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This is all fine and good, but do not confuse emotional mastery or lack of suffering or bliss with enlightenment. They are separate things. This is not to say you shouldn't do "The Work" if it appeals to you. Enlightenment is about realizing what reality is.

LWAM, Season 1, episode 4 Disclaimer: the following story is a result of phenomena called purging on steroids. Symptoms include: shrieking, violent shaking, shifts of energy in the body and the sweet relief that comes after it. This is a full ( it's looong) version of Danielle's story. My first memories of being alive were connected to hatred and violence. My parents fought a lot and their fights weren't one of those minor quarrels that married people have, they fought with the intent to kill one another. I had this vivid image of my brother crying because of them for years playing in my head. I found peace in church of all places. Looking back, I had these weird experiences where I didn't know who I was and something about those moments intrigued me and I kept going there. I went there so often that everyone thought I'd become a nun. I spent most of my days playing on the street or in the mud. All my friends were boys and that effected my self image as a girl later on. My parents would buy me dolls and I'd tear them up beyond recognition. I might have looked like a girl, but inside I was a dude. Then middle school came. I could easily understand all my classmates, but very few understood me. Then that got me questioning: Why don't they get me? Maybe there's something wrong with me. It's like there's constant disconnect between me and most people. I began asking existential questions very early on, wondering about the nature of existence and myself and yet, nobody seemed interested in it.I couldn't understand why things seemed so crazy and everyone considered it to be normal. Why do they keep repeating actions that don't work? Am I really suppose to believe that this is normal? Everything they found meaningful, I found stupid and vice versa. The 'odd one out' narrative resulted in repression – I shouldn't think what I'm thinking, feel what I'm feeling and be so weird. My father was very emotionally abusive and my mother did the opposite – she killed me with love. My sister got married when I was 12 and I saw it as betrayal – she was my protector and i felt like she left me all alone to parent my parents. What was even worse, I saw her get into a shitty dysfunctional marriage like the one our parents had. Throughout all these years I felt like I knew too much, felt too much, was unworthy of love and not good enough to live. The belief in abnormality increased when i got deep into pubrety and realized I was attracted to girls as much as I liked boys. You can imagine how quickly my faith eradicated. From there, further repression and denial, hiding away of who I was from everyone while simultaneously soaking up people's emotions like a sponge and blaming myself for all of it. I was in so much pain all the time – I thought I deserved to suffer. I couldn't relate to my peers - felt too mature. It was like a cruel joke – i was born in the wrong family with reversed roles, in the wrong country whose medieval ideologies I could never buy, with a clearly abnormal personality which no one will ever understand. It always felt like I was backwards. I could have talked to my best friend, but he was so deep into gays are not okay paradigm, I didn't dare to talk to him about it until years later. At this point, I'm 14 and I just find out I'm bisexual, I lost all faith, I feel lonely and misunderstood and the pain is never ending. That was the first time I thought about suicide. It seemed like the most rational thing to do – I don't belong