zunnyman

I think the issue is the compulsive use of smartphones. If used consciously, I don’t see a problem really.

When I said destroy, I literally meant destroy lmao I’m not a technical guy but I have heard of stories of people retreiving a phones old data even after it has been restored to factory settings. So I’m thinking of smashing my iPhone haha

I do it before every meditation session too. Its great

@Afonso Wow that sounds awesome! Could you share the details of the shaman if I wanted to get that done myself?

About 30% of the times I sit down to meditate, I stick to one technique which is do nothing. Other times its mindfulness meditation with labeling, self inquiry, letting go, self love, surrendering, observing no boundary in the darkness when eyes are closed, just focusing on absolute stillness of the body for higher quality strong determination sits. Exploring various techniques as the situation demands it or just for my curiosity to explore, has actually yielded great results. Often times I end up finding a technique I really love and resonate with. But does this limit growth a lot because I am not drilling down on one technique like do nothing, or is this sort of exploration a catalyst to growth?

Going on a retreat for 10 days with strangers sounds nice, but for 3 years? I'd rather be by myself out in nature, and on my own terms even if I were to go hardcore. Just my own person take on it. The idea is interesting though

@Leo Gura I am new to this but my friend says he knows a dealer who is very trustworthy, does that count as being "on the streets"?

@Leo Gura Yes leo, do you have any examples? Honestly even just an upgrade from my current environment would be nice. I can really see the 30 ways society fucks you in the ass over here where Im living. For over a year now I have been researching for an "optimal" environment I am a westerner, and trying to move to a location anywhere in USA, and if anyone has any suggestions I'm open to that as well. Even out of USA if it is really worth it. @Lauritz I really like what you are looking for in a highly conscious environment, Id like to throw in some ideas as well and what my research suggests: 1. Beautiful scenery, living out in nature - I remember sadhguru was talking how amazingly beautiful the himalayas is in that regard 2. Good weather, not too hot not too cold, so I can be out in nature a lot. Snow, rain, breezey weather are all amazing. California has one of the best climates in USA 3. A great learning environment for growing consciousness - Himalayas is also great for this sadhguru suggest. One of The highest concentration of enlightened beings, and that too highly enlightened beings 4. Valuing nutrition, and life purpose - LA 5. PUA, breaking social conditioning - NYC which is also highly divserse 6. Salt lake city seems to be very outdoorsy, adventurous, and conscious, not sure exactly though 7. Quiet and peaceful environment, this would obviously mean not a city. 8. Cheap, the cheaper it is, the less people would be focusing on making money and survival and more time on higher ideals on maslows hierarchy and consciousness. Maybe.

@Empty I'll just give my personal experience with this. When I sit down to do consciousness work on weed, most of the time I can't tell what is going on, whats real, whats concept. Its really easy to get lost in concept when you are on weed. I know myself and others who get high on weed, we sometimes have a tendency to beat ourselves up for the fuck ups in our life, and also weed tends to give anxiety, etc. I have tried strong determination sitting high, and I don't know what the fuck happened but something really scary and I had to get myself out of it. On the other hand, there are some consciousness tools that did work for me. Journalling helps when you are high. You start to get in this free flowing creative state and start to really get deep into what you really want out of life, etc. Lastly, I tried leo's next level of meditation video which is a guided meditation of the mind into accepting reality as it is. Weed did make it hard to get out of concept, but also being high really allowed me to focus on what leo was saying and get deep in the meditation, and I almost had ego death but I could not let go completely. Other times I tried this meditation, when sober, it felt like an ordinary meditation session.

@Azrael How do we go about the research for it? any good practices, or maybe some good resources you have?

I am hearing everywhere that the way this whole process of consciousness work is of doing the consciousness work, getting a quick glimpse to motivate and inspire yourself to continue with the consciousness work, and just keep doing that till you get enlightened. On the other hand, I took sadhguru's inner engineering course where he gives an analogy like this: "Imagine you are trapped within 4 walls, but you don't know what exists beyond these 4 walls. Of course if all you know are these 4 walls, life is not so bad. However if somehow someone gave you the opportunity to jump really high vertically to the point where you can see beyond those 4 walls, and what you see beyond those 4 walls is a world of possibilities, then when you come back from your vertical jump, you will be miserable. So instead of having one big spiritual experience you can't handle and that will leave you disfunctional when you come back into your egoic existence, its better to gradually bring you over the 4 walls." Which he tries to do with shambhavi yoga These aren't his exact words, but that is essentially what he is saying. Now Im thinking which way should I do? My concern is will I be depressed from the point of my first glimpse till the point of enlightenment, and if so should I consider following sadhgurus way? Sorry if I sound ignorant about any of this, Im still newbie in consciousness work.

I have been doing strong determination sitting for 1 hour a day for the past 6 months. About 3 months ago, I really had strong effects for a period of a month including very deep meditation states, purging, wave ripples and pulsations all over the body, etc. Since then, these effects have worn down a lot. They are still there but not as powerful or intense. Also what I don't understand is that the effects I have experienced in the past 6 months have been strong in meditation, but then when I look at my daily life outside of formal practice, I don't see much change. Any insight would be appreciated.

