Esoteric

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Posts posted by Esoteric

  1. Posted

    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.

  2. Posted

    5 hours ago, JimL said:

    So I got the 'Kriya Yoga Exposed' book yesterday and read the whole book last night.  It was a short read.  I have read the Stevens book, and the Ennio Nimis book as well. 

    I am very hopeful that the simplified routines in the Kriya Yoga Exposed book will transform my practice.  I do have a couple of concerns though.   I did the routine this morning.

    1. Kriya Pranayama - I find myself breathing in short bursts that are in time with my OMs.  I was trying to smooth the breath out, but it is very distracting.  It is almost as if I am subconsciously  trying to say the oms aloud, and using my breaths to do it.  Does anyone think this is a problem?

    2. The second problem I am having is with the 'Kriya Supreme Fire' technique.  There are two issues I have.  The first one is that in step 2 it says focus on the navel zone or on the perineum. Then in step6 it says hold in the heart area instead of the belly.  Which is it?  The description is just unclear.  The second problem I have is that it just seems like it is describing Maha Mudra but with a little longer breath-hold, and none of the leg work.  I did it as part of my routine today, but I'm not sure if I am just missing something?

    If there is anyone out there that has been using this book, please let me know what you think.

    Thanks in advance for any responses.

    ~Jim

    @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.

  6. Posted

    6 hours ago, Mikael89 said:

    They don't even agree where the chakras are.

    According to J.C. Stevens the first chakra is at the base of the spine and 7th chakra is at the back of the head (medulla). But according to Ryan Kurczak the first chakra is at the base of the spine, and the last two chakras are located on top of the head and the last one between the eyebrows.

    Aaaah ffs. How am I supposed to do this stuff when they say different things about where the chakras are supposed to be?

    And here are a third version from internet: 

    chakra-location-image.jpg

    @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:

     

  7. Posted

    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.

  10. Posted · Edited by Esoteric

    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. 

  13. Posted

    32 minutes ago, Mart said:

    @Esoteric I started of with doing 6 om's in about 10 seconds. Currently, after 5 months of daily practice, I do about 10 in 20 seconds. Just do it so you can exhale and inhale at a decent pace afterwards, your ability the hold your breath will increase pretty quick if you kind of push it without have your diaphragm contract.   

    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. 

  15. Posted

    56 minutes ago, John Iverson said:

    Just Hold your breath and ohm in your third eye while doing the 3 .. then back to your starting position to send your energy back to the root chakra that's the point.. that's it.. maybe what you are talking about is kriya breath fire you need to hold it 2 minutes that is the maximum... 

    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.

  16. Posted

    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.