InfinitePotential

Being aware of ceiling fan noise is the highest meditation.

This is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about! I second the Oxygen Advantage recommendation. As for difficulties with long breaths in and out, maybe you just need to increase your lung capacity? Exercise (especially aerobic) should be very helpful. Also Cordyceps mushroom is INCREDIBLY effective for improving lung functioning, and breathing.

Changing your diet abruptly can definitely lead to gastrointestinal issues. Your body just needs time to develop the proper enzymes and learn how to digest the new mixture of foods you're feeding it. And yes, unfortunately oatmeal is a suspect food (as are all grains, to varying degrees, since they are relatively new in the humanity's diet). Would be best to quit consuming it for a while, then consider reintroducing it in the future to see if it has any negative effects.

I use fluoride free toothpaste with no problems... Be sure to filter all of your water as well to get rid of fluoride (reverse osmosis is a great option.... especially good if you add trace minerals to your water after filtering it). I would imagine this is a bigger problem than the fluoride in toothpaste. As for your teeth, watch what you eat... especially sugars, wheat, corn and acidic drinks. Oil pulling is also extremely helpful. It's a bit cumbersome, but done first thing in the morning it sterilizes your mouth so that when you do eat sugary foods, there are less bacteria in your mouth to eat the sugars and poop out acids that rot away your teeth. And when all else fails, fasting (especially dry fasting) is as close to a panacea as there is. Your body literally cleans itself from the inside out (including teeth).

There's a ton of things that could be the culprit of cold hands, but several ideas that come to mind are: Exercise, especially aerobic activity. Try to be doing something at least as rigorous as a brisk walk for at least 60 minutes a day. Your hands should at least temporarily become warmer after a good 30 or so minutes of brisk walking. Try to get at least 60 minutes of similarly rigorous activity in a day. Weight lifting is great too (deadlifts for example get blood rushing to the hands so you can hold the bar). Psychological issues as discussed above. Different emotional states correspond with different blood flow and physiology. Emotional mastery / self-actualization and all that good stuff can only help. Sounds like yoga would be extremely beneficial for this as well. And I highly recommend the book "Emotional Clearing". Relaxation is crucial. Diet. Wouldn't be surprised if food allergies can cause cold hands and feet. Nitrate rich vegetables help a ton with circulation--thing's like beets and leafy greens. Beet juice, sipped slowly is particularly helpful. Hypothyroidism. Make sure you're getting enough iodine, and minerals in general. A good trace mineral supplement would be a wise investment. Don't overdrink water. Coffee tends to make your hands and feet colder. If you drink some it's important to do physical activity afterwards. Smoking tends to make your hands and feet colder. Spend time outside in nature. Get comfortable amounts of sunlight. Sunlight literally warms your body. Grounding, earthing, nature baths, etc are also important. Lastly and very importantly, cold hands and feet are a sign of over-breathing. Look into the Buteyko Method (The Oxygen Advantage is a great book on this but there are others). Basically the idea is that most people today breathe too much, as a consequence of all sorts of things like being too stressed, sedentary, comfortable, divorced from nature, etc. This chronic mild hyperventilation causes your body to be less oxygenated. The remedy for this is breathing less. See my post from a while back on this, but in summary: Breathe exclusively through your nose, softly calmly quietly gently and practice breathing a little bit less than you're accustomed to. Overtime you will naturally breathe less and less, and become more and more oxygenated. A great exercise is to pretend you're in heavy traffic breathing in car exhaust and want to breathe as little as possible for some time. Exercises such as these can instantly warm your hands. Hand warming routine: Drink beet juice. Sip slowly, as the bacteria in your mouth turn the nitrates into nitric oxide, which aids in circulation. Walk 30-60+ minutes, practicing proper breathing. Breathe softly through the nose. Stick your hands down your pants or armpits.... This will, at least temporarily, massively warm your hands.

Most fast food has at least one of wheat soy added sugar corn or artificial ingredients/chemicals. If it doesn't have any of these, it should be fine to eat (for example, a plain salad at McDonald's)... of course the ingredients will likely be the lowest quality they can get you to pay for.

@Elisabeth https://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-problems-with-modern-wheat/ that website is a great resource for all things healthy living. It's based on the premise that humans are animals and our genes have evolved to be adapted to a hunter gatherer lifestyle. Also see the book "Wheat Belly" for further info about wheat, also the following is a good video:

Cheat sheet: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/the-diet/ (however dairy is listed as a "pleasure food" compared to Leo's advice to avoid dairy). Completing the following challenge can be life-changing, especially for someone following a typical SAD diet: https://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/ As for the soy sauce, even small amounts of a food you're intolerant to can trigger an allergic reaction. Of course the more you consume, the more severe it will be.... it would be best to avoid ALL suspect foods for a while (i.e. do the whole30 challenge), then gradually reintroduce any foods you want to one at a time to see its affect on you. The worst that can happen is you go without soy sauce for a month.

