Guivs

@cetus56 Interesting indeed, thanks for sharing @FirstglimpseOMG Good for you. Of course, being more awake in the waking state is going to translate into the dream state also. It can be a great, virtuous circle if maintained days and nights. So, like you said it can be an indicator of progress , but dreams can also be 'obstacles' that give you the ground of security and reinsurance that your ego wants.

Deep sleep is a state of ignorance and so is dreaming without lucidity.

@jdeugarteok, what sort of teachings have you found on the web ? And could you be more specific about your experiences ?

@jdeugarte hey would love to be able to help you... It depends... Enlightenment means something different for different people it seems. Extinction of clinging(greed), aversion (hatred) and ignorance is the classic way of seeing it. Do you have a practice that you follow? A teacher to guide you? What is your experience so far ?

@Barry Hello When you are starting out, many small sessions of formal meditation (say 20 minutes) is way better than one longer stitting, imo. Consistency is key, doing it every single day is way more important. Do not exert yourself too much in the beginning

@brovakhiin A great tool indeed ! Yes it seems contradictory to have RC and seeing everything as a dream. But I would say that even though the waking state and dream state are dream-like, the waking state still has a series of rules (gravity,..) that seem to apply while those rules do not necessarily occur while dreaming. My opinion is also that dreams truly are an indication of your real accomplishments, and falling asleep is like a mini-death. If you are still ignorant,you still do not recognize dreams as they are and you will not recognize that "you died", if I may so put it. So yes, a great practice l! Imagine being able to practice all night because you are lucid throughout: 1/3 of your life! It might be harsh, but I think that if one still has non lucid dreams and non lucid sleep, he is not enlightened yet, which makes it more difficult to obtain than one would think. Of course, if one does practice dilligently throughout the day with no special dream yoga, one will eventually develop lucidity in sleep as well, I think

@FirstglimpseOMG Hi ! It is much more difficult to have awareness during dreamless sleep, but it is nonetheless possible. Usually,a "sleep yogi" will first develop his skills in lucid dreaming before he can try to be aware in deep sleep. One of the ways to catch a glimpse of this awareness in dreamless sleep is to fall asleep consciously. In order to do that, one can focus on a small, white, luminous light ball or symbol at either the space between eyebrows or at the center of your chest. Then, relax and keep that awareness of the light as you gradually fall asleep. But if you do want to develop that ability, I'd advise you to first start to focus on lucid dreaming as it is more accessible and will help you in developping awareness in deep sleep as well : ) Also, there are a series of practices that you can do while having lucid dreams....

