Just Sitting (according to some definitions of that phrase); • Dzogchen/Mahamudra (in Tibet); • Passive Contemplation (in Christianity); and • Non-dual Awareness (according to some definitions of that phrase). Do Nothing could also be called “The Technique of No Technique.” Because this sounds a bit self- contradictory, you might suspect that there are a few subtle points involved in the instructions. Indeed, that is so. Let’s start with the basic instructions (which are quite short). Then we can clarify the subtleties. Basic Instructions 1. Let whatever happens, happen. 2. Whenever you’re aware of an intention to control your attention, drop that intention. Now for the subtle points. There are two sides to understanding those subtleties. First, you need to understand what the instruction requires. (Yes, there is a very small amount of doing in Do Nothing. ) Second, you need to understand what the instruction does not require (but what you might think it requires and thus make something that’s easy into something that’s hard). Let’s start with the phrase “intention to control your attention.” Sometimes your attention may be drawn to an experience spontaneously without control. The experience just happens. At other times, you may find yourself intentionally controlling the direction or content of your experience, trying to keep it on a certain thing or pull it away from some other thing. This is true of all sensory experience including thoughts (recall: in Basic Mindfulness, thought is defined as mental image, mental talk, or both simultaneously). Sometimes a thought just arises on its own. At other times, you may find yourself intentionally thinking about a topic, intentionally pulling away from a topic, or actively directing a thought after it has arisen spontaneously. During a period of Do Nothing practice, if you notice that you’re intentionally directing your awareness, you drop the intention to do so. You do this whether that intentional direction involves an objective arising (such as sights, sounds, physical body sensations), a subjective arising (such as mental images, mental talk, or emotional body sensations), a restful state, or a flow state. Notice that what you’ve been asked to drop is the intention to direct awareness. You’re not being asked to drop the thing that you happen to be aware of. So if a thought comes up spontaneously, you don’t have to drop that thought. But when you find yourself controlling that thought, drop that intention to control. Do Nothing never asks you to drop experiences. It only asks you to drop intentionally directing how your attention moves within experiences. And you only have to drop an intention when you happen to notice the presence of an intention, which may or may not be very often. So, when you Do Nothing, you may have a lot of sensory activity and you may go unconscious and get caught up in things quite a bit. That’s okay! Whenever you notice an intention to do anything about all of that, drop that intention. But what exactly does it mean to “drop” an intention? It means to let go of that intention in that moment. So, dropping is not the same as getting rid of. The intention might immediately reappear over and over. That’s perfectly fine. But what if you cannot drop it for even a moment? Then you don’t have to! Here’s why. We’re going to define intention within this context to mean something that is totally voluntary. If you cannot drop it for even a moment, then, by our definition, it is not really part of your free will. It’s happening to you and you don’t need to drop it. Notice also that the instructions do not ask you to continuously check for whether you’re intentionally controlling your awareness or not. To continuously check for the presence or absence of such intention would itself create a continuous intention! When you Do Nothing you may notice intention to control your awareness frequently, occasionally, or hardly ever. Any of these possibilities is fine. As you can see, anyone can do the Do Nothing technique “perfectly” because its goals are extremely modest. Of course, doing the technique perfectly does not mean that your experience of it will be pleasant, restful, or productive. That’s quite a different issue. A “perfect” period of Do Nothing practice may be essentially indistinguishable from a perfect storm of Monkey Mind. So, what to do when Do Nothing does nothing for you? Do something else! Basic Mindfulness gives you almost two dozen other focus options. A general principle is: • If Do Nothing makes you too spacey, try Noting for a while. • If Noting makes you too racy, try Do Nothing for a while. Now you can appreciate the initial phrase in the instructions: “Let whatever happens happen.” With this technique, there is no attempt to achieve any particular effect. If the Do Nothing approach happens to work for you at a given time, pursue it; if it doesn’t, don’t. Here are some guidelines and encouragements I give when I lead people in Do Nothing practice. • If you have an intention to get focused or settled, drop that intention. • If you have an intention to get centered or meditate, drop that intention. • If you have an intention to stay with a good state or fix a bad one, drop that intention. • If you have the intention to be clear or concentrated or in equanimity, drop that intention. • If you drop into equanimity, good. If you notice you’re trying to find or maintain equanimity, drop that intention. • If you drop into clarity, good. If you notice you’re trying to find or maintain clarity, drop that intention. • If you drop into concentrated space, good. If you notice you’re trying to find or maintain concentration, drop that intention. • If for a while you have no intentions to control attention, good, just hang out for as long or short as that may last. • If you get dissociated or confused, let go of any intention to do something about that. • If an intention to make sense of things arises, drop that intention. • Remember, if you cannot drop an intention, it’s not really voluntary by our definition so you don’t need to drop it. • Remember, by definition, dropping does not require any struggle. If you have to struggle to drop it, you don't need to drop it. • If you find this centering, good, that’s a sign you’re doing it right. • If you find this decentering, good, that’s a sign you’re doing it right. At first the Do Nothing approach might be a bit confusing and uncomfortable, but after a while, you may begin to get a sense that although you are not directing yourself towards something, you are being directed towards something. Or, more accurately, you’re being directed towards Nothing— Nothing par excellence, The Source. The Groundless Ground. This has some similarities to Just Note Gone (See Chapter 8). Just Note Gone directs you to the Source. Do Nothing directs the Source to you. In Do Nothing, you stop trying to get to IT and give IT a chance to get to you. That’s why some people refer to the Do Nothing approach as “Call Off the Search.” On the one hand, the Buddha put a lot of emphasis on pursuing “The Noble Quest.” Which is the right point of view: Pursuing The Noble Quest or Calling Off the Search? Both, not neither! In an attempt to be balanced, the Basic Mindfulness System provides you with ways to explore both.

