Michal__

You label what you hear/feel/see(including what you imagine/thoughts). Leo has an interesting take on it but you don't really need a tutorial for it. "Mindfulness Meditation - A Complete Guide With Techniques & Examples". It serves a similar purpose as ADA, except you can just do it WBTB-style if you don't like trying to stay aware during the day. Unless your WBTB techniques depend on not getting out of bed this will increase LDs & APs since they very much depend on you being as aware as possible. Yeah, I used this successfully a few times. I don't like WBTB but when I use it I always do a noting session because it dramatically increases success. The only problem with Leo's take on noting is that it can make you a bit too concentrated to fall asleep again.

If you are focusing on the breath are you counting the breaths? That's very important.

The transcendental meditation technique is different from normal meditation. I tried it. However it is not worth the price. There's another technique called "Natural stress relief". You should use that instead in my opinion. The experience of transcending stays the same. Here's a comparison: https://www.nsrusa.org/compare.php I stopped using automatic self transcending techniques because in the long term the more classic techniques proved to be better for me. These techniques actually put you into some kind of a thought construct that feels nice, is beneficial but it is not meditation. It will raise your consciousness though. There have also been some horror stories, so if someone claims transcendental meditation & the like are completely harmless they are either trying to sell you something or are wrong. If you are going to try it I would recommend either a (solid & maybe long) research of how the technique looks/works or buying natural stress relief, instead of spending that much money. Even though the technique is a legitimate way to increase consciousness the organization is still a cult. If you find a correct self transcending technique & haven't had an interesting/slightly mystical experience with conventional (which means you are a beginner) then it is worth it to either find the correct technique or buy Natural stress relief. I could send you the correct technique for free once I have time. If you want to then message me.

Awesome trip report.

That's really interesting & unusual. You mentioned masturbating many times a day. Try to cut back a bit, maybe even temporarily nofap (a few weeks, let's say). And then sexual release in moderation. I could PM you a thing that would help, if you are interested. Btw if you aren't meditating how about you try meditation? Maybe just 20 minutes of counting the breaths for starters... You may be afraid because you heard about the dark side of meditation but why wouldn't you try? My intuition tells me it will only help.

Then let's agree to disagree about the relation between bipolar & spirituality, otherwise it would be a lengthy debate.

I speak from experience, "expert".

I came up with my own technique (or variation of WBTB) for LDs & APs. What you do is this: WBTB -> a short Vipassana noting session -> back to sleep. Would probably work better combined with affirmations.

Image streaming? I haven't heard of the concept but doesn't that basically mean focusing on the subtle thoughts which then become more and more alive until dream-like images appear? That's what I sometimes do to increase dream recall fast.

Switch to concentration and practice more frequently than ever. Jhanas/absorption states will actually make you perform better at whatever you do. Ego backlash comes from insight. Of course, concentration practice provides insight too but generally it is a bit more manageable. What gurus dont tell you is that once you start meditating and get a bit serious about it there is no going back. But anyway - dont listen to me. Ask yourself why you are meditating in the first place and then decide.

Unfortunately, the only way at this point is through. You can't return back. You have to at least get a cessation. A meditation retreat would help tremendously. On the bright side, once you get a cessation your life will become a 10000% better than it is now (by life I mean mental state & consciousness - which will in turn affect the material side of things too). And you will be really happy that you started. I hope you are meditating at least for 1hr a day. Maybe find a local 10 day (100h) Vipassana retreat if it's allowed in your country (covid, you know). If lockdown is an issue where you live then do your own retreat.

THEME: Cancel culture / scandals (since my understanding of cancel culture may not be deep enough) Stage blue When a person can't share their personal life with public he should not be allowed to be a public figure. God sees everything you do. Why would you sin before the eyes of God and expect not to face consequences? Let the sinner be an example so our children don't follow in their footsteps. Stage yellow Yes, some people should face consequences of their actions. However, there is always the danger of "witch hunting". In fact, many celebrities have had their professional and perphaps even personal life destroyed as a result of rumours, accusations & the general public following the popular opinion. We should educate people not to "witch hunt" & make them able to form a solid opinion about the person in question. Better education could eventually "dissolve" the problem.

I think so, after all spiritual highs & spiritual lows description is exactly as bipolar.

Write down everything instantly. You will forget the whole dream if you don't. And you want to remember as many dreams as possible every night for you to lucid dream.

It wont affect spirituality, this is more about body image. I personally think that there is nothing wrong with it.

I would reccommend getting on this free program: https://outalpha.com/the-out-alpha-novice-program/ until you hit 225 lbs bench, 315 squat, 405 deadlift. Hitting those numbers should take you 6 - 12 months and then you should come up with your own program/get on a program for intermediate lifters...

Reacting to a toxic version of green doesn't make you blue .

Well, you can't ever be completely certain, but if your consciousness is high enough you can usually tell who's less/more conscious intuitively. Try being around christians that parrot Jesus and then meet real mystics in a christian monastery. They say the same things but there's a different feel to them. I became aware of these differences after a kundalini experience, I meet a lot of christians (I grew up around them) and can differentiate between those that had awakening experiences and those who are just parrots. If your kundalini is at least partially activated there might be a literal "glow" in your vision when you hear/read/see an awakened person. This exercise works best with Christians, because there's a huge variety among them. It won't work as well with buddhists, since most of them actually take meditation seriously.

Maybe it's the SSRIs. 500mg is extremely noticable, in my experience.

My favorite tools (besides meditation) are shaktipath transmissions (which is the same as RASA, I think), fasting and All Day Awareness. Also asking yourself why you are doing what you're doing at the moment can lead to interesting realizations.

Still anybody can get further with meditation than most meditators get, just like with lifting - everyone can bench 315 lbs within a few years but not everyone does. Most people don't study what they want to get good at nearly enough.

Meditation is within the dream too. Until you get a cessation, at least.

Yeah, a lot of people don't take it seriously enough and think meditation alone is stronger. But my experience says otherwise, practicing ADA feels very similar to practicing meditation for many hours a day, even though I meditate only 1hr nowadays. I seriously think it's what most meditators are missing and that it can become as intense as a meditation retreat if you get good at it.

All day awareness. Lucid dreams are caused by heightened awareness in dreams, not by the reality checks themselves. Of course combined with a dream journal. Read this: https://www.dreamviews.com/induction-techniques/113253-all-day-awareness-dild-tutorial-kingyoshi.html

Yes, the key is to not be attached to being cool. You can still be cool, but only if you manage to do it without attachment. If you stopped doing everything that is connected to the ego, instead of realizing the ego doesn't exist and never existed, you wouldn't survive.