Mondsee

hah interesting! but I highly doubt that we live in the same time zone...

Oh yeah... I've had sleep paralysis in the past, it has never been scary, but rather fun to me, but this was different... I did not "get out of my body" and go places... I just became the whole bzhszhzshhzhzshzh all over the place! everything was like the same vibrating substance, and all of that was me, but I was also there falling in that thing... and I could do backflips... haha

Thanks @cetus56 & @Emerald for your quick and savvy responses, but I'm still very confused... haha I know nothing about astral projection... can we please start by what the hell that is?! (a link to something I can read would do...) haha thank you very much!

@erik8lrl but what was the buzzing sensation all about? It was not a dream, it was a real physical sensation. @pink Hmmm... pardon my ignorance but I got like half the words you said... I don't think the wobbly feeling was a problem! It was kind of building up until I reached the void. Also... who are the "Rolfers"?

I am at the university library right now, and I'm actually here to get some work done, but I really need to write about this before I forget it happened. Yesterday at night, before falling asleep I was asking myself: "am I in my left foot?" and I would bring my full awareness to it and see. I wasn't there. "Am I in my right foot?" no, "am I in my left calf?" no, "am I in my right calf?" no, and so on with every part of my body. It was clear that I wasn't in of those body parts until I arrived at my chest. I didn't manage to answer as convincingly that I wasn't there, so after a little struggle, I decided to skip it, continue with other body parts, and then come back to it. More interesting than that, was the moment when I arrived to my head, at the level behind my eyes, and up, and I asked: "am I in my head?" and I looked, and I wasn't there. The answer was no, and I genuinely felt afraid, and my heart started pumping faster. At some point soon after that I must have fallen asleep, because I can't remember anything else. Today I did a little bit of yoga in the morning, had breakfast, did some homework, and then left home on my bike. I decided to continue where I had left yesterday at night. I thought "fine, if I am not in my head, where am I?" no answer. I asked again: "where am I?" no answer. So I thought, ok, I've been through all the body parts, where is the next most obvious place where I could be? And the answer arose almost immediately: in the air. So I asked "am I in the air?" I noticed that yes, I was in the air. It was so obvious... all this time I have been the air! If I stop breathing, soon I'm gone from this body! That's why I keep breathing! to bring me into this body! I am the air! And then I noticed how I am everywhere, and how all the people who were passing by where also breathing, and I was getting inside them. The very same me, just going into different human bodies, but all me in the end! So I was quite excited to see that, and I also couldn't believe how I hadn't been able to notice earlier, such an obvious thing. Then I thought... well, if I am the air, then I am also the water. If this body stops drinking water, I will also be gone, it will take a little longer, but I will be gone. So I noticed right there (it was not only intellectualizing, I noticed), so clearly how I am the water. I am the air as much as I am the water. And right then it started raining big time. And I knew it was me saying, yes! I am the water, and I am also everywhere! And I got really wet, and I was not wearing a proper rain jacket, but I was bursting in tears of joy, just seeing me all over the place, in the sky, on the floor, in the river, everywhere! I arrived at the university soaking wet, and just very intuitively I knew I had to take these wet clothes off, and look for a warm place or I was going to get sick. I didn't pay too much attention anymore to the epiphany I just had had, and got caught up much more with the practicalities of getting myself dry. Then, of course it hit me. I am also the heat. That's why the "elements" are air, water, fire, and earth. That's why we call them "elements". I am the air, I am the water, I am the fire, and sure, I am the earth. What else could I be? Do not get tricked by thinking you understand this from just reading it. You have to go out there and prove to yourselves that you too, are air, water, fire, and earth.

Today I realized very clearly that there is no difference whatsoever between experience and experiencer. I did not start believing it, I noticed it. For something to exist, you must be the thing. Otherwise it cannot exist! Period. That's all. The question that cracks it is: what is the difference between my experience of [whatever object] and the object itself? With some mental clarity you will notice, there is no difference whatsoever, your experience of the object is identical to the object itself, therefore, sure, you can say you are the object. It follows that you are everything that enters your perception. Does that mean "I am Enlightened" now? What does that even mean? What I know is I am every single thing that is entering my perception, that's all. Don't be fooled... grasping that felt like the most obvious and unexciting thing. Do I feel special, magical, superior, or whatever? not at all. Sure, it may feel unexciting at this point because I haven't investigated the implications more deeply. I'm curious to answer the following: - Where are the things entering my perception coming from? - Do I have any control over that? - I understand that I am everything that enters my perception, but what am I if nothing at all is entering my perception? Can I be nothing? - Can we even really become nothing without physically dying? In the end there are things entering our field of perception that we just cannot get rid of, such as breathing or the beating of our heart... therefore we must always be at leas that. I hope to find answers to those questions soon