anywhere, I can't trust people and I'm uncapable of living, and the key thing - I can't fix everyone and everything, no matter how hard I try, I can't do anything besides feel their pain. Somehow I got through that year and found people who were like me in high school. Still, there was always this tendency to self destruct - to find a way to prevent what I want from happening. My logic was, I failed at being normal so I might as well try to succeed at being a misfit. I became a hardcore atheist and a social warrior, spending my time getting high, smoking and drinking. 2 edgy 4 u. How do you like that, mom and dad? When that failed, I tried couple of identities for size- the punk one, the nihilist one, the misanthrope one, the commie, the emo, the stoner, the liberal, the clown. Needless to say, none of them worked. And here comes the turn. After I've broken off a toxic relationship and went through that horrific healing period that only teenage heartbreak can bring about, hating people more than ever, I got tired of feeling so hopeless and I got into Buddhist philosophy. Still, reading about peace and compassion for mankind felt a bit dry until I stumbled upon the big E word, the promise land – to die without dropping the body – the thing I wanted to do for years. The quest began, or so I thought. My grandfather died and for the first time ever, I realized the significance of this work, it wasn't about being blissed out , it was about death. All those years of on and off depression was only a preparation for this death. Meditation brought back that peace I felt at church and I began to open up again. My personaliy is pretty much all or nothing, so when I heard about E, I got obsessed. I tried to create a new identity out of it so I can have all the peace and love without having to face my shit, but couldn't do it. It was too late - ups, the Pandora's box has been opened. For every release, dark night followed, up and down, from bliss to depression, from confusion to clearity. until I hit that breaking point. That breaking point build up over the years. And just when I thought that the pain couldn't get more unbearable, it got even worse and worse. I woke up one day, rather recently, realizing I'm going to die as a 19 year old and all of the things I i thought were true held no reality whatsoever. All I ever did was renew my story every step of the way, new layer of delusion, new ways to resist and to suffer. And that trauma and extreme suffering I endured for years was a perfect way to get me to surrender. To say: you know what? I can't do this anymore. I give up. I surrender. If I need to go through a this pain for another 10 lifetimes, I'll do it. I won't try to escape. From then on, it's like someone took off this enourmous baggage of my shoulders and dissolved the suffering. My body has been going crazy these last few weeks and that's when this trauma came to the surface. I was in a way protecting myself from those memories and feelings that were deeply burried for years and now they are free to come because I have no resistance. Most importantly, it's not only on a mind level, but on a body level. My family came to visit me the other day and the the first thing I noticed was the lack of tension in my body- it's amazing how I used to tremble when my father would touch me and now I feel open and welcoming. There's no need to protect anything anymore. Just a couple of months ago I wouldn't have even allowed myself to think about these things and now I fully accept them. If you're still reading this, good for you! Sorry I didn't make a dramatic coming out video like everyone else, guess i'm simply old- fashioned. End credits: And when darkness comes let it inside you. Directed by Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

