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@Lenny Realise that "the mind" is just a thought. What actually is this mind that you're talking about? Is it a collection of thoughts? Is it the brain (also a thought). Maybe it's neither of these, but look at whether you're answer is actually something in your direct experience, or whether it's just a thought/idea/concept. How could you be a thought? Is a thought aware of the feeling of your hand? Maybe you think that you 'use' the "mind", but again, what and where is this 'you' that is in control? Maybe the sense of being the 'user', the sense of being the do-er, is also just a thought? Open up to the possibility that your current experience right now is an experience of no-free will.

Beginner's Insight Meditation (Mindfulness) Here is a video of Shinzen that really helped me when I first started doing the 'Noting' Mindfulness technique. Shinzen gives a quick and easy to understand explanation of the technique at 15:15, followed by a guided meditation, and then a demonstration of the labelling at 36:42. As simple as it may be, listening to Shinzen actually verbalise his labelling whilst he's meditating is great, even though it's just for a few seconds. I thought this video would be helpful for those of you starting out. Additional Information If you want to read up on Shinzen's 'Basic Mindfulness' techniques in detail, here is a link to his free PDF: http://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FiveWaystoKnowYourself_ver1.6.pdf This is another very interesting and useful PDF from Shinzen: http://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/WhatIsMindfulness_SY_Public_ver1.5.pdf

If anyone has listened to Shinzen's 'Science of Enlightenment' audio book then you'll recognise this guy.

@Mondsee Focus on what is occurring in direct experience, right now. This is the only thing that matters because you have to make a distinction between what is clearly within your awareness and what is actually just belief. You think that you exist, so where are 'you' in your experience? If you say, "well...i'm just here somewhere, I must be!", realise what that literally is - it's a belief which is unsupported by any 'evidence' in experience. I've found that there is a lot of very similar beliefs that need to be questioned. You just think that you exist somewhere amongst the body/mind, but it's really just an unquestioned assumption. You might think that you're the thinker of thoughts, but look carefully and see what your experience really is. Is it true that 'you' are creating the thoughts, or is it just another belief? It may be true that you are indeed the thinker of thoughts, but is that true for you, in your experience, right now?? Probably not - the source of your thoughts is unknown. The point of this process is not to try to 'work out' the question of What Am I? on an intellectual level, but rather come to an experiential understanding that you don't know the answer. You say that, 'the voice quickly came with a ridiculously logical answer', but this is just you trying to work out the question intellectually. When you ask yourself 'Who is aware of this voice inside my head?', look to your experience, rather than coming up with some intellectual response, which is just another meaningless thought, and ultimately just another belief. Without thinking or saying anything, do you know what is aware of the voice inside your head, or the sensations of the body? Hope this helps!

@MochaSlap Personally I think you get more growth from doing a highly focused 30 minutes of noting mindfulness, than an hour of Do Nothing each day. That's not to say the Do Nothing technique is bad but noting mindfulness is so straight to the point and, as Leo said, your a lot less likely to go unconscious. If you've got the time do an hour of both! You can certainly alternate depending on how you feel though. Shinzen Young has a good approach to this. He says: If Do Nothing makes you too spacey, try Noting for a while. If Noting makes you too racy, try Do Nothing for a while.

I just started reading Sacred Knowledge - Psychedlics and Religious Experiences by William A. Richards. He works at the John Hopkins Medical Centre, which i'm sure most of you are familiar with. At the end of the book there is the 6 hour music playlist that is given to the people taking the mushrooms. The Spotify playlist is below. I'm not suggesting that people listen to music whilst taking mushrooms, but thought some of you guys might find it interesting either way. I love how the music choices get increasingly weird and trippy the further on the playlist goes, with an absolute banger of a track to finish it off. Enjoy!

