Nahm

@John Thanks for sharing! In hopes of seeing the actual progress in this, though it probably doesn’t seem like it, I’d look at the trips like a practice. Those years of meditation having probably served you very well. Look at it like you just started another practice, one that the meditation is foundational to, one that is going to really expand you, probably completely. In terms of the larger stratosphere, you just got on the path, congrats!!! It can take a lot of trips to get through whatever needs getting through. 10 hours...? Might have been too ambitious outta the gate. Ramp up next time. Think about ramping up for 5 trips.

@FelixTheCat try this? 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."

Yeah, and then, you hear it hiss and you’re like wtf? I saw the rope, wtf? Annd then it’s a rope again and man, like, seriously. Awesome.

@Monkey-man Maybe get that outta the way and then meditate.

@JustinS @Blissout thanks

If loa is the category, Massaro is a questionable topic.

I did years of meditation and practices and did not take psychedelics. I was ignorant and lumped them in a ‘drug’ category. My frame of reference were idiots from my high school days who used drugs to escape (my own ignorance). Eventually, again, after years of practices, I tried psylicybin. To date I have probably taken roughly 20 trips, max was 8g tea. I have a friend or two that are wholly locked into the materialist paradigm, but wanted to try it. I sat and watched them trip, watched the truth vs their ego. They freaked the fuck out. They hated it. Talking about losing yourself, ego death, oneness, absolute, is talking just like talking about being on mars. Important distinction to make imo, wether we are talking about our idea of something, or wether we are talking about our own experience. The idea, could be laced with fear, and so woven into our personality, that we don’t have any clue. The experience though, it really doesn’t matter what anyone says or thinks, the psychedelic is going to rule. In 20 trips, I never had a “bad” one. Each was ‘closer to the truth’ than the last. I attribute that to being in the void routinely in meditation and being perfectly comfortable in it. The void, on it’s own, I found delightful. But, in hindsight, the void was the floor, not the ceiling. Thanks to psychedelics.

The negative emotions are coming from you, not the wind or anything. So if you can sit quietly in equanimity, you’re doing well. Sounds to me like you have developed ‘not believing your thoughts’. That’s very beneficial in the storms. It allows you to continue forward, when others are becoming paralyzed with fear.

@Omario I agree with what’s been said already. You can’t possibly know what’s coming, it’s that far out. The word “mindfuck” will never be the same for you. I would suggest putting your focus on preparation - your foundation. If you are meditating 30 minutes a morning, and enjoying it, then chances are good the trip will be worthwhile. Even if you’re not “ready”, and have a bad time, it’s sorta worthwhile too, just not the easier route. There are no bad trips, just sometimes we are far less ready to face the truth.

@Aquarius I think your post is great btw. Just adding. Awareness is curative. If someone is experiencing what they don’t want, and we suggest a path to what they do want, it does of course often help. But sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes they are in a state of mind of lack, shortage, “I can’t”, “I’m not smart / strong / etc enough”, and they are internalizing the suggestion - hearing about what they want, and reinforcing that they don’t have it. This is noticeable when someone says things like .... “yeah, you’re lucky, talented, gifted, fortunate, smart, a long term thinker, etc”. This reveals they are perceiving randomness in their circumstance, which reveals a denial of their own involvement. Sitting quietly in a room alone though, without out a single distraction, eventually, we start to realize how we are behind the trouble we’re experiencing, and we start to see that indeed, we can. Sometimes one path works, sometimes the other works, sometimes none work. An extreme example is an alcoholic who ties themselves to a bed for 3 days. If you’ve ever seen it, you’d swear they were experiencing an exorcism. But 3-4 days later, they are cured, and often feel reborn, and all the world is new. Of course there is the material explanation of beating the withdrawal, but there is also the (imo deeper) explanation, of God, and awareness curing. There is (imo) miraclulous power in doing nothing.

@thesmileyone I think you’re pinning some people’s troubles on something that is an idea, not an experience. If you tried psychedelics, you would see with more depth & clarity, and you would see the truer sources of their issues. Or, perhaps you’re lumping psychedelics into a drugs category, and unable to make proper distinctions because it’s an idea. Just a thought... I’ve done them numerous times, true. I’ve never done them, also true.

You can’t honestly be serious.

I think if you checked up on what God is doing right now, it would be this.

@willybilly30 lol!

@aurum Thanks! Great stuff.

You should start to feel benefits in weeks. If not, double check your techniques. But, do it for the ‘me time’, like, give a big “fuck off” to everything for a bit. There are no bad trips, and no unwanted effects from the practices. If it seems like it, keep going, and in hindsight, you’ll always be glad you did. You’ll have a broader vantage point & more clarity, and it will make sense. I’ve done practices daily for a little over twenty years. It has enhanced my life incrementally from being overweight & depressed, taking pills, a negative future outlook.. to healthy, fit, happy and just being present more. When you’re in that bind, where you question if it’s worth it (though, you already know it is) that’s when you dig deep. Or YouTube “motivation”. Lol. I’ll make a post on non duality and the basic of meditation techniques. Seems like a good time, forum wise.

If it works it works, but do nothing is a special thing, in that it reveals the extraordinary, so try that also. The bliss is already fully present. Can we just see it, is the matter at hand.

@Sevi @Charlotte Maybe consider more perspectives. Leo’s is his. Pick yours. It’s all one big deception / illusion anyways. It’s fun to uncover the authentic self, it’s deeply rewarding and liberating. Shedding the surface deceptions allows an ease of life. We can realize we’ve been creating our own stresses with our self importance. Let it inspire you. Resonate more and more with your god within. Remove the veils, reveal the beauty and joy.

@willybilly30 I am happy for you! Meditation is a great thing to bring into life. Focusing on breathing from the stomach works well - the thinking stops. Eventually, there’s more space than thoughts, it’s wonderful, and it’s so worthwhile imo. That ‘space’ is peaceful, even when life is turbulent. Try many approaches too of course, find what works best for you. Get your ‘money’s worth’ out of it by never missing a day. Makes a huge difference over time.

@Nathan Yeah. It’s really terrible, but then, kinda awesome.

@Annetta Beautiful!!!

@aurum What do you mean “if you know how to open her up”? Interest in where you’re coming from with that comment. Sensing there’s something there for me. Thanks man.

@Slade Your first post instantly brought me back to a memory of holding my daughter right when she was born. I remember thinking omg - so fragile, like hanging on to life by a thread, if I dropped her right now she probably wouldn’t make it. Weird thoughts, while emotionally there was a tremendous flood of love and purpose, and just being needed, just like that, instant and for the rest of my life. There was also this other emotion or epiphany of myself, like size, experience, knowledge...like the relative difference across the board between me and her - like I have every conceivable advantage imaginable, but all I want is to love her.

@saint_charming7 I mean it’s an inner game. Playing with my kids is my favorite part of the day. Meditating is my favorite part of the day. Picking out righteous bananas at Kroger is my favorite part of the day.

@Mighty Mouse @Faceless ?? Awesome convo. Thank you guys. Speaking of reality, gotta go to work now.