What method/practices are you currently using for spiritual work?

[sleep]

I'm curious to know what methods the people on this forum use to reach enlightenment, do spiritual work, or whatever you want to call it. Personally I'm following the methods outlined in the book The Mind Illuminated. I was doing kriya yoga previously but I decided to drop it for a little bit in order to develop my mindfulness and attention abilities. 

[SQAAD]

I meditate every day . Just watching my breath. It has become effortless now. I really enjoy it. That's the key i think. To find something you really enjoy and become profficient at it. After few years my state has changed. I am no longer absorded by thoughts like i used to. I recognize that i am not the thoughts. It's a very good state. And i feel very grateful for starting meditating 4 years ago. Leo planted that seed of meditation in my head. By far meditation, is the best thing i've ever done for myself. 

I strongly believe one should have a meditation practice or other spiritual practice as his base. And on top of that base you can add psychedelics. Meditation is very important. And very underrated. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by SQAAD

[sleep]

2 minutes ago, SQAAD said:

I meditate every day . Just watching my breath. It has become effortless now. I really enjoy it. That's the key i think. To find something you really enjoy and become profficient at it. After few years my state has changed. I am no longer absorded by thoughts like i used to. I recognize that i am not the thoughts. It's a very good state. And i feel very grateful for starting meditating 4 years ago. Leo planted that seed of meditation in my head. By far meditation, is the best thing i've ever done for myself. 

I strongly believe one should have a meditation practice or other spiritual practice as his base. And on top of that base you can add psychedelics. Meditation is very important. And very underrated. 

Yes, I agree with you. I was doing kriya yoga, but I noticed I had a hard time staying focused on certain sensations or being impersonal to some of the sensations I was feeling. Certainly, the abilities learned through meditation serve as a solid foundation for any path you decide to go through. 

[Proserpina]

Constant, daily purification work.  Being perception being my compass as to how: 

Living relatively selflessly, with warmth and kindness

Clearing mind of unnecessary chatter

Guarding my mind and actions away from hate filled and selfish thoughts and actions

In terms of practices: 

I sit in being perception everyday

I do visualization work.  I visualize beings with being perception

Self love work

Edited September 26, 2021 by Proserpina

[Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj]

I've practiced TMI before but I'm currently experimenting with a technique from Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. I breathe down to the belly and then out of the crown with a mantra and a short pause between the breaths.

How does TMI compare to Kriya Yoga?

Edited September 26, 2021 by Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj

[Matthew85]

I enjoy mindfulness practices because I can incorporate them into my daily activities. Every day I find as many things as I can to appreciate. If you only did that, your life would change in profound ways.

[sleep]

7 minutes ago, Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj said:

I've practiced TMI before but I'm currently experimenting with a technique from Vijnana Bhairava Tantra. I breathe down to the belly and then out of the crown with a mantra and a short pause between the breaths.

How does TMI compare to Kriya Yoga?

I only have limited experience with both of them, but I'd say that at least in the basic level of the practice I'm at with TMI, TMI is more simple. With kriya yoga, you have to be aware of multiple aspects of your breath, chakras, bodily sensations, etc. at once, whilst with TMI you only really have to focus on your breath, keep peripheral awareness open, and hold certain intentions. 

Also, I would say that mindfulness practice in general relies less on certain beliefs. I don't believe in chakras, it's not like this made yoga practice impossible but it was certainly hindering in some aspects, like being consistent with practice or motivation. With meditation practice there are less implied beliefs which I don't already have. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by sleep

[Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj]

1 minute ago, sleep said:

I only have limited experience with both of them, but I'd say that at least in the basic level of the practice I'm at with TMI, TMI is more simple. With kriya yoga, you have to be aware of multiple aspects of your breath, chakras, bodily sensations, etc. at once, whilst with TMI you only really have to focus on your breath, keep peripheral awareness open, and hold certain intentions. 

I see. Do you get different results with the techniques?

[sleep]

@Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj I didn't practice kriya enough to evaluate the results you get with it. With meditation, so far I'd say the biggest result I've noticed is that I'm able to experience daily life without being so absorbed into whatever stuff I go through. 

The techniques of kriya are structured with different purposes in mind than the ones laid out in TMI, so I imagine you get very different results. I read the kriya books of SantataGamana and the purpose of the techniques was to still the mind so that you could abide in that state until the ego dissolved and you realized your true nature, or something like that. 

[peanutspathtotruth]

At the moment:

• 2 hours of meditation (resting in silence / self inquiry) daily
• Gratitude, prayer, self love, contemplation (morphing into each other)
• A few kriyas, but not a full routine, just ~10-20 minutes
• Wim Hof + Alternate nostril breathing
• Journaling, mostly by speaking out loud
• IFS therapy (reading about it + implementing self-therapy sessions)
• Self massage / myofascia work
• Semen retention (despite having relapsed, back at it)
• Guided meditations / poetry
• Deep sharing and opening up in a spiritually/love imbued social group

[sleep]

@peanutspathtotruth I've been contemplating trying semen retention but I have a hard time believing it does anything besides placebo. Do you find it helpful?