I discovered the other week that semen retention has been a practise of Taoists for potentially thousands of years. "Many Taoist practitioners link the loss of ejaculatory fluids to the loss of vital life force: where excessive fluid loss results in premature aging, disease, and general fatigue". This isn't to say that every man should be doing this, or that they were correct in their beliefs, but they clearly saw some benefits from not ejaculating. They believed that if you have a 'retrograde ejaculation' or non-ejaculatory orgasm, the semen would go up into your head and nourish the brain. Obviously this doesn't happen, but i've no doubt that there are other benefits to nofap. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist_sexual_practices

It certainly was not a pretty sight. Looks like i've got a lot more work on my hands!

No I haven't. Even though it was a pretty horrible experience and not 'spiritual' in any way at all, I really want to do them again - especially after reading your report! It's so weird that on the same dose two people can have radically different experiences.

@cle103 Why don't you try to do a more self-observation type self inquiry, like Leo talks about? From personal experience, i've found that its a constantly changing process. Whilst there is some continuity, each day i'm contemplating in a slightly different way - almost like looking at the same problem from slightly different perspectives. I find this subtle sense of development and progress helps keep me motivated. If I was just doing exactly the same thing day in day out then I would probably not still be doing it! Also why don't you do the self-inquiry after work, maybe when you're just relaxing in the evening? Putting less pressure on yourself to do it in the morning, and doing it when you really feel like doing it may help you get 'into it' more.

Sounds like a great trip, I wish mine was like that! My first trip was also 1.5grams (thinking that it would just be a light trip) except rather than feeling all calm and aware I spiralled into a state of delusion and paranoia. I spent most of the trip unable to think rationally or logically about anything. I tried thinking about the fact that I couldn't think properly, and then couldn't understand why I couldn't think or what thinking even was. I tried eating an apple at one point and was so confused with what I was doing, even though some part of my mind knew how to eat. I literally lost my mind and was on the verge of calling people to help me out because I thought i'd really fucked myself up. I had a rough plan of things I wanted to think about as well, an intention etc, but that just went out the window. So for anyone who hasn't tried mushrooms, and is planning on doing so, be prepared for this! It may not be all spiritual and nice like @RossE talks about. Thanks for sharing though!

Here's some advice on the Do Nothing technique from Shinzen Young. See page 40 - http://www.shinzen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/FiveWaystoKnowYourself_ver1.6.pdf

So i’ve been practising self-enquiry/observation for a while now. Whilst i’ve made a huge amount of progress since starting earlier last year, i’ve yet to reach a truly genuine state of not-knowing, or even anything close to it. I know that it’s important to get to that level of openness with the enquiry, so i’ll really try to become conscious of the fact that I don’t know what I am. But it’s always a sort of pseudo-not-knowing, a sort of intellectual not-knowing, as opposed to a state of true not-knowing where i’ve got that real conscious traction. So my question is; is this normal? Am I taking the right approach? Is a genuine state of not-knowing something that only happens prior to having a big breakthrough i.e. rare and/or difficult, or is it something that can actually be cultivated each time I sit down to contemplate? Cheers!

This is slightly misleading though, because Ralston didn't start pursuing Enlightenment until he was 21 (according to the Enlightenment Intensive book). I was surprised to read that he reached Enlightenment (on the questions What Am I? and What is Life?) on the Enlightenment Intensives. My impression was that he did it all on his own in solo contemplation. I'm guessing the bulk of his deeper contemplation was done after that?

Oh man i'm so jealous! I'd love to be able to do the Apprentice program. If you get a chance, you should definitely write a couple of blog posts on this forum whilst you're there, talking about your progress etc. I'd love to hear about it. I have a question about the contemplation and communication. How does it differ, if at all, from any other Enlightenment Intensive program? Just wondering because there are a few enlightenment intensives here in the uk, but i'd consider travelling to America if Ralston's were much better.

@Leo Gura A great addition to the site. Thanks for sharing! Definitely looking forward to future updates.

