For those of you into Kriya, I would highly recommend that in addition to reading the original Kriya book I suggested, you also read the books of Santata Gamana. I now prefer his more simplified techniques. It's a much more streamlined version of Kriya which I think will be even more effective. I found too much needless complexity and variety in the other way.
Right now my technique stack is very simple:
Mahamudra x3 Kriya Pranayama x24 Kriya Supreme Fire x3 One-pointed Concentration for 5 mins Eventually, with lots of practice, you should aim for something like the following stack:
Mahamudra x3 Kriya Pranayama x36-x72 Kriya Supreme Fire for 10-20 mins One-pointed Concentration for 10-20 mins (Bonus: Yoni Mudra x3) (Bonus: Kechari mudra) EDIT: ideally, do this stack twice per day. But if you don't have that much time, at least once per day.
Don't attempt to do this second stack right off the bat. It will not be sustainable. You need to gradually build up to it, like with heavy weightlifting.
I think the original book I recommended is still very good as an introduction and foundation because Gamana's books are so short and thin that they do not provide enough information about Kriya to a total newbie. They are aimed at people who have already been initiated in one school or another.
If you are strictly following the original book, that is okay. You can keep doing that if you want. Or you could switch to this more streamlined version like I decided to do. I don't like learning too many complicated techniques. But that's just me. Both ways should work in the end. It's mostly a matter of style. Although I actually think the streamlined version will end up to be more effective because it concentrates your limited time on the most powerful techniques, and less time is wasted on learning new complex techniques.

I took 1.25 yellow microscoops
It was some kind of salt, not sure if fumarate or HCl.
I don't recall much body load.
But it wraps your mind so much that you don't care much about what's happening to the body.

Hello everyone. I wanted to share with you my practice for effective meditation.
I've recently perfected how to reliably hit Stage 7+ samadhi in Culadasa's 'The Mind Illuminated' with self enquiry.
Once you are there, you'll add the insight practice of self enquiry and hopefully make significant progress towards the first stage of permanent awakening: stream entry.
I'm not a stream enterer yet but the reason I want to share this is that I've experienced temporary and VERY reliable no self insights while doing this exact method. Not just once but almost every time I sit.  This is insane. This state I consistently hit prior to self enquiry is like a low dose LSD.
How to check if you are ready for self inquiry: My method's check is visual and the room starts to lose its solid property slightly due to advanced breath concentration and clear extrospective awareness. If you experience that, it is the perfect time to start self enquiry.
 I just want to share the technique with you since I've experienced a lot of intelligent ways of practicing samatha supported self inquiry.
My Method:
1- Start the session and quickly move towards Stage 7 in Culadasa's system.
Here is how I do it.
-- First, stabilize the attention to the breath at the tip of the nose for 20-30 seconds until it stays there with little to no effort. Do this without subtle dullness and energy loss. Follow the breath with bright clarity. (Make sure you are not meditating in very warm temperatures.)
If you can't do this reliably, then you must practice more with Culadasa's system and develop sustained attentional skills. Read his book 'The mind illuminated' for details. Forget about self-inquiry before mastering this. Trust me. Samadhi developed Self inquiry is 50 times more effective than dry self-inquiry in my experience. (Although people still get enlightened without any samadhi practice. It is your choice in the end.)
I presume you can reliably attain effortless breath attention in less than 10 mins. Once the access concentration is on this level, you need one more skill to do proper adept self enquiry practice.
2- Practice Extrospective Awareness with Shinzen Young's 'Gone' Technique.
For this skill, drop the breath practice for now. This is the key part of the puzzle after mastering Culadasa's breath concentration. Once Culadasa gets you to master sustained attention, now it is time to develop adept levels of awareness. Introspective (inner) awareness is a solid choice as well (Body awareness etc.) but extrospective (outer) awareness of external sounds and visuals will be our technique here.
If you don't know, google 'Shinzen Young's Gone Technique'. We won't label anything. The mind will ONLY notice the endings of external sounds. I HIGHLY recommend a piano piece where it is slow and the individual notes can be discerned. Endings in particular. If you are not into music, do it listening to Leo. Focus on 'goneness' every time Leo utters a word. You must develop awareness to a point where you can experience this at the end of most words regardless of how fast Leo speaks.
You can label 'Gone' until you experience this and intuitively feel that you are 'access-concentration' with the sound. Also, do this technique with open eyes. Because we'll synthesize everything in the 3rd step.
3- Combine Breath Concentration with Extrospective Awareness with Visual Check. (IMPORTANT!!!!)
This is the hard work in my opinion. Any meditator can work with these skills separately. But the low dose psychedelic experience reliably comes from simultaneous practice of Culadasa's bright breath concentration and Shinzen Young's clear 'Gone' extrospective awareness. In this stage, once you combine these two skills, you'll have to check if you don't delude yourself. You'll do this with visual fluidity.
Once you think you are 'there', open your eyes, look at the center of your visual field with relaxed eyes. If you experience less visual solidity in objects while you are combining these 2 meditation skills, then you are ready for self enquiry. Remember that at this point, your breath attention is effortless and extrospective awareness of 'Gone' is very pronounced. If not, then you are not ready for self inquiry.
4- Samatha supported Self Enquiry
You are done with the bulk of the work. At this point, the mind is pliant enough to have a permanent and transient insight experiences regarding no self, impermanence and suffering. Now we facilitate the no self experience with the classic: 'Who is experiencing?' 
Pick whatever phrasing you like:
'Who am I!
'Who is looking'
'Who is breathing'
Just make sure you ask the question and bask more in silence until you feel the effects. Consciously let the self enquiry question effect your samadhi. Because if you feel zero effect in concentration and awareness, then you are not doing self enquiry. You are just using it as a mindless mantra. This is a mistake.
Everytime you ask 'Who is experiencing?', You must experience a certain inner tug in your sensory experience. This is a potential insight experience. The more you experience and go deeper like this, the insight into no self will get clearer.
-----
That is it. Do this 90-120 mins a day and you'll progress so quickly that you'll be shocked how skilled you get on a daily basis. In fact, do 2 sits a day like this. I'm standing on the shoulders of spiritual geniuses like Shinzen Young and Culadasa. It is thanks to them that I've experienced these training methods. The strategy MATTERS. 
 I'll write again when I discover a more effective method and/or attain permanent stream-entry.
Hopefully, this guide helps all of you struggling with meditation
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

@HII  The best source that I've explored regarding going deep on it's details https://superhumanos.net/
Ken did like 30 years of research on it and just put it in 1 program as a summary of all his work on integral spirituality/psychology.  Although it's quite pricey

 

 

 


 

 
 
 
 
 

Personally, I am being pulled toward deeper realizations of the illusionary nature of self and to nonduality. Much of this thread reminds me of The Four Agreements in which an "unhealthy" illusionary self is replaced with a "healthy" illusionary self.
I also sense in the thread an underlying assumption that some actions are "better" than other actions. And most of those "better" actions are within the classic social framework of "success". That is: dedication, give 110% percent, achieve, dream big, reach your potential, do extraordinary things. I've found ambition and perseverance can be a major distraction to inner Truth. I've run over 50 marathons and ultramarathons. I've done IronMan triathlons. I know the dedication of training day in and out - 1-8hrs a day. I've pushed my limits to the point of hallucinations, loss of cognitive function and physical collapse in which I needed hospital care. The experiences shaped me, yet it did NOT reveal my inner truth. I've also pushed my limits mentally. I worked 12hrs a day for periods as I attained a phd in molecular biology. I persevered countless hours in the laboratory to answer a burning scientific question. I've published dozens of papers and have been featured on scientific journal covers. I've given international speeches. NONE of this revealed inner Truth. Most of it was a major distraction where I was chasing something. Based on self. Yet nothing could fill it. It was never enough. Deep down, I was trying to fulfill a self identity imposed upon me by my parents and society: of what is "good", of who I "should" be. Deep down, there was a yearning to be accepted and loved. I was often consumed with thoughts of what to do next, what will happen if XYZ occurs, what do other people think of me, how can I achieve. . . 
For me, deeper levels of awareness have NOT come from living a healthy lifestyle. They have NOT come from dedication and perseverance to achieve extraordinary things. When tied to my self identity, it's all a distraction. The realizations have come through cracks in my ego and self identity. For me, living a "healthy" life and achieving does not crack my ego and self identity. It can actually reinforce it. "I am a marathon runner", "I am a scholar", "I am dedicated", "I am blah blah blah". The cracks leading to glimpses of Truth have come during times I'm forced out of my self identity. For example, I've lived with native tribes in Central and South America. Also, meditation retreats (yet it is slow and subtle). And psychedelics have been a powerful tool. 
In the thread there also seems to be an underlying sense of free will of the little "you". There is no free will for "me". I am not making all these decisions and actions to do healthy activities and live a "meaningful" life. I am not the author of my thoughts and actions. It comes from some mysterious nothing or something that I don't understand. I don't get to receive credit or blame. . . For me, I am being pulled toward "just being" and letting that mysterious whatever flow without resistance. If that means hiking Everest naked, great. If that means dancing in my kitchen naked to disco music, great. The ideas that I "need" or "should" do certain things are limiting concepts.
While living in Peru, I met a man who fortuitously became wealthy. He has spent most of his life traveling around the world. He had no dedication, ambition or agenda. He was open and free. To travel where the energy takes him. To meet people and experience things as they surface into his life in the present moment. He was pensive and introspective. He had a depth of awareness and love. He is one of the most fascinating people I've ever met in my life. His perspective was outside of the limits of my own perspective. It poked cracks into my self identity.
A couple weeks ago, I frolicked with the most beautiful butterflies deep within a Belizean jungle. The present moment. The mysterious energy/consciousness flowing freely from one moment to the next. For me, that "just being" IS "doing something" with my life.

I love; You love. 
We all love.
Love prevails over all. 
 
Love does not choose. It makes no exceptions. Notices no difference. To Love all is Love. And all makes Love; eternally, unstoppably. Silently, loudly. Innocently. In Union.
You and I... We are but a Love Story. 
A story of life. A story of death. All prior and all after. The in-between. All beneath, all above, all beyond. No thing is out of nothing but Love.
I know I hurt you. Love hurts at times.
I know I disappointed you. Love had different plans than we did.
I know I made you cry, far too many times. In sadness Love is often found.
I showed my teeth. I yelled out loud. Anger is Love too; unrecognized. 
I apologize. Honestly, I do.
Not because I failed you... But because that is Love, too. I simply have to.
I want to.
For that is the game of Love. Our life, our death and that which will carry on.
Wherever it may roam... Wherever it may take itself... I am but a carrier of that light. May you see yourself in me.
Now.
May Love live through me. Illuminate me and the blind. May we all see the path clearly. Return to innocence. 
Return Home. 
In pain love yourself the most. Let pain remember its source. Let it purify itself through your divine being. Help pain remember Love. Be its guide. Be its home. 
In solitude fulfill your heart with Love. May emptiness remember it is whole, instead of hollow. Warm and united. Unseen, untouched. Pure. Transparent.
May loneliness feel close to Love. May it forget separation, isolation. May it merge with the unseen. Connect to its long lost brothers and sisters. May it find eternal peace now. Love the one that feels lonely. Be its guide and company. Walk alongside.
In fear breathe deeper than ever before. Fear is distant, it shivers, it's cold. Give it warmth, give it shelter. Earn its trust. Trust it back. For so long it was viewed as a nemesis. A cast out. Unworthy of seeing divine light. Let fear know; it too is welcome home. It too has a place to be. To sit at the same table. To merge with Divinity. For far too long was fear looked down on; demonized, discredited, pushed away and underestimated. May it see your repentance. May fear forgive you.
May it forgive us all. For fear is nothing else but Love.
I can be nowhere else but in Love. I can do nothing else but Love. Make nothing else, express nothing else, perceive nothing else. And I could definitely not do it without You.
Thank You for making me see Love.
Thank You for giving me life. I am grateful beyond any word. Beyond all thoughts, even myself. Forever, I am.
 
In Love with You. 

@axwell Okay, so with using vinegar you DONT produce HCl!!! You can make a salt out of the freebase that is called acetate. The acetate can be used for the same purposes the HCl salt is good for: Snorting or plugging. 
1. First of all you want to know how much HCl equivalent acetate you need. That goes like Freebase [g] x 1,167 = HCl equivalent mass [g]. So for instance if you want to plug 15mg of HCl and all you have is the freebase you use that equation above with a little algebra like: 15mg / 1,167 = 12,85mg. Which means you need ~13mg of freebase converted into a salt to produce "the same" effects as if you directly plug 15mg of HCl because the freebase molecules are not as heavy as the HCl ones.
2. It doesnt matter at all that you dont produce HCl with this reaction for the equation to still be right. But: Of course the Acetate will be even heavier than the freebase and the HCl: Freebase x 1,167 = HCl and Freebase x 1,27 = Acetate. So dont be surprised that you might end up with almost 16,3mg of 5-Meo-DMT-Acetate when you just wanted to plug 15mg of HCl and even used 13mg of freebase. It is the same amount of molecules and hence equals the same dosage.
3. You put the amount of the substance that you weighed out on a spoon and fill a needleless syringe with less than 1ml of vinegar (25% acetic acid; it is called "Essig Essenz" here in Germany and is used to clean pipes or old coins or whatever... Im sure you can buy it in every supermarket)
4. Five to ten drops of vinegar should be enough. You have to drop them onto the substance on the spoon. The substance should solve in the same way as the HCl usually solves in water. If you have a clear and transparent solution, ideally all the freebase molecules have successfully reacted with the acid in the vinegar and now have formed 5-MeO-DMT-Acetate
5. You dont have to worry that the excess acid might damage your butt because you just used 10 drops of it. And you dont really need to calculate the needed volume of acetic acid with any stochiometry. I mean you can but that is rather an issue if you want to snort it
6. You clean the syringe you had just used the vinegar with. Now fill it with about 1ml of water which you can put onto the spoon with the 5-MeO-DMT-Acetate you just made. 
7. Stir well and soak the whole solution up the syringe and it is ready for plugging.
(8. I havent tried it personally, but you should also be able to let the excess water evaporate if you want to snort it. Then you should of course skip step 6 and use the vinegar very sparingly...)
 
Hope this will help you

@Dorotheus Great work!
Now just do that a couple hundred more times.
Don't worry, you will be amazed at how fast your skills improve.
Do not be detered by rejection or awkard moments. Those are all totally normal and they don't matter. Get very used to girls rejecting you or ignoring you.
Work on your body language, strong eye contact, commanding vocal tone, flirty smile, and plowing conservations without ejecting from set.
Your conversations should be slightly sexually charged. Don't be talking to her like a gay friend. She needs to register within 5 minutes that if she gets in a room alone with you, you're gonna bang her. But do not verbalize sex. This is something she must pick up from your flirty manner and the way you look at her.
Practice looking at her like you are a lion looking at a juicy gazelle. Get that chemistry going immediately upon approach. Don't be talking to her about work.
Your goal should be to reach the hook-point in the set, where it is clear that she's attracted to you. It usually takes 0-5 minutes to hit the attraction hook-point. Attraction happens surprisingly fast.

Please forgive my inability to summarize and condense better. I came to a rough understanding of the strange attractor through the Keyserling/Losey Wisdom School Website. 
The following is from chapter three of Chance and Choice:
http://www.chanceandchoice.com/course-overview/cosmogony/
(1) - Around 11,000 years ago the first Neolithic Man evolved from Paleolithic animal Man. From that time on we have had the potential to shed the last right-left symmetry by taming the Strange attractors. (2)
Since the human life stage is so relatively new, we are still born with the animals right-left axis of symmetry and must strive to attain true Humanity. Although there are some differences in the symmetry of the human face, overall we are as left-right symmetrical as the other animals. But with our neocortex abilities, our capacities of language and number, we can self organize out of this last constraint.
One of the keys to self organization is the coherent application of chance to ride the strange attractors. In this way we can use both the brains we are born with, the left and right hemispheres of the neocortex. The left hemisphere, turned to the cosmos and structure is digital, linear. The right hemisphere, turned towards chaos and chance has its origin in the nine numerals, the archetypes of fractal scaling. Each should be allowed to develop fully, to be different and totally asymmetrical. When the right brain is as strong as the left, a higher identity is created. The higher self follows the Strange attractors, epitomized by Mandelbrot set, z z¾ + c, and also corresponding to the musical octave and the Tao symbol.
Most of us are still right left symmetrical because our left brain so totally dominates the right. We have to shift our emphasis from cosmos to chaos, from left brain dominance, to right brain balance. Then the right is not just an imitation of the left, it is different, unique. The last symmetry is gone and now the two asymmetrical sides can cohere in a new singularity. The ego, subject of the left hemisphere, becomes the organ of the Self in the right hemisphere. It attains this by establishing true contact with the Other. 
Right brain coherence comes through receptivity to the workings of the Strange attractors, to constrained chance. In the moments when this is realized, when we are in a coherent flow with the unpredictable turbulence of the World, we have attained the birthright of Man. We have realized the potential to self organize to a higher stage of evolution. As a whole being, in touch with both sides of ourself and others, we transcend the left-right animal symmetry. With two fully developed, yet distinctly different brains, we are autonomous, asymmetrical, truly free from outside manipulation. We have attained a higher inner coherence, a self organization in the midst of chaos. To animal man we seem like Strange attractors indeed. On the surface, and in the moment, our actions may appear haphazard and foolhardy, but over time the wisdom and beauty of the Human Man will be apparent to all.
(0) - The highest stage, beyond even the higher Man, is merger with God, the great singularity beyond name and form, as the real subject of Being, through synchronicity, love, and illumination: reaching the eternal moment.

