oysterman

@Kazman What would Martin do?

@Joel3102 Do you think that depersonalisation can lead to awakening? Feeling out of body and feeling like nothing is real can freak out egos, but they are aspects of the emptiness of reality that can lead one to deeper awakenings. Awakening freaks out clingy egos. I am only curious because I have had horrifying depersonalisation episodes in the past (triggered by intense meditation and self-inquiry) that I eventually learned to integrate into utterly amazing awakenings. Insanity with a capital I, to use @Kazman's phrase. Amazing Insanity. AMAZING INSANITY.

@Yog Agreed. @Dodo lol. Do psychedelics not work well for you?

Nice work! To answer your question, one of my first major mind-jarring experiences occurred from a strong dose of edibles in 2016. Something like neti-neti happened at the peak of the experience and somehow blasted me into an inner space that felt like a singularity in consciousness. This was accompanied by a flash of some kind of visual appearance vaguely similar to the new actualized logo. All while I was rolling around on the floor Context: In the years prior to this experience I had experimented with a psychedelic once, and had experimented with various meditation techniques (SDS, neti neti, mindfulness with labelling). Maybe these things can potentiate it significantly. Never heard about such strong experiences from smoked though.

@Leo Gura Wow.

Hey There are some NGOs in the world that do awesome work, like Transparency International (https://www.transparency.org). I want to find one that helps to improve the world's deep marketing problem. Any ideas? What organisations in the world (local, global, NGO, governmental, etc) work to raise the consciousness of MARKETING and MEDIA OUTLETS? What organisations are trying to make the buses and billboards and TV and internet adverts that inundate the entire modern world more conscious in some way or another? If any of you geezers remember Leo's 'The Deep Problem of Marketing' video (see below), you'll remember that he asked us not to give him donations if we made it big from his content, but to work to improve the marketing and media channels in the world. I haven't exactly made it big, but I'm looking for an NGO or charity to become a member of and donate to a little bit. The closest thing I can think of is governmental agencies like the Advertising Standards Agency in the UK (https://www.asa.org.uk), but all they seem to do is fact check - not try to make things MORE conscious. Not try to remove the low-consciousness style of advertising (think of a mobile phone, or a coffee, being held by a sexy lady wearing a bikini). Or to try and make cable news channels less focused on extreme negativity. The news could be teaching about environmental crises and how to solve the world's problems, rather than engineering partisan bickering.

@Leo Gura I think this is a good perspective. Don't get caught in the eruption. For interest's sake, Leo, why do you not foresee a nuclear holocaust?

@Dima logach I've been doing it since Leo released the video about it last year. I still consider myself a beginner. However, I have had some amazing, deep experiences from the concentration that have partially transformed me and given me real long-lasting hits outside of the yoga of personal peace and contentment. Furthermore, I feel like I have cultivated a healthier connection to the divine and permanence of mystical states. It feels more comprehensive than a lot of zen buddhist stuff I have done before, but maybe I just needed a bit more cultural/semi-religious context to feel satisfied, as well as more complex body techniques. I also love the spiritual lore that goes along with it! Om kriya babaji. Praise babaji. May he help us find the divine within. Also love the chakra/prana/karma work. I know kriya will transform me totally if I keep it up. But I feel like I really need to find a trustworthy teacher by now, but J. C. Stevens' book kinda put me off. Any ideas on where to find a good teacher in the UK? There's an isha yoga center near me, should I just go to that and see? Also, happy mahashivaratri everyone - anyone else staying up and upright all night? May you enjoy the vastness of nothingness, as I am on this darkest night. May shiva, the first guru, obliterate us all into the nothingness, his greatest gift.

@Jordan94 Neti is cool cos you pour water through your nose for about 30-60 seconds continuously - gets all the muck out if you do have lots of mucus / allergens in your nose. @herghly seems interesting, let us know how it goes! My only concern would be not knowing its energetic effect on you and your spine-awareness. What if it messes something up slightly? I don't think kriya was designed with such plant usage in mind. ALSO guys, does anyone try to do kriya 3 times a day? I've been TRYING for 7 months, but it's such a tough regime for me. I love it when I do manage 3 times a day, it feels absolutely amazing. But it's so much effort, three times a day, to try and totally fuck up my reality for at least 30 mins. Especially if I wake up late, or am otherwise pressed for time. Any tips on maintaining a solid practise? I guess this comes down to good old-fashioned habit building and stuff.

