John West

Is it dangerous to practice semen retention/no ejaculation for a long period of time? I did NoFap for about 600 Days and I'm still doing it, but I had a few wet dreams (ejaculation during sleep) so I havent practice no ejaculation. However, I found out that you can hold back the ejaculation by pulling a certain muscle. So my question is: Are there sideffects to doing NoEjaculation for a long period of time (like a few years)? Or is this beneficial? I am just a little scared wether I'm damaging something in my body. And if you'd recommend to ejaculate, how often per month would you recommend it to find the right balance?

Question regarding khechari mudra. I'm able to reach my tongue into the pharynx, but when I keep it there for a while, I feel like having a sore throat, quite similar to when you have a cold. It's not actually in the throat, it's more towards the nose (in the nasopharynx). Does this pass away with more time and practice?

How do you desynchronize your breath when you do Om Japa or Mental Kriya. When I chant "Om", I do the same movements with my vocal chords / throat as if I would say it out loud, but I dont actually vocalize it. Is it supposed to be different, like just mentally without any movements there? I think this is the reason I'm having a certain breathing which is sychronized to the "Oms"

When I inquire and try to look "at awareness/myself", I always kind of see this vibration which colours are made out of. Espacially when I defocus my gaze. Is this what is meant by "nothingness/awareness"? Is this what to focus on with self-inquiry?

I wondered wether Kechari Mudra can be dangerous. I am not past level 1, but I havent tried pushing it with my index finger. I fear that I swallo my tongue or that the tongue blocks the breath and I die ("die" in a physical sense, not Samadhi or something like this). I havent found anything about this topic on the internet, are my concerns exaggerated?

When you read a lot of Self-Helf books in general, but espacially the more spiritual stuff, I feel it is very difficult to apply the ideas. If you read e.g. "take things less personally", how do you actually practice something like this? And it's not just that, when you read a book, there is more than that involved (e.g. "do the best you can" , "love everyone" , "be grateful" , "be kind" ....). I cant possibly remember everything in every situation. If I run around just thinking about the 20 ideas I've got from a book, I'll end up paralysing. How can you practice such things? Like practically. Visualizing yourself doing it? Contemplating about why this idea works (and checking if it worked in past/direct experience)? Reading it, really going through what that means, and than just listening to my intuition?

Ok thank you

How do you face fears you really dont want to face. Like if I fear that my friend is going to die, I could face it by killing him. Obviously I dont want to do that. How can you still face that fear, without physically going through the scenario in the so called "external world"?

I'm confused about something when contemplating: When I come up with an example and look at it, experiment with it, does this automatically create the deeper understanding of that thing? Or do you need to consciously try to remember it? Is it more subconsious learning or conscious learning? Do the patterns and distinctions etc. just automatically form in the mind, or do you need to remember them? For example: I look at a book and ask myself: What is an object? What is a term? I call it book, but what makes the book a book? Is it still a book if I remove the cover? Yes. Is it still a book when you just remove half the pages? No. etc... I realized that it isn't easy and relative what you call a book and what not. So the question: Do you need to remember this realization? And other realizations you have? Because that would be quite a lot. Or is it enough to look at it and realize something? Is this enough to form over time more and more sharp distinctions and insights, a clearer picture of reality and how things work?

Question: When you focus on bhrumadhya (not merely for concentration, but for Kriya Pranayama etc.), do you lift your eyes really far up, like the man on the bottom of that website: http://legacyofwisdom.blogspot.com/2013/06/ajna-chakra.html or more like just a little bit, like this: https://de.123rf.com/photo_40443393_schönen-womans-augen-nach-oben-auf-platz-.html Is it just slightly, or rather intense? PS: Obviously the eyes are closed, the pictures are just that one can see how far the eyes are lifted.

I feel like this tingly sensation which you have while shamanic breathwork is reducing for me the more often I do the practice. The problem isn't that I necesserily want that feeling, but rather that i wonder wether the effectiveness of the practice reduces with it. I'm just a little bit concerned, if the effectiveness reduces, than I would do my shamanic breathing practices more cautious. I wondered if this is maybe even a good sign, because it's a letting go of emotional blockages.

Ok thanks. In general: How long do you guys and girls keep questions? I have a contemplation habit (daily) and I wondered if you change the topic every single day, and if not, how you decide when to move on to the next question. Because getting to the rock bottom of something takes years and decades, and that would be too long I think.

I am not quite sure what the difference is. Because when I pull up an example and I look at it, I dont feel like I learn from that. Is there a step I'm missing? I dont know if I should try to derive patterns or rules out of it because I feel like this is just mental masturbation and in the end things are too complex to create patterns or rules. I wonder if this would be mere "armchair" philosophy & mental masturbation, or if it would be something which can have benefits.