The five stages correspond to the dimensions and mind layers:
Zero dimension Awareness makes possible integration of the four dimensions and the four states of consciousness. It allows Man to enter the fourth dimension and gives him access to the fractal forces of the Strange attractors.
By moving from the left to the right brain in regression you can relive past lives, past evolution, back to the origin of the Universe in the Great Singularity, and the exploding force of the primal Fire-Quanta. This regression back to the original primal Quanta puts you in touch with the source of Self-Organization, the Power of CHI. This opens you to the energy and force needed to maintain coherence in the fractal chaos of the fourth dimension.

Now let us look at all of the energies together which can be understood as an energy field of Cosmic Mind. The following correspondences appear in Cosmic Mind today to make up the basic Myth of Science. Myth is not used in a derogatory sense, as just a myth, but in the sense of a true belief system which gives meaning to life. Science has largely replaced the old religious myths which were in tune with the feudal and ideological structures of the past. The following chart summarizes the overall cosmology of the myth of science and shows the relation of the five layers and the seven constituent parts.
The radiation of the photons is awareness through seeing and sensing. The electromagnetic energy of the electron allows awareness through smelling and thinking; the thermodynamics of the atom through tasting and feeling. The fission of the Galaxy becomes conscious by the power of speech, of the spirit creating new entities out of entropy. The fusion of the sun is the basis of the synergy of the soul, interpretation and reading, the creation of meaning. The gravitational energy of the earth is accessible through the sense of touch.
The mathematics of the molecular forces represents the basic structure of the Will. With living forms Will is the capacity for growth and reproduction through the genetic code. The subject self organizes and grows based on the strange attractor. New beings arise through fractal scaling according to the overall structure of the Cosmic Mind using the energies and mathematics of sound, the molecular vibrations or movement of matter, soul and spirit. With Man this process of the growth of being using free will was described by Buddhists as the creation of the immortal Diamond Body or the Golden Flower. By using free will in tune with the Strange Attractor and the energies of sound, our associative consciousness can change into Cosmic Awareness. The subject moves like a fractal in scales from the lower self imprisoned in deep molecular sleep, to the transcendent light of zero synchronistic awareness. This is the final aim of evolution, making sense of life and becoming co-creators of the manifoldness of the Universe.
 
A little more to follow,,,,,

Shadow work
 
First, let me start with a little motivation.
Why should I care about emotional healing? What is there for me to get?
Well, how about unconditional happiness, and wellbeing, much clearer communication, emotional awareness in social situations, and many more things you can't even fathom?
Just to compare it with a self-liberated state - it is different from detachment in my understanding. Liberation will detach you from the duality of life. Through emotional healing, you can move from the bottom of the emotional spectrum, all the way from depression to bliss.

So yeah, buckle up, and enjoy.

The emotional spectrum
In essence, there is only one emotional scale, in the lower part there are emotions such as sadness, anxiety, pain, loneliness,... and on the upper half you get the "good shit" - joy, love, glowing, warmth...
So there is not really a need to identify every emotion such as "depression, sorrow, anxiety...". You can! but It is not a requirement. 
All you need to do, every time you are feeling an emotion, is to ask yourself: Is this emotion moving me in the direction of bliss, or depression?
That is all the "EQ" you need.
                                                                                                   
Claims I am making in this guide that need to be understood.
1. Majority of your subconscious mind = Your body and your nervous system, including cellular memory.
2. Every emotion that is released in one moment, can never come back to haunt your life again. At least in the same limiting and painful fashion.
Thoughts
How do thoughts fit into the shadow-work/healing paradigm? Well you can imagine thoughts being this endless stream of water in your head. RIVER, that's the word! =D.
And your emotions are either a factory that is pouring in toxic waste and polluting the beautiful crystal clear water, OR a light, that is giving the water healing powers. 
Now I don't know how about you, but I will always pick Light over Toxic waste. Of course if you don't then this topic might not be for you :-p.

Beliefs (especially negative/limiting/lack beliefs).
Belief = a repetitive thought that is a manifestation of an underlying emotional/energetical cause. 
Later on I will try to guide you how to take on, and release negative core beliefs.
Essential requirement for emotional healing
FBO!! - Full Body Awareness

Now what da heell u talkin about?????
Full body awareness is simply your attention  no longer residing only in your head on your thoughts, and outside of you, but also in your body. It is the essential mindfulness skill. You can develop this quite easily through meditation, doing body-scans whenever you remember (A great tip is to set a reminder on your phone for every hour of your day, and every time it rings, you just run a quick awareness scan of your body and your feelings).

NUMBER ONE PRIOTIY.
For healing to be effective IT HAS TO BECOME your number one priority in life. This allows you utilize every time you get triggered, and get the most out of ordinary every-day situations. And if it isn't clear already, THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT YOU COULD EVER DO IN TERMS OF SELF-IMPROVEMENT AND FROM A CERTAIN ANGLE ON YOUR PATH TO LIBERATION. 

How do I get to feel good all the time?
So you wanna feel good? Well you are not the only one, and YES YOU CAN! Don't listen to the people who say "ooh well life isn't all rainbow and unicorns." You can literally choose that reality for yourself. You can feel great, ALL THE TIME.
 
Total and absolute self-love. 
This should be done on two levels.
1. You create something I like to call Meta acceptance. That means total and absolute acceptance of yourself in all situations. Practically this means, that whenever you are feeling down, you can accept yourself without judgement, whenever you screw up, you choose to accept yourself, but that doesn't end there. If you screw up, and beat yourself up, you choose to accept your beating yourself up! See why "meta"? <3.
The self-acceptance chain runs a little like this:
You find yourself in a emotionally disturbed state. Your thoughts are among the lines of "I am not good enough". >> "Oh stop, don't think of yourself like that!".
The way you apply meta acceptance is - First accept the thought of "Oh stop, don't think of yourself like that". (If you want something a little tangible for acceptance you can mentally hug the thought.), and once that thought is dealt with, you move onto the other thought of I am not good enough. And you accept that.
2. Acceptance of your body and feelings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcNGtZPPSS8 - Leo's visualisation works perfectly for this stage of self-love.
Basically what needs to happen is the activation of your heart-center and then spreading the "love feeling" to the rest of your body. 

Why should one love himself? Because he is already perfect. He is always the most exact expression of god that he chose to express in the moment. The most perfect and beautiful creation, that has never ever existed before, and never will after. A complete, blissful perfection in the eyes of The one. Side note - self-love is a skill, that will grow and fluctuate throughout your journey. That is natural and nothing to be alarmed of.
Hammer it down with a visualization!
Healing is in essence an inaccurate concept. There is nothing wrong with the "unhealed" one. When you decide to take up on healing, you are choosing a different perception, different quality and embodiment of life, and different energetical configuration of your being. It is not better, nor worse, that is why we choose our suffering, as well as we choose our bliss. We choose healing because DAMN IT FELS GOOD! (And from that standpoint only can you make an argument that the "healed" state is a better one, because it is in the direction of your intuition, which is nothing else but following what feels good).

So every day, you choose to step more into the reality of a better feeling energetical state. Into the blissfulness of being.
How?
VISUALIIIIIZE! <3
Let's assume that there is such you that is fully healed, fully recovered, fully on the bliss side of the emotional spectrum. The you that is passionate, alive, joyful, fearless.
How exactly does the embodiment of these qualities (or any other of your choice) feel?
How does it feel in your body? What kinds of thoughts are you having? What kinds of people do you hang out with? What is your financial situation? What is your family and relationship situation? What does it look like when you communicate with others? What kind of job, or what kind of person are you in a job? How assertive are you? How responsible and sensitive are you? And so on...

Use the miracle that is your imagination, visualize that you are already embodying every single quality you desire to embody. Imagine that you are blissful, joyful and peaceful. 
Every single day, whenever you remember, just imagine this YOU! This YOU that you know you came here to be, and imagine that you are ALREADY living that paradigm.
This allows you to stay motivated, make it number one priority, and will have a healing effect within of itself. 
And through the visualization - Allow yourself to raise your standards. Give yourself permission, that you truly deserve to feel amazing. You truly deserve to have an amazing life, you truly deserve to be the one you know you came here to be. Through visualization, you create an end-version of yourself. This will allow you to use all the necessary means to get you there. It is the end-result that inspires means.


Breath-work

Breath-work is an essential part of the healing process. It allows integration and gets the suppressed emotional energy in your body moving.
Pranic breathing/visualization - An exercise to be used whenever you feel an emotional trigger in your body. This usually happens in the stomach and abdomen area, but not exclusively.
1. Close your eyes, and make yourself aware of all the feelings in your body. Identify everything you choose to work on in the moment, anything unpleasant or limiting.
2. On a count of 6, take a deep breath INTO YOUR TUMMY!!!!!! while visualizing All the emotions rising up!
3. On a count of 6, hold onto everything you have been meaning to rise up while holding your breath.
4. On a count of 6, breathe out, while letting go of everything you have been holding onto. Then hold your breath for 3 seconds, and breathe normally for a little while (doesn't need to be more than 2-3 breaths).
5. Repeat the whole process until it feels redundant. I highly recommend doing this practice daily.
Sidenote: It helps if you calm your mind before the exercise through any means you find fit. 
  The Wim-Hof Breathing technique
This is for an advanced stage of already initiated healing. I do not recommend this exercise for the initiation of the healing process. If you feel that it resonates with you and fits your needs, then by all means use it any time you deem appropriate.
1. Breathe in the full capacity of your lungs, and breathe out instantly. Repeat the whole process 25-30 times, until your head feels a little dizzy.
2. Breathe out your last breath from the previous step and hold your breath for as long as it feels comfortable.
3. Go back to n.1 and do the whole cycle again. Repeat for at least 3-5 times.   
LEARN TO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY
This is a very simple but crucial part. Get yourself into a habit of making choices based on what feels good in your body, and you can turn your whole life into healing, making the process much quicker, and more intuitive.
IN ex. you wake up, you do your morning routine, and you don't know what to do next. Move your awareness into your body, and ask yourself "what would feel the best to do next?". There might be answers such as drink a glass of water, have sex, go for a walk, masturbate, go socialize, etc.
This can at times get tricky, and that is when we are presented between a dilemma of Egoic vs. Authentic choice. Imagine that you are in a restaurant, and you can either choose to eat a cake or a salad. Now there are instances, where eating the cake would actually be an authentic choice. It is completely fine. But let's say you are trying to shed some weight, and naturally eating a cake would feel good! Right?! Well Then follow this principle. Will it also feel good 5-30 minutes after I made the choice? (eaten the cake..),
 
And heureca. A simple guidance system to navigate your whole fucking life, to get yourself asap to your highest alignment.

How to deal with negative/lack beliefs

First a quick guide to make yourself aware of your limiting beliefs - Let's say there is something that disturbes you. Maybe your spouse doesn't text back and you feel bad about it. So you calm your body and mind, and start enquiring within. 
Why am I feeling bad about this?
>> It feels like they don't love me.
If that is true, why is that so bad?
>> Because with no love my life is meaningless.
If that is true why is that so bad?
>> Because that would mean I am not good enough.
If that is true why is it so bad?
>> I am not good enough
This was just an illustration, your enquiring process will probably be much longer and have perhaps several dozens of questions, you might check out Katie Byron's process that she calls The Work.
So you've got this belief that you perceive as limiting, and decided to do something about it. Great!!! ADMIT DEFEAT.
You cannot win over a belief in your subconscious from the stand-point of This is not true! I will fight this! Because in essence, your subconscious has so much more power than your conscious mind. You can't override it with brute force. So admit defeat. The belief is there. You do not believe you are good enough.
After admitting the defeat there should be (there may be exceptions so don't take this as a rule or confirmation of "I am doing it right") a sense of relief. Because you have been running from this belief your entire life, trying to prove it wrong. But now, when you admit defeat, there is no longer the need to accomplish anything in order to escape from the belief. There is acceptance. There is a little more peace.

Now when you are aware of your thought of "I am not good enough", trace the thought back into your body. Close your eyes, and follow the trail of your emotions. How does that thought make you feel? What are the underlying emotions behind this belief? This might take a while to take an effect, but sooner or later, you should arrive at an emotion that can be worked with.
AND THAT is when your breathing exercises kick in.

What should follow is a lot of release of unconscious emotions. Your most cathartic moments are the ones when you are overwhelmed with emotions. 
 
 
List of cathartic actions/events/situations
Journaling and writing down thoughts in free association Tingeling or weird sensations in the body Speaking in tongues CRYING shouting outbursts of anger panic attacks unexplainable fear obsessive thinking unvolutary body movements strong urges (such as you have a strong urge to do something, or bark, or run,...) puking diarhea hyper horniness hyper sensitivity feelings of love feelings of resentment feeligns of disgust feelings of victimhood halucinations feeling sick feelings of stiffness and many many more :o) Desire
Desire. Ooh Isn't this one the favourite for the "spiritual folks" to pick on! =D.
I MUST BECOME DESIRELESS
DESIRE IS THE SOURCE OF ALL SUFFERING
DESIRE IS BLUEBLAHBLOHBLA EWW
SUPPRESSION
SUPPERSSION
EGO SUPPRESSED
AAH  #NOMIIIND #BUDDHA #SoEnlightenedRnLikeOmg


The belief in lack is the source of all suffering.
- Bentinho Massaro

What do you make of this one?
The belief in lack is the cause of all suffering.
Is that clear? Like... do you understand how deep this goes?
When you are born, you don't really believe in that much of lack do you?
You prolly don't believe that you lack money as a kiddo. You probably don't believe that you lack sex, or that you lack comfort (ok debatable). But surely not as many things as you seem to be lacking now.
Desire is the driving force behind all action. Without desire the universe would literally could not exist. What's the problem then?
Lack based desire vs. Inspiration based desire.
All of suffering is an illusion, because it is based on lack. Which IS an illusion. You can never truly lack anything.
If lack were real, happiness would not be a possible state of mind. I can prove this to you! Lack is truly an extremely illusory state of consciousness.
 
Right now, 
as you are sitting behind your computer screen!
Are you lacking a big shiny red apple in your hand?!
No?
But it is not there? (unless this is a fucking huge coincidence in which case Im highfiving you)
So how can you not lack it? If it is NOT THERE!
Well you don't... probably. You are not in a "state of lack of the big red shiny apple" that would be driving you crazy.

So how come you can lack anything else? Like money? Or love? Or anything what so ever?
Can you see the illusory state of mind?
Lack cannot possibly rationally ultimately exist. 
Conclusion?
Desire is OK!
There is nothing bad/wrong/untrue about desire. The trick comes in distinguishing lack based desires and inspiration desires. 
To be fair, as of now, most of your desires are probably going to be lack-based. And that is fine. It is a great tool for growth and healing.

