When did you guys start meditating?

[moon777light]

And how long did it take you to achieve a nondual glimpse? what type of meditation? Any people here who had multiple nondual glimpes without psychedelics?

What about people who meditated for years before trying psychedelic? How was it like trying it?

 

[purerogue]

It did not take me that long,about 2 years, but I was completely green(not in spiral dynamic sense), it was rather heavy experience that I was not ready for, so I took different approach from there, I guess it took me about  one and a half year after that to get to next one.

I have always put  effort to bring meditation,self inquiry,just observing and lots of experimental stuff to daily life, sitting mediation was more of a side thing,

There are quite few topics already about how to get there in forum, if you think that you are ready I would suggest too look them up and try in practice, it is really not hard, just need correct approach that suits you and you have to be able to let go of "I" resistance that will hold you away from it. 

Edited April 14, 2019 by purerogue

[moon777light]

just wondering what people on here are doing. Im doing mindfulness meditation (trying to incorporate into daily life) and kriya yoga every day.

Im learning patience day by day. Its frustrating haha

What was it like?

[purerogue]

9 minutes ago, moon777light said:

just wondering what people on here are doing. Im doing mindfulness meditation (trying to incorporate into daily life) and kriya yoga every day.

Im learning patience day by day. Its frustrating haha

What was it like?

How would you feel when all your world shatters and you have no clue what you got yourself into. 

I want to add that I did not fell much when it happened, my non-dual experience itself was not that bad, but when I got pulled back was when it started to go crazy, mind starts to play with your experiences. 

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by purerogue

[Preetom]

@moon777light

You probably wont hit a solid non dual glimpse with 30 minutes-1 hour daily practice. Not until at least 2-3 years. Sure you'll have several mini glimpses here and there and maybe with every sit if you get a hang of it.

But if you are really willing to taste a non dual glimpse as quickly as possible without psychs then my bet is a self inquiry solo retreat. Thats how I first tasted this stuff.

7 days. 10 hours a day self inquiry. Set it at home. You dont have to sit in posture. You can just casually sit on couch or a chair. You'll feel like tearing part your hair if self inquiry is new to you. But if you manage to push through, within 3-4 days you'll have a very distinguishable awakening experience which might drop you on the floor.

That's the most efficient way to have a solid experience of non dual glimpse without psychedelics that i know of so far. And the good news is, the effects will likely stick for some days to weeks instead of fading after few hours

Edited April 14, 2019 by Preetom

[moon777light]

@purerogue i wouldnt know how i would feel about that haha. What do you mean your mind started playing with your experiences and that it got crazy?

@Preetom thats cool! i wanted to do the self inquiry daily but im not ready for it yet. Im first trying to build a concrete concentration with the mindfulness and kriya, then i'll add self inquiry later on. my mind is very INTP type, if you follow Myers-Briggs, and so im crazy about making routines that are as logical as possible, even though we're talking about things that are complete opposite of logical lol, seeing precise routines of others and experiences, etc

[purerogue]

4 minutes ago, moon777light said:

@purerogue i wouldnt know how i would feel about that haha. What do you mean your mind started playing with your experiences and that it got crazy?

No it was more of an existential crisis, life is meaningless and stuff like that. 

[moon777light]

yikes  

[Preetom]

@moon777light

If you are building daily meditation routine, then discipline is the key. But don't conflate that with non dual awakening experiences. 

I'm mentioning this as you asked about non dual glimpses in OP. Chances are non dual glimpses wont happen with daily 1-2 hours meditation, unless you are a 5-10 years vet haha.

So I mentioned the retreat like setting if you wanna glimpse this thing called non duality for yourself as quickly as possible.

And another thing about self inquiry, its better not to have the expectation that one day it will be a cake walk all of a sudden. Its like a musical instrument on its own. No matter how much you practice piano, that wont help you learning the drums. You'll have to get used to it through those brutal failures and ups and downs. And the good news is, like any other technique, it gets better and better as you start to have a hang of it

Edited April 14, 2019 by Preetom

[purerogue]

Exactly , ups and downs are part of process, when you have thous downs you actually get to engrave some good lessons in your empty skull.   

[SriBhagwanYogi]

@moon777light this what @Preetom said! I got some nondual blissfull awakening from self inqury i was in that state for weeks. Well i did it hardcore 3 4 hours every day... 

It will seem too simple and your Ego will want some spiritual circus 

Try to do it even when you are in bed, walking, eating... Do it dont thin about it Good luck ??

 

 

[moon777light]

2 hours ago, Preetom said:

And another thing about self inquiry, its better not to have the expectation that one day it will be a cake walk all of a sudden. Its like a musical instrument on its own. No matter how much you practice piano, that wont help you learning the drums. You'll have to get used to it through those brutal failures and ups and downs. And the good news is, like any other technique, it gets better and better as you start to have a hang of it

thanks for the motivation

Im doing my first retreat hopefullyyy this year, but not self-inquiry, rather vipassana. 

