Max_V

@Shin How do you cross this line? Just keep practising to bring consciousness into your life?

Make it a challenge not to move when you feel restless and you feel a deep urge to move. If you overcome this you will get better and better at it which will grant you more peace and an awareness when you do want to move again. So keep practising to just accept this feeling of unease and really just observe it. Good luck with your practise!

@afonso Then, I should try 3 times of 2 minutes in a row? and that twice a day? In the video 'Concentration vs Meditation', Leo says you should start out at your level and then when you feel you are good at a certain level increase the time. Now, my concentration is pretty bad and I get discracted easily since I have ADD. So will I get more improvement if I increase the times I do 2 minutes?

I have been practising this aswell for some time now. 2 minutes, 2 times a day. For some reason I don't feel any improvement though. Is there anything I should do differently?

@Dodoster Thanks, healing that pain with awareness sounds quite interesting. I will try and practise this, I might even be able to see this fear and pain as a challenge to grow, Your response gave me some true hope.

I have been doing meditation for somewhat more than a year now. Since a week I started feeling very scared sometimes. Like there was something wrong with my body. I have read somewhere that when you meditate, hidden away fears and such can bubble up. Could this be the case here? Regards, Max

@Prabhaker Thank you, I will use your wisdom. If this ache persists I will see my doctor to clearify that there really is not something wrong.

@Prabhaker I have, the doctor said my heart is perfectly healthy. Still the fear persists. I get scared when I feel my heart beating fast or 'skipping a beat' this makes it worse and worse and a whole fear-physical cycle is created by myself.

@Prabhaker So if I feel a little ache in my chest and my mind immediately says "There is something wrong with your heart!", I should just observe? Thanks for your quick response.

@Martin123 Thank you for his exercise, I'm gonna do it myself also. Also I would like to thank you for the emotional healing guide you put up. It is really profound and amazing, I'm gonna follow through with that aswell! You're an awesome person man!

@Leo Gura I'm doing self development as a 17 year old. Sometimes I feel quite lost though, like which books to read, what meditation technique, if I should work as hard as I can or just read a little and meditate. Maybe that's just part of the journey.

@eskwire Is there anywhere specifically I should look to gain more knowledge about chanting? Should I use an app or just find the mantra's and try it without any guidance?

@eskwire Thanks a lot, I'm look to see a therapist but sadly wait times are really high at the moment in the Netherlands, also I have signed up for zen meditation lessons. I can meditate fine on my own but I found out that meditating in a group brings up my social anxiety, I think this is a great way to overcome that fear.

I myself have low self esteem too which probably started somewhere around middle school. The practises that are in the Six Pillars are pretty helpful if you know where to look. Once you have finished the book you should do the course that's on the end. Then, if you notice you really lack at a certain pillar/point, make that a big focus. Look for stems that complement your troubles will increase your awareness at that certain issue. If you find out a profound way that helps you I'd be happy to learn about it, I'm interested to look into self esteem problems further aswell. Good luck!

Ye this is just a random guy who wants to make fun of someone. Sad he is not actually listening, but choosing to deny everything Leo is saying and making fun of it. Hope this guy eventually finds out how some of Leo's insights are pretty profound and he can look again with an open mind.

I am 17 and I have been meditating since december 2015, nice to see someone my age who has benefits from it too. What I have learned is that you will have to accept that not every meditation will be all beautiful and full of comfort. When you cease to cling to any experience, acceptance hits. Try saying to yourself when you notice you are not focusing on the process but rather the results: "I don't want anything from this experience." and "I don't need anything to change" when you keep repeating this to yourself and keep detaching you will find that you become very accepting of the whole experience and this will get you very deep. Good luck

Happy Birthday Leo, thanks for all the amazing videos and insights you have put out for us!

@HelloThere Thanks! I was already thinking about watching 'How to stop caring what people think of you' The other will be a great help too

Since I was about 12 I started developing a habit where I always laugh at every joke, always try to look happy even when I'm not, always listening to everyone, always trying to please everyone. This mask I have been carrying till right now. December 2015, I started reading and meditating every day, this helped me understand my social anxiety better and overcome it step by step. Most of the time when I'm alone It's not hard for me to become present and mindful and I can feel peace and content with this moment. However when I'm at school or a social situation I slip back into my mask and get unconscious. I have to put so much effort into how I feel like I have to respond to people in a conversation or how I look at people that I can't keep my focus on my breath or my body. My question is: How do I become conscious in social situations and what can I do to feel more authentic instead of wearing that mask every time when people are around. Regards, Max

@salaam For some reason, even the thought of expressing what I really think or stand out makes me scared shitless. When I was reading your comment already the thought came up "You should not do this, this is dangerous, you will feel uncomfortable".

@LiakosN Seems like a real intersting article, thanks for mentioning. I will study it

@egoeimai SoI need to try take responsability for every resistance/ pain I create in myself? For some reason I really have a difficult time accepting peoples opinion about me. Is there any practise to transcend this problem? I am already trying to work on my self esteem issues with Nathaniel Branden's book. That's been a great help to me.

@Arman Thanks you are giving some great tips here, I will try and analize every social situation when I'm alone. See what triggered my uncomfortableness and then grow from it. Also I will try and drop the resistance to this mask, I can really see how this is a big one as I have been meditating with the technique to drop all resistance to the present moment and just be content and ok with whatever is here, not needing anything. @Ludwig Has a video explaining this technique, It has been really helpful to me since I have noticed a lot of resistance to uncomfortable events/feelings in me.

I took initiative last night, emailed a local zen meditation center if I could maybe join in in one of the sessions. I'm meditating 20 minutes in the morning and 40 in the afternoon right now, I have a lot of unanswered questions right now so maybe that community could help me out with that. Thanks for suggesting Wim Hof, I will take a look at that too!

As the title says, I would like to know if intelligence is a requirement if you want to personally develop. Take for example someone who hasn't finished his eductation or has trouble reading. It would be very difficult to understand difficult books regarding important topics or get certain information. I'm 17 right now and I undertstand most of the books Leo has on his book list but some of them, for example: Meditations from Marcus Aurelius, Has some really tough words and sentences in them that I find difficult to grasp since English is not my first language. How do you personally develop if you have problems with reading and eductating yourself? Regards, Max