List Of Enlightenment Exercises

[Cezar]

On 1/2/2017 at 10:53 PM, Leo Gura said:

Notice that an image of your body or your face is NOT actually you!!!!

Become deeply conscious of this until your identity breaks down.

@Leo Gura I notice that, but i also notice i can't feel the sensations of my body without an image occurring in my mind. And is happen the same with the sound. For example : When i hear a airplane, and i can not see it, the image of the airplane appear in my mind. 

My questions is:

                              Is bad because is happening that? It must be otherwise, or that is happening to any enlightenment people?

                              If it is wrong, how can i get rid of that images and just feel raw sensation and raw sounds without come up with these images?

Thank you 

 

 

[Angel Colvin]

A lot of useful information. Thanks for sharing!

[Arnold666]

Got a new trick up the sleeves:

1) Set timer 40 min.

2)Sit down and do a focus meditation for 20 minutes. Focus like a motherfucker, every time you get lost in thoughts only by a tiny nano second you get right back on the breath. Push, stretch and force your concentration. Like a muscle, you are working out here, you badass Mr. Mind Olympia  !

3) After 20 min, you build up that focus, now you put your sharp ass focus on Being, or I AM ness. You focus on the I AM ness like your life depends on it.  Now every time you get lost in thoughts only by a tiny nano second you get right back on the I AM NESS ! You do this for 20 minutes.

4) After this you get ya ass up, but mindful on the I AM ness. You move around, you see things hear things smell things taste things, but now, every time you get lost in experience only by a tiny nano second you ask yourself: What's not changing ? or What hasn't changed ? and get right back on the I AM ness.

You take a shit, get lost in thoughts ask What hasn't changed ? Get right back on the I AM ness.

You eat and I AM NESS, got lost in thoughts ask, Ok, what's not changing ? I AM NESS.

And try to keep it, or more exactly try to Be more and more.

Simple. Kinda real time neti neti.

Have fun !

P.s. What hasn't changed since you started reading this ?

[abrakamowse]

@Arnold666 Cool. I will try that tonight!

:-)

[Dmon]

So when I do self inquiry a lot of the time I get like a kinda mild headache sensation, was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? Not sure if I'm doing it wrong?!?

[Deepconcepts]

Discrimination of different methods is so common with enlightenment from people who are seeking and have experienced its varying forms. Has anyone read siddhartha by herman Hesse?

Being able to transition from analytics  to non thinking and being present could only be that significant by spending an entire life of asking what it means to be.

Leo has said in his videos that meditating or reading things like, scriptures, texts, or doing self inquiry should only be used as an adjunct to thr practice of seeking enlightenment.

If you are disagree with out of the box thinking being a pillar of enlightenment i wonder why you joined this site in the first place.

Edited March 9, 2019 by Deepconcepts

[RanaReyhan]

On 2017/1/2 at 11:53 PM, Leo Gura said:

This thread is meant to be a concise list of exercises pointing to the truth of enlightenment -- the truth of no-self.

All of the exercises listed herein are PRACTICAL! They are NOT philosophical or theoretical. They are not to be debated or pondered intellectually. They are to be actually done! Do each exercise carefully and notice what direct experience reveals. Often times direct experience will reveal something counter-intuitive, something that goes totally against all common-sense and any models you have of how reality works.

Feel free to contribute your own exercises to this thread. But do so in a concise and practical manner, so whoever is reading this thread can focus on LOOKING or CONTEMPLATION versus debating or asking theoretical questions.

This document is a work-in-progress. I'll keep adding more exercises to the list.

Here are some of my favorites so far:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercise #1: Drawing An Imaginary Line

 

Exercise #2: Noticing Space As Unitive

 

Exercise #3: Noticing That All Phenomena Is Democratic

 

Exercise #4: Noticing Objects Exist Only Where They Are

 

Exercise #5: Sensory Field Connection

 

Exercise #6: Noticing There Are No Objects

 

Exercise #7: Noticing The Self-Image Isn't You

 

Exercise #8: Noticing You Are Not A Point-Camera

 

Exercise #9: Noticing The Gap Between Thoughts

 

Exercise #10: Noticing The Source Of Thoughts

 

Exercise: #11: Noticing That Sound Occurs Exactly Where It Is

 

Exercise #12: Noticing The External World Doesn't Exist

 

Exercise #13: Noticing Other People Do Not Exist

 

Exercise #14: Noticing That Nothing Is Hidden

 

The above exercises are true enlightenment work. This is where the rubber meets the road.

Keep practicing all of these exercises diligently, for months, until all your imaginary paradigms of reality break down and you are left only with direct experience. When you start to feel like this silly creature below, you're on the right track:

"Imaginary paradigms of reality Break down" ! How beautifully explained!

Enjoy

 

[WorknMan]

Question about Exercise #8:

Quote

An object is really just a series of sensations. And one sensation can perceive another sensation.

Should 'can' in bold say 'can't' instead, or am I just misunderstanding what it's trying to say? 

 

[ahmad ibdah]

are you going to update the list ?

[rNOW]

Something I've been trying recently: It's a mixture of two exercises - one from Eckhart Tolle and another from someone I remotely knew about who used to refer to himself in third person. To a lot of people it seemed crazy, but when I started practicing it, I realized the value in it. 

Exercise: Referring to yourself by your name instead of "I" or "me". 

Here's how to go about it. 

Whatever you're thinking, saying or doing at this very moment, focus your internal dialogue on it as if you were another person observing yourself think, say and do that. 