@purerogue im starting to think thats its the downs of the spiritual practices that shape us to who we are and how one progresses vs other/what one sees and understands  

@SriBhagwanYogi thank you, i actually watched all of those and took notes. My favorite is Rupert Spira's guided self inquiry. The thing is i can't keep on doing the same guided meditation because my intellectual mind gets used it, already knows what hes going to say and then i dont get in the zone anymore ha How long did you do that 3-4 hours a day thing?

[MuddyBoots]

I was 17 when I learned Transcendental Meditation; (this was a long time ago, it was a lot cheaper being under 18!). I knew nothing of non-dualism, didn't really know what Transcending was or Enlightenment but I got glimpses of 'something' after a few months, then went through various other phases: Rinzai Zen, Theravada, Krishnamurti. Now I just do my own thing, mainly mindfulness, mindfulness of breathing, passive awareness / letting go) and loving kindness (no drugs). But that's just a list of meditation techniques and what you call a nondual glimpse can happen anytime not just with sitting meditation. I prefer to have multiple names for the mystical state (transcend, non-dual, jhana, samadhi, holy spirit etc etc), to remind me that this is beyond all words and thoughts, and getting attached to a particular theology or philosophy will likely pull me back to dualism (aka sin, worldliness, samsara). But increasingly I think that trying to achieve particular states different to this one is unnecessary. Enlightenment is about shining the light of awareness onto every unfolding moment.

I haven't tried self-inquiry, perhaps that's one to explore too. Huge respect to you for doing 3-4 hours practice per day!  My main challenge is carving out a regular routine for daily meditation, in all these years I never managed more than 30-60 mins per day, except when on a retreat. But then there's another type of gentle bliss I get from regular life too, being a husband, having a home, family and a job etc.


Nick.

[SriBhagwanYogi]

@moon777light Its fastest way most direct but still you need to do it all day if you can. I did 1 hour in morning and 1 hour before sleep and basicly all day when i am in bed, walking driving you dont need specific time and place. Mawakening happend around 20 days it was more beutifull then Mdma or weed!!! 

[isabel]

I've had multiple mini-glimpses with just 30 minutes a day of meditation but I also listen to chanting, and non-dual speakers a lot on you tube, plus I try to meditate or self inquire any time I'm just walking, waiting in line, doing the dishes, etc.

oh actually sometimes I go longer 45 to 90 minutes on the weekends...and I do graphic design so I don't have to think while I work, I can listen to videos or whatever so I do that all day

so the mini-glimpses are really the coolest thing ever for me, there is no mistaking having one, I just all of the sudden feel like everything is absolutely perfect, I laugh, I cry, I am amazed, things look really detailed, and more intricate than I ever noticed before...everything is either very beautiful or extremely funny, it's very funny, all of it

at first I didn't even know why that happened because it doesn't happen for me during meditation but just randomly with no notice but now I think it's because meditation causes that to happen later just at random times

I started with the instructions in the "psychology of mystical awakening" and I also try to read from this book a little each day, then I also tried meditating to sounds and just having only sounds in my mind, and I am now following along with rupert spira's guided meditations, love them

I haven't done any psychedelics for spiritual reasons but I did a lot when I was a kid just for fun

I'm going through some pretty intense ups and downs too, idk why that happens yet but I don't really care because I feel like it's totally worth it and I'm in an upswing right now so...

[thesmileyone]

2012
about 11,000 hours
70% or so in nonduality.

[Forestluv]

7 hours ago, moon777light said:

And how long did it take you to achieve a nondual glimpse? what type of meditation? Any people here who had multiple nondual glimpes without psychedelics?

What about people who meditated for years before trying psychedelic? How was it like trying it?

I started dedicated meditation when I was 22y.o. I started having nondual "glimpses", after a few months. Yet I didn't "catch" them. They were fleeting glimpses and they would even pass by, get dismissed or contextualized as simply an experience. For example, I there may be a moment with a lover in which our selves "melted" and we were one. There was simply the presence of love. No "me" or "her" to take ownershp of it. It was a brief moment, then my mind would come back and start thinking. .  "that was really cool", "that felt good", "I think I love her, what if she leaves me?". All sorts of thoughts and stories arose. 

I practiced meditation for 24 years without a single drug. No psychedelics, no cannabis, not even a drop of alcohol. Nothing put meditation, retreats, dharma talks etc. I had many nondual glimpses, which I can recognize now - yet at the time they were pleasant experiences or "insights", yet I was too immersed in the storyline and personality and I didn't really know what they were, or that they were keys to a "transcendental" realm. Part of the problem was all the contextualization. In my own mind, yet also by teachers. Quite often, teachers would take these experiences and contextualize them. They would tell me what they mean and how it should be. I've learned that observing one's own direct experience is sooo important,. 

