Max_V

@Toby I will look into it. Unfortunately I can't pay for it since I'm 17. In the netherlands the region that you live in, gives money to every psychotherapy company and when that money is used you just have to wait untill there is enough room. It used to go through your own insurance, but that has changed sadly.

After meditating and doing PD for about 2 years now, a lot of old fears have been showing up. Of course, this is expected to happen after your consciousness grows and the ability to suppress emotions lessens. I have been trying to get into therapy, to solve these fears that I created myself in my younger years. The problem is, in the Netherlands currently there are huge waiting times with every psychotherapist near to me. These fears have become so crippling that often I find myself almost feinting or blacking out. I am aware that there are different types of fear and they have to be dealt with in different ways. Adyashanti discussed this topic: Existential fear, that you come across when getting into spirituality should be faced. And seen for what it really is. Then it slowly subsides and 'you' get into deeper states of consciousness. Psychological fear on the other hand, should not always be faced. You can retraumatize your system every time you dive into the fear. Which can make the fear even worse. It needs a more sensitive and slower approach. When you blindly dive into psychological fear it can overwhelm you to a point where you are physically unable to do anything. This is where a good therapist comes into play. The therapist should help with dealing with this fear in a sensitive and calm matter, so that it can slowly be solved and overcome. But without a therapist how am I going to able to move forward? After the summer vacation I'm going to a new school, I was counting on the fact that I would have already done some therapy before school started and during it. Now after finding out these waiting times, I honestly don't know if I will be capable to enter school like this. Every conversation I'm in, every social situation, gives me such an immense amount of anxiety. I get overwhelmed to such an extent that I have to sit alone for hours on end to bring peace back I don't really know what to do. And that scares me even further.

@Leo Gura Have you read Sadhguru's book 'Inner Engineering' ? It has some juicy stuff in there

@Joseph Maynor I workerd hard on my heart chakra aswell. Teal Swan has a guide up that helped me grow. You should check it out if you are interested

As the people above me point out, rejecting thoughts won't do you any good. When you notice you are not the thought, you are the one witnessing it, you create space between the thoughts and what is ' you '. What Sadhguru once said, "Traffic is not fun when you are in the midst of it. But when you are in a hot air balloon looking down at traffic it looks peaceful and is fun to watch" So apply this to thoughts too.. create space!

Well when I asked about setting up a self-inquiry practice, a lot of people told me that you should not only set a specific time to question yourself, but do it all the time. So that one can be on the list Meditation is pretty much possible anywhere, you simply focus on your breath. Concentration is not to be recommended since when you do concentration exercise, you have to laser focus. When you are in a bus, there is a lot of distracting things going on, so I would leave that one for home practice. Be mindful of everything going on too, how does your seat feel, how does it smell in the bus, listen to the sound of your breath, etc. Have fun doing this, it is very satisfying in my opinion

Ego is basically the thought "I'm separated from everyone, and I need to defend myself". What you essentially are is the witnessing presence of awareness. So you are not only the observer of the thoughts, you are the heart of what a thought is made out of, Being.

@Afonso I know what you are talking about. Whenever I transcend 'the wall' during meditation and I experience absolute silence, my mind gets very frightened. Emptiness is impossible for it to fathom. It needs something to hold on, otherwise where will you go and what will you be?

Hahahaha leoji that'd be so good!

Mhh.. I like: Adyashanti Rupert Spira Sadhguru These three resonate with me the most. Ruper Spira is probably my favorite because he is so clear in his teaching, and he uses beautiful metaphores for enlightenment.

I was wondering this while looking at my hamster. Does the hamster have the experience of being a hamster or does he simply move his body habitually and is conscious that he is so much more than a hamster. Hopefully this topic is not too conceptual. If it is, I will take it down.

@Annetta That actually sounds very interesting! could you share the techniques?

@Martin123 Has some awesome techniques in his shadow work guide, check it out if you haven't already Good luck next week

So do animals identify with their bodies? or are they just 'the observer'

Happy I found out about PD during my teenager years, fixing my anxiety problems at this age will hopefully help me a lot moving forward into the life. I feel like this is something that should be taught at school, what more is important than the well being of one self?

I'm excited, after 5 years I finally have enough money to build my pc. I've been at it yesterday and what I notice, when I'm working on it, is that I get so lost in all these thoughts and the feeling of excitement. Is there a way to enjoy materialistic things but not get attached and identified to them?

After tucking away my emotions for the rest of my life I have big trouble releasing them and accepting them. I'd really like to just be able to cry so hard that I can let everything go. I just can't let go.

Damn @egoeimai you got good taste!

Well that's his point of view. You don't have to specifically do what anyone says. Find it out for yourself, ask yourself what feels good and what doesn't. I have found with my time at a zen meditation centre that some teachers there cling very much to their own type of practise. My teacher even said that mindfulness is only for people who have had a hard time and just need to relax. This makes me think that he did not look into it and makes basic assumptions. That's fine though, I'm sure if he knew what mindfulness is about, he would see that it is quite beneficial. Follow your intuition. That doesn't mean you should never trust what anyone says. You can decide to take the advice, do something with it or not. It's your path, you make the rules

@S33K3R That's a real good plan, I'm in too. Hope I can be of help

@Toby I'm already half into the podcast, man that is so good. I felt like Adyashanti really resonated with me. Never really listened to him, but now I'm happy I did. I will do his guided meditation soon. Thanks a lot for that btw!

@Anirban657 Have been doing @Martin123 's guide. It is amazing, but some things still feel stuck inside of me. Today things happened that made me feel so sad and dissatisfied with how I look and how I act, what my fear does with me. I just wanna cry it all out. I feel a lot better after doing the breathing exercises and asking myself why I feel this way, but I still can't get to the core of it.

@egoeimai Thanks for this. For some reason it really reminded me of Radiohead haha.

@Snick Not so sure about that. When somebody is troubled, money will certainly do some things. Short term comfort and well being. But after a while that fades too. When you give someone your full love and understanding it can change a lot of things. It can make that person shift in perspective, which is in my opinion very profound.

I like to focus on my breath and the pressure on my feet when I'm walking. When I'm in the shower, first I listen to the sounds, then I feel the warmth ( or coldness, depends on the shower) from the water. Then I try and feel into my body, and notice tempertures. Feel the sensations of comfort and discomfort. You can literally focus on anything that grabs your attention but I think it is important to have something that grounds you in awareness, like your breath or feeling into the body.