@Jordan94 I have a problem with allergies that leads to very blocked nose. I like to clean out the mucus with a neti pot before kriya (saline, roughly isotonic solution poured through one nostril and coming out the other!) You can get ayurvedic-style ceramic neti pots, and you can get plastic ones. Also, I find that exercising beforehand helps me get the mucus out. But it's quite impractical/tiring to vigorously exercise for a few minutes before kriya. So I use a mix of exercise and neti pots and good luck. P.S. Not 'neti neti' pots! Neti neti meditation is also pretty good though..... EDIT: @Leo Gura Have you tried using a neti pot instead of decongestant? It's very pleasant when you get it at just the right temperature. Leads to lovely nasal openness. It's very effective and has a nicer vibe than the 'chemicals', if you're a spaced out stage green hippy like me. Despite the fact that the natural salt is also a chemical. Just like me, if you harness the energetic vibes of these pink Himalayan salt crystals in your nose tubes, with none of the required cultural and ayurvedic understanding of what's really going on, YOU TOO can placebo yourself into the divine consciousness! Just search on amazon "neti pot", most things will do.

Good luck living in the real reality Paul! Ground yourself in the things you've always enjoyed. Even if you don't feel like it. You'll definitely get used to it! And you might just develop a taste for it.

@Serotoninluv Good words I'd like to say, on behalf of everyone, good luck to Paul. It can sure be hard to go through these things, but lots of us have gone through weeks or months of this shit and come out better on the other side <3

I mostly write this post for any other people suffering and freaking out from enlightenment-related psychological discomfort. It is not always appropriate to 'push through' and keep self-inquiring. I know you all mean well and want this Paul92 to get enlightened and get through this stuff. But, I'm frankly appalled at some of the advice that was given in this thread. Including from @Leo Gura. (Leo - I only namedrop you because you are very respected in this forum, and many who read this tend to take your word as law, regardless of your repeated disclaimers against this.) Leo has given plenty of relevant advice concerning this topic, but it is dispersed, so I wanted to address this topic here in case someone in need stumbles upon it. In some of the advice given in this thread, I saw very little concern for mental health, and for sustainable spiritual growth. Yes, for some people it might be useful to "power through" uncomfortable spiritual stages like depersonalisation. You could come out of it the other side, with great insights into the nature of being and reality. But for many, pushing through while you are totally freaked out by enlightenment work could be extremely costly. And could prolong the ordeal unnecessarily. If someone has got this much discomfort from some enlightenment work, they already have plenty to integrate into their lives. After this integration, they can go back to the work. Some of the comments here stink of an unhealthy obsession with spiritual growth, at the cost of all else. Without looking at the bigger picture, and all the factors at play. Reminiscent of an unhealthy manifestation of stage orange materialism. I think Paul92 will be totally fine, but not because of some of the advice given in this thread. Please consider the individual context before applying some spiritual advice that doesn't necessarily correspond to the nuances of the situation. What if we have a reader on this thread, who isn't posting, who is in a similar but more distressed state than Paul92? Be careful of the advice you give. It could mess somebody up big time. Why did nobody suggest that Paul92, or someone in a similar situation to him, retreat to lick his wounds? Or at least outline this as a viable option in this situation? To "lick one's wounds" in this state, it might be advisable to reduce meditation to a small quantity of a very grounding technique (like mindfulness). To cease all deliberate self-inquiry for the time being. To carry on, as best you can, with your life and the things you love doing. Humanity IS compatible with many paths towards spiritual growth. Also, why aren't people congratulating this man, for achieving much joy in a non-enlightened life? Don't tell me that life is all rainbows and butterflies after enlightenment. You can be enlightened and a miserable human, or you can cultivate a joyful life. Neither of these will really affect your transcendent, true nature. Everyone, please give well-rounded advice if you are going to write anything at all. Much love from a fellow human manifestation.

Yes please, let us know Leo. I bought the book after this video came out and have been slowly advancing through the exercises ever since. It's pretty cool! Just what I needed.