How to exploit desires for growth

1. Every time you feel bad about a situation, ask yourself "What must I believe that I lack right now?"
And realize that it is a one big lie. You cannot lack anything. And even if you did lack something, wouldn't the most logical thing to do be just straight up getting the thing you think you lack? Instead of reminiscing and feeling bad about it?
Find out what you perceive you lack (let's use the example of companionship) "I believe I lack companionship." If it were true, that I truly lack companionship, what would be the most logical course of action? >> Go out and talk to people Ok great why don't you do it? Looads of self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviours probably will kick in. >> I don't wanna go out, people don't like me, I am shy, I am introverted, I can't make friends, I don't know anyone, I am a loser etc. See how the perceived lack was what created the suffering? It wasn't the desire itself. It was the belief that you lack companionship. 2. Every time you desire something, even when it is based on lack, follow it. Do NOT SUPPRESS YOUR DESIRES. That will truly result only in self-sabotaging and self destructive behaviours that will lead to more emotional issues down the road.
Every time we desire, we don't in actuality desire the object of our desire. We desire the feeling of having the object.
If I want a car, I don't actually want that car. What I truly on a deeper level want, is a state of freedom, or worthiness, or security,...
Can you activate that feeling of already having that car within your being, WITHOUT actually having the car?
Yes you can!
Visualize, breath-work, mindfulness, breath-work. 
What does it feel like to have that car? What are the sensations in my body?
What kinds of thoughts are coming up now when I have it?
What is between me, and the feeling of having the car?
Is it the feeling of "I am not good enough"? Or the thought of "I am not worthy"?
 
Once you arrive at a conclusion, healing can start, lack can be purified, and desire will be used to it's maximum to grow you, and to teach you your lesson.
 
side note: You can motivate yourself through realizing that once you get yourself into a state of mind where you "already have that thing you desire" without lacking it, it will be SO MUCH MORE EASIER EFFORTLESS AND FLOWING to get that thing in the external reality, that it really doesn't make any sense at all to keep believing in lack.

 

SONDER
Taking whoever decides to read this on a little mental obstacle-course
You are a pirate. 
A pirate sitting on a treasure chest as he’s trying to open it.
He is pulling hard, but he's tired of pulling. He deeply craves this treasure.
It's in the nature of the pirate to crave the treasure.

The pirate doesn't know what's inside this chest.
Nevertheless, he keeps on pulling anyways, after all, it's in his nature.
He's not realizing that his efforts are meaningless. Destructive and demoralizing.
His current perspective is not giving him any value…
Maybe this treasure was not meant for me after all.
The pirate eventually starts thinking to himself that perhaps he should have chosen a different profession.
“Perhaps I should become a dentist instead?”
But that treasure is yours, and it has always been yours.

And the best of it all -  you were destined to find it.
The pirate had sailed all over the world unknowingly drifting by the invisible current - drawing him towards this moment...  
A hidden intuition pulling him in.
His nature.
As if life was a physical conveyer belt filled with personal experiences that you forgot that you ordered 
- SONDER
Let me ask you something…
"If you saw yourself from another perspective sitting on that chest, would you dare to stand up for the first time?"
-
Following up on this little metaphorical analogy, I would like to introduce you to a very significant analogy, I will attempt to show you, the pirate, from another perspective.
A perspective making it possible to see yourself, the pirate from a different angle.

An approach tailored towards the more logical, rational minds.
- - - - - - - -  - - - - - - - - 
I would like you to imagine that your mind is like a stack of books.
(Don’t get stuck in metaphors here)
Each book in this pile is a belief.
(Let's draw a realistic line in the sand, 2+2=4 ← this is not a belief)
 
You have been collecting and stacking books your entire life, starting from when you began forming memories at the age of three years old.
 
Each book in this pile is a belief. You have many books, thick and thin, heavy and light. finished pieces and ones currently in the process of being written.
 
These books together form your identity, your sense of who you are.
 
Sketch 1

 
Together, these books become you.
These books are the most real thing that you have ever known.
They are you.
You see the world through your books.

These books collectively act as your lens.
-

If we zoom out and take a look at the world, there is no such thing such as unbiased journalism.
Same goes for you, the reader, the real author of these books.

We are all biased authors.
 
Let's focus on a random book in your pile...
The content of this particular book is dependent and reliant on the ones below this one...

We are all biased authors.
 
The heavier and thicker a book becomes, the more you emotionally identify with this book, this belief.
An exponential process.
 
We unknowingly surround ourselves around other people that have similar books to our own.

^When we do this, we do not have to question our content- or be exposed to the need of checking the liability of our sources.
Often half assed click baits filled with biased content

^It's simply one of the many ways of defending our current beliefs, our books, our identity, our sense of self. A defense mechanism is hidden unless exposed to reflection. 

This is one of the many tactics used in the process that is dedicated towards the preservation of our current way of thinking. (Thanks Leo for putting this in words)

We are stuck in a loop dedicated towards the preservation of our current ways of thinking.

A constant loop of reacting instead of reflecting. → They say we are a product on our environment, well I say we are the first generation of algorithms
^Boosted by Dopamine
 
It’s easier now than ever to find toxic circlejerks available in closed Facebook groups... Usually built with the agenda to make “outsider” books as heavy as possible…
^Only like-minded opinions from fellow stackers welcomed or banhammer is used in desperation - Sadly all kinds of extremist books are readily available -  backed by heavy algorithms --> fueled by dopamine…
Like a buffet serving negative momentum
-
We do not like to be in an environment where people are trying to pull out our books and ruin our seemingly perfect pile. We are willing to go to extreme lengths to avoid this.
*****************************
Let's zoom again out for a moment
-

Example time: Meeting an individual for the first time - This person might introduce themselves along the lines of:
 
- Hi, my name is Klara and I am a Vegan
- Hi, my name is Lukas and I am a philosopher
 
This person introducing her/himself just showed you one of his heaviest books, he/she gave you a key to his emotional hotspot-lock - Like someone unknowingly inviting another person for a potential dance!

If you are looking to connect with Klara or Lukas →  a good strategy would be to aim for this book right here.
Or on the other hand, if you for whatever reason feel like triggering or disconnecting with this person, a good choice would be to aim for this book they showed you -->  Why? --> Often consumed by one's own labels created in the mind... 
Interesting, but now let's continue.
***********************************
We have been stacking these books, funny thing is that you weren't really aware of this process, and even if you were, you lacked judgment in your younger years.
Actually, you inherited the majority of these books from the culture you were born in.  ←  Earth ← Continent ← Country ← City ← Family (masculinity and femininity resources) ← Culture starting point ← Daily Environment ← Survival mode [ON]/[OFF](?)*
We simply received the starting package of books from whichever culture that you happened to be born in.
 
*
We are all biased authors.
*
We never really chose our books, we never went through the process of careful selection.
We were never picky enough.

We just received the starting package from whichever culture we happened to be born in. Our foundation for this process was based on randomness, but we do not treat it as such. (Depends on one's view of incarnation).

We were the ones writing these books → A very biased process, by a very biased author.

We are all biased authors.

We define ourselves →  our stack of books → as a measuring stick to judge and decide what is right, what is wrong, and what is crazy. (thx again Leo)

We use this measuring tool that is based on perspective in our ongoing quest to find truth in the world.

The truth capable of setting us free.

Stacking books makes us see things in only black or white. We morph our previously colorful world into a black and white one, forgetting the colorful and joyful experiences we previously had as kids.
Is this what childhood really amnesia is?
Would be interesting to hear you guy's opinion(s) on this one!
 
***************************
When we are faced with a debate or conversation ahead of us containing potential value →  Most of us go in with the unknowing agenda to defend our books → or with the focus to destroy the other person's pile.
 
(An action deeply hidden beneath emotions fueled by a loop of agressive reaction instead of reflection)

Instead of mutually going in with the shared agenda to grow.

Or climbing the real ladder.
This prevents us from using our surrounding resources.
We are trapped in our own cycle of perspectives.
We forget to listen --> We forgot how to listen.
We are all biased authors.
Let's add Spiral Dynamics to this mental picture

You are the Average color of your combined books

Heading in a direction chosen by your place in the hierarchy
 
Which color are you? 
Mentally calculate using
amount of pages, not the number of books although impossible
Why is this person orange? 


When we open these books, if we ever do. We can with our golden rationality finally realize that there is no truth written within any of these books.

Just perspectives →  Perspectives we perceive as truth, an illusion.
 
The grand illusion. *

Books can always be edited or ripped out. Not truth, just perspectives.
 
But in order to do so, you have to fight your inner voice →  in order to do so → you have to have the proper relationship and understanding of your inner dialogue.
Understanding the lawyer….
Understanding the inner voice….
With full understanding → Aggression and annoyance disappears and is swallowed by wisdom (Hmm, right direction here Leo or fellow thinkers?)
Inner dialogue → another can of worms I will open in the next thread
 -
Logic time*

Let's open one book, we may honestly reflect and say;
 
"I would not have this perspective if I did not have this perspective -->  if I did not have this perspective if I did not have this one, that I build this one on."

With enough effort and skill, this process can be continued as you head further and further down towards the bottom of your pile.
The foundation of it all.
Your first book.
The book you (unknowingly)  placed there when you were just three years old.
Your name.

Who are you?
When did you last ask yourself this question? → The most valuable question that there is.
Not just asking- asking while → being open enough not to know the answer while asking is key →
 
Good luck filling a full glass of dirty water with champagne
especially when you deeply believe it’s already champagne

or
“You will never know that 2+2 is actually 5 if you know that it it’s 4”

If you ask yourself this question,
Who am I?
You will only come up with different titles of books.
Heaviest ones in order going from heavy to light.
Starting with perspectives you heavily emotionally identify with…
You are not perspectives.
So who are you?
Are you perspectives perceived as truth?
Hmm….

This is how society prays on us. It knows our books, the people in charge know your library, each time you liked or shared content they got a more accurate representation of your library.
They say we are the product of your environment, well I say we are the first generation of algorithms fueled by dopamine
They want you to keep stacking for their growth of primitive resources. --> We have domesticated ourselves. (leeo)

This is why we haven't seen any significant results in thousands of years, we still follow the same ethical patterns as we did centuries ago.

This time around backed up by glorified labels --> We are still at a very primitive stage in our path towards becoming one.

Labels are socially acceptable blockages standing in the way of reflection backed up by the golden standard of logic.

Still disconnected from each other.
In fact, we were so desperate to become connected that we became disconnected. → Social media.

There is no magic solution to the problem, at this point, most of us can not conceptualize, or even imagine the issue at hand
-

Undigestible content made for the purpose of mental masturbation is not going to get us far 

Content tailored towards the public perspective might, however, be a start towards visualizing the problem- and perhaps for the first time seeing our collective obstacles for what they really are. → Illusions
Sources:
Plato’s cave
Spiral Dynamics
Shoot me with your criticism, give me your all --> Potential value for at least one of us
 
 
peace
 
SONDER
 
 

This is almost always a lie. Such situations are almost never stable and filled with self-deception on both sides. In practice what happens is the women are deeply unsatisfied and end up dropping out after a year or two. And it only works from the guy's POV if he's constantly pulling new women into his harem. The guy is burning through women every year to maintain his rotation. But because he's so selfish he's blind to the suffering he's causing these women so it seems fine from his POV, as least until he becomes more conscious, at which point he'll see it and probably stop.
Most women will be crushed when you tell them that you want to see other women. Imagine utter heart-break. That's what she felt when you told her that. It crushed her. To pretend otherwise is quite delusional.
Ask yourself why you want polyamory. Watch out for egoic self-deception here.
Figure out how to relate to one woman first before you start juggling 3 of them at once.
Most guys who want to be with multiple women are immature and terrified of commitment, relationship & intimacy. That's what you really want to work on.

As many of you know, pure 5-Meo-DMT has become available again from research chemical vendors! Many people are interested stocking up and keeping it for the long haul. This thread is intended to provide an outline of the best strategies for storing 5-MeO-DMT (and other psychedelics). With good storage procedure it should be possible to store 5-MeO-DMT for decades with little to no degradation. While this primer was written with 5-MeO-DMT in mind, it applies to other psychedelic compounds as well.
It is divided into the sections: Material, Safety, Long term storage, Short term storage
Material:
The salts of 5-MeO-DMT will resist degradation better than the freebase, so you could choose 5-MeO-DMT in Oxalate, Fumarate, HCl or other salt form as they will all last better than the freebase. Someone on here pointed out that the Oxalate has never before appeared on the market, indicating that this is a fresh batch, so that might be the best un-degraded form right now. OTOH, the other forms could be from a new synth too, I don't know. If you need freebase down the road for vaporizing, there are teks on the web on how to convert a salt form to freebase. If you just want to vape it for short term use, you might as well order freebase. When talking about other compounds, here are some general rules of thumb: The phenethylamines (2C-B, 2C-E, mescaline etc) are the most hardy of the bunch. Mescaline has been found in peyote buttons in archaeology sites still active after hundreds or even thousands of years. Next, the tryptamine class (including 5-MeO-DMT) are a fair bit more fragile and need better care. Of the tryptamine class, the 5-sub ones (5-MeO-DMT etc) seem more hardy than the 4-sub ones (4-AcO-DMT, psilocybin etc). Last, the lysergamides (LSD, AL-LAD) are theoretically the least stable of the bunch, although there is a story of old Sandoz acid being passed around at some gathering many many decades after it was synthed, and it still worked fine. Lysergamides are particularly vulnerable to UV light and the chlorine that's found in most tap water. Safety:
Locks - If you live with children or irresponsible adults, it is crucial that you keep these compounds safely locked away. Acquire some kind of small lock box to store your chemicals in. Even without such people around, it's a good habit for long term storage because you don't know what might come about in 10 years. Labelling - It's critical to properly label any stored material. You will forget what is what 10 years from now. Also if someone penetrates your locked box, you don't want them snorting a line of 5-MeO thinking it's something like coke. You might also want to put a note in the box to explain to any intruder what's in there, and to talk to you about it. Long term Storage:
Heat, moisture, light and air will be the main causes of degradation, so the general idea is to protect your 5-MeO-DMT from these factors. Here are some points:
Sealed and dry: You can keep your 5-MeO-DMT sealed in it's original baggie. Put this baggie inside another baggie, and then inside a sealed container that has some kind of desiccant (drying agent) in it. Silica gel packets that come with some food items are good. Uncooked rice is also actually really good. Good sealed containers include glass canning jars. Amber vials: Some people prefer to transfer the baggie contents to small amber vials, like the ones used for essential oils. You can order those kinds of vials off of amazon or other vendors. Don't reuse old vials because they could have contaminants in them. You could put these vials inside another container containing desiccant. Freezer: The cold of the freezer will greatly slow down any degradation. Put your sealed containers in the lock box if you have one, and then in the freezer, and just leave them in there for years if you want. You *must* have everything sealed really well from moisture when you put it in the freezer, otherwise you'd be better off leaving it at room temperature. Opening your stash: When you need to access your stash DO NOT OPEN IT RIGHT AWAY. Wait until it comes up to room temperature, so just leave it for a few hours to let it warm up. If you open it right away moisture will condense and you'll have moisture issues. Antioxidant: Some people like to add an antioxidant in with the desiccant. The idea is that any oxygen in the container will preferably react with the antioxidant rather than end up oxidizing the drug. I'm not sure the best antioxidant, but you could try vitamin C. None of the desiccant or antioxidant should ever come into direct contact with the 5-MeO-DMT. You can score an A+ on storage by displacing the air in the storage container with a heavy inert gas like xenon. Some extreme wine enthusiasts do this to prevent wine from oxidizing after they've opened it up. A bit excessive if you ask me, but certainly takes it to the next level. Short term Storage:
For short term storage the same principals as above apply, but you can afford to be a little less careful. Any amount that you will want to use in say the next few months or year, you could keep in short term storage.
Keep your small amount in a small baggie or amber vial, optionally put that inside a larger baggie sealed with silica gel packets.  You might get away with "locking" it in one of those plastic child-proof medicine bottles that prescription meds come in. Better to have it behind an actual lock though. Again, label it. Store at room temperature, somewhere cool, away from any light, and discreet.  Notes:
What an amazing time we live in! Never before in history has it been possible for millions of people to access this chemical key to directly unlocking mystical states of consciousness. Only since the early 2000s has this compound been available on the web, and even then it's always been off and on. Before that only rare chemists and their friends had access to it. There are no guarantees as to how long this door will stay open so act wisely, share carefully and with love.
Feel free to comment with any corrections/additions/notes etc. I will continue to come back to edit this for clarity and updates.