If I for example observe fear (let's say for simplicity now that I actually feel fear in my body), do I just observe the "feel" sensation? Like in Mindfulness Meditation? I feel like that whenever I ask the question "What is fear", the first answer is "an emotion". And if I just go on observing, there a just coming different answers to the question, from different point of views etc.. When I just observe, I feel like there is nothing more to it than the sensation/perception of it. I dont really get the connection between mere observation (like mindfulness meditation) and posing that question. How can I observe a thing, and at the same time try to understand it? Because whatever pops up is just an answer for me. I dont know how to understand without thinking, and I dont know how to get into this mode of"understanding beyond thinking". It's probably due to a lack of practice, been doing contemplation 30 min a day for merely a month now, but is there any tip you could give me on what I am misunderstanding techniquewise? I feel like I still do it wrong. I've watched the Actuality episode, but I struggled especially with the more deeper questions.

When you focus on bhrumadhya, do you focus on the "touch" sensation which is there or more the "sight" sensation (the blackness which is there when you close your eyes, or the colours that slide across your "mental screen")? Espacially for the concentration practice.

First of all, it's not a "serious emotional issue", but I think this topic fits in best here and furthermore it hinders me in my self-actualization journey. I have the fear of being controlled by a higher species or something. Espiacially when I go to bed because I loose control of myself and I am afraid that something happens to me. I used to have this since I was 10 or so, in varying intensities. I think when I am able to surrender myself to the sleep and give up control by going to the root of this issue, I could do spiritual work even better because I could surrender myself to reality. I can't know wether this happens or not, but I think I could improve myself to a point where I can accept it the way it is. Maybe you can give me advice on this ;).

I noticed that when I have an insight or a raise of consciousness (f.e. I see that logic is groundless / illusion), after a few minutes or hours it fades away and the insight isn't as deep anymore when I try to remember it. Maybe my consciousness doesnt drop back to the level before the insight, but it isn't even close to the level during the insight. Am I doing something wrong, is it possible to "maintain" the insight and the high level of awareness that comes with it, or do I need to have the same insight more often to create a new stage of awareness about that thing? Similar to a retreat, where you have high consciousness at the end of it, it drops down when you're back in normal life, but it doesn't drop completely to the level / stage it was before the retreat?

Ok thanks. So basically let them come and go, no need to "save" them consciously or intentionally, and just staying on the path.

30-60 min Meditation, Kriya Yoga, 45 min self-inquiry; 30 min contemplation (not merely existential questions but also psychological questions)

Thank you both first of all ;). Is "The Work" a way of letting go the feeling of lack (whatever it might be)? And do you recommend other practices regarding my psychological lacks? For example consciousness work etc.?

What does it mean to "commit fully to the path"? I do daily consciousness work if you mean that.

I try it, but it is difficult for me. However, I realized with this technique that I was arrogant about things because I wanted to improve a certain aspect in myself, but I couldn't do it very fast. So I pointed it out in others in order to create a gap between us so that I could say: "Yeah, when he is down there and I can see it, I must be above him up there". Is this what you mean with "tracing"? Does raising one's vibration occur when you raise your awareness? Or is it even the same thing? And what is it that is vibrating? I'm a little bit stuck inside of Leo's vocabulary, and he doesn't talk about that very often

I'm confused about consicous thinking. I used to try "positive thinking" a year ago and it was one of the worst things of my life. I just did it on a conscious level (like "Oh yeah, this is great") and repeated these sentences over and over again, while in my subconscious mind all kinds of shit was still going on. I almost feared not thinking positive, which was not "positive". So there I learned, that trying to control conscious thoughts doesn't work. You cant "think yourself" happy. The same goes for e.g. judgements. When I consciously say: "Oh, he is okay the way he is" ; "Oh, dont judge" ..., my subconscious mind doesnt stop judging just because of that, and so this is not a solution for stopping judgements. But on the other hand, if I try to focus on something, dont I do exactly that? Controlling my conscious thinking? Guiding my thoughts in the direction I consciously want? Am I not supressing other thoughts while I do this (e.g. sex thoughts, which are quite intense because I started porn very early and I'm clean of it for 400 days now)? And isn't exactly this supressing creating suffering? But again, does this mean focusing is impossible without suffering? I feel like this supressing creates a fragmentation inside of me. It's almost as if there is the good part of me, and the bad part of me which I dont want when I do this. What are your experiences?

Ok thanks. Yeah I do meditation, Yoga, inquiry, contemplation every single day. How long are you doing it? I'm doing it now for 6-12 month, and in a certain way I feel like I'm not totally absorbed by my emotions and worries etc. anymore due to mindfulness skills, on the other hand I still suffer with this. Is this normal for someone who grew up in the typical western society? And will the suffering reduce when you are longer into this work? Leo always sais that, but I would like to hear more opinions about that ;).

I dont want to spam, but I think my questions are too old that they get overlooked quickly ;). Even if you just answer one of them, I'd be grateful