Space

@Petar Yes I have been experiencing something very similar. I haven't experienced any pain so maybe it's not as intense as what you've had, but there's definitely a strong pressure-like feeling. I also know what you mean when you say you feel more conscious. I haven't quite worked out what might be causing it, but I think, as you said, when I do very hard mindfulness labelling it becomes more noticeable. Recently i've been doing more Do Nothing and the pressure feeling hasn't been so prominent. Maybe I should be doing more hard mindfulness. I guess if it's really bad my advice would be to do some Do Nothing and maybe some grounding physical exercise to help move the energy around.

I could spend a long time replying to this comment, but I won't because you need to figure this stuff out for yourself. Keep self-inquiring, meditating and studying everything Leo teaches. It's good that you're questioning everything.

Be careful not to blindly believe what you've heard about what you are. As far as you're concerned right now everything you've been told could be bullshit. You must throw out all beliefs and ideas about what you think you are or might be, and just focus on what is true in your direct experience. Don't try to recognise that you are 'nothing' or that you don't exist. Who says that's true? Discover the Truth for yourself.

@Dino D Try paying more attention to what is actually true in direct experience. Notice that in direct experience any type of thought comes from no one and nothing and falls back into the same place. That is literally what is happening in your experience. You might say, yes some of my thoughts just appear by themselves, but others come from 'me', 'I' am definitely creating these thoughts at will! But notice that every single thought is the same in that they all appear completely spontaneously from nothing. Where is this I-thinker? What is this I-thinker? Is there really an 'I' that is the source of thinking? The same goes for speaking and moving the body.

@Colin Yea I enjoyed it too! I really like the more casual, informal style stuff, like the retreat vlogs Leo did a while ago.

Ahh I totally missed that. Thanks!

@ppfeiff Yea I've been using Outline every since Leo brought out his Commonplace Book video. It's been great so far I'd definitely recommend. I went along and bought the full version after using the trial. From seeing OneNote in Leo's video I'd say Outline is about 80% the same, functionality wise. However, there are a few differences which I've noticed after using it for a month or so: 1) Quite limited search function. Doesn't have the Find Tags function that OneNote has. 2) You can't use custom fonts. Not a massive deal obviously, you're just limited to 11 presets. 3) Doesn't have some of the more advanced tools that OneNote has like the drawing tool, voice recording etc, the ability to drag bullet points up and down the list as Leo shows in the video, or the linking to different pages function. Can't say I've needed to use these though. Aside from those points, I don't think there's much else. It saves everything into one file on your computer which is exactly what I wanted. Means you can backup everything onto an external hard drive super easily. Very clean, simple, easy to use interface. Let us know how it works for you.

Sounds like kundalini energy.

@Monkey-man Shaktipat initiation. Although it only works for a relatively small % of people.

Sounds very similar to the book I'm reading at the moment called 'Conversations With God' by Neale Walsch.

The 10,000-hour rule is not some magical number you need to hit before you're a Master. In fact, I'm pretty sure the 10,000-hour rule is complete rubbish. Why can't you achieve the same progress in 2000 hours? 500 hours? Very deep, focused work is all that is required. Becoming a Master is dependant on too many variables. Two completely different people could do 10,000 hours and be a million miles apart from one another in their ability and skill.

@iTommy I'd say you're getting too lost in concepts. Focus on what is actually occurring in your direct experience at this very moment. Keep grounding yourself in direct experience. What is true in your experience right now? There's lots of talk about 'nothingness', 'emptiness' and 'awareness' etc, but these are just concepts you've heard from Leo or read somewhere. You don't actually know what you are. Anything you've heard from someone else is not true. Nor do you really know what any of those concepts (emptiness, nothingness etc) actually point to. I'm not saying you don't understand them intellectually or conceptually, but for the purposes of self-inquiry they don't mean anything and you should discard them.

@Leo Gura Woo! Always look forward to these updates. Some of the books on the list have completely changed my life. It's such a great resource because there's so many books out there to choose from. It becomes a task in itself just trying to figure out which books to buy, so you've saved me a lot of time.

@mia_lea Pretty sure that most dogs can be trained to behave how you want them to, given enough time and training. There'll always be exceptions but it's likely that if you just keep training the dog properly then it'll start to change its behaviour. Make sure that you are training it properly though. Hire a dog trainer if necessary.

@Slade Just finished watching the movie and it was awesome!

@Hard_Agent Just keep practising!

Why is the retreat outside during the Winter?? Seems a bit odd. If there's no way around it, I guess my advice would be to try to use it to your advantage and be very mindful of/observe your aversion towards any physical discomfort. And you should probably wear some thermal clothing.

@Ether Retreats are awesome. At least so far all my retreats have been. I can't wait to go for another. It's so nice to have the time and freedom to spend all day meditating without having to worry about anything. If you do manage to go on retreat, count yourself lucky and don't half-ass it. Not many people have the luxury to be able to do something like that.

I think super human level AGI will come much sooner than we expect. I'm almost 100% certain of that. It's not going to take like 50 years, that's silly. I'm certainly an optimist when it comes to AI stuff, but I think they'll be some unbelievable breakthroughs within the next 10-20 years. Ben Geortzel's Singularity Net is, as far as I know, the most promising development in building a true AGI. That's being fully released next year. It's a de-centralised system that will connect together potentially thousands and thousands of different individual AI programs that all talk and communicate to one another, ultimately making one big AGI. And the key point is that if you submit an AI and it gets used by a company on the other side of the planet, you get paid for it! So it's a system that will encourage more and more people to start building AIs. I think when it takes off a whole new industry of independent AI developers will emerge. It'll be like the App Store but for AI programs. It won't be a few tech companies trying to build an AGI and doing all the work themselves like it is now. It'll be an open project constantly being added to by anyone who can write a decent AI and wants to make some money.

Outline is a good alternative for those of you who use Mac and want to properly store your files locally. http://outline.ws/mac

@Drsamy I can't really offer too much advice but one thing I would say is that because your kids are still quite young there's still a chance to change their habits and their values etc. Have you've watched Leo's video on raising kids? That should provide you with lots of ideas.

@Principium Nexus I've experimented with NoFap quite a bit over the past year or two and i've gone long periods without doing it. But i'm skeptical as to whether it really produces the dramatic results that so many guys claim it does. Maybe it does for some, but for me there was no significant improvement. However, I still do believe that people should cut down on the amount of PMOing they do. My theory is that it's the porn addiction which causes the main issues, not the masturbation or even the orgasm. Watching porn every day almost certainly does some sort of damage. Who knows how serious it could be. But I also don't think its an addiction to the porn itself, but rather the dopamine rush you get when watching it. It's like you're forcing the brain to un-naturally produce dopamine, which can't be good. I don't believe that masturbation and orgasm are inherently bad for you, but you probably shouldn't be doing it every day.

If you want more iron just eat lots of beans and lentils. You'll need to supplement B12 on a vegan diet because it's very very difficult to get enough from just a plant based diet.

@Max_V @Toby Oh right, thanks. I'd probably get the ferry over to France and then drive up. I think the martial arts stuff is run by someone else, and the contemplative workshops are done by Peter, but I could be wrong. This is from this years intensive, and it says 'with Peter Ralston' :http://www.chenghsin.nl/Holland Camp 2017 - CI brochure.pdf