I had similar snags to what your questions suggest. Below is a long description of a few things that helped me get through the perception of separation block. It took me about a year, using various techniques. I describe below the one's that seem so helpful. This is not any type of Absolute Truth or Enlightenment guide. It is only methods I used to re-orient my minds perspective. It's like training wheels. Once you learn to ride the bike, get rid of the training wheels. This is just one approach. If it works for you great. If not, great - ditch it.
1. One of my biggest resistances to seeing One Everything was this sense that I had to choose either / or. I had to choose that I was either an individual person I felt like or a person-less type of whatever that is One with everything which I did NOT feel like. Since I felt like I had to choose between the two, my mind kept coming back to thoughts like "but wait a minute, how can I not exist?". Thoughts similar to the ones you listed above. Here, I explain a different approach in which BOTH are true. You are that individual person AND a person-less existence within One Everything. Your mind has undergone millions of years of evolution and a lifetime of nonstop conditioning to train your mind to only be aware of the perspective that you are a separate being from your surroundings. We are not rejecting this perspective, we are just going to relax the mind so that another perspective arises. 
The image below shows two simultaneous perspectives. There is a young woman AND an old woman. Yet, the mind can only be aware of one perspective at a time. Your mind is locked into one perspective. Let's say the human mind has evolved to easily see the image of the young woman. And from early childhood every child is conditioned to see the young woman. Thousands of times each day. One's entire view of life is based on the young woman perspective. 99.99999% of people don't even know the old woman perspective exists. Very few people can see the old woman and when they tell others about it, other people resist. They shall say "It's so obvious there is a young woman. Are you telling me the young woman is actually an old woman? You are crazy!!" . . . Asking questions and debating from the perspective of the young woman will not help you see the old woman. It's better to just relax the mind, observe and allow it to arise. 

Now, we can't make a person see the old woman. We can just *point* to features and hope the person awakens to the old woman. What type of person will be able to see the young woman?
Person A: The closed-minded logical debater. We tell him, "look at this line - this line marks the nose of the old woman". The person responds "Hogwash!! That line marks the cheek of the young woman. Science has proven this. Prove to me that line marks the nose of the old woman. You are trying to tell me that line is not part of the young woman when it obviously is!!". . . Well, we won't get very far with this person. . . 
Person B: The curious open-minded explorer. We tell her, "look at this line - this line marks the nose of the old woman". The person responds "I still only see the young woman, can you give me another pointer?". OK, this thick line looks like a necklace on the young woman, yet it is also the mouth of the old woman. Our student responds "I still only see the young woman. This is really frustrating. What else can I do". We could advise that she just relax her mind and forget about the young woman for a while. So, she relaxes her mind. As thoughts about the young woman arise, she let's them go. This is really hard to do because the mind is conditioned to only see the young woman. As our student continually lets go of young woman thoughts, the mind quiets and then one day "OMFG, there is the old woman!!!!". . . . Yet, it is only a glimpse. The mind snaps back to seeing the young woman. But now, this is no longer conceptualization - she has seen that old woman and knows it exists via her own direct experience. Yet, she needs to keep relaxing her mind to allow the the young woman to arise. With practice, it becomes more common and easier to see the old woman. When we return to look at the young woman, it's just not the same anymore - now that we can also see the old woman.
2. Similarly, the human mind has evolved and is socially conditioned to only see one perspective - that I exist as a separate entity. To "see" the other perspective of One Awareness, we need to let go of our attachment and conditioning to see the individual self (the young woman in the above analogy). The trick is, to be open to "pointers", yet don't get caught up on the pointers. Don't analyze the pointers. In the above example, saying "that line is NOT the old woman!!!" doesn't help. Of course that line isn't the old woman, it is within the old woman. If we just pointed to the old woman, you would have little chance to awaken to it. As well, saying a mantra like "I can see the old woman, I can see the old woman". Doesn't help much either. I think it's best to take in the pointers, relax and let it appear.
3. There are lots of pointers toward One Awareness, similar to the one above. Here is another. Sit in your room and look around. There is awareness you are present. Let go of the past and future and all ideas. Just sit there and be amazed that you have awareness that you exist. It's amazing!! That is the one thing that has never changed in your life - that sense of "I AM". Your body has changed, your thoughts have changed, your life has changed, the world has changed, your likes and dislikes have changed. Yet that sense of "I exist" is unchanging. It doesn't matter if you are hungry, cold, thinking, watching a movie, angry, have a headache, broke your arm - none of that matters. That sense of "I AM" is always present, whatever is happening. This sense of "I AM" is more real to you than anything else. It is the most intimate part of your being. You know this is true more than anything else in your life. I AM present right now. All those thoughts in your head are irrelevant. Regardless of anything you think, the "I AM" is still present. So, just let all the thinking go or just let the brain think and drop below into the sense of "I AM" presence that is more real than those passing thoughts and feelings. Get to know this "I AM" sense of awareness.
4. Once you can rest in this sense of "I AM" presence, look around the room. Let go of your mind's conditioned perception of differences - focus on sameness. What does EVERY thing in the room have in common with your sense of "I AM" present in this moment? Every thing in your room is also present in this moment. Every thing in your room has presence right now. Focus on the sameness. Every thing is presence. Every thing is the same presence, in that Every thing exists in your room. There is a "sameness" of presence. If your mind starts thinking "well, that object is different than that object. How can it be all the same?". Remember, we are NOT saying there are no differences. We are not saying the young woman image doesn't exist. Yes, there are differences, that's another perspective - just let that go and relax. . . So, every thing in your room is present. The all have a sameness in that they are all present. Now, look at how all these presences are interconnected. The presence of items that contact tables, the presence of molecules in the air you breath, the presence of body contacting a couch. It's all interconnected presence. Now is the big jump. . .  see it as One Everything in the room. All the things present are interconnected into One Everything that is present. Here, there is no separation. Show yourself something in your room that is not within Everything. You can't do it. Even the thoughts passing through your head are within Everything. How about memories? Those too are within the One Everything in the room. Try to think of something or do something that is not within this Everything. Think of an elephant. Do cartwheels across the room. Laugh. Cry. Whatever happens in your mind or body is withing Everything. And all objects in the room are within Everything.
5. Get glimpses of that One Everything. Your mind will likely snap right back into seeing individual objects and get attached to differences. That is OK. That is just the other perspective (the young woman). Seeing separation is not right or wrong. Yet, if you can get a good look at that One Everything, that is a direct look at a hair on the Ox's tail. 
6. Does this mean we strive to always perceive this One Everything? Does this mean there are no objects and no differences in life? No. It is just a different perspective and it is very practical in day to day life. After all, we drive a car, drink water have conversations with other people. It will be very difficult to have this One Everything perspective in public and when you are doing stuff. That is why it is so important to set aside quiet time practice to return to this One Everything state of being. Meditation, yoga, a walk in nature, sitting by a river and observing. . . 

Remember that people below stage Green don't have much concern for environmental issues because their mind is preoccupied with more selfish things.
So the root solution to climate change is to raise more people to Green cognitive development. Then, from that, the rest of the external solutions will follow.
A Green populace will vote for green politicians and green energy.
Climate change is really a problem of excessive Orange. As we can clearly see with Trump, who is in such denial about it.

I want to say something positive in this thread.
I've done NoFap several times for about a month. The reason was that I felt weak and NF seemed to be a something to start with. We, in western societies, live in a constant stream of comfort. But we don't think about it as comfort, because we're born into this world. This is rather new - and we live still in the wrong paradigma. Only THREE GENERATIONS ago the people lived in Europe with the ups and downs of nature. In the summer you get fat - in the winter is scarcity. Everyday life is routine (boring, you may call it) - but every year there is carnival. Now is Summer and Carnival all year. We live in a absurd cargo-cult of work & play.
This is there NoFap is obviously handy.
You get sober of some things and decide if you like them really that much.
WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT NOFAP is, that some people make it a sacred way of life. But to me NoFap is one tool. Not more, not less.
 
Thank you very much.
 
 

Hey guys, 
I had a crazy experience triggered by Leo's video "Jacques Derrida, Deconstruction, Post-Modernism, and Nonduality", so I was just watching it again and taking notes in preparation for tomorrow's, ah, amplified self-inquiry. 
Anyway it dawned on me that if I find notes on Leo's videos valuable, others might too, and I have several notes from the past few years on my Google Drive, so I'd like to share them with anyone that might find them useful.
I've attached 9 of them down below.
A note: some of these notes are pretty long and detailed like the 'Derrida, Deconstruction & Nonduality' and 'Spiral Dynamics' notes, others are pretty bare-bones like '10 Important Things' & 'What Women Want in a Man'. I made these for me, so I don't know if anyone will find them useful, or if people would prefer bare-bones notes vs. more detailed ones. (Personally I feel that as Leo's content has gotten so much more advanced, I find more detailed notes increasingly necessary)
I will be taking a lot more notes. I feel like I've been doing self-development work for the past few years rather aimlessly, just having faith that it was worthwhile, and relatively content with the significant, yet still shallow, improvements in my life. My experience last month totally mind fucked me, so I'll be taking a lot more notes for myself, and if you guys like them, of course I'd love to share and add more. 
Derrida, Deconstruction, & Nonduality.pdf
Spiral Dynamics Basics.pdf
Shamanic Breathing Technique.pdf
Leo's Nootrpoics.pdf
What Women Want in a Man.pdf
Mindfulness Meditation.pdf
How to Become Enlightened - Step by Step.pdf
Avoiding Dysfunction Relationships_ Red Flags.pdf
10 Important Things You Don't Know You Want.pdf

Nonduality is the philosophical, spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and fundamental intrinsic oneness.
For thousands of years, through deep inner inquiry, philosophers and sages have come to the realization that there is only one substance and we are therefore all part of it. This substance can be called Awareness, Consciousness, Spirit, Advaita, Brahman, Tao, Nirvana or even God. It is constant, ever present, unchangeable and is the essence of all existence.
In the last century Western scientists are arriving at the same conclusion: The universe does indeed comprise of a single substance, presumably created during the Big Bang, and all sense of being – consciousness – subsequently arises from it. This realization has ontological implications for humanity: fundamentally we are individual expressions of a single entity, inextricably connected to one another, we are all drops of the same ocean.
Science and Nonduality is a journey, an exploration of the nature of awareness, the essence of life from which all arises and subsides.
What is nonduality, anyway?
There are many shades of meaning to the word nonduality. As an introduction, we might say that nonduality is the philosophical, spiritual, and scientific understanding of non-separation and fundamental oneness.
Our starting point is the statement “we are all one,” and this is meant not in some abstract sense, but at the deepest level of existence. Duality, or separation between the observer and the observed, is an illusion that the Eastern mystics have long recognized, and Western science has more recently come to understand through quantum mechanics.
Dualities are usually seen in terms of opposites: Mind/Matter, Self/Other, Conscious/Unconscious, Illusion/Reality, Quantum/Classical, Wave/Particle, Spiritual/Material, Beginning/End, Male/Female, Living/Dead and Good/Evil. Nonduality is the understanding that identification with common dualisms avoids recognition of a deeper reality.
So how can we better understand nonduality?
There are two aspects to this question, and at first glance they appear to be mutually exclusive, although they may be considered two representations of a single underlying reality.
The first aspect is our understanding of external reality, and for this we turn to science. The word science comes from the Latin scientia, which means knowledge. The beauty and usefulness of science is that it seeks to measure and describe reality without personal, religious, or cultural bias. For something to be considered scientifically proven, it has to pass exhaustive scrutiny, and even then is always subject to future revision. Inevitably human biases creep in, but the pursuit of science itself is intrinsically an evolving quest for truth. But then quantum mechanics turned much of this lauded objectivity on its head, as the role of the observer became inseparable from the observed quantum effect. It is as if consciousness itself plays a role in creating reality.  Indeed, the two may be the same thing. As quantum pioneer Niels Bohr once put it: “A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself!”
The second aspect is our inner, personal experience of consciousness, our “awareness of awareness.” We have our senses to perceive the world, but “behind” all perception, memory, identification and thought is simply pure awareness itself.  Eastern mystics have described this undifferentiated consciousness for thousands of years as being the ultimate state of bliss, or nirvana. Seekers have attempted to experience it for themselves through countless rituals and practices, although the state itself can be quite simply described. As Indian advaita teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj said: “The trinity: mind, self and spirit, when looked into, becomes unity.”
The central challenge to understanding nonduality may be that it exists beyond language, because once it has been named, by definition — and paradoxically — a duality has been created. Even the statement “all things are one” creates a distinction between “one” and “not-one”! Hardly any wonder that nonduality has been misunderstood, particularly in the West.
Excerpt above from: https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/about/nonduality/
Other resources, explanations, & pointers to nonduality:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-O_KhOnJ62o
http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/what-is-nonduality/  ,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondualism
https://endless-satsang.com/advaita-nonduality-oneness.htm
 
 
Meditation Preparations & Considerations of The Temple (The Body)
Make changes in accordance with listening to the body via feeling. Let go of assumptions about what you know, what you can & can’t do, and who you are & are not. Be mindful of the distinction between what you directly experience, and your thought about something. Be mindful the term direct experience does not refer to a past, a now, a present, a future, or a self (these are thoughts). 
Be conscious of breathing, and breathe from the stomach. Notice the increase in awareness of feeling in the body when you do so. 
Maintain toxin free care & hygiene, such as with: preservatives, fluoride, aluminum, mercury, & neurotoxin free products and water. 
Get a routine physical & full comprehensive blood report, and review it with your doctor (preferably a Holistic Dr).
Eat clean. Food is mood, mood is clarity. Listen to your body & educate yourself about food; calories, nutrients, vitamins, supplements, etc. Your second best friend in this whole world, should be your stomach. Try several approaches to eating. Realize you only know about food from direct experience and let assumptions go. Listen to the body, put habit & preference of taste secondary to energy and clarity. Put direct experience, of how you feel, first. 
Exercise to the extent you are able, as early in the day as you are able. Don’t eat after 8pm, drink water instead. Be mindful of honesty, humility, & compassion. Pause to allow the presence of love when creating responses, vs mindlessly reacting.  
Get 8 hrs of sleep.              
Meditate early in the morning, before eating, and before any thought engaging activities like;
    - All screens, reading anything, listening to any thing or anyone, talking to anyone, etc. Instead, step outside and express gratitude. 
    - Thinking. Develop letting thinking go from waking up until after meditation. Every thought that arises, let it go by being aware of breathing & feeling. Use ”not till after meditation” as needed.
Love yourself enough to do this, your quality of life will be greatly enhanced by your commitment and followthrough with daily meditation. This is putting your inner well being first -  and then going about your day. It is a total game changer. Get up as early as needed to make this possible for yourself.  You’ll only fall asleep earlier as a result, and get a better night’s sleep. 
Maintain a dream journal. Every morning when you wake up, write any recollections of dreams in the journal. If there were none, write “no dreams last night” in the journal. Doing this daily develops connection and communication. After writing a dream down, let it go completely. Revisit it after meditation. Consider that in between the pure peace of sleep and awakening, the dream is the reconciliation of those two states. After meditation, contemplate the dream message. Consider it from the perspective that you are dreaming right now, and the message is that everything is fine, even this (whatever the dream was about). You will notice perspectives you’re believing, as to how ‘everything is not fine’. Those, can be let go in meditation. 
Maintain a journal for writing about how you feel. If meditation is overwhelming, don’t persist against the grain, write about how you’re feeling in your journal. Expressing in key. It is a ‘getting it out’, or emptying, by which being fills in. This is the same as saying misunderstanding is let go, and understanding arises.
Add creative expression in your days with what feels right for you, such as; creative writing, drawing, learning an instrument, singing, sculpting, building, carving, dancing - any act of creating and expressing, which feels good to you. Sign up for a drawing or painting class, etc. 
Clarity, emotional intelligence, understanding, focus, patience, and more feeling / connection, are natural outcomes of this. 
Regarding meditation, loving yourself, journaling, expressing, and making changes:
Do not ask others to accommodate you so that you can do this. Accommodate them, if needed, so that you can do this. Do not create conditions or contingencies which “allow” that you can do this. Refrain from entangling any other person in ‘enabling’ you. Simply get up earlier, and be patient when tired, you’ll be falling asleep earlier soon enough. 
Past trauma may be deeply entwined in the body, with regard to perspectives, and unknowingly suppressed, held out of the light of understanding. It is important to be humble, and be smart. Take advantage of all resources available to you. In addition to the things mentioned above, experience assistance bringing things to the surface, into the light, out into the open. That is relief. ’Getting it out’ is the key. Schedule time with practitioners of well being; massage, reiki, therapy, yoga, liberated experienced meditators, etc. Making the choice to directly experience is 99% of ‘the work’. Choose to experience the combination that feels best to you, but do not rule anything you have not experienced out. You will be glad. 
 