To those who have responded to this thread and seem to have some understanding of what I noticed... I'm curious about how you arrived at those insights. Spontaneously? Through meditation? Psychedelics? Self inquiry? Thanks

@Nahm Duality: “ I “ & “that". --> what I'm trying to say is what determines whatever there is??

To that I would answer: the same way that it is possible that you have 10 fingers each with their own experience! All of this is just wording mumbo-jumbo. You can say that you are everything entering your perception, or simply say that you are everything. It's the same, just tricky to put it in words. "I" is not a perception, "I" is all there is! Similarly, there is no difference between realness and perception... I am using the word to explain it somehow! Yeah, I can agree with that, that's precisely why I am so curious about where (what I am calling) "the things entering my perception" are coming from! - yes - yes - yes - yes - you are the blade of grass itself, not a picture of it, you are it - why would it have to be changeless?? - that's precisely the point: there is no "experience" and "experienced" those two things are identical to each other - "by definition" you can state whatever the hell you want that something is defined in a certain way is no guarantee whatsoever that it is true! - there is no "who" perceiving! there is only what it is! - "you", "the senses", and "the experience" all merge into one single thing, call it whatever you want - that is what I am curious about... can we "be" nothing? whatever answer I give to that at this point would be intellectualizing about it, not in my direct experience... I don't understand this yet...

Best way I know is go with kids and play with them extremely genuinely. Let them be the ones who lead, and take the game extremely seriously. If they tell you a tree is a castle, that means the tree is a f*cking castle. If you're being chased, then run for your life. If you're playing floor is lava, then behave as if it was actual lava. When I was in high school, I was the tutor of a group of 1st graders, and would often play with them during school breaks. I promise during those breaks, I was back in 1st grade, it was great.

...which reminds me of: where is the sexting video you promised years ago??!

My Systems Thinking interpretation of this article is that this is not an environmental problem, but rather one of the environmental symptoms of a political problem. I highly recommend reading the entire article. It's hard to keep record to the amount of delusion in the current Brazil administration. Crazy. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/amazonian-rainforest-near-unrecoverable-tipping-point

I have only read that one. The problem about it is that so much simplicity makes it super hard to understand. It assumes that you already know a lot of things, and doesn't explain them at all. Several spots, concepts, movements, etc. are just called by their name and assumed you know what is being referred to. That book does not work for a total newbie. I felt completely lost after finishing it, didn't know where to start, and had to step back and find more basic material. All of this doesn't mean that the book isn't good, it is great, just consider it advanced.

@AdamDiC OK, that's good to know. I think Kriya Yoga is on a very early stage of coming out of the layers of secrecy it was for so long, and that's why so many information is still very occult. I've read most of that thread, but still felt very lost, because back when I read it I was not doing any practice yet, so I couldn't relate to anything. I believe I'll start not skipping anything, and then decide what works best for me. 2 weeks nofap is more than standard for me, but I'll see if there are testimonials on some other forum. Thanks for all your tips!

Quick question: I've read on the internet on more than one occasion that Manipura chakra is the one of action, of getting things done. After a lot of contemplation, journaling, observation, and meditation, I've come to the conclusion that my energy at Manipura is probably very weak, but I haven't found any practice to explicitly make my energy rise to Manipura. If someone here is aware of any practice to advance this goal, I'd be really thankful if you could share it! 'lil edit: oh wow, apparently this was post number 200,000 on this sub-forum! just wanted to have mentioned that, thanks Leo for creating this super helpful space for mutual growth!

@AdamDiC OK, I've just recently decided to give Kriya Yoga a second chance. After reading my first 2 books about Kriya, I was still super confused and not even sure of where I should start, but I've found better materials now. The thing is that I see a lot about "activating Ajna", "activating Vishuddhi", and I'm like, can we please focus on something a little lower before getting to Ajna?? And there's just nothing explicit about it, or not that I've found yet. Does nofap have the same effect for girls too? ('cause I am one ?‍♀️), in any case it doesn't happen too often for me.