@wouters ok Preparation for a lucid dream is to be done throughout the day and most importantly right before going to sleep. Usually, if you are dilligent in your practice, lucid dreams should arise after +/- two weeks of serious commitment. Keys in practice : 1) During the day : make frequent reality check throughout the day. "Am I dreaming ?" (Check if gravity is working by jumping, for instance.) Also, wonder if there is anything wrong going on. Am I in a familiar place ? Is the sky how it is supposed to be ? ... With this, you'll be more likely to be checking this in a dream at night also, and you'll become lucid right there! 2) The more mindful you are during the day, the more you'll be able to have clearer dreams with more details. It is an important first step as well and useful regardless of wether you'd like to lucid dream. When we continually bring awareness to each moment of experience, this skill wil also be arising in dream because we loosen the grip of reactivity. Concretely : try to be mindful and have a formal sitting practice where you concentrate on one object of your choice (breath, image, sound,...) once or twice a day minimum. 3) See everything around you as illusions during the day. Tell yourself "This is like a dream" and see yourself as an illusion as well. Recognize that whatever manifests is one’s selfmanifestation, with no reference point, no existence, no foundation, and no identity. Training in a onepointed way, one becomes familiar with this practice, and whatever phenomena appear concretely are only illusions, dreams arising in oneself. Concretely : upon waking, think "I am awake in a dream. When you enter the living room, recognize it as a dream kitchen. Then pour dream water to male dream coffee. Think that this is a dream and be reminded of it CONTINUOUSLY throughout the day. It's sometimes important to make the emphasis on you, "the dreamer" , than the objects of your experience. Keep reminding yourself that you are dreaming every one of your experiences, emotions, anger, tiredness, sleepiness, happiness. It is all dream. The truth of this statement will increase as you investigate those feelings, that are in fact just a complex association of thoughts, images, sensations that you dream up.The car you drive, the house you live in, are all transient and your mind's projections.They are not solid, but more like a rainbow. If you keep recognizing it, grasping will diminish and everything will remind you of the dream-like nature of all phenomena including yourself. Eventually, this will lead to recognition of the dream state as well. 4) Before going to sleep, take time to relax, meditate and set the strong intention : "I am going to sleep, and I'm going to have dreams. This is for certain. I will also recognize those dreams as what they are : dreams. Repeat it and develop conviction. This is like when you are setting the intention before sleep to wake up at a particular hour, it usually works somewhat. Concretely : At the end of the day, review your day and have the strong intention to practice at night. Allow memories from the day to come up and recognize that everythin was like a dream. Experience those memories as memories of dreams. Have the strong intention to recognize dreams at night, and to know it right away. Feel this intention fully! like a vow! 5) When you wake up in the morning, begin by recollecting : "did you dream?" Were you aware of it ? " Write down or/and recollect your dreams as soon as you wake up, it will help in remembering them. if you did dream, but were not aware of it, say to yourself that you dreamt but did not recognize it as such. Resolve that next time, you will do so. If you did have a lucid dream, feel joy and develop the attitude to keep having it in the future. Rejoice. Generate the intention to remain consistent in the practice throughout the day ahead. In summary : -Reality checks throughout the day (am I dreaming? Am I in a familiar place ?) -Develop awareness consistently throughout the day -Recognize all phenomena as dreams, and yourself as well. (+emotions, thoughts,...) -Set strong intention to be lucid before going to sleep, review your day -Review your sleep and generate intention to practice throughout the day Practice it for a few weeks with dilligence, and you might have your first lucid dream! Then, if you do have it, the next step will be to know what to do in it And maybe the next step will be to gradually learn how to fall asleep consciously. Much more could be said about lucid dreaming and dream yoga in general. If you become really interested, some books I'd recommend : - Dreaming yourself awake (Alan Wallace) -Tibetan yogas of dream and Sleep (Tenzin Wangyal) My advice on this topic come mainly from these two teachers

@FirstglimpseOMG Try meditating in your next lucid dream, and tell me what happens Or ask "who am I'", you should get some interesting insights Do you have a method for having lucid dreams consistently ? If not, I could share a thing or two, if you so wish.

The point when facing the cold is to relax and be one with the cold. But I would not advise to do it if you show signs like shivering and so on. It is then bad for you. Tibetan yogis in snow caves stay warm thanks to their tummo meditation. Then again, I would not advise you to start tummo by yourself without having had instructions face to fae with a teacher.

@BeginnerActualizer Hello ! Sure, try to contemplate in every instant, but in my opinion, some sort of formal sitting practice is necessary at the start, in addition to informal contemplation. But informal contemplation is way better than no contemplation at all !:) Hereunder is a conversation between a master and his student that seems to adress the point : S : But since most of our time is spent in movement, why not use movement as a form of meditation ? TR : I think you can't do that. At this point I have to be very orthodox. (Because the student is not yet advanced enough). You can't do that because it would be very convenient and there would be no discipline. Fo example, you have to set a time for sitting practice that is especially allocated for that practice. Whereas with the approach you suggest, you could just say , "Well I'm going to visit my girlfriend and I have to drive, so on my way to my girlfriend's, I'll use driving as meditation." S: But as long as it's mindful, why couldn't it be done? TR: That approach of mindfulness becomes too utilitarian, too pragmatic-killing two birds with one stone. "That way I meditate and I get a chance to see my girlfriend at the end too". But something has to be given up somewhere. Some renunciation somewhere is necessary. One stone kills one bird. Bear in mind this is provisional teaching, and when you're peter ralston there is no more difference between formal meditation and informal meditation so this is a teaching of provisional meaning

Hello, Maybe you could look into Yantra yoga for a start. Or hatha yoga. Yantra yoga is linked to tibetan buddhism. According to the ancient system of tibetan medicine, the world is made of small particles with qualities of earth, fire, water and air operating in space. Our body, also, is made of earth (bones, flesh), water (blood,bile..), air (breath), fire (heat) and space (mind). These elements combined make for the functioning of the body. Controlling the breathing means controlling the energies inside the body and changing the balance in the elements within the body. But i do not know much how or why it works, unfortunately