Proper Foundation
The quality of tomorrow’s meditation is impacted by all of the above. Recognize those as the basics, your foundation. This is - first “cleaning the house”, “emptying the cup”.  If you are not yet finding peace in meditation, the things above are likely insightful and actionable. Use them as a checklist, add to it what you learn works and doesn’t work for you. Understand why. Be mindful of the direct experience always, not the goal or outcome. Never do practices for the sake of getting them done. Never do practices with the intention or expectation of attaining, achieving, or becoming. Let go of these in your practices. Never force pracitices, and never guilt or shame yourself regarding practices. Let go of these in your practices. Likewise, never pride yourself on or claim the benefits of your practices. A phone which knows the truth of wifi, yet claims it as it’s own, is no longer listening to the wifi. It is always about letting go, and feeling the inner being, the source, within. 
 
Posture, Balance & Relaxation
Sit with spine straight, entire body equally balanced, head tilted slightly forward. 
Scan for any muscles in tension - from balancing the body, and reposition in better balance. Repeat until seated in balance; drop all muscle tension, and see if you lean; if so, adjust again / reposition for balance.
Relax every muscle, from crown of head, through body, to the toes - in waves of letting go, over and over. If you struggle to ‘find the particular muscle’ to be able to ‘let it go’, simply tense that muscle with the appropriate thought, ex: “tense the right shoulder” - this is to locate it specifically - only to relax it / let it go, specifically (only needed initially, if at all).
Stay with each muscle until you feel it release: Feel the crown of the head muscles release, feel the temples release, feel the eye sockets release, feel the cheek muscles release, feel the neck muscles release, the shoulders, the upper back, the lower back, the arms, the hands, the fingers, the chest, the stomach, the hips, the thighs, the knees, the calves, the ankles, the feet, the toes - all tension pouring out through the toes. 
*Stay with each muscle until you feel it release, then move to the next. Be mindful, vigilant of any habit forming. Feel every step. Feel each specific muscle release. 
* Repeat this, from crown to toes, over and over, feeling each “pass” more deeply relaxing each targeted muscle than the pass before.  Notice the entire body unifying in relaxation. 
 
Meditation
Do not move the body, allow it to relax into deep sleep and disappear from sensation & awareness. 
Mind fully alert & present; awaken every cell, enthusiastic presence,  a tiger at-the-ready to pounce.
Notice all senses are one sense, being.
Being is breathing, being is breathed in, being is breathed out. 
Notice the ineffable spaciousness, the silent emptiness.  It is whole, perfect, calm, peaceful. It continues on in all directions. 
Revel in the perfect peace, in innocence, as you recognize the purity that you have always known.
 
Allow Meditation “Practice” To Become A Meditative Lifestyle
As you go about your day, notice this peace is still present, this silence, this being - is always present, always the soundbed underlying and allowing all sounds, the spaciousness underlying and allowing all objects and activities, the emptiness allowing all thoughts to arise.
Carry this into each day, mindful of the effortless nature of awareness. Conscious of any tension in any muscle, relax it, mindful of the one sense; without identification, without reaction, peaceful non-engagement. 
Notice the arising perspectives of unification & connection. Surrender perspectives of separation by allowing them to pass, and return to the everpresent peace and silence which allows all things. 
When you notice reaction, wether muscular or mental, relax, detach by being again aware, non-reactionary. 
Even as reactions occur, wether physical, mental, or verbal, be aware of, not involved in. Relax crown to toes, effortless awareness is always available & ample.
Notice the sound of a voice, is not the sound of your voice. Be that unattached, and that aware, ‘that’ voice is no longer your voice, it never was. You are all sounds, all voices, all things. Be aware all transpires in the ‘one sense’, precisely where it is seen, exactly where it is heard. One Sense, one awareness. 
Notice thoughts are not your thoughts,  be aware thoughts are things, like trees are trees; there is no mechanism found for justification of  “yours”, that is just another thought; awareness is unconditional and omnipresent, and never appears in pieces, and has never not appeared, it will never let you down. Notice there is one sense, one awareness, notice the body and mind are a body and mind which transpires in this peaceful awareness, notice a body and mind is not your body and mind, notice there is one sense, one awareness, all is transpiring and arising in. 
 
After some practice a couple new things arise...
When you have ‘returned’ home, in the peace of non-reaction, the ‘finite ceo’ / “decision maker”/ over thinker/over thinking - naturally recedes, and well being of infinite intelligence will manipulate the body (it actually is “the body”) , aligning things, stretching things, cracking things, etc, just allow this. It’s difficult not to mentally react to this at first because it’s new, but just relax, it is curative, trust it - notice a person is not doing this, infinite intelligence is. Mindfully revel & appreciate this miracle. 
 
A word of caution regarding thought stories & dualistic narratives
Meditation at it’s most basic level is focusing on breathing in the stomach & relaxing the body, thus indirectly detaching attention from thoughts. Thought ceases in activity, simply from not receiving attention. The body is infinite intelligence, but the thinking dualistic mind believes it’s running the show. This is brought to an end in meditation, in ‘returning to’, or realization of, who you really are. 
When the body relaxes deeply, it releases contractions; tension from emotions created in misunderstanding via one’s forgetting who one is and  “making sense” of self & reality in an apparent physical universe & separate body. These ‘held’ tensions are the root cause of overthinking. The mind keeps churning in an attempt to resolve with thinking, what is only resolved in feeling. 
When the body (infinite intelligence / nothing to know) begins releasing the suppressed falsities (all knowledge & specifically the idea of “me”), the mind creates narratives of the experience to perpetuate “it’s control”. In perpetuating the misunderstandings, rather than relaxing & releasing the suppressed emotions by maintaining focus on stomach breathing, the mind (thinking) weaves & latches onto varies models of duality to control the narrative. (Kundalini, demons, assertion, death, nervous disorders, past “bad” trips, guilt, shame, unworthiness, fear, anxiety & past stories, depression & future stories, projections, deflections, identity, loss, sacrifice, etc)
But meditation is focusing on breathing from the stomach & relaxing the body, and thus indirectly detaching from thoughts. To believe any narrative which arises in meditation, is to sustain and perpetuate the “idea of you”, so as not to ‘directly experience’, you. 
So if you don’t want to awaken, but enjoy the fundamental benefits of meditation, just meditate for twenty minutes a day. Ideally in the morning. 
If you do want to awaken, realize you got caught up in a thought story, and meditation was focusing on breathing from the stomach, and thus indirectly letting thinking go. The truth is the mind is making it all up, and the “fear” is the mind’s label to justify denying the truth “of itself”, the profound love that is, that you actually are.
Write about how you feel and why, in a journal, to understand yourself & develop emotional intelligence. 
Talk to someone who listens, so you can express yourself and your emotions.
Write what you want in this experience of life on your dreamboard, and allow the surfacing of desire & authenticity to help you realize & release resistance thoughts. Live the life you actually want to live, the way you actually want to live it.
 
https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices
Posture Meditation
This body-based meditation is a very effective way to get grounded and centered. It encourages an embodied, calm, and open awareness, and discourages disassociation. If you have a tendency to "leave your body," feel ungrounded, or disassociated, this is a good practice. 
Sit with your spine straight and aligned, and the rest of your body relaxed. Keep bringing yourself back to this condition. 

1. Take a reposed, seated posture. 

2. For this meditation, it is very important that your spine is straight. Your neck and back should be in perfect alignment. Your chin should be down very slightly. 

3. If you are sitting in a chair, do not rest your spine against the chair. Sit forward so that your spine is supporting its own weight. Let the muscles of the spine be engaged. 

4. All the other muscles of your body can be completely relaxed. Allow your face muscles to let go, and your jaw to drop slightly, so that your teeth are not touching. 

5. Let your shoulders hang freely, and let your belly be soft and open. 

6. This is the posture you are aiming for, with your spine erect and your body completely relaxed. 

7. As you sit, keep bringing your awareness back to the fine details of your posture. Notice any time your spine slumps even slightly, your head leans to either side, or any other deviation. Correct these gently and repeatedly. 

8. Also notice if any other areas of your body tense up even slightly. If anything is tensing, relax it in a gently and soft manner. 

9. Keep checking in with the body, using your body (somatic) awareness; the feeling in your body. Mental images of your body will probably arise, which is fine, but these are not what you are concentrating upon. Instead, concentrate your awareness in the sense of your body. The sensitivity in your muscles, tissues, viscera, skin, and so forth. 

10. The more detailed and minute you get with this awareness, the better. Each tiny area of the body has its own sensitivity to contribute. 

11. Every once in a while you can zoom out to cover the entire somatosensory field -- the awareness of your entire body -- to bring the overall body back into alignment. 

12. Keep relaxing every muscle everywhere. Use just enough tension to keep your spine erect, but no more. 

13. Continue this meditation for at least 10 minutes, continuously contacting your body awareness. 
 
CAUTIONS:
If you have any spinal injuries or severe back pain, it is fine to allow your spine to rest in a pain-free position.                    If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. 
For example, when checking on the spine, you can say to yourself, "spine in alignment." 
When checking on the body, say, "body relaxed." 
 
 
Awareness of Thoughts Meditation
By learning to watch your thoughts come and go during this practice, you can gain deeper insight into thinking altogether (such as its transience) and into specific relationships among your thoughts and your emotions, sensations, and desires. This practice can also help you take your thoughts less personally, and not automatically believe them.  Additionally, this meditation can offer insight into any habitual patterns of thinking and related reactions.  
Observe your thoughts as they arise and pass away.  
·       By “thoughts,” we mean self-talk and other verbal content, as well as images, memories, fantasies, and plans. Just thoughts may appear in awareness, or thoughts plus sensations, emotions, or desires. 
·       Sit or lie down on your back in a comfortable position.
·       Become aware of the sensations of breathing.
·       After a few minutes of following your breath, shift your attention to the various thoughts that are arising, persisting, and then passing away in your mind. 
·       Try to observe your thoughts instead of getting involved with their content or resisting them. 
·       Notice the content of your thoughts, any emotions accompanying them, and the strength or pull of the thought.
·       Try to get curious about your thoughts.  Investigate whether you think in mainly images or words, whether your thoughts are in color or black and white, and how your thoughts feel in your body.
·       See if you notice any gaps or pauses between thoughts.
·       Every time you become aware that you are lost in the content of your thoughts, simply note this and return to observing your thoughts and emotions. 
·       Remember that one of the brain’s major purposes is to think, and there is nothing wrong with thinking.  You are simply practicing not automatically believing and grasping on to your thoughts.  
·       When you are ready, return your attention to your breath for a few minutes and slowly open your eyes.  
Optional:
·       There are various metaphors and images you can use to help observe your thoughts.  These include:
o   Imagining you are as vast and open as the sky, and thoughts are simply clouds, birds, or planes passing through the open space.  
o   Imagining you are sitting on the side of a river watching your thoughts float by like leaves or ripples in the stream.  
o   Imagine your thoughts are like cars, buses, or trains passing by.  Every time you realize you are thinking, you can “get off the bus/train” and return to observing.

Awareness of thoughts and emotions is one of the areas of focus developed when cultivating mindfulness.  In Buddhism, mindfulness is one of the seven factors of enlightenment and the seventh instruction in the Noble Eightfold Path.  
The Seven Factors of Enlightenment:  https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/piyadassi/wheel001.html
The Four Noble Truths:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths
The Noble Eightfold Path: https://tricycle.org/magazine/noble-eightfold-path/
 
CAUTIONS:
Please be gentle with yourself if you notice that you are constantly caught up in your thoughts instead of observing them.  This is both common and normal.  When you realize that you are thinking, gently and compassionately return to observing your thoughts.  
If the content of your thoughts is too disturbing or distressing, gently shift your attention to your breathing, sounds, or discontinue the practice. 
·       Remember that you are not trying to stop thoughts or only allow certain ones to arise.  Try to treat all thoughts equally and let them pass away without engaging in their content. 
·       This practice can initially be more challenging than other meditations.  As you are learning, practice this meditation for only a few minutes at a time if that is easier. 
·       It can be helpful to treat thoughts the same way that you treat sounds or body sensations, and view them as impersonal events that arise and pass away.  
·       Some people like to assign numbers or nicknames to reoccurring thoughts in order to reduce their pull and effect.
 
 
Breath Awareness Meditation
Stress is an extremely unhealthy condition. It causes the body to release the chemical cortisol, which has been shown to reduce brain and organ function, among many other dangerous effects. Modern society inadvertently encourages a state of almost continuous stress in people. This is a meditation that encourages physical and mental relaxation, which can greatly reduce the effects of stress on the body and mind. 
Sit still and pay close attention to your breathing process.
Take a reposed, seated posture. Your back should be straight and your body as relaxed as possible.

Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breathing process. Simply notice you are breathing. Do not attempt to change your breath in any way. Breath simply and normally. 

Try to notice both the in breath and the out breath; the inhale and the exhale. "Notice" means to actually feel the breathing in your body with your body. It is not necessary to visualize your breathing or to think about it in any way except to notice it with your somatic awareness. 

Each time your attention wanders from the act of breathing, return it to noticing the breath. Do this gently and without judgment. 

Remember to really feel into the act of breathing.

If you want to go more deeply into this, concentrate on each area of breathing in turn. Here is an example sequence:

    1. Notice how the air feels moving through your nostrils on both the in breath and the out breath. 

    2. Notice how the air feels moving through your mouth and throat. You may feel a sort of slightly raspy or ragged          feeling as the air moves through your throat. This is normal and also something to feel into.

    3. Notice how the air feels as it fills and empties your chest cavity. Feel how your rib cage rises slowly with each in breath, and gently deflates with each out breath.

    4. Notice how your back expands and contracts with each breath. Actually feel it shifting and changing as you breath. 

    5. Notice how the belly expands outward with each in breath and pulls inward with each in breath. Allow your attention to fully enter the body sensation of the belly moving with each breath.

    6. Now allow your attention to cover your entire body at once as you breath in and out. Closely notice all the sensations of the body as it breathes. 

Repeat this sequence over and over, giving each step your full attention as you do it. 
Suggested time is at least 10 minutes. Thirty minutes is better, if you are capable of it. 
If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. For example, on the in breath, mentally say to yourself, "Breathing in." On the out breath, say, "Breathing out." Another possibility is to mentally count each breath. 
 
 
Self Inquiry
This is a meditation technique to get enlightened, i.e. "self realization."  By realizing who you are, the bonds of suffering are broken. Besides this goal, self-inquiry delivers many of the same benefits as other meditation techniques, such as relaxation, enhanced experience of life, greater openness to change, greater creativity, a sense of joy and fulfillment, and so forth. 
Focus your attention on the feeling of being "me," to the exclusion of all other thoughts. 
1. Sit in any comfortable meditation posture. 
2. Allow your mind and body to settle. 
3. Now, let go of any thinking whatsoever. 
4. Place your attention on the inner feeling of being "me."
5. If a thought does arise (and it is probable that thoughts will arise on their own), ask yourself to whom this thought is occurring. This returns your attention to the feeling of being "me."
Continue this for as long as you like. 

This technique can also be done when going about any other activity. 
 
CAUTIONS:
Many people misunderstand the self-inquiry technique to mean that the person should sit and ask themselves the question, "Who am I?" over and over. This is an incorrect understanding of the technique. The questions "Who am I" or "To whom is this thought occurring?" are only used when a thought arises, in order to direct attention back to the feeling of being "me." At other times the mind is held in silence. 
 
This practice of Self-attention or awareness of the ‘I’-thought is a gentle technique, which bypasses the usual repressive methods of controlling the mind. It is not an exercise in concentration, nor does it aim at suppressing thoughts; it merely invokes awareness of the source from which the mind springs. The method and goal of self-enquiry is to abide in the source of the mind and to be aware of what one really is by withdrawing attention and interest from what one is not. In the early stages effort in the form of transferring attention from the thoughts to the thinker is essential, but once awareness of the ‘I’-feeling has been firmly established, further effort is counter-productive. From then on it is more a process of being than doing, of effortless being rather than an effort to be.
 
 
Do Nothing Meditation
Many respected spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and Hindu Advaita just to name two, claim that the highest state of spiritual communion is actually present in our minds at all times. And yet many meditation techniques focus on  creating some special state that wasn't there before the meditation, and which goes away at some point after the meditation. If the highest state is actually present all the time, shouldn't it be possible to simply notice it without inducing some change, or special state? 