@WelcometoReality How do you practice surrender 24/7? I tried that during the day, but I noticed I don't know what the fuck I am doing during my day and its realy hard to stay mindful cuz of all these distractions and just the daily rut and neurotically running around. @Joseph Maynor So basically you are saying when you get an experience of ego-death progress starts to shoot up after that. @Leo Gura I've been also doing self inquiry and yoga these days too, but yeah ur right 6 months aint shit. I guess I just need to be more fuckin patient haha I'll really consider the retreat idea. That seems easier to get into than psychedelics right now.

Really love leo's book list and see huge value in it. Not enough books in certain categories such as health, so I am looking for more books. Has anyone found similar highly researched book lists online from other good sources? Not so much a fan of RSD tyler anymore, but I know he has a list of good books as well ranging from health, and success to spirituality if anyone wants to check that out you can just search that on google.

@gleb Just amazing man, didn't know you can learn so much about reality in an hour's glimpse

Would love to hear more about your experience

@Ilya There you go my friend

I have had the same fear, and have learned the best way to deal with this is to research your tools of consciousness work very well, to become strategic about it, learn from teachers, become aware of its traps, etc. Again, I think the most important is to fully inform yourself and go about it strategically. You are very right that if misused, these tools can be quite dangerous. Not just kundalini, but 5-meo, even yoga. These are powerful tools, and with great power, it requires a lot of responsibility. Sadhguru once had a boy come to him. One day the boy was walking down the street, and he sees a man doing a head stand. So he gets very fascinated by yoga and performs this himself. Then one fine day, he gets angry over nothing, and he hit his mom with a stick. The villagers didn't know what to do so they just tied him up, but sadhguru knew right away that he was just misinformed and not advanced enough for that yoga pose.

@Privet I always thought about watching that video, but just kept avoiding it. Now I definitely will see this today

@Privet I guess you could say I am romanticizing it, and have a sex addiction, but even if I wasn't so obsessed about sex, I know I'd feel like I would be missing out. I watched the second video, and noticed he said yes you would get laid more, "if you desire it". My concern is that after enlightenment, I'd be in touch with my authentic desires, and would stop desiring sex. And I guess, ultimately, that I have a fear that getting laid for me is an inauthentic desire and wouldn't pursue it after enlightenment. And I don't know how to classify my desires as authentic and inauthentic.

This might be stupid but I still feel like I haven't gotten enough girls in my life yet, and want to take on the PUA journey for a few years before I get enlightened. Otherwise who knows if I'll pursue girls after enlightenment, the way I want to right now

Ive been getting deeper and deeper into meditation practice, SDS, self inquiry, and mindfulness meditation, and can really see the progress that I've been making, and now its hitting me that I could have an enlightenment experience any moment which got me thinking: How exactly do I prepare for it? I heard leo saying multiple times not to get into this unless you have a really good conceptual understanding of enlightenment. I have read half a book, watched all of Leos enlightenment videos and read all his posts on the forum. Is that enough material to prepare for this? Also I have a good amount of health problems (pressure in head, chronic fatigue, migraines, dehydration) Should I fix all these issues and develop more emotional control before I have an enlightenment experience? I wouldn't want to damage my body in the process of getting enlightened. I mainly just don't want to fuck up my health any more than it is to be honest. You could say I fucked up my health by misusing drugs 3 years ago, so I realize the value in researching the tools before practicing them (yoga, kundalini, 5-meo, etc) Is the purpose of getting informed about enlightenment so I don't fuck up my physical and mental health in the process? "In Zen they discipline you rigorously before you have your enlightenment, so that you don't freak out. You have in most of your life time lived in a way in which you had a ton of emotions and thoughts going on every second of the day. If that is greatly reduced to silence, you won't have any reference to live in that world." - Also this was quoted on this forum by Azrael who seems to be very well learned in enlightenment concept. Can someone explain how I would discipline myself to prepare for an enlightenment experience so I don't freak out during and after the experience?

Thats a huge relief that it won't physically harm me through like shock or whatever! And of course I agree reading the rest of the books is very wise, I was just in fear that I had to drop all my practices to first develop a better conceptual understanding. Also how do I hone this desire for the truth in an authentic way?

I've done over 100 hours of SDS (strong determination sitting) and have had all sorts of experiences during SDS and experiences outside of SDS as a result of SDS. A few times I had weird wtf moments happen while I was sitting on the toilet and 2x while I was more than half asleep all as a result of SDS. I'm just really trying to understand what is going on here. I've seen all the enlightenment videos and don't think I have had an enlightenment experience, so then what can all this be? Are there any common effects people are known to have during SDS or does it vary depending on the person? Anyone know where I can get more information on SDS, perhaps a book? Ive seen both Leo's and shinzen young's videos already. The reason I am partly concerned is because sometimes these experiences get really intense and I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. When I close my eyes these days, in just seconds I can feel all sorts of bubbling sensations everywhere in my body, often in my head. I may be creating this myself but my visual perception begins to change in ways I never saw before. I am also trying to understand why I enter into meditative states, where it feels like a meditative wave comes over me slowly. Also sometimes I am deeply peaceful, then all of a sudden I get this intense experience I don't know how to describe. And sometimes I go from really deep meditative states, to really fast heartbeat. There are some other experiences I don't know how to describe but the only words I have are mystical or spiritual. I am not sure if thats true, maybe my mind is interpreting it like that.

Woah I thought I was going crazy because 2x I experienced a really bright white light literally out of nowhere when I was more than half asleep, and my mind unconsciously (because I was more than half asleep) was telling myself to accept it fully