Example, while typing this, I am saying to myself: "rNOW is typing this post. rNOW is thinking if this exercise is worthy of sharing here. rNOW is thinking of shutting down the computer and going to bed. Is rNOW using this website to procrastinate?"

The easy thing about it is, you can practice this anywhere anytime doing whatever. It might seem overwhelming in the beginning but gets better with practice. You start noticing that the difference between you and others start melting because you can now look at yourself as if you were someone else. Same with things. There was one particular moment where I had the subject/object mixed up: I was saying to myself "rNOW is filling the tumbler with water. rNOW is observing the water bubbles forming in the tumbler." Followed by a sudden twist "The tumbler is being filled by rNOW. The water bubbles are being observed by rNOW" and on and on. In those moments, all thoughts cease. Even though these dialogues seem like thoughts, they are not. They're just observations you're recording to discard the next moment. 

And then you begin to notice there probably is no difference between the tumbler and water and you, even if for a split second, there is no you. 

Subtle Warning: Try to keep these dialogues internal if you want others to leave you alone. May warrant unwanted attention if practiced aloud. 

[abrakamowse]

@rNOW  It is said that Caesar used to refer to himself in third person very often. But I am not sure, I read about that long time ago.

[Aneta]

@Leo Gura Have you tried a sensory deprivation tank? I dont mediate much and not tried DMT but I learned a lot from your videos so I thought of you during my experience. I experienced no thoughts and then a godlike experience as if it was before the universe was created. Im not sure if it was really an awakening experience because I didnt feel any positive feeling from it but I wanted to get your take on it. 

[MusicalPotato]

On 1/2/2017 at 5:53 PM, Leo Gura said:

Exercise #13: Noticing Other People Do Not Exist

Exercise #13 is my favorite. 

[Astra]

Here some stuff I do. 

1. Close all of your human senses. Then imagine a unique experience as vividly as you can. This experience should include sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. This experience should be in first person. When you are bored of the experience watch it fade and see what remains.  

 

2. Same as excersise 1 except this time imagine you have a split screen in your mind. One screen is the first person experience of “being #1” (ex: dog, human, plant, etc). One screen is the first person experience of “being 2”. Imagine these beings interacting with each other while viewing both of their first person experiences at the same time. Try to create as many screens and points of view as you can at once. All beings you imagine must be in the same enviornment/able to see each other. Realize these “beings” are just your imagination. 

 

3. Same as excersise 1 but  switch from first person to third person often. Realize you can control the imagination from third person view.

 

4. Same as excersise 1 but imagine a being that forgot that it is imaginary/thinks the experience is real. Experience him being killed from first person view. Realize when the illussion fades u know it was just an imaginary experience you wanted to have.

 

5. Imagine a huge galaxy. Zoom out until it is super small. imagine many more galaxies  surrounding that one. Repeat for a while then imagine all of that being on the surface of a leaf. Imagine a pile of leaves. Realize imagination is unlimited. 

 

6. Imagine something watch it fade. See the peace/silence that remains/was always there. Then Imagine that your body is filled with this peace/silence. Imagine that all objects in your surroundings are filled with this silence/peace. Imagine the air is filled with it. Realize all is one and that one is never touched or seen.

 

7. Astral project and then say “nondual state now” over and over again. Once the body shatterers think  “infinity now” over and over again. Realize reality is mental/imaginary.

 

8. Contemplate “if I didn’t have a body why imagine anything?” 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Astra

[liquid]

Why can't I be this combination of things? Why do you want to boil everything down to a single? 

[Danial Walker]

Firstly thanks Leo for sharing this information.

Yes, these are all real based exercises. I have learned all this exercise. It's about 2 years ago when I was self demotivate by others and they always try to low down my motive of life.

For this reason, I joined some spiritual life coaching classes for 2 months where the coaches teach me different exercises for self-motivation and inner peace. This exercise helps me a lot and it was exactly the same exercises that you have mentioned above.

[Hotaka]

Here's one: Observe an object or event and notice that when it comes towards your experience the future is actually coming towards you. The object or event is coming from the past into the future yes, but it could also be seen as the future coming towards the present. A bit mindboggling I know.

[Hotaka]

Another one: Any sensation you have, be it smell, taste, touch or something in your body, such as pain, notice that within that sensation is always emptiness, so that sensation doesn't actually exist does it? I don't know so.

[DualityTheory]

On 03/01/2017 at 1:07 PM, Martin123 said:

@Juan Cruz Giusto
T̶h̶e̶y̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ {hippie rubbish from a potential virgin who likes animes who doesn't know sh about life)

No. They're 》them《, NOT you, as only you are and can be you as you.

No, they are not existence, they are simply people who happens to exist.

Terms. learn. Basic english. 

How cool is to recognize this? Does it hurt? Why the desperation to believe otherwise?

Edited May 7, 2020 by DualityTheory

[XeRnOg]

Meditation is about directly experiencing knowledge that either confirms or rejects a hypothesis. Beliefs or ideas should be validated through directly experiencing knowledge using meditation rather than forcing yourself to try to confirm a belief or idea through meditation.

It should be as objective as possible.

 

I'm not enlightened, and I don't know everything. However, if I could choose one thing I have learned and forget everything else, it would be that to find knowledge requires that you not try to validate or confirm anything in meditation and to have a curiosity. It is the one thing to remember everything else.

Edited July 22, 2020 by XeRnOg