That is exactly the purpose of the Do Nothing Meditation. This technique (which is really an un-technique) will allow you to contact the highest spiritual state without actually doing anything. Each time you notice an intention to control or direct your attention, give it up. 
1. There is no need to get into any particular posture, unless you feel like it.
2. Do not position your attention in any particular way.
3. Let whatever happens happen.
4. Any time you notice yourself doing anything intentionally, stop. 
Doing anything intentionally means something you can voluntarily control, and therefore can stop. 
If you cannot stop doing something, then it's not intentional, and therefore you don't need to try to stop doing it. 
So. Anything you can stop doing, stop doing. 

Some examples of things you can stop doing are:
* Intentionally thinking
* Trying to focus on something specific
* Trying to have equanimity
* Trying to keep track of what's going on
* Trying to meditate
Let go of doing anything like this.
5. Keep doing nothing for at least 10 minutes, or as long as you like.
 
CAUTIONS:
It may be difficult for some people to notice any difference between the Do Nothing meditation and gross "monkey mind," that is, the ceaseless, driven and fixated thoughts of the everyday neurotic mind. If this seems to be the case for you, it may be helpful to do a more structured technique. 
 
 
Concentration (One-Pointedness) Meditation
One of the hallmarks of modern life is the proliferation of distractions. As media become more pervasive, and media connections more ubiquitous, time away from distractions becomes ever harder to find. Previously, people were content to sit in restaurants, or stand in line, without a television screen to stare at. Now these have become standard. The result of all this, and many other causes, is that people find it increasingly difficult to focus their minds. 

Concentration is a necessary human skill. It makes proper thinking possible, increases intelligence, and allows a person to calm down and achieve their goals more effectively. A concentrated mind is like a laser beam, able to use all its powers in a single direction to great effect. 

Concentration is critical to many human endeavors. Being able to listen to another person, for example, in a compassionate and connected manner requires being able to shut out distractions. The experience of making love can be greatly enhanced when one is not, for example, thinking about other things. 

Concentration allows a person to stop being a "reaction machine" or "robot," simply responding to stimulii, and instead to become more thoughtful, self-directed, and confident. 
Concentration is an interesting thing. It is a very general ability. That means developing concentration in one area will help you concentrate in ALL areas. So, for example, if you learn to concentrate on a particular idea, it not only helps you think about that idea (which would be very limited), but actually helps you to concentrate on anything, which is very generally useful for everything! It's like lifting weights. It doesn't just make you strong for lifting weights, but strong for anything else you want to do!

Think about one thing. Every time you get distracted, return to that one thing. 
1. Find an object on which to concentrate. This can be a physical object, like a pebble or a feather. Or it can be a mental object like a particular idea. It could even be, say, your homework.

2. Cut off any sources of distraction. These include, but are not limited to, telephones, emails, computers, music, television, and so forth. Turn all of these off during your concentration practice. 

3. Begin your period of by mentally reminding yourself what you are concentrating on. 

4. Now begin to concentrate. If your concentration object is an external object, this may mean looking at it. If it is a mental object, then think about it. If it is your homework, then do it now.

5. Each time your mind (or eyes) wander from your concentration object, bring it back to the object. It is important to do this very gently and without judgment. 
6. Repeat this process of coming back to the concentration object for as long as you wish, or until your homework is done. 
Cultures worldwide have developed concentration practices for both spiritual and practical reasons. 

Concentration is called dharana in Hinduism, and samadhi or shamatha in Buddhism. It is considered to be a key skill for meditation.
 
CAUTIONS:
Concentration can at first seem to trigger a lot of anxiety. This is, however, not the fault of the concentration practice. Rather, it happens because many people use distraction to avoid feeling emotions. Then when the distractions are removed, a tremendous amount of ambient, unprocessed emotions (i.e. emotions you are feeling but were unaware of feeling) are present. So it is not the practice of concentration that is causing anxiety, but instead it is the habit of distracting ourselves from our emotions. This may be the root cause of much inability to focus and concentrate. If that is the case, try meditating on emotions (below). 
Concentration and meditation are not the same thing, although they are related. Meditation (usually) requires concentration, but also requires relaxation or equanimity.
 
 
Emotional Awareness Meditation 
This meditation brings about a great deal of equanimity with emotions. They will not seem to affect us as deeply or adversely. 
Many people have trouble contacting their emotions directly. Even if we feel that we know what emotion we are having, that does not necessarily mean that we are contacting it directly. 

To contact an emotion directly means to feel it in the body. This is the opposite of most people's experience, which is to related ideas about the emotion.

Here is an example. A person asks you how you are feeling. You respond by saying, "I am angry, because..." You then go on to tell the person all the reasons you are angry.

In this example, only the first three words, "I am angry" have anything to do with contacting emotion. All the rest of the explanation is about concepts.

A fuller example of contacting emotions directly, that is somatically, would be to say, "I am angry. I can feel a sort of gripping tension in my belly that is uncomfortable. The tense area feels kind of twisted and sharp. Parts of it are throbbing. It also feels like it is radiating heat outwards." 

Notice that the cause of the anger is irrelevant. The practice here is to feel the physical expression of the anger as completely as possible. 

Extended practice of this meditation will bring about "skill at feeling," that is, a tremendous amount of clarity in the emotional world. Emotional intelligence. 

It will also help emotions to process and release much more quickly and completely, because we are not holding on to ideas about the emotions. The body processes emotion quickly, naturally, and fully. 
Feel the physical expression of an emotion as completely as possible. 
1. Settle into a comfortable meditation posture. 

2. Breathing normally, bring your attention to your emotions. Notice if you are feeling any emotions, no matter how faintly. It is not necessary to know precisely which emotion you are having, or why you are having it. Just knowing that you are feeling something emotional is enough. Guessing is OK.

3. Once you detect an emotion, see if you can find its expression in your body. Maybe there is a feeling of tension, gripping, tightening, burning, twisting, throbbing, pressure, lightness, openness, etc. 

4. If you like, you can mentally make the label "feel" when you detect a body sensation of emotion. Other labels are possible ("emotion" for example). 

5. Each time you detect an emotional body sensation, try to actually feel the sensation in your body, as completely as possible. Feel it through and through.

6. Completely let go of any ideas you have about the emotion, or self talk you might have about why the emotion is arising. Return to the body sensation of the emotion.

7. Continue contacting these emotional body sensations for as long as you wish.
 
Meditating on emotions is a traditional part of Vipassana practice in Buddhism. It is, for example, one of the four main techniques covered in the Vissudhimagga (The Path to Purity), an important Buddhist text.
(The version presented here is a summary of a practice given by American Buddhist teacher Shinzen Young.)
At first, practicing this meditation may make it seem as if the emotions are getting bigger. If they are negative emotions, this may seem overwhelming for a while. This is natural. It is occuring not because the emotions are actually getting bigger, but for two interesting reasons. The first is because we are no longer suppressing them. We are allowing them to actually express themselves fully. The second is because we are observing them (actually feeling them) very closely. Just as a microscope makes small things look bigger, the "microscope" of attention makes the emotional body sensations seem larger than they really are. 

The good news here is that as the emotions express themselves freely in the body, they are being processed. Usually this means that they will pass much more quickly. 

If we are feeling a positive emotion in this way, it may pass quickly, but we will also derive much more satisfaction from it, because our experience of it is so rich and complete.

If we are feeling a negative emotion in this way, we will experience much less suffering from it, because we are not resisting and suppressing it. 
 
 
Equanimity Meditation
The cause of much of our upset and emotional instability is clinging and neediness around people we like, and aversion and negativity towards people we don't like. We also have an unhealthy indifference to strangers, who may need our help, or at least our good will. 

This equanimity meditation helps us to examine our feelings towards people, and correct them where they are mistaken. This leads to a more balanced, wholesome, and helpful viewpoint. It also cuts off a lot of emotional turmoil at its root. 
Meditate on three people (a loved one, an enemy, and a neutral person), examining and correcting your feelings toward them. 
1. Sit in a comfortable meditation posture. Follow your breath until you feel centered and grounded.

2. Bring to mind the images of three people: someone you like, someone you dislike, and someone towards whom you feel indifferent. Keep these three people in mind throughout the meditation.

3. Focus on the friend, and look into all the reasons you like this person. Try to see if any of the reasons are about things this person does for you, or ways they uplift your ego. Ask yourself if these are really the correct reasons to like someone. Then do the same thing with the person you dislike, instead asking about the reasons you dislike them. Finally, do this for the person you are indifferent towards, asking about the reasons for your indifference. In all cases, notice where your ego is involved in the judgment of the other person's worth. 

4. Next, ask yourself whether you consider each of these relationships as permanent. Would you still like your friend if they did something terrible to you? What if the person you dislike really did something nice for you? What if the stranger became close to you? Think about all the relationships in the past in which your feelings about the person have dramatically changed. 

5. Now, visualize the person you like doing something you dislike or that is unacceptable to you. Would you still be their friend? Remember that many people have changed from friends to enemies in the past. There are people who you used to like, toward whom you now feel emnity. Think about how there is no special reason to feel good about a person who is only temporarily your friend. 

6. Next, visualize your enemy doing something very kind for you. They might visit you in the hospital, or help you to fix your home. When you imagine this, can you feel positive emotions toward this person? Can you remember times in the past when an enemy became a friend? Is it necessary to feel that your strong dislike for this person will last forever? Isn't it possible that they could someday become your friend? 

7. Now visualize the stranger. How would you feel about them if they did something very kind for you? Isn't it the case that all your current friends were at one point total strangers? Isn't it possible that a stranger could become your best friend? It has happened before. 

8. Think carefully about how everyone deserves equal regard as human beings. You must discriminate and make decisions based on your knowledge of a person's character, but you do not have to hold strong feelings or judgments towards them. It is very likely that your emotions around a person will change many times, so why hold onto these emotions so rigidly? 

In Buddhism, equanimity means a very deep, even profound, state of mental balance and stability. It is considered one of the seven factors of enlightenment, and a hallmark of the third and fourth jhanas, which are deep states of meditative absorption. 
This is a traditional meditation from Mahayana Buddhism. Its goal is to arouse "bodhicitta' or the mind of enlightenment. There are other equanimity meditations from other Buddhist lineages (e.g., Theravadan), as well as from other contemplative traditions.

(The version presented here is adapted from the book How to Meditate: A Practical Guide.) 
 

CAUTIONS:
It can be upsetting to bring an "enemy" to mind. When working with the mental image of an enemy, be careful not to get lost in negative thoughts and feelings. If you find that you can't handle working with a specific person without getting very worked up, switch to someone less upsetting.
 
 
Body Scan Meditation
The Body Scan is designed to help you feel and bring awareness to the myriad of sensations that occur throughout your body.  By practicing this meditation regularly, you can improve your body awareness and also better work with pain and difficult emotions in the body.  Additionally, people report feelings of relaxation and renewal after this practice.  
Sit or lie on your back and systematically bring your attention to each region of your body, beginning with your feet and moving upwards.  
 
As you begin:
·       Sit or lie down on your back in a comfortable position with your eyes open or gently closed.
·       Take a moment to check-in with yourself, observing how you are feeling in your body and mind.
·       Begin to focus on your breath wherever the sensations are most vivid for you.
 
During the body scan:
·       Try to bring an attitude of curiosity to the practice, as if you are investigating your body for the first time.  
·       Notice and feel any and all sensations that are present, such as tingling, tightness, heat, cold, pressure, dullness,  etc.  
·       If you do not feel any sensations in a particular region, simply note that and move on.  
·       See if you can be aware of any thoughts or emotions that arise as you move through the regions of your body.  Note these thoughts and emotions, and then return to the bare physical sensations that you are experiencing.  
·       Whenever you come across an area that is tense, see if you can allow it to soften.  If the area does not soften, simply notice how it feels and allow it to be as it is.
·       Feel as deeply and precisely as you can into each region of the body, noting if the sensations change in any way.  Also notice where they are located.
·       If you notice any pain or discomfort in a region of the body, see if you can practice allowing and exploring it for even a few seconds, feeling the various aspects of the sensation(s).  
 
Suggested sequence of body parts:
·       Begin with your left foot and toes, then move awareness up the left leg until you reach the left hip.
·       Right foot and toes up the right leg until you reach the right hip.  
·       Pelvic region and buttocks, stomach, low back to upper back, chest and breasts, heart and lungs
·       Hands (both at the same time) then move up the arms until you finish with the shoulders.
·       Neck, throat, jaw, mouth (teeth, tongue, lips), nose, eyes, forehead, ears, skull and scalp.  
·       Finally, become aware of the whole body and rest for a few minutes in this expansive awareness.  

The Body Scan is a variation of a Burmese Vipassana meditation practice that involves scanning the body for physical sensations.  This meditation is also done in various yoga practices.  The Body Scan is used in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.  

CAUTIONS:
If you have experienced physical abuse or trauma in the past, it is not recommended to do this practice without a trained professional.  Additionally, if you notice intense fear or other strong emotions related to a particular part of the body, please discontinue this practice.  
It is generally advised to take at least 30 to 40 minutes to complete the body scan.  However, if you wish to do a shorter body scan, spend less time on each region of the body, and/or focus on both feet, legs, and arms together as you move through these regions.  
If you wish, you can practice the body scan in the opposite direction, moving from your head to your toes. 
 
 
Walking Meditation
Walking meditation is a great way to begin integrating the power of meditation into your daily life. It is the first stage of meditation in action, that is, learning to be meditative while "out and about" in the world. 

It is great to do while, for example, taking a walk in the park, at the beach, or in another natural setting. 

Walking meditation is often recommended for people who are doing a lot of sitting meditation. If you are getting to sleepy, or your awareness is getting to "muddy," walking meditation can perk you up. Alternately, if you are getting to concentrated and mentally "stiff," walking meditation is a perfect way to loosen up a bit. 
Walking meditation is a common practice in Vipassana and Zen Buddhism. 


Pay close attention to the physical activity of walking slowly
1. Before walking, stand still in an open, balanced posture. Bring your awareness to the feeling of your feet touching the ground. 

2. Now begin walking. Keep your gaze fixed on the ground about six feet in front of you. This will help you to avoid distraction. 

3. Note and mentally label three parts of each step you take. The labels are "lifting," "pushing," and "dropping." 
 
     Lifting - when you are picking your foot up

     Pushing - as you are moving it forward

     Dropping - as you are lowering it to the ground

 As you make each label, pay very close attention to the actual physical sensations associated with each of these actions. 

4. After these three components become clear, you can add three more, so that the entire sequence is: "raising," "lifting," "pushing," "dropping," "touching," and "pressing."

5. Your mind will probably also engage in thinking extraneous thoughts, but just allow these to go on in the background. Your foreground attention should stay on the physical sensations of walking.

6. If you find that you have been completely lost in thought, stop walking for a moment and label the thinking as "thinking, thinking, thinking." 

7. Then re-establish your awareness on the feeling in your feet, and begin the walking meditation again. 

8. A typical session of walking meditation lasts a half an hour. 


CAUTIONS:
Make sure to watch where you are going, especially if you are around traffic, other people, etc. 
 
https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices
 
 
 
The Yoda Meditation
https://www.thedailymeditation.com/learning-to-meditate-with-jedi-master-yoda-online-meditation-course/amp
The Neo / Matrix Meditation
https://www.dc-acupuncture.com/lifestyle-personal-transformation/how-meditation-makes-you-more-like-neo-from-the-matrix
F That - A guided Meditation
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY

@gilded_honour
 Sit w back straight, head tilted slightly forward, and achieve complete relaxation of every single muscle, to the point that surrender is a more accurate word. You want the body to be as relaxed as it is in deep sleep, with your energy at full intensity - as if you were waiting for a burglar to round the corner to pounce on him. Every cell should be awake and ready. If posture is poor, or you aren’t meditating first thing in the morning, you’ll dose off, or lean / fall over, or you’ll not be physically balanced and therefore tensing certain muscles to counter balance / stay straight (not lean / fall) without noticing you’re tensing because you are used to tension in the body, and therefore don’t notice it. The very thing (tension) that you’re unaware of is the point here, and awareness itself is the ‘cure’.
Carry this into each day and sustain it - awareness of any tension in any muscle, and relax it, awareness of the culmination of all senses with intensity, mindful of every sense individually, without identification / reaction. This is not habitual, but nonengagement, full of awareness, and complete detachment through awareness of all habits / conditioning (aware of them, wether they are happening or not doesn’t matter, awareness is curative and worthy of trust.)
When you notice reaction, wether muscular or mental, relax, and return to fully aware, and nonreactionary. 
Even as reactions occur, wether physical or verbal, be aware of, not involved in. Back out / relax out of it, and stay aware.
Notice the sound of a voice, is not the sound of your voice. Be that unattached, and that aware. ‘that’ voice is no longer your voice.
Notice thoughts are not your thoughts, be aware thoughts are things, like trees are trees; there is no mechanism or justification of  “yours” to be found, that is just another thought; awareness is unconditional and omnipresent, and never appears in pieces, as it has never not appeared.
If you experience some ego freak out, a “mantra” can be useful, and I’d consider: “Only awareness is aware of awareness” (said as a prayer would be, as if you’re telling someone “It’s ok, everything’s ok”.)        Don’t “mantra” unless it feels needed. Allow any emotions to arise, and play out, be aware and that is enough. 
 
