winterknight

It's a good suggestion. I'm experimenting, though, with very light amounts of work attached to making and posting these videos, so that I can feel more spontaneous about posting them. And transcription is of course tedious. Will keep it in mind for the future, though.

Simply notice to whom these claims occur. Who is affected by these "sneaky" and "twisted" tactics?

The underlying fear still remains. It's not about girls & the gym. It's about your feeling insecure and anxious, and that probably comes from childhood. But plenty of people live lives constantly trying to appease that fear and never looking inward.

I think you already know the answer.

Yes. In fact psychoanalysis itself started with traumatic pain of just the type of pain you were talking about. Freud treated women who had what when then called hysteria and would today be called conversion disorder -- women who, because of traumatic emotions, had strange and inexplicable paralyses, numbnesses, and other physical symptoms.

Yes this is my recommended translation.

You can do it once a week to start. It's fine, definitely a lot better than nothing.

If he sorted out his psychology, it's because he spent years and years reading these books, thinking about them, and trying to apply them. It wasn't just some idea acquired from a book -- it was the enormous time and effort spent engaging with all these different ideas and trying to understand and apply them. And whether he had psychologists or not (and the psychoanalysts I recommend are not just regular psychologists -- they are particular specialists), he probably had close guides and mentors beyond just an internet discussion forum.

Because psychoanalysis is not just about concepts, it’s about emotions and relationships, and it is far, far more sophisticated than just reading internet articles and trying to change yourself. There is a science and an art to all this. Do you think you could perform surgery on yourself by watching YouTube videos? No? Then why believe you could make massive changes in your psyche all by yourself, without spending decades learning?

That's the problem with silly, shallow self-help understandings of human nature. They don't work. The issues we have are deep-rooted in the psyche, and can't be changed with a simple surface understanding. That's why I've recommended psychoanalytic psychotherapy so many times.

The same biased hit piece brought up every time Mooji comes up. Mostly anonymous sources, and the author didn't even ask the ashram for a response, which the most basic journalistic ethics demands.

Basically all metaphysical questions of this kind -- e.g. about reincarnation, about the relationship of God to mortals, of the "I" to other individuals, etc. -- are all born out of the sense of separation, and the mental categories that come out of that sense of separation. But that sense of separation is not true. Therefore the mental categories that come out of it are not true. Therefore the questions that are based on those categories are not true. But of course this is just putting the matter in words -- and so this way of saying it is also, strictly speaking, not true.

That question itself arises out of a misconception. Follow the path to investigate the "I" and you'll see why.

There are no degrees of enlightenment. There may be degrees of the purity of mind, but that’s not the same thing. Best not to worry about it — it’s a sinkhole for seekers.

Yes, whoever it is that’s observing the pressure. Follow that. You notice that the pressure is in your awareness, right? So by the rule of self-inquiry, it cannot be you. It also sounds — this is just a guess — that your face muscles may be tense (maybe you’re squinting or something while trying to look inward?) while all this is going on, so if you notice that, feel free to relax them.

Follow these self-inquiry instructions and let me know if you have further problems.

4x/week is best if you can do it.

In Hinduism this is called brahmacharya. Google it and read up. Avoid tempting images & people. Find what foods stimulate your sexual appetite and avoid them. For monks, I believe traditionally that meant the avoidance of garlic, spicy foods, onions, and minimal consumption of oil/fat and dairy. And in fact just generally eating less--fasting is helpful. Engage in self-inquiry every single time a problematic thought comes up.

Definitely not at all the same. Psychoanalysis & psychodynamic therapy are similar -- psychoanalysis is more intense; psychodynamic therapy is less intense. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is totally different. It focuses on trying to "fix" you -- and it assumes that you know what needs fixing. The therapist is very active, gives you homework assignments, ask lots of questions. Psychoanalysis focuses on trying to help you achieve self-understanding, and in the process you start moving in various areas of your life. It focuses up on opening up the unconscious.

You tried contacting the people at http://www.psichoanalitikai.lt/ ?

My advice for you is a) go into psychoanalysis (something I recommend to all serious spiritual seekers) and b) start looking with curiosity at your negative emotions. What makes you think they are there to be mastered? Perhaps they are trying to give you a message. Perhaps you might try to listen. How? Maybe start writing or drawing or composing songs or other art about them... what is it like to feel these emotions? Try to capture what it’s like to feel these emotions as accurately and originally as you can...

They can be useful to open your eyes and provide some insight and motivation, but I don’t believe they can replace the rest of the spiritual path. You must still deal with your intellectual doubts and your psychological obstacles. And you must still look inward, whether in the depth of a psychedelic experience or not, to clear away the ignorance.

I'm a huge proponent of psychoanalysis (here's how to find one) for everyone who is curious about themselves, spiritually seeking, or wrestling with deep emotional problems. It is the gold standard for therapy that helps you understand who you are at a deep level. It's hard to find videos which discuss what it's about, and give you a sense of what good practitioners are like. This is excellent:

They recommend presence in the body (though that's not my recommended technique) because it's a way of quieting the mind and getting away from verbal thought. Though experience is an illusion, it's not enough to simply think that. It has to be realized in your experience. That's what all the practices are for. Neither. You should engage in constant self-inquiry.

Keep gathering info and also start practice. You do need to keep reading and thinking until you have more of an understanding of what's going on. Here is my set of recommendations, which basically revolve around a contemporary version of a Hindu school of thought called advaita vedanta. I'd follow that set of links. In particular, to manage general fear and insecurities, I'd recommend psychoanalysis (a specific kind of therapy). If you want a practice to start immediately, start with self-inquiry. It also has the virtue of being the practice you can end with...