It's a huge, vast difference. Study Ramana's life and you'll begin to see the depth of the enlightenment journey, maybe. Ultimately you'll have to experience it for yourself. Just a glimpse of the Absolute totally shatters everything you knew and throws all prior experiences out the window. Many states of nonduality can be similar in description, for instances, there are many void states which seem absolute, but people stagnate and fail to go deeper. They still have karma and aren't really free from bondage--they retain their vasanas, don't see the whole of reality, and never know Sat Chit Ananda. When Ramana talks about the Bliss of the Self, it's not some fancy, roundabout way of saying you become happy when you're enlightened. He's describing the nature of reality.

How can a state of non-dual love not be what enlightenment is? That would be one of my definitions of enlightenment... I probably heard a guru or two talking about Enlightenment in these terms! The highest high. Unconditional Love? The Love/Bliss that passeth understanding and is your true nature? <3 <3 <3 <3 YAM <3 <3 <3 <3 Mu

Another excerpt from my journal, that I intend to help those not finding fulfilment in their spiritual practices. This simple shift, and addition, might make a big difference A few weeks ago I was lost in my thoughts, doing my spiritual practices. The epiphany came to me that this wasn't fulfilling me. Another day, I love my heart without doing any practices, and realise that this is what I've been looking for all along. I never knew what Matt Kahn meant by "heart-centred consciousness" until I compared how I felt after both days. Nowadays, my centre of awareness isn't in my thoughts, but in my heart, in the feelings that are constantly and miraculously arising there. By default most people when triggered by a situation such as when a certain passive aggressive tone is used, they immediately get lost in their thoughts of "How dare she say that to me!" instead of getting lost in the emotions, of anger or frustration, which in fact are the cause of all thoughts in that, and every single moment. The importance of this cannot be overemphasised. Emotions create thoughts, and thoughts disappear once you feel an emotion like a child just wanting some attention. You may not like how the child (emotion) is behaving, but doesn't it equally deserve your attention nevertheless? Right now in my journey I no longer subscribe to any thoughts. I'm in a constant zen meditation, using any thought that arises as a reminder to feel into any emotions in my body. The power of this practice, of using thoughts to bring you back into feeling, has transformed the very fabric of my reality into peace, bliss and harmony. Even in the middle of the thought, "I really love the idea of going to..." stop it right in it's tracks! You don't need to be polite with your thoughts, and finish them up before feeling your heart. I mean as soon as you notice it, return your awareness to your heart/gut, and your mind should feel like an empty space without thoughts. And when you return your awareness to your emotions located in your heart/gut the most amazing things will start happening to you that only direct experience can tell. We first master this, then if we are feeling confident or are up for a bit of a challenge, we use the breathe to start breathing into our emotions. The breathe intensifies our emotions a lot, which means the emotion is being healed out of your cells faster, as such you will never experience that emotion ever again, once it's ready to leave through your attention that you so give it. Moving further into the heart of feeling our emotions, a simple "I love you" sent to it, or even an, "I'm sorry I can't love you right now, but I hope that you may find it, just not from me" will work beautifully to open your heart, through this deeper level of feeling. However these practices I've now found to 'breathe into the emotion' or say kind affirmations that support the emotions existence are really just a compliment to actually using your thoughts as a reminder to return your attention to the heart/gut region of your body. This means it's completely unnecessary to those additional practices, but I write them down regardless so additional information is there for those who are eager! Over the last couple of weeks I've learnt that returning our default awareness from our head to our heart so that we can feel emotions instead of being distracted by illusory thoughts (of which all thoughts are) is all there is to enlightenment (all other practices are there to support this I find, or open up other chakras in your body such as the third eye for other purposes). It's so simple, so so simple. And I hope you can use this to your benefit, because we all deserve to have open hearts, and experience what I cannot describe to you in writing, the infinite beauty of life (it may not seem that way, but that is because we have been trained to see life in this way, through using thoughts to give a negative meaning to reality). You may need to use thoughts for some technical tasks for an hour or two, but afterwards make this your practice to let all thoughts remind you to FEEL. This practice is very painful at the start, and as I have already mentioned, all pain is the most accelerated healing of karma in existence. And you won't want to do it, for your thoughts will be the first thing to rebel, and say, "Hey, this is no fun at all, let's go back to fantasizing!" but I believe being a victim of your own thought process by allowing them to take your power/your awareness from you each time they arise is what I call being in a prison, and not knowing your in it. Your awareness is so special, and your awareness is the gift you have received at birth to experience life on Earth. Choose what you focus on carefully. Focus on saying kind words to your feelings (and maybe your thoughts as you thank them for reminding you to FEEL into your heart), focus on the feeling of anger with love (by knowing that anger is but a child wanting attention). You may have heard to focus on thoughts that are positive! That is a sneaky move. You can say kind words to thoughts as I mentioned, but a thought is only there for you to feel (except when working through calculations in your mind), remember that. "How can I make a choice without a thought in my head?" is another question, and my answer is that our feelings actually make the choices, giving us thoughts that support the choice our feelings guide us towards. In feelings all knowledge is contained beyond any thought, a thought is merely a grain of sand compared to the size of the Earth that a feeling metaphorically is. It's time to awaken my friends. Experience the joy for yourself What you feel, is what you heal.