After about 22yrs of meditation, I started sensing I was missing something profound and important. I started getting an internal voice of "you aren't listening". I did the best I could to surrender more and listen more - yet that sense did not go away. I saw some people talking about psychedelics on a forum on reddit. With a few of them, I felt they were on to something. And it very much resonated with that inner part of me saying "you aren't listening". Yet for my entire adult life I had been strongly against all drugs and alcohol in spirituality. I used to call it spiritual cartoon books. I even spoke at high schools about the dangers of drugs and alcohol - so I pushed that inner voice down - for another 2 years.

Finally, I decided I would try it once for strictly spiritual purposes. I spent a couple months researching for the best one. At this time in my life, I had no big "issues". I had a steady job and was financially secure. I didn't have depression or major life problems. I wasn't looking to escape. I wasn't looking to end suffering. I wasn't looking to become enlightened. I didn't even know about this forum. It really came down to that inner voice yearning for a "something". I was really curious what this was. What was this inner voice saying "you aren't listening". I'm not listening to what? I knew it was deeper than "me" and I would have to surrender all to allow it to appear. So there was a lot of anxiety before my that first trip. I took a moderate dose and still felt like me and redosed to go deeper. Then it happened. . . It's hard to describe the reality of the experience - which many others have on the forum with "trip reports". In terms of my everyday life - it had a profound impact. The biggest single event in my life up to that point, by far. Second place isn't even close.

A few of the biggest life changing things for me where:

1) Full-on ego death - the complete dissolution of the self. I had spent many many years discussing the psychological self and the nature of the ego - in particular with buddhist groups. I got into places in which my mind thought it had some understanding, yet there was always a deeper sense that I wasn't quite "getting it". This is a major source of the seeking behavior. My mind-body experienced a lot of seeking - maybe "it's at a retreat", "maybe if I meditate more", "maybe if I do yoga" it will come. . . The entire story got dissolved to nothing - four hours later the story began to arise again. That I am a man. I live in a house. I grew up in New Jersey. I have a family. My parents are republicans, yet I am more liberal. There was awareness of this story being created - as if I was watching a movie. It was unbelievably profound. 

2) A sense of "knowing". After the story began to get re-created and the "me" returned. There was a knowing of beingness without the ego. There was a sudden realization of . . . "So, that's what the Buddhists were talking about all those years!!!". So many times, there seemed to be knowing - yet it was always relevant. The sand would shift and I didn't know anymore and I would seek more knowing. This was different. An absolute profound knowing that "that's it". There was zero need for verification or validation. I didn't need to get online to ask if it was some kind of "it". I didn't need to read up on it in a book. I didn't need to visit my Buddhist group or teacher to ask them about it. in a sense, this was a higher teacher and it was unmistake-able. Something fundamentally changed that day and people around me could tell a difference.

3) A different energetic shift of seeking. For my entire adult life, I was a seeker. A seeking of truth through science and spirituality. The seeking energy was oriented "out there". Seeking truth through teachers, books - maybe it's in an ashram. Always looking out there to find it. Now, a very profound energetic shift took place - I lost interest in that form of seeking and a new energy of seeking truth through direct experience arose. I realized how I had been contracted in science and buddhism. Now I saw that they were within a greater truth. So, when a scientist or buddhist would say this is the truth - it now had a very different meaning to me. The seeking energy now shifted toward my own direct experience and getting in touch with that higher teacher "within" and exploring direct experience. 

[tedens]

Remember, it's not the quantity that counts but the quality of 'work'.

[lmfao]

@moon777light I'm sure you've had glimpses, everyone does. Everyone progresses at different speeds and its all about what you want from the practice that matters. It's a saying in zen or something that satori can take 3 seconds or it can take 3 decades. I've been meditating daily for more or less 14 months, but I've probably missed at least a 1/3 of those days maybe more. I had my first non-dual glimpse meditating on a cold bus strangely enough. It was my third or so time meditating, but it was still profound to me because of how much of a shock it was to me. I would move my arm, turn my head, blink and realise that it wasn't me who was doing all those things. I haven't had many glimpses from meditating, but it does feel like purification. Probably a handful of "glimpses" but there are more muted monkey mind and higher consciousness states. 

Edited April 14, 2019 by lmfao

[ValiantSalvatore]

@moon777light I started in 2015, I had potentially one non-dual glimpse near the early stages of my meditation journey. I tested a couple of techniques, from self-inquiry, do-nothing, sweeping of body sensations meditation (some meditation from an app), mindfulness meditation/vipassana from shinzen young and that is about it.

The longest non-dual glimpse I had was when I pet my aunt's dog as a child, after that the dog always came to me. Yet, this was like 3hours long and very weird experience. Similar to what I experienced doing a do-nothing technique and the one glimpse I had at the beginning of my journey.

I will tend to stick with do-nothing and the various techniques from Shinzen young. Self-inquiry I will save for psychedelic trips that helped me tremendously there.

Edited April 15, 2019 by ValiantSalvatore