I don't know all of the details, but from my own experience and tons of anecdotal evidence online (especially on curezone), iodine is amazing for thyroid health. And it is certainly a necessary nutrient for thyroid function and thyroid hormone creation If you're interested, look into "lugol's iodine". A few drops of the 2% one in a small amount of water, held in your mouth for a while truly does wonders. It should taste a bit like pool water. For me, it works wonders on my energy levels, confidence, vitality etc. Of course, a healthy lifestyle in general is crucial. Whole foods based diet, plenty of low intensity movement, sunlight, sleep, meditation and relaxation. Additionally, extended fasts are perhaps the closest thing to a panacea in existence. Add some sunbathing and time in nature and it is sure to help. Again, do your own research here. Good luck

Dry skin brushing!!!!!

Look into how high intakes of dietary cholesterol is perfectly safe and healthy and does not correlate with high levels of cholesterol within the body. Also, avocados don't have any cholesterol. If you mean fats, again a high fat diet is perfectly safe and healthy. Eat as many avocados as you'd like, they're one of the very best foods on planet earth

TM is mostly how I got started (although I was not formally trained, so really it was just mantra meditation). I don't believe the specific mantra is as important as they claim but I could see there being some difference in benefits between different sounds. Anyways, the way I see it is that it is "concentration meditation" followed by "do-nothing meditation". One says (silently) and focuses on the mantra for a certain amount of time (say, 10 minutes or so), then completely lets go and instead of saying or focusing on the mantra, simply "hears" it and let's it evolve and change of its own accord. I.e. do-nothing. It's among the most beneficial techniques I've come across, especially for intense relaxation.

Apologies if this is mentioned elsewhere but I didn't find it anywhere. What is the actualized.org community's opinion on using N,N-DMT as a tool for growth as opposed to 5-MeO-DMT? I understand 5-MeO is a bit more powerful, and tends to be less visual and more likely to induce nondual "states". But if one were to only be able to use/find N,N-DMT, is nondual realization a possibility with this substance? Are the visuals and "contact with entities" and the sheer bizarreness of the experience too much of a distraction for nondual work? At the very least, it opens tf out of your mind, and makes you want to focus on higher consciousness values as much as possible before ever trying it again! Am interested to hear yalls thoughts.

Nice, good luck. Some find it easier to taper down and drink less coffee over time as opposed to quitting cold turkey. You might want to look into raw cacao. I take a raw cacao powder often. I'm sure you could find a good recipe but I just put a tablespoon in water and down it. I believe it has a very small amount of caffeine, but what makes it a trillion times better than coffee is the theobromine. Theobromine acts a bit like caffeine, but it's much more mildly stimulating and longer lasting, and without a crash. Additionally the cacao boosts your serotonin which can support a good mood. And it doesn't spike your cortisol and lead to anxiety and jitters like coffee can.

https://youtu.be/_AWIqXzvX-U-U https://youtu.be/nWnUuosQwZY https://youtu.be/goDd02TTxBA

I'll add something to the mix that's INCREDIBLY beneficial for your gut health (and your gut is like a "2nd brain", and something you really want to be healthy af): Before every meal (once or twice a day) I have a small glass of apple cider vinegar sauerkraut juice potato starch green powder water i just sorta swish it around and mix it up and down it in a few gulps. The sauerkraut juice and potato starch in particular are extraordinarily good for your gut health. Sauerkraut is a fermented vegetable, tons of good bacteria (much more bacteria and much more bioavailable than probiotic pills), and the potato starch is a "prebiotic" or, food for your bacteria. It's a resistant starch so you can't digest it, but your bacteria love it. These two ingredients have a profoundly positive impact on mental health and wellbeing @Charlotte look into iodine. A few drops of lugols iodine a day mixed with water held in your mouth for a bit would probably help (should taste a bit like pool water). Also supposedly applying some topically can support hair growth (but it's a bit harsh and also your skin will be orange for several hours). Additionally, get some sunlight as often as you can (in reasonable amounts) lastly, "black ant powder" seems to be very beneficial for hair and nail health of course, a healthy, whole-foods based diet is advised as well

Something that helps me a lot is to "not add anything". I think to myself "okay, I'm going to not add anything to this experience". In practice, this means I would have a thought and notice the thought and not add anything to it. Then another thought would come up and again I would not add anything to it. Same with sensations, perceptions. I haven't really seen this approach elsewhere but it's extremely effective for me. Additionally, rather than worrying about silencing your mind... simply ignore your thoughts. Notice that you can place your attention on whatever you choose. Your attention is like a flashlight. You can shine it on your thoughts, feelings, perceptions, etc. Get good at moving your attention around, attend to an object in your field of vision, then feelings in your body, then your headspace (notice that it takes just a little bit of effort to place attention on an object, even though we are constantly doing this)... After you move your attention around from place to place, work on not directing your attention towards anything. I.e. don't turn on the flashlight. Put another way, drop absolutely all effort, don't place your attention on anything in particular.

