Esoteric

I had a deep pot addiction like you. Smoked before work, and after. I also had deep experiences, and I convinced myself it was good for my consciousness work, even better than if sober. Then I had my first Ayahuasca ceremony and I got off it, and after I realized that the work I had been doing with pot didn't stick so well after I got sober. But now the inner work is much more stable and disciplined and has gotten much better. I realized how sneaky pot is, and how much I had been lying to myself and justified my pot use to actually be good for me. If you get sober for a couple of months you will probably realize how sneaky pot can be. Also after I started doing Kriya Yoga it has motivated to not decrease my lung capacity as I want to get better and better at it.

@JimL I would advice you to just trying to keep the breaths smooth and place the OM's without it affecting the breath. I had a similar problem in the beginning, as I was having my tongue up in half kechari mudra I pressed the tongue with every OM without realizing it at first. If you just keep it smooth for awhile it will correct itself pretty fast.

@cetus56 Thanks. Will try these methods

So I've been wondering about this lately. If you are going to invest your time to specifically try to view your thoughts without attachment.. If you sit down and your "inner speech" (that commentary which feels like you have control of, I hope you know what I mean) goes off, what is the difference between that and thoughts? Your inner voice can go like "Ok, now I am watching this voice.. I can keep it going and I am watching it. Still watching it. Lalalala..". If you keep watching that isn't that watching your thought in a way? Yet I know that there is a different thing that pops out of nowhere which I "classically" know as thought. Those thoughts that just come and disappear. How is your inner monologue and thoughts related, how are they different? I've been doing a lot of Vipassana with observing and scanning the body. I have become quite good at detecting and detaching from negative body sensations like anxiety and physical pain (anger can still be pretty hard), but I have not focused on thoughts because I have always heard it is the hardest thing to observe objectively so I have been kinda avoiding I guess. But now I want to invest a lot more with objectively detaching and viewing thoughts.. What is the best methods for this in your opinion? Books? Videos? Articles? Anything you've found useful would be appreciated.

@Serotoninluv Thanks, I appreciate your input.

@Serotoninluv So what is the best and fastest method/technique for learning to view your thoughts in your opinion?

@Mikael89 They don't disagree about that. I have Stevens book in front of me. 7th Chakra is not medulla, if you think that read or look more carefully. Also don't overthink it. If you've started doing Kriya Pranayama just focus on following/visualising the breath up the spine to your third eye or the top of your head. Resonate with Ryan? This video is all you need:

My advice would just to sit crossed legged with a straight back a lot. It will get easier and easier. I also went through a lot of physical pain on my first retreat but eventually it will go away and then you can just sit and focus on the technique.

@Slade Just touch the toes and bend the knees if you have to. Eventually you can do it with fully stretched legs.

Does anyone have experience with mixing Zazen meditation with Kriya Yoga? I am a member of a Zen center here and they have weekend retreats and full day retreats sporadically which are very valuable to me. I don't do Zazen as a daily habit though, I just do Kriya Yoga (which has absolutely blown me away in only a few months). The thing is we focus on Hara, the section just below the navel, which is the Manipura Chakra. Are there risks of making this part overactive or shouldn't I worry about it and just let my daily Kriya practice balance it out? Thanks. EDIT, so I guess Hara is just below the navel and Manipura is at or slightly above the navel. But I would still appreciate some opinions on focusing on this area for a long time while doing Kriya regularily.

The obsession with labeling people with spiral dynamic colors on this forum is feeling more and more like a weird form of racism. Which is pretty humorous.

@MrDmitriiV And you are the mighty green/yellow looking down and judging these petty oranges?

Thanks for the advice. I tend to be kinda neurotic when it comes to doing things correctly (work in progress), but you are right. And I actually did shorter stretches and om's today so I could have a better breath flow.

I like Ryan too. I have only watched a few videos with him but I agree that it's refreshing that he is not strict and doesn't seem dogmatic. He has two very interesting videos with Roy Eugene Davis, a direct student under Yogananda. I really enjoyed them. Funnily enough I had a dream about Ryan just this past night.

No, in both Santata's book and KSR it says to mentally chant OM 12 times (it says 6-12 times in KSR). So if you chant for 3 sec for each then it's 36 seconds of holding the breath. 12 secs would be manageable but it seems a bit short.

I don't think it is unethical at all. If you can make a living out of it then great. But I have had friends who are into gambling and unfortunately it didn't end well for them. You easily can get hooked and destroyed if you are a certain type of person, so I'd say be cautious of that. But if you do it well and are aware of the dangers and don't get caught up in anger and other negative emotions then good on you.

For how long do you guys hold the breath in Maha Mudra? I can find myself having to inhale too hard without much control after the stretch but I am guessing I may be holding it for too long. It is kinda vague in the books how long the "OM's" should be during the stretch.

@Nahm That is pretty damn neat. What is it called and where can you get it?

Hellish experiences on psychedelics happens when you don't let go completely. So you can get stuck in ego death sorta but the person is still clinging on. Suffering only happens when you identify with the person and the person is not forever.

I've also been using a Zafu. Bought it from the local Zen center. It's great, and makes a huge difference for me. Remember to get one filled with kapok as it is really good material

@MarkusSweden Just a tip. There are subtitles for Osho's videos (official channel). Just click on the icon next to the settings.

^^Check out the Kriya Yoga Mega-Thread. Everything you need to start is there.

Chakras exists. You can prove it to yourself. And no they don't have actual colors or are physical things in your body, but there are energy centers which you can CLEARLY feel.

Ok thanks. I guess I'll pick up the other one as well.

So I ordered KYE by Gamana to complement Leo's original book recommendation. Is Gamana's other book on Kriya recommended aswell or will these two books be sufficient?