ajasatya

this question is on point what happens during meditation is a summary of your everyday life.

it's alive!

i'm sorry to say it but it can't be done quickly, considering your current level of attachment. you have to notice the waves of the mind and learn its tricks. it takes time to build up enough wisdom until the mind becomes able to understand the patterns, the deceptions and the limitations of the mind. the final output of the discipline is a mind that knows how to surrender. have a good time, take good care of the body and embrace Life, for you are not something that True Nature shouldn't be.

@Wisebaxter confusion related to non-duality comes from not understand what "you" or "i" points at. it happens because you haven't integrated enough mystical experiences yet. you are confused about YOU. "others are illusions" is a consequence of the fact that nothing has a separated individuality. even though the mind separates aspects of Reality, the separation is not a fundamental thing. Unity lives through you and through your girlfriend, as you and your girlfriend at the same time.

something from the Heart

it has nothing to do with the particular shape. it's all about your discipline to do it methodically. rituals are tools to avoid sloppiness. when we practice zazen in group, for example, there is a methodical way to walk, to bow, to spin, to sit and to breathe. it evokes a certain degree of seriousness and concentration that's necessary for this kind of work. also, if everyone just did it their own way, the environment would become too chaotic and distractive.

you tell us!

@Raphael so it didn't go like shit. newbies think that life is like a bifurcation: success vs failure. masters know that life is a sequence of straight failures until you reach success. of course you'd find it in the last placed you looked!

@fortifyacacia3 where do you feel resistance in the body? watch, breathe and relax or is it just imaginary? don't get too lost in thoughts and language. spirituality is very different from philosophy. cut the fat, make it clean, short and simple. true contemplation is finding your way through language to reach beyond language.

who are you?

yes! there you go

relapsed != relaxed lazy and undisciplined people have a hard time relaxing and often suffer from anxiety and chronic pain.

i wouldn't make suggestions such as meditation, diet, life purpose course etc. instead, i'd try to help her find motivation to go through a transformative process. if she succeeds, she will deliberately choose her own path.

@LoveandPurpose you become shameless and unstoppable

@LaucherJunge try it and let us know this path requires high levels of self-responsibility

@Shadowraix is right. good teachers do not want their students to be dependent. good teachers want them to become free. dependence and attachment already happens within religions. don't be religious. strive for your mystical states, instead. what is leo, anyways?

love towards Life increases, which is basically Self-Love no. every tiny fraction of Existence, which can be as tiny as you wish, is made out of Spirit. yes. all experiences are spiritual experiences. the question is: how aware are you that you're living in a mystical realm throughout the day?

@Benoit Jazy this is how mysterious and powerful existence is. are you aware of how much power it takes to truly deceive oneself? both of your possibilities are correct. they are both valid perspectives. how would it be to drop both of them, though? would you allow yourself to do that for 10~20 seconds?

relapse = lazy and undisciplined neurotic = dogmatic and prohibitive

there's nothing but the theater. and you're not trapped... that's just a story within the mind. the theater is the beauty of existence itself.

@TheAvatarState the teachings are not the main guidance. it's about developing enough wisdom so that you know if you're being relapse or neurotic. this is why teachers can be helpful. good teachers can spot unbalance very easily.

no you didn't understand. there are some sticky/gross beliefs and there are beliefs used to cleanse those sticky/gross ones. after the remotion of the first layer of beliefs, you can ditch the others. ramana maharshi used to say "thorns to remove thorns".

@OmniYoga it can be a waste of time and mental energy or it can be a motivation for you to go and actually do the practices. concepts are also great to shatter crystalized beliefs and the sense of moral obligation to believe in some set of beliefs, specially for people coming from limiting religious or scientific backgrounds. you're much better off with a belief that you can let go easily than with a belief that you hold as true for sentimental reasons.

@Yannik practice: zazen book: the power of now

maybe on the meditation/enlightenment and partially on the self-actualization sections. but this forum is also filled with serious practical stuff.