My brother is in first year university and he's also considering whether he wants to stay or not. It's definitely a really tough decision. I didn't enjoy my first year either, but I listened to my intuition and ended up leaving and starting a completely different course at a completely different university. My advice is to trust your intuition. Your intuition is telling you that your current course isn't quite right, and that you want to be doing something else. Your logical mind is telling you that it's a risk to leave and that your better off playing it safe by sticking it out. So whilst you have to consider the practical implications of leaving university, I think you should trust your feelings (as hard as it may be) rather than your logical mind. If you don't want to move back home or work, consider starting a new course? If you're from the UK then this might be an expensive option (as it was for me) but I believe you're allowed 4 years worth of university loans. If you're from a country where the fees aren't an issue then i'd say absolutely change courses. Goodluck!

Wow, this lecture is amazing! Thanks for sharing @Richard Alpert! Just finished watching the whole thing. I'd do anything to have a 5-Meo session with him!

Its done by having two omni-directional microphones pointed away from each other (like ears). This is my favourite:

I'm really interested in going to one of his workshops as well. I live in the UK though, so it's going to be quite difficult for me - and expensive! I asked Leo about this a while back and his response was: " You don't need any prep to do a retreat. Just go with an open mind. I've found that $2000 for a retreat -- any quality retreat -- is worth it. But that's me. I probably have more money to spend than you." I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the 'contemplation and communication with a partner' is something similar to the techniques used in most enlightenment intensives. Here's some info on that: http://www.enlightenment-intensives.org.uk/technique.html . The process/technique might be slightly different if you were doing the 'Transforming Your Experience of Life Workshop' however. I haven't been to any of his workshops so not 100% sure if what i'm saying is correct. Anyway, hope this helped!

The author explains how to practise concentration meditation in the book. Concentrate on the illusory smoothness and continuity of the breath (as opposed to insight practise where you try to experience the individual sensations that make up the breath). Keep your attention sharply focused on the sensation of your breath leaving and entering your nose, or the rising and falling of your belly. When you're mind wanders (and it will) bring it back to the breath. Do that every day until you can stay focused on atleast a part of every single in and out breath for a whole hour without getting lost in thought. It is possible. Try to stay focused on every single in/out breath for 15 mins at first, and then add more time when you feel like it. Keep doing that until you reach access concentration and then follow the instructions given in the book.

Love the little paradox at the beginning. Wise words indeed!

Best party trick ever!

(This is an “I”-friendly post, so no comments on how many times ‘I’ use “I”!) This is great, thanks for sharing Leo! I was actually quite surprised when I read the "How to actually practise getting enlightened" section. Not in a bad way, but because it is exactly what i've been doing for the past 4 months. I've just been under the impression that it was a form of self-inquiry. Still, there's a lot of interesting stuff here that I haven't been doing. I don't claim to be a pro on this stuff, so take my comments lightly! I can verify Leo's comments on it taking a few months to get your bearings straight. It was only after around 2 months that I really begun to understand and 'get into' the process, even though it seems quite simple on the surface. I’d recommend starting with 30 mins, or even 20 mins if you’ve never done any sort of self-inquiry/observation before. Even though the technique seems quite simple, I’ve definitely noticed a sort of development or progression in the way that i’ve thought about various things. Not sure if it’s meant to be like that? Anyway, I find that you progress and progress and then get completely stuck. You feel confused and frustrated and feel like there’s no way of getting around it. But then eventually you have an insight and you kind of see through it. The insight being some small aspect of how you ‘see’ or ‘observe’ yourself (if that makes sense?), and then the cycle repeats. I should also note that after you've done this for a few months you'll find that after around 30 mins (sometimes less) into the practise, you get into an extremely high level of concentration where it becomes quite easy to stay focused on the observation, with a surprisingly minimal amount of monkey mind. That's what i've found anyway. Doing this sort of practise throughout your day also helps to create a sense of momentum. Get into the habit of doing a couple minutes here and a couple minutes there. Again, just re-stating what Leo has written, the most important thing is direct experience i.e. what is happening in your experience Right Now in this very moment! What are your six senses really telling you?

@Leo Gura Really interesting talk, thanks for sharing! Just got my hands on 10g of mushrooms. Won't be doing the full 10g in one go though haha!