After some practice a couple new things arise...
When you have ‘returned home’ so to speak, in nonreaction, the finite ceo / “decision maker”/ over thinker/over thinking - naturally recedes, and the intelligence will manipulate the body (it actually is “the body”) , aligning things, stretching things, cracking things, etc, just allow this. It’s difficult not to mentally react to this at first because it’s new, just relax again, it is curative, trust it. 
With enough surrender, deep relaxation, the brain & body & thought will start to disappear, and only breathing exists. The breathe will minimize on it’s own (don’t “attempt” or “do” this) until there is literally no breathing. In “witnessing” the falsity or illusionary nature of the breathe, awareness is aware of awareness. This is a euphoric experience. Don’t go telling people. They will not believe you, and you’ll sound crazy, cause, of course we have to breathe, otherwise we would not be “alive”. 
 
 
 
 

Hello everyone!
I am new to the forum and I decided to share with you one of the most profound and frightening experiences I ever had. I've been following Leo's work and guidance for quite a while now and I became eager to join this community and interact with like-minded individuals. I want to express how amazed I am by the support and help you guys provide here to each-other. I am honored to be a part of this.
Not sure if I should introduce myself, so I'm going to keep it short and straight forward.

I am a 24 years old male. Born and raised in Serbia, Europe. Grew up without a father and with a dysfunctional, narcissistic mother. At age 15, my mother decided to move us to Slovenia, where I attended high school and lived through my teen years. Ended up working as a waiter for 2-3 years, before finally deciding to focus on my calling and greatest passion - music.
Music was there for me since I can remember. It was the parent I never really had, it was my medicine, it was my coping mechanism, it was my way to express everything I was struggling with. It kept me "on track" and away from most of the potential disasters I had the chance to engage in. From a very young age, ever since I first laid my hands on a guitar, I had a clear sense of a "mission". It was like I knew exactly what I needed to do in this lifetime, I just did not have the wisdom to articulate it yet. I became "obsessed" and I practiced day and night, with the intention to share my message one day with the world. At age 22 I became fed up with my job and my controlling mother, so I decided to move yet again - this time by myself - and focus on what really matters to me. I took a major leap, based on blind faith and synchronicity and moved to Portugal to "chase" my dreams. At the time I was working on a project, which I planned to release there and hopefully start doing what I love, professionally and full time. I had little to zero money and almost equally so - no support from anyone. I was producing hip hop beats for local Portugal rappers on the side in order to get by. It was not really "my thing", but nevertheless I was finally focused on music only. Which fulfilled my whole being. I felt like I was reborn and even though I was "struggling", I already felt as I've won. I was splitting a larger apartment with two other roommates, who were very artistically oriented, so the overall vibe of the environment was awesome! I never really had the chance to live the "college lifestyle" before, so I decided to have some fun with local students and go out every once in a while. It was on one of these occasions that I had the experience, which I want to share with you. I also want to mention that I was already doing some "spiritual work" at the time and I also meditated tons throughout my whole life by playing my instrument of choice. I was able to tap into and embody my higher self, which is a necessary part of the creative process for me. Needless to say, this connection was not maintained throughout my daily activities and interactions. It was only present when I opened up myself to the melodies and ideas that wanted to flow through me and become actual. here in this physical realm. So now that you have a "background" I am going to jump into the experience itself.
Please try and stick with me 'till the end, I promise it will be worth reading. At first it may seem as if this is just a perfect display of stupidity and immaturity, but that's exactly what I needed back then in order to come to profound realizations and transform entirely. So let's dive in.
It was a regular nigh-out for the students of Caldas da Rainha. The city was small and vibrant, full of young people (mostly artistically oriented) who loved to interact and have long, deep, intellectual debates while hanging out in local bars. Needless to say, they also loved to drink a lot and experiment with various substances. Shrooms, MDMA and LSD were among the most popular ones. Prior to my arrival to Portugal, I had a handful of experiences with a few drugs, but I never had any of those 'mind-blowing' trips or anything. I got drunk here and there and I also fancied smoking weed. But I was not emphasizing these things in my life as a lot of other young people do.
One of my roommates, who liked going out frequently, showed up at the apartment with a baggie of mushrooms and some MDMA. The other roommate and I were already smoking some weed and drinking some alcohol. We did not have the intention to get "hammered" as we were both working on our projects simultaneously. However, the roommate, who I will here refer to as "the party animal", insisted and wanted us to take a break from our projects and do some shrooms and/or MDMA with him. We rejected him for a few brief moments after which we finally "gave up" and decided to take some MDMA. I do not know how much we took, since he prepared a dosage wrapped in a rolling paper for us to swallow, but looking back I assume it was not a micro-dose. Irresponsible, yeah. We were already high from the weed and kinda drunk as well. We were chatting and listening to music while "waiting" for the MDMA to kick in. Some time has passed this way, we still did not feel any effects so we all took another dosage of M. It was shortly after this that I decided to go "all the way" and do some shrooms with "the party animal" as well. And so I slipped further down the road of irresponsibility (lol). THANK GOD the roommate that was with me all along did not make the same decision, so it ended up being the two of us who were going to be tripping, with the third one "trip-sitting" us. We took a handful (?!) of shrooms and started talking about what we could do to create an awesome experience. We came up with a plan to get to the local park (which is dreamy and beautiful) before the shrooms kicked in. then merge with nature and melt in joy and bliss. Little did we know, it was not going to be such a smooth ride, not at all. And so the "nightmare" begun...We never made it to the park. And it was like literally 12 minutes away, walking. 
As we left the apartment, we all felt great. I remember feeling on top of my game and even a bit over-confident. Nothing too dick-heady though. I am generally a more laid back and quiet guy. We laughed a lot, talked about god knows what, riding the epic vibes of the streets. Of course, ''party animal'' suggested we should stop briefly in our favorite bar called "Deja-vu", to have a quick beer before the shrooms kicked in. The two us agreed, since the bar was on the middle of our way to the park. It's been now well over 30 minutes since I swallowed the shrooms and probably around a bit less than two hours since I took MDMA. Just a few steps before the bar, I started noticing some weird shit. And I mean like really weird. It was like I would get sucked out of my reality for a brief moment and then I would be thrown back into a slightly different version of it. It was like a series of super fast black-outs, with the exception that I would remain aware throughout this phenomena. I was fully aware of "reality" when I was in it as well as of the "void" or "nothingness" when I got sucked out. I saw clearly as I see my hands right now, exactly "how" I got detached from my environment. And it felt exactly like that. Like I detached myself. I saw my visual perception somehow curving at the corners and turning into a ball, before popping into nothingness right before "my eyes". This was happening extremely fast. So much so that I had no "time" to react to it when I was "in reality". Needless to say, I started resisting this A LOT and became extremely scared, paranoid and confused in an instance. I never expected neither this nor what was yet to come. Never in a million years. I wanted to gaze at the stars and have a pleasant trip. I was in for a rude awakening. 
Somehow, I managed to "slow" this phenomena of "disappearing-reappearing" down by resisting the shit out of it with every strength I had left. Thinking back, I should've just surrendered and collapsed right there, but my ego did not want to admit to itself that this "thing" was WAY stronger than it. So I dragged myself to the bar and somehow managed to sit down and order a beer. I kept telling myself this is just a temporary thing. I thought it will subside soon, I'll chill down a bit, have a beer and slowly continue walking towards the park. I don't know why, but it seemed to me at the time as if this park was our "safe space". Our home. Almost like heaven or something. All this time I mentioned nothing to my roommates. They seemed alright to me. Having fun and chatting. I wanted to act that way as well. I didn't want to allow myself to be "that guy" and cause drama or anything. My ego was fighting harder than ever to survive and stay present. 
It quickly became worse, as I wanted to stand up and go to the toilet. I collapsed down onto the table in front of us and knocked off a few bottles and glasses, embarrassing myself big time. It was as if my knees were failing to hold me. Even this I resisted and tried to get up on my feet and act cool as if nothing was going on. Of course I failed to do so and ended up falling repeatedly, several times until my roommates came to a quick conclusion that I was "loosing it".  They helped me up and decided it's clearly best if the one that wasn't tripping on shrooms took me back to our apartment. "Party animal" would stay in Deja-vu to have fun with his other classmates and friends. And here's where the nightmare started to get real. It was not nearly done with me. It only got started. I went only downhill from this point on. And boy did I spiral down quickly and efficiently.
I should mention, this "sober" roommate, who was about to drag me back home was a girl. And she's 4'9''. I'm 6'. Not the smartest idea. Nevertheless, she surely saved my ass. We slowly started walking back to the apartment, which should have been 6-7 minutes away. I had my one arm around her neck, as I was repeatedly loosing control over my body and kept falling down on my knees. Needless to say she was unable to hold my weight, so when I fell, I fell hard. Somehow though, she kept managing picking me up over and over again. On the middle of our way it just got straight bonkers. The reality bubble kept popping and reappearing fast and crazy, making no linear sense what-so-ever. At times we were on one side of the street, at times on the other. In no particular order. It was like I was jumping in between parallel realities. Crossing the main road was hell. I was completely convinced I'm going nuts at this point. It was then when I felt a big wave of anger and frustration rushing though me. I was SO frustrated with me being unable to stand on my own feet. Without any thinking I smashed my fist into a car that was parked right next to us. This scared the shit out of my roommate. I was also surprised, somewhere in the back of my mind. I never got aggressive before and I was proud of how "chill" I always stayed. At this point, my roommate concluded we're not going to make it to our apartment this way. She had an idea to drop me of at her friend's apartment and let me chill down there. It was literally a few feet ahead. She called him and asked him if he's okay with it, but sadly or gladly he wasn't home. He was also having fun somewhere else. So we sat on the streets for a while, she gathered a bit strength and picked me up again. We somehow made it to our apartment after god knows how long and had a scene waiting there for us. Right in front of our building, there was our other roommate, the "party animal". He was curled up with his eyes rolled back and had foam coming out of his mouth. Quite terrifying. To this day none of us knows how he managed to get to our apartment. Not only that, but he also managed somehow to completely avoid bumping into us on his way back. And that was nearly impossible. 
The only obstacle between me and my bed now were the 2 story stairs. My roommate picked me up once again and started dragging me up. There was no elevator, of course. I kept falling and hitting myself badly during our climb up, but nevertheless we made it. She did it. She delivered me to safety. She threw me onto my bed, turned off the light in the room (WHY?!) and left back down to try and help our "party animal". It was a few seconds after she left and I was left alone for the first time during that night, that I was about to face the absolute and loose all sense of self. I was about to die. And not the "nice" way.
I remember getting out of my bed and just starting to scream in pain that was caused by the extreme level of my constant resistance. I started spinning around in my room, falling and hitting myself on every corner. I smashed a lot of objects and made a pretty big mess. It felt as if my reality was just one surface of a tiny little cube that is a part of an infinitely large, ever-changing Rubik's cube. I started experiencing my self as the whole room at this point. There was no "air" between me and the walls or anything else. There was no space in-between. I became everything and I experienced myself as everything. I moved as everything. I remember bursting into hysterical laughter just a split second before I smashed my leg into the table. It was as if I saw this would happen a brief moment before it actually happened. It was me becoming fully aware of the fact that I manifest everything into my reality in real time. Constantly. This realization led to tears of course and brought me down on my knees. I cant really tell why I was crying. But I was crying like never before. All the beauty and all the grotesque compressed down into a tiniest little dot. And this dot is all there is. It's all there ever was and ever will be. It is one. It is God. I am it. I "saw" and felt the presence of everyone I ever interacted with. As if they were in my room with me. And I mean EVERYONE. Even that random stranger that passed by me and never even looked into my eyes. Even the ants, even the birds, even the bacteria, even Buddha, even Jesus. They all were there with me. They all were me. I was all of these beings. I still am.
The moment I'd start to try and embody this bliss I would become reminded instantly that I am also all of the things I was afraid of or was categorizing them as "bad" or "evil". I was the rapist. I was the pedophile. I was the serial killer. I was the politician. I was the Muslim terrorist cutting of a man's head with a kitchen knife. I was also all the other terrorists holding this man down. And of course I was also the man being decapitated. It was slow, messy and indescribably painful. I literally felt the knife cutting though my neck. I kid you not. I was also the guy jumping off a cliff into the water and smashing his skull open on a rock. Needless to say this was just WAY to much for my persona. I did not know what to do with this realization. It completely paralyzed me. Pain and suffering combined with bliss and infinity. My ego back-lashed every once in a while and when present, it was mostly convinced that it has lost his mind completely and gone insane. And I mean as insane as it gets. How could I ever function in this world after this?
I was than sucked out my reality once again, merging with infinity. But this time it was very slow. My heart was going nuts, I was overwhelmed by the experience beyond any description. Until I literally heard my own heart go from very fast to very slow. I felt my pulse throughout my whole being. Even the room was synchronized with it. I slowly "ran out" of air, and my heart stopped beating completely. And there "I" was (wasn't). One with the endless nothingness. No thoughts, no emotions, nothing. Just pure awareness. And I was there forever. I still am, in a way. Explaining how I came back into existence is nearly impossible for me. Because it happened on a level way beyond my persona. But I can point to one word. INTENTION. And I mean the mother of all intentions. The strongest, most powerful, without-a-single-ounce-of-doubt-kind of intention. If I tried to explain how it is that I "came back", it was by the purest form of desire to be here and to continue this journey. And I am not being poetical. This is the most accurate description I can give.
So I'm back in my room. At this point I can stand up and even walk without falling. I decide to casually go to the toilet and take a piss. I had little to no thoughts at all. I was calm. I was extremely present. I moved very slowly. I moved as I WAS every passing moment. I was no longer just "Ivan". I was God and it was so obvious to me now. The only thing I was not sure about was where was I exactly. Sure the apartment looked exactly the same as always, but I had this strange feeling as if I was experiencing the "afterlife". A though ran through my head: "This must be how it is. When you die, nothing changes. Everything stays the same. Yet that is heaven. There's no golden gate somewhere in the clouds. It's this. Heaven is right here!" Just a few brief moments after having this thought I heard a loud knock on the door. It was still not done with me. I was about to face more core fears and come to a realization that hell is also here. Always. 
I looked through the peephole and saw two officers standing in front of the door. I stayed calm, didn't panic at all. To me it felt like these two cops were the first two angels who came to welcome me in heaven (lol). Later I was told the neighbors called them because they heard me screaming and having a break-down.
So this is kind of where my trip slowly but surely headed towards the hospital. Was I resisting it? You bet I did. I did a lot. But not yet. I was still blissful at the moment I opened the door. This was the first time, after what seemed like an infinity to me, that I opened my mouth and started talking to someone. I immediately became aware that I was somehow unable to tell a lie. Literally. I couldn't lie if my life depended on it. Every word flew right through me without any "approval" on my behalf. Ivan was not involved in this conversation at all. It was God speaking to God. How could it not be flawless then? I felt exactly like Leo stated in his live enlightenment video: "Every word is perfectly inevitable." Exactly everything that should have been said has been said. Everything that should have been done has been done. Effortlessly so. Without me having to do or say anything about it. The cops were calm, they were probably used to these kinds of events. After all, Caldas is a city of students. They asked me what kinds of drugs I was on. I instantly replied "mushrooms". They asked me what am I doing here and if I was a student. I replied "no" and stated that I was a traveling musician, and I came to Caldas to live here temporarily and work on my album. And as soon as I mentioned music I broke into tears once again. I was crying out loud, saying how music was everything to me, how I love it more than I love myself and how I just want to create, express and share every bit of it. This quickly became a bit too much for the cops and they decided to grab me by my arms and "take me away". Oh boy. I fucking lost it at this point. The heaven I believed I was experiencing quickly crumbled down to pieces and I once again entered full on resistance mode. The cops were not happy about it. I somehow managed to free myself out of their grip. The animal in me came forth. I felt like a fucking beast. Powerful and unstoppable. And I was fighting for my survival, again. They somehow left me be and I ended up backing into the corner of the hallway where I curled up in a ball and started mumbling something. I remember repeating that I was dead, that they need to contact my mother back in Slovenia, I even told them the exact address, name and phone number of my mother. In fact, I kept repeating those. I was not nearly as articulated and fluent as just minutes before. I struggled to breathe, I was swallowing words and my heart was pumping like crazy. They tried to calm me down and kept repeating: "help is on the way". I just kept mumbling.
After a few minutes I noticed four more officers walking up the stairs and what appeared to be a few male nurses. I FUCKING FLEW up the stairs instantly. Getting away from everyone and reaching the top of the building. This felt to me like it happened in a split second. And it was three stories above our apartment. On the top there was kind of like a balcony within the building, overlooking the stairs. As soon as everyone got up and tried to approach me I moved towards the edge of this balcony and yelled on the top of my lungs: "I AM GOD! I CANNOT DIE! THIS IS ALL A GAME! THERE IS NO DEATH! I AM GOD!". I threatened to jump and prove to everyone that I cannot die. I saw on everyone's face they came to a conclusion that this has gone way out of control. They needed to capture me or else it wasn't going to be pretty. They tried to act even more calmly, saying to me that everything is going to be OK, as they slowly kept approaching me. Seeing them acting calm and kind calmed me down enough that they came close enough and jumped right on me. It felt like it was all of them, but it was probably three or four cops. They had one of those portable medical beds with them and they immediately started tying me down to it. I was raging. It literally felt like I was a psycho being dragged to the insane asylum. Our way down was taking forever. Those stairs kept going and going. I felt like I lived throughout numerous lifetimes before we reached the bottom of the building. I had tons of thoughts, raging emotions, visions and even realizations during the descend.
As we exited the building, there was a scene out of a crime movie laid before me. Two police cars, the hospital van, neighbors watching and wondering what the hell is going on and finally my two roommates on the left side of the building. "Party animal" was still in the exact same pose and condition as I saw him before entering the building earlier. He was now surrounded by officers and nurses as well. The other roommate was crying hysterically right next to him. I remember shouting out to her, asking for her help, as if she could explain everything to everyone and save my life, my sanity. There was no response from her. She never even looked at me once. I instantly took this as a sign and confirmation that I indeed went way too far and lost my mind completely. They imported me into the medical van where I remained alone with two male nurses who were watching over me. I immediately received a shot of something into my arm. I assume it was a sedative. I was not resisting anymore that much at this point, but I started noticing the weirdest sensation in my body. Mostly in my arms. It was as if some "cubes" were constantly turning and rearranging within me. As if I was made out of these tiny cubes. It was an incredibly cold and machine-like feeling. Scared the crap out of me. It was then that I started questioning free will. Everything felt cold and automatic to me. Like this whole thing is a machine. A precisely built simulation. Merely ones and zeros in a specific order. It was just so damn cold and "heartless". I remember mumbling to myself as we were driving: "I will wake up and I will tell nobody about this. I will wake up and I will tell nobody about this." As if this information was not supposed to be shared. I felt like I was going to be punished If I ever tell anyone about these insights. Or instantly classified as a nut-case. I was terrified. Another HUGE mind-fuck to me was when I focused on what the nurses were talking about. I swear to God they were speaking in my native language; Serbian. I understood every word. And I KNOW there is absolutely no way these people were Serbian. I also understood no Portuguese. Like, at all. So I have no clue how I was able to understand these people. And not only that, but also how my mind translated their conversation into Serbian. Just weird. 
We finally arrived after a long ride. I was at the hospital. Except that I did not know that at the time. To me it felt like they were taking me to their mothership to take me apart and figure out why this malfunction has occurred. Whatever was going through my mind, somehow became experiential for me in some way or fashion. My mind was constantly looking for confirmations in my reality. And it kept coming up with explanations for what was happening. It felt like my mind was a computer on fire operating way to rapidly and being extremely close to reaching "fatal error". (lol)
They then delivered me into a room inside of the hospital, where more nurses/doctors waited for us. They transferred me from the portable bed to a regular one. Tied me down again. I was calm at this point and did not resist the process. I remember looking up and seeing a room full of cops and nurses. The cops probably followed us in and stayed for a while, just in case if I decided go "beast mode" again (lol). As I turned my head to my right, I saw a guy tied down to the bed next to me. Face down, lying on his stomach. Who was it? "Party animal", of course. This filled me with anger and rage again. I couldn't do anything, being tied down, but I sure gave my everything into trying to free myself. I am not sure why seeing my roomette got me so aggressive, but I assume it was because I felt incredibly guilty for the situation I brought upon us. Remember, I still was not thinking this was just a hospital. To me it was completely alien-like. My roommate was unconscious and still had some foam around his mouth. Maybe I though he was dead. I don't know... In my rage I started screaming for and demanding a nurse called "Maria" to come and see me. As if she was on my side. As if she was some kind of an angel that could save me, nurture me. Indeed a nurse came and stood by the left side of my head. I doubt her name was Maria, but she was willing to play along in order to calm me down. And down I calmed. She talked softly to me and told me she was going to give me something that will help me. I received another shot in my arm. I slowly surrendered my self to these "aliens" and gave up fighting for my life.
I blacked out a few times and started loosing track of everything. This time I was not aware of the nothingness when I was in it. It was just nothing. A hole in memory. I remember being in the hallway for some time, still tied to the bed. My roommate was also there. Then I was moved to another, smaller room where two nurses watched over me. At times when I was present, I was slowly able to come to the realization that this in fact was just a regular hospital. Somewhere in the middle of Portugal. And that this was indeed "just a trip gone wrong". I half-consciously, slowly started putting back the shattered pieces of my reality. I was still feeling the little cubes turning inside of me and it was very unpleasant and annoying. I guess that was the last thing I wasn't able to explain away. I even remember asking the two nurses if this sensation was "normal" during mushroom trips/overdose. They laughed at me. I was mostly "back" at this point.
I remained tied to the bed 'till 8 in the morning, until I finally convinced the nurses that I am fine and sober and that I will behave. As soon as they released my arms and legs I started walking towards the hallway, where I last saw my roommate. And there he was. Still tied down, still sleeping. As I approached him and started softly calling his name, he started waking up. A few moments of confusion followed by a smile on his face. He was alright and fully "back" as well. We just laughed silently at each other and exchanged a few brief words, both still in total disbelief about what just happened. There was no way that we could've fully grasped what went down. It felt like we came out of a decade long war. And we survived. That was our victory. Soon I asked for my personal belongings and for a permission to head out for a quick cigarette. They hesitated, but did not seem way to concerned with me. So I went and did not come back. "Party animal" remained on his bed in the hallway. He stayed in throughout the day and went under numerous examinations.
As I was leaving the hospital behind, I remember being grateful for my life. Grateful for the opportunity to continue this journey. A rush of love and unity blasted through my being. But it wasn't overwhelming or anything. It was just the right amount. I was avoiding thoughts about "me" being God and every other that pointed in that direction. I needed a break. I wanted to be just human. Just Ivan. At least until I recover. As I was walking back to our apartment everything still looked extremely dreamy. It felt very lucid. Like my barriers between the "waking life" and "dreams" have been destroyed. It was one and the same now. I called a girl I was in love with, and still am. She was back at Slovenia at this time. I told her briefly about everything that went down and we both laughed out hard. It was exactly what I needed to ground me a bit more into my human form.
After a long, sobering walk back to the apartment, I found the "hero of the night", my other roommate in her room. I immediately started apologizing to her and also expressing my gratitude for dragging me home and not leaving me on the streets by myself. That could have been a much worse scenario. She was kinda angry with me and also just tired due to the whole circus that went down. She barely slept and spent the night worrying about the two of her idiot roommates. 
After this event I spent most of my time indoors, thinking about what has happened, trying to express it through art and just gaining some sort of comfort by watching spiritually-themed Youtube videos and reading articles/forums on those topics. Of course the rumors spread, as I said, Caldas is a very small town. Everyone knew that I had a break-down. And no-one really cared about the profundity of my experience. It was almost as if everyone was scared of me and suspiciously careful with me. Soon after the arrival of my girlfriend, we decided to move on and started a slow journey across the south of Spain, heading towards Morocco, mostly by taking buses, hitchhiking and simply walking. 
Needless to say, I am still integrating the lessons of that night. I dived deep into consciousness work and went through a two year long period of the "dark night". Facing all the fears and limitations I was presented with during my trip. And many more, of course. I tripped a few more times on LSD and once on shrooms after that particular experience, but I did so a lot more responsibly. My girlfriend and me only, indoors in a pleasant and safe environment. With proper caution and preparation. Emphasizing my state of being prior to taking anything. Meditating and surrendering to the present moment.
So what did I learn? Where am I now after two years? I am still on the never-ending journey. I opened myself up as much as I could to infinity, to God. I am able to embody my higher self a lot easier and more frequently. I am also able to do so while not creating art. I could be just simply cleaning the dishes and I'd be doing it as God. As all that is. I am aware most of my "waking hours" that this is a dream. And that this character named Ivan is a necessary part of it. I don't feel separate anymore. I "got rid" of most of the programming from my childhood and teen years. I am able to be here and now and have no need for anything else. I am able to simply admire the perfection in every moment. My musical skills went through a massive upgrade and I even discovered new, smaller passions that I had. I embraced the rational, logical and analytical part of my mind. I resisted this for a long time. I was always an abstract, creative thinker. I also came to have a dream-like relationship with my beloved one. Our communication is nearly flawless, often telepathic and highly synchronized. I still get mad, frustrated, sad or bored at times. I still go "sleep mode" here and there. But it never lasts long. And I never "walk away" without learning the lesson. When I go to sleep at night I am ready to merge with nothingness again. I am peaceful. I am at ease. Because I know that this is just a game, just a dream. And I am that dream. I am the container for everything that is. Forever. As you are too.
So there you go. That's my incredibly irresponsible yet profound trip report. I hope I did not make it too long and I won't "scare away" potential readers  Feel free to leave a comment, share your opinion or just ask me anything you feel like asking. 
Stay awesome!
Much love and respect.