@ULFBERHT Thanks for your honesty ! It is advisable indeed to have a tamed mind, a mind that will be able to look where you want for as long as you want. Then, with this mind, you will be able to gain some lasting insights about the nature of self and phenomena. So first, it is good to have a "calming the mind" practice that will allow you to obtain, gradually, a mind that is somewhat relaxed, stable and clear, which will lead to lasting insights. If you do not have a mind that is relatively tamed, then the insights that you might have are less likely to stick, so this is a good thing that you are inclined to do this kind of practice before anything else, in my opinion. Because you cannot focus much right now, it is advised that you should have many very short practice sessions every single day. (just a few minutes, consistency is key) As far as the methods of concentration are concerned, my unenlightened feelings are (and I may be wrong) : 1) TM is a scam. But mantra recitation is good for a beginner. It involves your speech, so you are less likely to get as lost in thoughts as you are with mindfulness of breating. Try maybe saying "Om". 2) you are tired of counting the breath, this is a great sign. Boredom is a sign that your practice is progressing. It seems likes you are hitting a plateau because it is not " a good meditation experience", but actually it is necessary to go throught this boredom. Boredom is so real, so raw, this is your best friend in meditation. This is actually the best thing that could happen, because it reflects all our flaws : our agression and wanting for something to happen when we have a sense that nothing is happening, wanting things to be different... After you can do 15 breaths in and out without losing the breath or counting and without too much effort, you can drop the counting. 3) Alternative practices : because this is about taming the mind, the object of meditation can be anything. Have you ever tried mindfulness of sounds ? Or just looking at an object without losing it, and starting again and again. In summary, very short sessions, many times, with consistency, every day. Be bored. Try different methods, find the one that suits you, then stick with it.

Thanks for this post @Aware, really precious! Hereunder, an inspiring video in line with seclusion from attachments :

Yes, this is great to meditate first thing in the morning because by that time you have not yet given so much traction and power to thoughts. By the end of the day, one is more likely to be distracted by what happened during the day and so on, making it more difficult to be as awareness.

Forget all we said and maybe try not to think your way into it, please. Nor settle with what fits your preconceived ideas. Nor settle with what makes you feel best. Just look it is not particularly easy

Do what you feel is best for you. I do not know how it goes for you, and I have basically no experience, but let me share what SOMETIMES works for me, might it help you. - Spending time setting your intention (why do you really practice) before your meditation might help generating enthusiasm and a more dilligent focus. - Reflect on death and impermanence, that you could die at any moment at the start of the meditation, every time a thought occur. This will help in cutting the chain of thoughts. -Maybe making meditation a bit of an "event", dressing up for it rather than crawling out of bed (Of course, the goal is not to cut all thoughts in meditation, but sometimes they overwhelm you and you lose awareness. As long as you have awareness, everything is fine).

Investigate and do not take any answer for granted, look deeply. This is a great question to contemplate

I'm afraid that these days, much is said about the absolute truth of phenomena, emptiness, all is mind and so on, and that there is a dangerous disregard for conventional truth indeed, in particular amongst "new age" spirituality. Such people making those statements in front of anyone are more than likely harming themselves and others, sadly... Of course, it might help some. Even though it seems they do not attach to anything, they hold absolute truth higher than conventional truth, creating dualism in their so called "non duality ".

My small understanding is that even though there is no independently existing self from its own side, what is seemingly reincarnated is karma and ignorance. Therefore, if liberation were to occur, one would realize the selflessness of all phenomena and realize that even the concept of birth and death, karma, and reincarnation were also dreamlike. But until one truly experiences it and is no more afflicted by any phenomena such as cold and heat, suffering and so on, the law of cause and effect still has to be considered in high esteem I would say

@Gabriel Antonio Hello I do not know if it will help, but look at this short clip It made me change my outlook on meditation, so maybe will it help you as well. Tell me if it did ! Good luck

Check that your spine is upright, this is closely linked to the level of sleepiness in my experience

Hi everyone:) Have any of you gone on the website "the-wanderling.com"? If so, what is your take on it? I find it to be quite a maze, and I believe it was made so on purpose by this "Wanderling" Anyway, this website is still a real mystery to me. But I still find myself pulled by it somehow and was wondering if any of you guys were familiar with the website Thanks!

In your experience, is awareness a thing you can pinpoint ? If it is not a thing, it cannot be defined in terms of space and time,this is what is meant I think Imagine awareness a mirror, reflecting everything and yet undisurbed by any of it. A mirror makes no effort to reflect.

@isabel and what if there was no creator?