Feeling is the ultimate healer A few weeks ago I was lost in my thoughts, doing my spiritual practices. The epiphany came to me that this wasn't fulfilling me. Another day, I love my heart without doing any practices, and realise that this is what I've been looking for all along. I never knew what Matt Kahn meant by "heart-centred consciousness" until I compared how I felt after both days. Nowadays, my centre of awareness isn't in my thoughts, but in my heart, in the feelings that are constantly and miraculously arising there. By default most people when triggered by a situation such as when a certain passive aggressive tone is used, they immediately get lost in their thoughts of "How dare she say that to me!" instead of getting lost in the emotions, of anger or frustration, which in fact are the cause of all thoughts in that, and every single moment. The importance of this cannot be overemphasised. Emotions create thoughts, and thoughts disappear once you feel an emotion like a child just wanting some attention. You may not like how the child (emotion) is behaving, but doesn't it equally deserve your attention nevertheless? Right now in my journey I no longer subscribe to any thoughts. I'm in a constant zen meditation, using any thought that arises as a reminder to feel into any emotions in my body. The power of this practice, of using thoughts to bring you back into feeling, has transformed the very fabric of my reality into peace, bliss and harmony. Even in the middle of the thought, "I really love the idea of going to..." stop it right in it's tracks! You don't need to be polite with your thoughts, and finish them up before feeling your heart. I mean as soon as you notice it, return your awareness to your heart/gut, and your mind should feel like an empty space without thoughts. And when you return your awareness to your emotions located in your heart/gut the most amazing things will start happening to you that only direct experience can tell. We first master this, then if we are feeling confident or are up for a bit of a challenge, we use the breathe to start breathing into our emotions. The breathe intensifies our emotions a lot, which means the emotion is being healed out of your cells faster, as such you will never experience that emotion ever again, once it's ready to leave through your attention that you so give it. Moving further into the heart of feeling our emotions, a simple "I love you" sent to it, or even an, "I'm sorry I can't love you right now, but I hope that you may find it, just not from me" will work beautifully to open your heart, through this deeper level of feeling. However these practices I've now found to 'breathe into the emotion' or say kind affirmations that support the emotions existence are really just a compliment to actually using your thoughts as a reminder to return your attention to the heart/gut region of your body. This means it's completely unnecessary to those additional practices, but I write them down regardless so additional information is there for those who are eager! Over the last couple of weeks I've learnt that returning our default awareness from our head to our heart so that we can feel emotions instead of being distracted by illusory thoughts (of which all thoughts are) is all there is to enlightenment (all other practices are there to support this I find, or open up other chakras in your body such as the third eye for other purposes). It's so simple, so so simple. And I hope you can use this to your benefit, because we all deserve to have open hearts, and experience what I cannot describe to you in writing, the infinite beauty of life (it may not seem that way, but that is because we have been trained to see life in this way, through using thoughts to give a negative meaning to reality). You may need to use thoughts for some technical tasks for an hour or two, but afterwards make this your practice to let all thoughts remind you to FEEL. This practice is very painful at the start, and as I have already mentioned, all pain is the most accelerated healing of karma in existence. And you won't want to do it, for your thoughts will be the first thing to rebel, and say, "Hey, this is no fun at all, let's go back to fantasizing!" but I believe being a victim of your own thought process by allowing them to take your power/your awareness from you each time they arise is what I call being in a prison, and not knowing your in it. Your awareness is so special, and your awareness is the gift you have received at birth to experience life on Earth. Choose what you focus on carefully. Focus on saying kind words to your feelings (and maybe your thoughts as you thank them for reminding you to FEEL into your heart), focus on the feeling of anger with love (by knowing that anger is but a child wanting attention). You may have heard to focus on thoughts that are positive! That is a sneaky move. You can say kind words to thoughts as I mentioned, but a thought is only there for you to feel (except when working through calculations in your mind), remember that. "How can I make a choice without a thought in my head?" is another question, and my answer is that our feelings actually make the choices, giving us thoughts that support the choice our feelings guide us towards. In feelings all knowledge is contained beyond any thought, a thought is merely a grain of sand compared to the size of the Earth that a feeling metaphorically is. It's time to awaken my friends. Experience the joy for yourself What you feel, is what you heal.

Welcome to the club One will feel that type of arousal 24/7 after he/she transcend the mind. And as any sensation or food or drug, at first is blow minding. Keep doing it and it will unfold in spectacular or painful ways, depends how much you are willing to sacrifice and grow. Faster growing will lead to more painful experiences but with extreme bliss in between. Or choose the middle way. <3