Just saw this old video by Leo...
 
Hi Leo and others,
Leo, I may be wrong, but from what you said in the video I am assuming that it is/was your goal to be a millionaire. I am not sure but maybe it is still your goal to be a millionaire and I suppose that some other people on this forum too have this goal.
A little background about me:
I've been researching extensively for genuine and legitimate online business/money making opportunities for about 6 years now and below is the best opportunity I know of. I wanted to be financially independent since when I was 15 and because of this burning desire, I always took massive action. Over the years I researched and experimented a lot (thousands of hours), talked to a few millionaires(businessmen, actualizers, day traders etc.) via Facebook and email (some of them do respond!)  As expected most of my experiments failed, sometimes I lost money, other times I was saved by my mentors' foresight and knowledge(god bless them) and also proper risk management. My conclusion is that MOST of the business opportunities presented online by internet marketers, "mentors", "teachers" etc. are either fake/fraud or do not give intended results to significantly more than 95% of their students. This is because of various reasons. Most of the times the business opportunity is a fake/fraud/get-rich-quick scheme. Other times(this happens a lot too) the business opportunity is legitimate but the teacher/mentor/internet marketer is not competent enough to guide the student through the learning curve so that the student may have real-world results. Opportunity:
The opportunity is commonly known as day trading, or, in this case, momentum day trading. In this trends are used to predict and purchase potentially profitable stocks and they are not held for more than a few hours(in real-world scenarios). Almost all that I want to say about this opportunity is covered in these two blog posts below(none of the blogs is mine): http://www.stock-trading-infocentre.com/momentum-day-trading.html https://www.warriortrading.com/momentum-day-trading-strategy/ There are various strategies used under momentum day trading :Gap and go,Bull flag ,Breakout trading ,Pull back trading ,Reversal... People usually start by setting the goal to make an avg. of 30-50 USD per day consistently and if that goal is reached in due time as the student reaches mastery then scaling from there to about 400-500$ per day is not that difficult (the technicalities and skills required are the same only the average size of stocks differs.The monetary risk is obviously more after scaling so emotions have to be managed and some people fail at this).All these profits for just 2-4 hours of work per day. Advantages of this opportunity:
I won't be deliberately trying to be "salesy" here but these are the advantages that I myself like very much about this opportunity. Once this skill is mastered it will only take 2-4 hours of your time every day. So a maximum of 30-40 hours per week, not more than that if you are trading in the US markets(momentum day trading is about volatility and markets are not volatile or show good profitable momentum for the whole day). This obviously means a lot of free time for creative expression, learning, service, meditation, spirituality etc. So it is also good for lifestyle entrepreneurs as well. You can travel almost anywhere and you can still work and get paid, all you need is a laptop, few monitors and a decent internet connection. Be your own boss. After mastery, the rate at which your income increases is, to an extent, up to you.I've seen people and my friends going from making about 30/50 dollars per day (training wheels mode) to earning 400$-500$ per day in a relatively short period of time(can't even be compared to any job or promotion(s) for most of the people). The following is not typical, but, Ross (mentor) who teaches this saw an increase from previous years avg. of about 1500$ per day to about $2600 per day this year in his trading account. I think that is a huge jump and I have seen similar cases (% change in income) many times. But we should be mindful of the fact that he is a master and he is been doing it for years, so obviously, he has many advantages/leverages that we don't. Resources:
Webinar and Book. Both of them are a bit "salesy" , but if you can separate the wheat from the chaff then there is some very good content as well as a sound introduction to this opportunity that you can get. Link: https://webinar.warriortrading.com/signup-2  Youtube channel. I really like the videos posted by Ross, the live pre-market analysis he does and also he posts his daily profit or loss from trading with a full reply of his trades so I get to learn a lot from that too. Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/DaytradeWarrior/videos  Homepage.If you would like to figure things out yourself.Link:https://www.warriortrading.com/ Why do I recommend just one educational resource provider?
I have gone through many other educational resources providers in this niche such as Tim Sykes, Ricky(techbudd solutions), Claytrader, James Altucher etc. and almost all of them won't give you intended results, for various reasons. Some of them are not competent enough to guide the student through the learning curve, some leave you halfway through the learning curve, most of them do not limit the size of the batch so they just cannot give you the 1-on-1 required attention/mentorship needed by anyone to succeed,unfortunately some of them are even fraud,some of them trade with fake money and claim that they have achieved real-world results to lure potential students,some are extremely incompetent and don't even know proper risk management let alone teach it to others successfully,some of them are too generic and won't lead you to mastery at all... etc. This is the best online educational provider I know in this space but if you know a better one then please let me know and I'd be truly grateful to you :-) Additional notes:
This is not a get quick rich scheme. There is a learning curve(unlike other get rich quick schemes by internet marketers   ). It will take at least about 2-3 years of your time (maybe 4 in some cases) to start getting exceptional results that you can be proud of and about 6 months to 1 year to start getting some consistent results as a proof that this is legit and you can do it too to earn real money.  Not everyone is cut out for this, you gotta experiment and see for your self if you can make it work for you(I personally know many people who did make it work for them and I also personally know a few people who were unable to do so even after trying). It is a good opportunity and can even make some people into millionaires but most people will probably just make enough to be financially independent. (It depends on many factors such as risk appetite, mastery level, proper risk management, psychological triggers that are etched into your subconscious etc.) It is a bit risky for beginners so please do not put a lot of money into it, you can instead easily trade with fake/paper money and I recommend that you start with that while training/learning or testing your skills so you have no fear, worry or burden of monetary losses. Leo, I am pretty sure that you can do it successfully and even become a millionaire from this opportunity in due time, if you want to or if it still your goal. Posting this here just in case it may be of use to you and other fellow actualizers. I am not a millionaire nor is it my goal to be one, I am just sharing this here very humbly so that maybe it can help someone reach his/her goal. :-)
Thank you for reading and have a great day all!
P.S. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask and I will try to answer them to the best of my capability.
P.P.S There are NO affiliate links above and I will not get any consideration, monetary or otherwise, if anyone decides to use any of the above resources.