[GreenWoods]

• sleep yoga 
• invoking angels and mystics
• transmissions
• self inquiry / God Consciousness meditation 

[peanutspathtotruth]

4 minutes ago, sleep said:

@peanutspathtotruth I've been contemplating trying semen retention but I have a hard time believing it does anything besides placebo. Do you find it helpful?

It's more than clear to me how much it does. It repeatedly charged me up with Shakti/Kundalini beyond any doubt. Plus, it sure helps the hormone system and addictive circuits that you might have (I do). But it's like altered states of consciousness, I can't prove it to anyone. I just know it's the healthiest way. Not forever, but as a tendency.

[impulse9]

I don't believe in spiritual work. You either see, or you don't. It's very binary.

[Porphyry Fedotov]

1 hour ago, sleep said:

Personally I'm following the methods outlined in the book The Mind Illuminated.

Same here. 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. Sometimes I do walking meditation, but not regularly. 

[GreenWoods]

37 minutes ago, sleep said:

. I read the kriya books of SantataGamana and the purpose of the techniques was to still the mind so that you could abide in that state until the ego dissolved and you realized your true nature, or something like that. 

silencing the mind is just a side effect. The way I understand it, the main goal of kriya yoga is to reach deeply nondual blissfull Samadhi which comes as a result of mastering your energy body.

IMO, kriya yoga is far more powerful than any mindfulness practice.

Why are so many people still doing mindfulness practices? It will result in mind mastery, but how is that supposed to change your nuerochemistry?

After psychedelics, I found that divine energy is the next most powerful way to change neurochemistry. That includes transmissions and invoking spirits.

Significantly altering your brainwaves (trance work and attempting sleep yoga) is the next best, IME.

Kriya yoga is also energetic, but has way less effect on Neurochemistry than divine energy, IME. But it's effect is still significantly larger than that of mindfulness meditation. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by GreenWoods

[sleep]

@impulse9 And how do you get to the point where you see? Or is it just a thing some people are born with and some aren't? 

 

[sleep]

7 minutes ago, GreenWoods said:

silencing the mind is just a side effect. The way I understand it, the main goal of kriya yoga is to reach deeply nondual blissfull Samadhi which comes as a result of mastering your energy body.

It very well could be. I read a couple of books and different authors seemed to have different views on what its purpose was supposed to be. I read someone stating that its purpose was to clear the lodged karma in your spine. 

8 minutes ago, GreenWoods said:

IMO, kriya yoga is far more powerful than any mindfulness practice.

Interesting, why do you think that? 

8 minutes ago, GreenWoods said:

Why are so many people still doing mindfulness practices? It will result in mind mastery, but how is that supposed to change your nuerochemistry?

There are plenty of studies that show that mindfulness practice can change the composition of your brain. If you're interested in the science, look into "Progress in Brain Research Volume 244" by Narayanan Srinivasan. 

[impulse9]

17 minutes ago, sleep said:

@impulse9 And how do you get to the point where you see? Or is it just a thing some people are born with and some aren't? 

"You"?

In reality, there is just seeing. It's not something you can conceptualize because your conceptualization itself is part of seeing.

[GreenWoods]

2 minutes ago, sleep said:

It very well could be. I read a couple of books and different authors seemed to have different views on what its purpose was supposed to be. I read someone stating that its purpose was to clear the lodged karma in your spine. 

Yeah I don't know. Everybody will have their own opinion.

I practiced around 500 hours of kundalini yoga and it did silence my mind a bit, but the real benefit IMO was the blissful and deep meditation that it led to. Which was not a result of a silent mind but of the energetic stuff. (You can certainly reach deep and blissful meditation through normal meditation, but IME it is far more difficult that way)

5 minutes ago, sleep said:

Interesting, why do you think that? 

Your state of consciousness depends 100% on your brain chemistry. Therfore changing brainchemistry should be the aim of spiritual practices. That's why psychedelics are so powerful.

You can change brainchemistry with normal meditation but that will take very long.  Because you are basically just using your own mindpower.

With kriya yoga you have prana that energises chakras and brain centers. Here yoh have prana to change brain chemistry. As a metaphor, this is like electrifying your neurons.

Divine energy has a similar effect but is more powerdul because it is divine. It is intelligent and you could say it has a higher frequency. Prana is dull and dry in comparison. 

11 minutes ago, sleep said:

There are plenty of studies that show that mindfulness practice can change the composition of your brain. 

Sure if you meditate for 10 000 hours you will see a change in brain chemistry. But other practices might show that after 1 000 hours, or sooner.

And given how few buddhists talk about God Consciousness, you can tell how much of brain chemistry change that really is.

13 minutes ago, sleep said:

. If you're interested in the science, look into "Progress in Brain Research Volume 244" by Narayanan Srinivasan. 

I think I might actually gonna do that at some point, thanks.