Has anybody here ever experience the dark sides of meditation?

[MM1988]

This is one of the things I just cant believe. All these talk about dangers of yoga and meditation.

Ive pretty deep into this spirituality thing but I just cant believe that this stuff can happen from just sitting and watching my breath. Also I cant believe that I could mentally screw myself up for life by just visualizing stuff, tucking my belly in, rolling in my tongue etc. as it is with yogic techniques. Is there any validity at all to this?

[MM1988]

By the way, I absolutely do believe that all of this can happen from psychedelics. 

[SoonHei]

its all about changing the state of mind. by watching your breath you are letting go of the chatter of the mind and coming more into the present... once you approach the present, all that crazy stuff can start to happen and you can explore it  

[Martin123]

@MM1988 Hey! Well from what its worth the "dark side" happened to me without meditation or psychedelics... 

[SoonHei]

@Martin123 ???

how so? do tell... and how did you make that state pass / go away

[Martin123]

@SoonHei I didnt! It ate me alive, again and again and again.

Just to be clear, what I meant is enormous amounts of emotional trauma resurfacing. 

[Preetom]

@MM1988

You never know what's coming...until it hits you 

[SoonHei]

@Martin123 hmmm. so it was directly personal about past memories or even current on-going issues in life?

 

was there the whole sense of everything being meaningless , a very strong sense? or it was just the emotional stuff?

[Martin123]

@SoonHei Of course! haha

Let me describe what this whole party is about.

There are deep emotional wounds within our being, that are pilled up and create a very strong energetic momentum, this momentum is often called an ego.

There comes a point, where this momentum reaches a certain peak or stage of its evolution, and starts collapsing onto itself.
As the momentum collapses the stored pain emotional underneath starts being processed, and really big emotional upheavels become a part of our experience. And eventually as the momentum is decreasing and collapsing you often find yourself in states of really profound apathy, depression, meaninglessness, total and absolute existential boredom, confusion, frustration and loneliness.
All these states are the symptoms of the ego-momentum being released out of your system, and during a period of time your system reorients itself and recharges into authentic inspiration, relief and safety of your true divine nature. 

So really the meaninglessness is a symptom where your ego is being rehabilitated into more alignment. Does this make sense? :-) 

Edited July 31, 2018 by Martin123

[How to be wise]

@MM1988 I’ve had many of them already. Physical illnesses like diarrhoea, extreme stomach aches and even a fever which came during my self inquiry practice. Of course I’ve had my episodes of extreme anxiety and anger which came up during or shortly after my self inquiry. I often experience severe leg pain and chest pain during the practice. I even had several instances where I experienced something that actually happened moments later. I remember once I woke up and went over to my iPad to check the time. Just before I clicked the iPad, I had a vivid image in my mind of ‘11:27’. Two seconds later I clicked it and that was the exact time. Another time I was on the street and I had a thought of somebody shouting ‘laa’. Five seconds later, somebody in the streets shouted exactly that. I’ve been doing the self inquiry for four months now. 

[SoonHei]

@Martin123 thank you Martin! and yes. totally makese sense. it actually clarifies a few things i did not know about as well. thanks. 

so really... one should tell him/herself that to batten down the hatches and let the storm pass?

 

because it WILL pass (this too shall pass) eventually?

the period of that state can vary depending on how much ego needs to be cleansed?

 

also. i have a question to you about something if you can advise.

let's say i have a drug addiction. and i take it upon myself to end it - slowly... 

say i was doing weed 3 times per week.. and slowly and surely, after a year... i cut it down fully that i have stopped. 

during this time i will have the emotions bubble up stemming from the shunning of the addiction and me avoiding it and lessen the use of drug, this way i am doing an ego-cleanse, but it's a slow and steady method

 

another way is the one you descirbe that it just happens spontansiouesly... it will be much more intense as i did not plan on it and it's this whole of addiction coming out in a small amount of time

or if it's brought upon from a lsd/shroom/dmt trip or a deep meditation session... again, talking about the fast/quick outflow of the ego-cleansing vs in the 1st senario i took it upon myself to "ask for forgiveness" / end my addiction..

 

at the end of the day, is the destination the same? aka the same new level of ego-cleanse after the addiction is removed either slowly over the year vs rapidly, induced by meditation/phsydellic trip realization ?

 

thanks

[Martin123]

2 minutes ago, SoonHei said:

at the end of the day, is the destination the same? aka the same new level of ego-cleanse after the addiction is removed either slowly over the year vs rapidly, induced by meditation/phsydellic trip realization ?

Yes, absolutely!

This is so cool I am actually struggling with my addictions right now as well!

Let me share what Ive realized.

The addiction, for me its video games, it can be weed as you mentioned, alcohol, sex, drugs, relationships, success pursuit etc., is actually what your inner child, or the emotional patterns within you developed as a substitution for love. And the hardest thing, that we eventually get right, is allowing all those cravings come up, and giving all those parts of you who crave the love they truly desire. They dont know that they desire love underneath it all, because it was never really given to them in the past, and so at first they cant really accept it because theyre not too familiar with it.

[SoonHei]

@How to be wise what techniques of meditation do you use? varied? and which gave you the best results? please list any questions u ask as well, the go-to questions 

[SoonHei]

5 minutes ago, Martin123 said:

And the hardest thing, that we eventually get right, is allowing all those cravings come up, and giving all those parts of you who crave the love they truly desire.

@Martin123  what do you mean? 

like the hardest part is to allow myself to purse these addictions? 

unsure what u mean by allowing all those cravings come up?

[Martin123]

@SoonHei Well there can be a part of you that really wants weed. And you can say to that part of yourself, I know, im so sorry, but I cant give that to you its not good for you, but I am going to love you because that is what you truly deserve.

[SoonHei]

5 minutes ago, Martin123 said:

but I am going to love you because that is what you truly deserve.

give it what it deserves, not what it needs right now (Dark Knight)

 

Love it  Thanks.

[Prabhaker]

If you start meditation and you do not suffer, it means it is not meditation, but just a hypnosis. With a real, authentic meditation you will suffer more, because you will become more aware. You will see the ugliness of your anger, you will feel the cruelty of your jealousy, you will now know the evidence of your behaviour. Now, in every gesture, you will begin to feel where a hidden animal in you, and you will suffer. But this is how one grows.

[Martin123]

@SoonHei Youre welcome! :-) 

[SoonHei]

6 minutes ago, Prabhaker said:

With a real, authentic meditation you will suffer more, because you will become more aware. You will see the ugliness of your anger, you will feel the cruelty of your jealousy, you will now know the evidence of your behaviour.

about this. what if one purifies his soul via the longer route outside of meditation. clearly meditation is just one of the paths... (maybe the best and the most direct as Leo says as well) but if i want to avoid having to run into my huge demons inside (hopefully there are none, but I am not the once to set expectations and get a mind-fuck later) can i not do it via another way and purge it out slowly and grow that way?

for example, i guess we are all egoic and evil within to some extent... but there are nice and pious people out there.. that after meditation they wont have much ego to go thru... 

i want to get better person without that and lose the ego slowly on my own, then go into the arms of meditation for indepth cleaning but it will be easier i hope then as opposed to diving staright into meditation and getting a full knockout punch which has not been rinsed or washed otherwise...

[Prabhaker]

2 hours ago, SoonHei said:

what if one purifies his soul via the longer route outside of meditation.

Then meditation is not needed.