It is stupid that you think that he really is against psychedelics, he's just obviously trying to be cautious in front of the masses. Come on!

@Devansh Saharan I think Sadhguru is wise beyond our understanding, and part of that wisdom is being aware that he speaks to the masses. He knows that for thousands of people he is a true authority figure, and they'll do whatever he says. When your words have so much power, you have to be responsible about it, and it maybe isn't a great idea to endorse the use of psychedelics publicly. He also knows some of his listeners maybe would be ready for it, but so many more wouldn't, so it is best saying drugs aren't the best idea, and there are safer ways.

I may be a little late for this, but I'm so so so so so excited for this topic! In the end, politics is also about truth and deception. The more truth among elected politicians, the more decisions made for the common good. Also: at this point we can either make a transition into conscious global governance soon, or all else won't even matter, cause we'll all be gone . Looking forward to your videos Leo!

Sit next to him in class, and start by doing small talk. Pretend you missed something, and ask what the teacher just said, ask for an extra pen / eraser / whatever, just make sure it's something you actually don't have, so he doesn't feel weird, if you open a package of cookies, chips, or whatever, offer some to him first. Gradually increase the small talk, and take it from there

Today is the first day of Ramadan, and I am thinking of fasting like Muslims do, not for any religious reason, but to try out fasting for a longer period of time. It is well known that fasting is practiced by many spiritual oriented groups around the world, for example Yogis in India also eat just twice or even once a day... so there's gotta be some benefits that I'd like to test out for myself. Has someone here experience with fasting in general, or at least during Ramadan? Do you have any advices worth sharing? Thanks!

@Anton_Pierre thanks, that's a good reminder. @How to be wise Hey, I'm only on day 3, but at least up to this point I can report that fasting certainly allows you to focus on what matters throughout the day simply because of the practical consequence of not having to devote time to eat, drink, or even go to the toilet very often. Only now that I'm not doing any of that, am I noticing how much of a distraction that is. I've also noticed that very often I eat or drink out of boredom, that's all been very interesting. But at the very least, fasting also serves like a reminder throughout the day to raise your consciousness (if that's the purpose for which you're fasting). Every single time you feel like drinking water, or eating some food, is a reminder of: just stay conscious and wait. @aidenhall I'm drinking a good amount of water early in the morning, before the sunrise, and having a single meal after sunset (a vast well-balanced dinner), including again enough water intake. Of course none of this is with intentions of reducing my weight, in fact, I'm very happy with my body, and I hope it doesn't change too much during this fasting period... that being said, I have certainly noticed that eating 3 times a day is really not necessary. We do it mainly out of pleasure and comfort... but it feels absolutely unnecessary (at least for an average young adult not doing an excessive amount of physical exercise). I was about to make the decision to allow myself to drink water, but not doing so was a great decision. Thirst is what actually makes a difference. I've found myself these three days waiting for the sunset to be able to finally drink water, more than be able to eat. I don't think it's too dangerous, as millions of Muslims do it every year... I think it's just a matter of making sure that you're drinking enough during the time you're allowed to do so. Excuse my ignorance, but I dunno what that means ? care to explain?

@Truth Addict gotcha! I'll pay attention to that Thank you!

@Conrad cool, looking forward to hear about your experience. Today I did some physical activity at noon, and since then I've been seeing every drop of water as the most beautiful thing ever. I had never been waiting so eagerly the sunset! @Empty sadly I won't have the opportunity to take this period as a full retreat. I'll continue with my daily activities, just skipping meals until after the sunset. But thanks for the advice! I will make sure to include at least one short meditation daily! @Truth Addict That's the plan! Do you mean among other people fasting or not fasting? currently I'm doing it on my own, everybody around me is eating their usual 3 meals a day, and carrying their delicious bottles of water around. It's just day 1 and I'm already seeing water as the most precious thing ever. Water is incredibly beautiful! I'll leave this as an advanced level for now. I didn't plan strategically taking multiple days off in a row, but in the future I may try this

Are you a student, specially a college student? Why do you study? What is your motivation to be doing that instead of any other thing?