Buddha’s early life Greco-buddhist representation of Buddha Shakyamuni from the ancient region of Gandhara, eastern Afghanistan. Greek artists were most probably the authors of these early representations of the Buddha. India at the time of the Buddha was very spiritually open. Every major philosophical view was present in society, and people expected spirituality to influence their daily lives in positive ways. At this time of great potential, Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha, was born into a royal family in what is now Nepal, close to the border with India. Growing up, the Buddha was exceptionally intelligent and compassionate. Tall, strong, and handsome, the Buddha belonged to the Warrior caste. It was predicted that he would become either a great king or spiritual leader. Since his parents wanted a powerful ruler for their kingdom, they tried to prevent Siddharta from seeing the unsatisfactory nature of the world. They surrounded him with every kind of pleasure. He was given five hundred attractive ladies and every opportunity for sports and excitement. He completely mastered the important combat training, even winning his wife, Yasodhara, in an archery contest. Suddenly, at age 29, he was confronted with impermanence and suffering. On a rare outing from his luxurious palace, he saw someone desperately sick. The next day, he saw a decrepit old man, and finally a dead person. He was very upset to realize that old age, sickness and death would come to everyone he loved. Siddharta had no refuge to offer them. The next morning the prince walked past a meditator who sat in deep absorption. When their eyes met and their minds linked, Siddhartha stopped, mesmerized. In a flash, he realized that the perfection he had been seeking outside must be within mind itself. Meeting that man gave the future Buddha a first and enticing taste of mind, a true and lasting refuge, which he knew he had to experience himself for the good of all. Buddha’s enlightenment The Buddha decided he had to leave his royal responsibilities and his family in order to realize full enlightenment. He left the palace secretly, and set off alone into the forest. Over the next six years, he met many talented meditation teachers and mastered their techniques. Always he found that they showed him mind’s potential but not mind itself. Finally, at a place called Bodhgaya, the future Buddha decided to remain in meditation until he knew mind’s true nature and could benefit all beings. After spending six days and nights cutting through mind’s most subtle obstacles, he reached enlightenment on the full moon morning of May, a week before he turned thirty-five. At the moment of full realization, all veils of mixed feelings and stiff ideas dissolved and Buddha experienced the all-encompassing here and now. All separation in time and space disappeared. Past, present, and future, near and far, melted into one radiant state of intuitive bliss. He became timeless, all-pervading awareness. Through every cell in his body he knew and was everything. He became Buddha, the Awakened One. After his enlightenment, Buddha traveled on foot throughout northern India. He taught constantly for forty-five years. People of all castes and professions, from kings to courtesans, were drawn to him. He answered their questions, always pointing towards that which is ultimately real. Throughout his life, Buddha encouraged his students to question his teachings and confirm them through their own experience. This non-dogmatic attitude still characterizes Buddhism today. “I can die happily. I have not kept a single teaching hidden in a closed hand. Everything that is useful for you, I have already given. Be your own guiding light.” – The Buddha, while leaving his body at the age of eighty

I resonate with that! I've also had both. radical shifts usually on psychedelics though, or during specially deep meditation or yoga sessions. rarely throughout daily life. gradual and persistent ones are tricky, because surely they happen on this path..but sometimes they remain unnoticed. journaling and interacting with others helps me becoming aware of those. beautiful! what a bliss I hope to become aware of those signs everywhere as well. I want to feel that connection to the universe in daily life too <3

It’s not straightforward as that. However, I feel almost constant bliss and peace - connection with the source within. However there still appear thoughts and emotions - sometimes negative ones but they can’t drag me anymore how they used to. My depression which I never could get rid of is completely gone.

Well if you are fully liberated you will be in a state of bliss and peace continously without any psychology suffering forever ever.

This one delivers a great message of ideologies and people violently defending them and basically forming "tribes". The whole album "Pure Comedy" has similar theme with witty criticism of these kinds of topics and a feel of not taking life so seriously while also remembering to take care of each other. This is maybe my favourite ambient album of all time and it has taken me places by its own when listened in its entirety and in darkness . I think it has kind of a theme of NDE/liberation/enlightenment, at least that's how I feel it. Ooooohh... Queen of all everything might just be the most comfortable song I've ever heard. It's just pure bliss, I always get chills with it

I noticed after a few minutes, i felt similar sensations to the (wim hof) method, so i blew most of the air out of my lungs and easily held my breath for almost 4-5 minutes which was excellent. Presentness Bliss! After that i was automatically in a deeper meditative state as my breath-flow had become adapted to retaining/sustaining a hold after inhale/exhale for long period of time naturally without discomfort. I believe this could be a quick and effective way to get yourself in a more relaxed stage of meditation fast so you can gain the most benefits. (Relax/Surrender) are ultimately the same. Especially f you struggle with getting yourself relaxed enough for effective meditation.