Hi, interesting thread! Good to see Leo's views on this in one condensed place. I have a couple of questions. I'm vegan. Firstly, what's the consensus on soy? It's very easy for me to get lots of tasty protein from soy products like tofu. But I feel that it is probably too good to be true, there must be something up with it. Another thing - I love tea . Obviously caffeine has its fair share of drawbacks. So, what's the consensus on decaffeinated products? I love the taste of tea more than anything. I can do without the caffeine, and would say (disagree all you like ) that I never drank it for the caffeine effect. For me it's a pointless side effect. Top tip for vegans: oat milk in tea tastes just as good, and is almost indistinguishable from, cow's milk. Without the cruelty or health effects of dairy! One last thing on caffeine - I would recommend to not completely discount caffeine. Its sparing, ritual use I have seen to be most useful in advancing one's own spiritual practice.

After an intense meditation session recently, as I was practicing neti-neti by negating everything in my experience, I experienced a disturbing 'zooming-out' of my senses. For the first time in my life, I felt as if my senses (specifically sight and the feeling of the body) were not me. That me was something that observed these senses, and was somehow always there, never moving. My senses now seem much less real than I originally believed. Now I am plagued by an uncomfortable feeling that I am absolutely alone in the universe. Because everyone that I know (my parents, brother, friends) and every single thing in the reality that I access, and have always accessed, through my senses, has been put into question. It is much more comfortable for me to pretend that everything is still normal, that the old reality is still real, that my senses are intrinsically part of me. But in the back of my mind I cannot forget about how everything now seems so fake. I would like some advice, given that I am trying to become enlightened. Does this sound like I am going in the right direction with neti-neti, and that I should pursue this phenomenon further? Or does all of this sound like some unnecessary delusion that I am clinging to, that I should also negate? Thank you members of this forum, who may or may not be figments of my imagination.

@Anna1 I like that analogy. I have had a less mind bending day today. I have found it more difficult to 'remember' how to access the state of awareness, but when I do 'access it' it is less strange than before. It reminds me of my childhood. I think I must have accessed this state a lot in the early days, and then learnt to mask it and get lost in ENDLESS ENDLESS EEEEEENDLESS stories. Like a really long, seemingly coherent dream.

@Anna1 Thank you! Whenever I feel in to the experience of 'being' that I am talking about, I inevitably just burst out laughing. Like a madman. That I never realised this before and used to take it so seriously. Somehow it is so funny. Just wait a minute, WHAT IS IT ALL MADE OF? Where did it all come from? That which I see and hear and feel? It all used to make perfect sense, before I got a real grip on questioning it. I had this mental map of the world around me and the universe and the neurones firing in my brain which all nicely explained it away. I am experiencing a large degree of carelessness now. I used to care a lot more about bothering people, about doing everything perfectly, but now I can let things slide for once which is nice. Could go too far the other way but I should balance out eventually.

Hi all, thanks for the amazing advice. This is a long post, sorry if it is a little jumbled but I have a lot of questions. Just for context, I have meditated daily for two years, mostly 1 hour SDS (but less in the past 2 months). I have probably watched most of Leo's videos multiple times and have studied several books about enlightenment (without instilling any regular, formal self-inquiry practice). I've resumed doing 1 hour SDS sits every day since the experience which has been helpful. Although it sort of feels like I'm meditating throughout the day now. I can lose mindfulness during conversations and repetitive actions, but would say that since the experience I am now in a meditative state for 25-30% of my non-meditating day (compared to a usual ~1%). I've had a weird day today. Here's what I wrote earlier after contemplating existence whilst eating lunch: "Whaaaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuck. Everything is just my senses. Everything I used to believe in is a construct. I am typing right now within senses (sight and vision). There is nothing behind my phone screen because it is not visible. When I move the phone out of the way, the table that was 'behind it' comes into existence because I can then see it. I still can clearly feel a sense of 'self', but there is also a shadow now alongside it that I can access if I concentrate, which is kinda the 'base'. It is like the canvas upon which my senses are 'painted'. And that is all there is. None of that bullshit of what people think of me, my maps of reality, etc is actually REAL. Wtf. I feel like I'm tripping all the time. And if I reside in the insight, everything feels deterministic. I can just relax and enjoy the sensation of this human body typing merrily away into the phone. I feel especially carefree." The above is accurate to how I feel and think about this right now. Please pick apart any bullshit ideas and concepts that I am putting onto the situation. P.S. I feel invincible to dodgy ego stuff because I feel like I can just zoom out, ground myself in being and then it becomes a non-issue. P.P.S. What could this experience be referred to as? Some of you are alluding to enlightenment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely it aint... more like an awakening? An epiphany on the path to enlightenment? Seeing the hairs on the tail of the ox? Idk. Leo's 'enlightenment experience' in that video left him in tears and was very non-dual. This just seems very calm, uncomfortable, a bit mad. I'm not aware of anything along the lines of non-duality per se.