This is the best, most concise nutritional guideline I've come across and the one I subscribe to (I basically eat this exactly): http://perfecthealthdiet.com/the-diet/ some caveats: i would recommend lower carb temporarily if you're trying to lose fat (i.e. none of the "safe starches", especially if you're not exercising) If you are against eating meat, I would recommend at least including eggs (super nutritious food and no suffering for anybody, provided the chicken laying the egg is comfy) Another great resource is the whole30 website. Very worthwhile challenge to attempt

Leo has introduced me to and helped me to appreciate some of the most absolutely profound and lesser known self-help concepts (things like radical open mindnedness, skepticism, epistemology, belief systems, nonduality and enlightenment, etc etc), and yet there's a more obvious, well known self-help subject I've barely heard him mention: exercise / physical activity. People tend to have superficial motivations for working out, but besides those benefits there are the mental, mood enhancing effects (i.e. the effects on consciousness). I tend to notice that after a long walk, or even a more vigorous exercise, I can go deeper in my meditation, and am just all around happier, more confident, higher energy etc. Most self-help gurus tout exercise as one of the most absolutely crucial activities to integrate into your life, and from personal experience it has an immensely beneficial impact on my mood and well being. That being said, it can deplete some energy that might otherwise be used for life purpose or things of that nature (for example after a heavy weight lifting session I just want to lay back on the recliner feast and watch tv). And one source of mine claims that most folks really don't need much more than a light walk daily (the book "Perfect Health Diet" makes this claim... tbf this is the exception and almost everyone else says we should try to be quite physically active). Basically, I would just be very interested to hear Leo's take on this. I believe I recall in one of his videos he talked about how he used to go to the gym but stopped to focus on other things more. But whay about walking, stretching, yoga, etc? And how do these things lead to higher consciousness? Maybe touch on the connection between mind and body, etc etc.

Investing in some blue light glasses has been one of the most cheap, effortless health hacks for me to improve tf out of the quality of my sleep, and thus my life. When the sun goes down, the glasses go on. I get to sleep faster, and the quality of my sleep is dramatically improved. Additonally, it's extremely important to get a healthy amount of blue light during the day by getting outside (where it's 1000s of times brighter than indoors) and getting some sunlight on your skin and in your eyes.

I'm pretty sure Leo is from another planet so this theory doesn't apply to him. Or maybe he shaves his head for crown chakra gains or something idk

My theory that has to be true, is that vitamin d and exposing your skin to sunlight is so important, that if you don't do it enough your body is like "FUCK this hair, I gotta do everything I can to get that sunlight", so it gets rid of hair on the most likely place to be exposed to the sun. Scientists are finding more and more just how utterly important vitamin d is (it's a hormone, not a vitamin) for a myriad of health conditions (including hair loss). Vitamin d influences sooo many of your gene's expressions. Besides that, the green foods mentioned above would definitely help, as would an all around healthy diet and lifestyle. And also I've heard that iodine applied to your scalp can help. As well as weaning yourself off of conventional hygiene products. A baking soda shampoo every now and then should be sufficient to clean your hair Edit: but don't think that vitamin d supplementation is enough. It's probably very beneficial to do, but there are other benefits to exposing your body to the sun (for example increasing nitric oxide in your body), many of which we don't fully understand. I.e., you can consider sunlight as a nutrient that your body needs. Oh also, a trace mineral supplement would be good for healthy hair.

A comparison and contract between being and surviving (or doing). Benefits of being in more of a being mindset. For example, "being" (and meditation, consciousness work etc) reduces activity in the default mode network of the brain, which leads to less depression and anxiety. And "surviving" (ruminating on past events, planning for the future, thinking, daydreaming etc) activates the default mode network. There are other changes to your physiology too, for example your muscles and body are much more relaxed when "being" than when "doing" (or if the situation calls for your muscles to tense up, you don't fight or resist that when "being"). Perhaps an exercise or two to notice the difference between "being" and "doing".

@Alexo45look into "mucuna pruriens". It's a natural supplement that contains L-Dopa and is a great way to replenish dopamine after an orgasm. Another great supplement to replenish nutrients lost after orgasm (or rather, ejacularion) is "black ant extract". Just crushed black ants, rich in zinc and ATP. These should definitely have a noticeable positive effect on your mood.

Would be very interested to hear @Leo Gura's take on this. Is it worth doing? Is it beneficial for self-improvement, spiritual growth, etc? What does the research say, if anything? Is it a good intro to psychedelics or is one better off to just jump into the deep end and take regular sized doses less often?