I wouldn't say every moment, but experiences do repeat themselves, though as a general trend on a deeper level, possibly with less flashiness and more clarity. There's plenty of people who (hopefully) temporarily or long-term end up thinking they're now enlightened, after having an awakening. I've done that nonsense myself multiple times. Some of them teach. Just because someone has an experience of emptiness or god & bliss doesn't mean they're actually enlightened to the point where there's nowhere to go though. Neo-advaitans fall commonly into this trap, for example people like Tony Parsons, who have an awakening and then master the non-dual philosophy of "there's nobody there and there's nothing to do". They're quite mistaken though since they still have a massive amount of blockages and karma - certain fears, attachments, and aversions. Only after the eradication of that can one have complete clarity and be outside the dream, most are just "woke" inside it. A bit of a tangent here but I think this is a helpful thing to keep in mind

@Lexonn What supposedly reincarnates is the causal body or bliss body. And experience of that is possible, but very rare. I know only one person who's had it. Seems like you'd need to remove the blockages in your gross and subtle body first, before you experience the remnants of ego on the causal body.

@ConsolePeasant Happiness isn't really an emotion. Happiness is contentment, the absence of suffering. Joy or bliss can be of the emotional variety. But the joy or bliss accompanying true enlightenment is not an emotion, it is seen as an aspect of the Self, which is Sat-Chit-Ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). Can't describe what that's like and why it's not an emotion, since I'm not there. But perhaps Ramana can, so look it up.

@phoenix666 I think the so-called opening of chakras is a bit of a misconception. It's not like they're literally closed and then you open them. According to the yogic system the body has 7 main chakras and 72,000 nadis. Chakras are quite simply energy nexuses, where nadis come together. You can notice them becoming active when you're purging energetic blockages. Blockages can exist anywhere in the vast system of channels. When they get triggered or worked on you can feel pain and contraction in chakras centres, and when they're released you can experience something akin to an opening in a chakra, accompanied by feeling of release, bliss, etc. But those experiences can happen again and again. As long as there are any blockages left you can't really say a chakra is "open" because there's still more karma to be worked out.

I was into PD for a year, but nothing really moving. shrooms opened my gate to spirituality. they started a snowball effect. psychedelics showed me love, bliss. they showed me my biggest fears. not only that, even more importantly, they forced me to face them. they are like a teacher, showing me what I do wrong (where I just hurt myself) in life. they helped me quit drinking, partying, smoking and all that stuff that makes me feel numb and empty afterwards. they're not games though.. it's serious, hardcore stuff sometimes. they need to be treated with honor and respect

I did it a few months ago and a month after that, a total of 2 times, in a group. I think it's called an osho meditation. the way the group does it is we dance for a couple minutes, the instructions are to move however we want when the music is playing. Then we warm up by laying on our back and "ride a bicycle" with the legs in the air really fast, with breaks, for about 5 minutes. then we breathe on our back for 45 minutes, we are told to do whatever our body wants to, whether it be shout, cry, move arms and legs, etc. then a few minutes relaxation. first time I breathed I shouted a lot and had extreme energy all over my body. I cried at the end because I released social anxiety I had. after that communicating with people became a lot easier. felt energy throughout my body for a couple days after the breathing. I also felt like my consciousness increased, i became more aware of my thoughts and emotions. second time I also mainly shouted from the solar plexus and my body shook a lot, first time in my life that i felt or became conscious of energy, specifically in the back of my head. after the breathing stopped and the relaxation period came to be, the magic happened. I still felt that energy in the head and then it I used my consciousness to spread throughout the whole body, I felt extreme bliss I didnt feel since I was a kid, it faded after a few minutes. in the next week I had annoying energy in my body, didnt know what to do with it, I went to the woods and shouted, didnt help. It subsided after I did a meditation called chakra dancing, it's where you also do holotropic breathing but while standing up, and you focus on your chakras in orderly fashion from bottom to top. basically move energy up your spine 3 times over for about 40 minutes overall. That stuff basically introduced me to the possibilities of energy work, which are bliss, high consciousness and a lot more. recently I had an LSD trip where more of my chakras opened and I feel extreme, but really extreme sexual energy and love. I feel like the breathing contributed. gonna post a trip report soon.

Forget about dictionary meaning - bliss, spiritual joy, is without excitement, it is not happiness.

Happiness depends on unhappiness. Bliss is transcendence: one moves beyond the duality of being happy and unhappy. Bliss is without any opposite to it. It is serene, tranquil, cool. It is ecstasy without any excitement. This is what meditation is all about.