Thank you. What is interesting is that I feel like this experience was building up for about a week, inspired by reading The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. As I was living my daily life I was holding the tentative hypothesis in my head that everything in my current experience is a dream. That hypothesis, as well as some of the concepts in the book, led to some small conceptual epiphanies regarding how much I take for granted as 'real', which primarily based on early childhood experiences. And that how everything that I do take for granted as real is pretty much arbitrary. And how everything I project onto other people is not real, that I do not have any idea what their perspective on reality is really like or if they themselves are even real. My relationship to myself and to reality has changed (unless I reside in my 'normal' identity). I feel like I think I felt as a baby! Not identified with my visual field or any senses. It's actually very scary for me now but I guess it could be an acquired taste. I feel like I have two bodies. One in the physical world, and one 'behind it' which never moves position and perceives whatever the human me is doing. Reality now seems more deterministic. All I can do that feels authentic (but at the same time very frightening) is to reside in my 'being' and to allow the human body to do what it wants to do. But I keep forgetting how to reside in 'being'.

Hi, I have been doing SDS (minimum 60 mins) for nearly two years. I sit something like this (but with my bum raised on a firm cushion, so my feet are closer together than this guy's): I've started getting knee pain in my right knee, when I'm not meditating. For example when I walk up stairs. As a consequence I have started experimenting with laying meditation and sitting in a chair. However, these aren't that painful! It doesn't feel as good as SDS in cross-legged position. I don't want to damage my knee, but I still want to sit cross-legged. Any advice? Different sitting positions? Knee exercises? Thanks

Thank you everyone. So much good advice! I guess I can't go wrong if I follow a great passion and continuously adjust course as I discover more and more about my interests. I found this post a while ago and people in a similar position may find it useful:

Hi, I am unsure of what to do. I am about to enter uni to study a mixture of biology and chemistry. This is because I have a MASSIVE passion for plants and want to eventually work with them every day. However, I have so many other interests that it is giving me doubts about committing to science. For example, I LOVE music and play it to a high level. I love to make visual art. I love photography. I love to study history. I LOVE to study foreign language and culture. I want to study anthropology. I want to study neurology and psychology. I want to help people with mental health issues. I don't know how to choose what area to focus my life into. The plant interest seems to be slightly bigger than my interests in the others, but I feel like that could easily change if I studied further into the other areas. Hence, I am at a loss as to whether I should really go for the plant interest, when I miss out on studying the other things.

I am not sure what is the best action to do. I have been in a relationship with girl #1 for over a year. We are taking steps to reduce this relationship to eventually break it off before we go to different universities next term. Before the current relationship started, I asked a girl #2 on a date. She declined it as a romantic date, stating she was not emotionally over a previous relationship. Over this past year I have become a closer to this same girl #2. I see her almost every day. After I see her I often laugh out loud at how beautiful she is and how crazy my mind goes for her. I believe that at many points I could have asked her on dates or just kissed her out of the blue and she would have reciprocated. I have ached to tell her about my feelings for her so many times. I always restrained myself from all these actions, in order to not hurt the previously mentioned girl #1 that I was actually in a relationship with, and also due to a little rejection fear. It has been very hard to keep my feelings bottled up from girl #2, especially when we have deep conversations about love and relationships. Especially when she complains about there being 'no guys' around that she can connect with! It is closing to the time where I will probably never see her again, as I will be going to uni. In the past few days I have been having a recurring dream in which I talk to girl #2 about something, which I feel is my subconscious trying to tell me to get closure on this matter. Would it be the best action to tell girl #2 how much I have secretly loved her for the entire time we have known each other, or would she be better off not knowing? Tl;dr, I fancied a girl for years and am about to never see her again and don't know whether I should tell her how much I loved her the time that I knew her.

@Shin