@Leo Gura So this is gonna be a lot of theorizing and speculating.. I remember reading Bhakti Yoga by Swami Vivekekananda. He makes an argument that when you self-realize you do become aware that you are God but it does not grant you the power of creation, that is still kept from you. Which makes sense to me. So it seems to me that Jesus, the Buddha and Babaji are not your typical non-dual types. And allegedly they could/can materialize things into existence. In Yogananda's biography he tells about Yukteswar coming back to see him from the causal plane. He (Yukteswar) then tells a story that Jesus was done completely with his debt to nature and perhaps he was and therefore even could materialize stuff. Same goes for Babaji. Of course there is no validity in this. Other than trust in their words. And his biography seems fantastical, but the more I venture into this work, the more plausible it seems. So it could be that RARE beings can do this already.

If you work so that your only desire left is God then everything will work itself out. It's really that simple. Everything you want is God. If you get caught up in doing "good" so that good things will happen to you then you are in for some suffering, and hey maybe that's what you need right now.

@Anton_Pierre What methods did you use to open your third eye chakra?

@mkrksms Yeah it seems I dont get notifications or pm's. I tried sending a pm to you, to see if it works like that.

@pluto Of course. You can awaken spontaneously too. My point was that in the VAST majority of cases you shouldn't count on that one ceremony/trip is going to produce long lasting benefits.

@Salvijus She shared an experience that was very positive for her. She shared her art, which for a lot of peeps is a very vulnerable thing to do. From what I gathered she never said the divine feminine was about the female form only, just an aspect. Are you here to tell her that her view of the feminine is wrong and your views on it are correct? That is you projecting your insecurities in this thread. The female body obviously makes you uncomfortable, and looking at our culture that is perfectly understandable, but you would do well to investigate where all this comes from.

Look everyone. Another thread derailed by a forum preacher

@mkrksms What type of Kriya Pranayama did they teach on the retreat? Do you remember the sequence of techniques they used on their different programs? Was it strict that you follow their specific program or was there room for personal preference as well? Just out of curiousity.

@sausagehead You don't go to one Ayahuasca ceremony hoping to get transformed. You have to do a bunch of ceremonies to get growth.

@NorthRise You are not thinking of "regular" DMT which is pretty basic to extract? As far as I know 5-meo-dmt will not be easy at all to extract.

That's awesome. Beautiful to read and nice art too.

You find a good and deep spiritual system that equally values God as form and God as formless. For example Tantra and the Kaula influenced paths. Leo has a great book on his list about it. Then you take it from there.

My dad is stronger than your dad

I wish you a lovely day

If it turns out my spirit animal is a bat. Is it cool if you guys start calling me batman?

Going to work for me has been my most valuable spiritual practice. Sounds cliché and corny, but you can learn a lot about yourself in a low concious environment. I make mistakes, I find myself doing stupid ego shit, I learn, I grow.

Parvastha is when you reach a non-dual state (if I understood correctly). So you use Kriya to reach that state (eventually) and then you just stay there. Then continue doing it over and over again.

This is just distractions. What they call makyos in Zen. Don't get involved in them or think they are telling you something. Focus on the techniques.

@Arnold666 Lol. As someone who used to instruct Muay Thai, I get your point, and I was really close to making a thread like this a couple of years ago myself. I mean he obviously got obsessed with martial arts and from what I understand he did win a big tournament. And the more I get deeper into this stuff the more open I am to the possibility.. But I am still very torn when I watch those videos of his. I just don't know what to make of it.

Peace