Has anyone here done what Leo has said and become consciousness, without any Self? Has anyone here actually achieved Truth (like described by Leo)? I've watched all of Leo's videos. I love his teachings. I want to believe all he says, but I have a hard time with some of the deeper philosophies. For instance, all matter doesn't exist, there is just a never-ending field of consciousness of infinite possibilities. And everything is infinity. And we have zero control over any aspect of anything, not even moving your finger or making a choice. And if you truly realize all this. All your suffering and fear disappears, and you are at peace and a state of bliss. And once you get there, you can never go back to the suffering. You reached enlightenment. But, I've been an atheist my whole life. I studied science. I have believed that we are matter and we can control our life. But I also have tried everything and have always still suffered. So if this can work, I would gladly dedicate 1000 hours to achieve this. I'm willing to give up everything I know. But, I have a hard time believing anyone that says they have the answers or the truth that can set you free. Been burned by too many religious con-artists, shamans that were just out for their own ego, and everyone else's own opinion of how everything works in life. So could Leo's teachings be just another opinion? He is extremely convincing in telling you that it's not an opinion, but experienceable Truth. But only if you dedicate 1000 hours to hard work to get there. Could 99.999% of people be wrong and just a hand full of people, like Leo, know the true Truth? I'd like to think so. Like I said, I love his teachings. I want to achieve what he says is possible through these teachings. The catch is, you have to believe it's possible, to even have the drive to dedicate 1000 hours to it. So has anyone actually known someone who actually achieved these highest levels of Truth and Enlightenment? If no one has achieved it, or actually met any of these handful of Enlightened people, then how can we truly know it is possible?

The only condition to change is the condition your mind is in, ie from ego-mind/false-mind/love-hate-mind/ambivalent-mind to true-mind/love-mind/higher-mind/bliss-mind/enlightened-mind/constant-mind/clear-mind. IOW you are not here to change conditions, conditions are here to change you, ie the mind you are living in and as.

If anyone is curious about how this technique works, I recommend reading this paper by Bernardo Kastrup: http://jcn.cognethic.org/jcnv4i3_Kastrup.pdf Here's the most relevant part (under "Cerebral Hypoxia"): "Fainting or near-fainting caused by restrictions of oxygen supply to the brain is known to induce liberating feelings of self-transcendence. For instance, the potentially fatal ‘choking game’ played by teenagers worldwide (Macnab 2009) is an attempt to induce such feelings through partial strangulation (Neal 2008, 310–315). The psychotherapeutic technique of holotropic breathwork (Rhinewine & Williams 2007), as well as more traditional yogic breathing practices, use hyperventilation to achieve similar effects: by increasing blood alkalinity levels, they interfere with normal oxygen uptake in the brain and ultimately lead to what is described as an expansion of ordinary awareness (Taylor 1994). Even straightforward hyperventilation outside a therapeutic context can lead to self-transcending experiences, such as described in this anecdotal—though representative—report: One of us stood against a tree and breathed deeply for a while and then took a very deep breath. Another pushed down hard on his ribcage ... This rendered the subject immediately unconscious ... When I tried it, I didn’t think it would work, but then suddenly I was in a meadow which glowed in yellow and red, everything was extremely beautiful and funny. This seemed to last for ages. I must say that I have never felt such bliss ever again. (Retz 2007)" And this is from Kastrup's book "Dreamed Up Reality" (p. 37): «The main causal element in the efficacy of Holotropic Breathwork seems to be the intensified breathing, or voluntary hyperventilation. Hyperventilation is known to raise the alkalinity level of the blood and cause constriction of blood vessels in the brain. This, naturally, perturbs ordinary brain function and is a reason why lightheadedness and fainting are sometimes observed in association with hyperventilation. Interestingly, in an article published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, it has been suggested that, through a process related to psychological dissociation, Holotropic Breathwork may reduce the efficacy of certain brain filters, «resulting in disinhibition of previously avoided or suppressed internal stimuli.[27]»

Trip report: I did it only for 20 minutes, because my hands were starting to feel very weird. The 20 minutes after, I was in a state of pure bliss. I think kind of like what feeling "high" must be, even though I never have been high with drugs like weed or something else. Right now I'm thinking I want to do this every day, because it felt great! Is it in any way addictive?