Hello from Russia

I see it like this: conventional psychotherapist might help you with escaping surface level mazes (for example, hard drug or alcohol addiction, relationship abuses, etc) but he won't be able to help you with more fundamental mazes such as things like life and reality as we know it unless he is of course some enlightened therapist

Agree, especially stuff in consciousness and yoga sections, and also in niche fields like writing\reading. Amazing

@Strikr I shared this video not for the "pickup" part of it but to show how real intimacy can look like

I double last comment Go watch this video from stage turquoise example megathread. Action starts from 1:50 ~. Will give you an idea about intimacy

Same shit from Strong determination sitting sessions

Try Strong determination sitting for 1h + observing any phenomena you experience without attachment for your meditation. You workout your equanimity muscle and learn to love discomfort\unpleasant feelings. Works wonders .

These things you mentioned won't help with addiction that much imo. What I found works best to develop self-mastery (it includes unwiring from unwanted behaviour) is Strong determination sitting for 1h or more + do nothing technique (observation of your impulses\desires\sensations and surrendering to them). But that would probably be too hardcore for your target audience P.s. this topic probably belongs to meditation section or life purpose\business section

Stories in your head . Try to get awareness that they are just stories

That would be a dream

This guy looks like enlightened version of RSD Max, damn I also think the way he does business can also be considered a "stage turquoise" business, he just "connects" to people on such a profound level. So inspiring. Thank you for sharing. I'd say that making business in general is about connecting to people, but the way red, orange, green and yellow do it is they connect to EGOS, but this is... this is a connection to "soul", amazing.

Nice advice, aurum I think for most of us folks here that are into spirituality appropriate girls can be found near meditation\yoga centers. I also have the wibe that with them you are able be more honest, intimate and non-manipulative, you don't have to use pickup tricks as much. They value truthfulness and authenticity much more. And that's great. For me this is the type of women i'm looking for. But of course, it's not all that airy fairy. They have egos and "stuff" aswell, especially if they follow some corrupted tradition. But still, I find it much more enjoable to relate to people who are on spiritual "path"

Nice one

Something philosophy-psychology related?

I found them super valuable. They make you pounder very deep and really go to the core of certain issues

WARNING Next post contains many spoilers on how retreat is organized and what is being taught there.

No, in this retreat food was totally free also. You can check their website here https://www.dhamma.org , chances are - you probably have their center somewhere nearby I've seen other vipassana retreats which are not "free", but in vipassana tradition ur highly discouraged to charge people for teaching and usually in these "paid" retreats you pay only for food and housing. No, i didn't read any Goenka books before the retreat nor I knew much about him. However after retreat I"ve skimmed some books on content of a retreat (there are books that have all lectures and goenka chantings with explanations)

I think don't be neurotic abd attached to your routine. After all you're not breaking it because you're sliding off but because you are to have some deeper experience. Also I don't think it's that bad. You can be mindful throughout the day which is like ongoing meditation (actually it's very good to practice all the time) and you can do you kundalini thing while sitting in a traffic or in a toilet or something like that. Also I found in my experience it's pretty unhealthy to surpress your identity and pretend Ur someone you are not. But you probably have your reasons to hide what ur doing from parents

That's is the fundamental problem of marketing. And it is very deep. When you think about that you find how really fundametal marketing is as a skill in our life. Personally, I usually advertise meditation to my friends and try to make them start meditating by showing various benefits to that. Meditation naturally raises consciousness and after that person usually becomes more open-minded and receptive to more "advanced" ideas. But now I don't go very deep pitching about all kinds of stuff, gotta advance yourself first

It is totally free. They run it through donations only. They usually ask you to donate in the end of a retreat but they don't force it at all. Everything is completely voluntarily.

This video is a masterpiece. Shows you the Ideology shifts and evolution of consciousness in Russia of 20th century from Russian Empire to USSR to Russia of 90s and 2000s from a perspective of a common folk. Shows you very clearly the mechanisms of massive ideology, how common folk is getting manipulated by higher-ups and what values common people chase during all that in a well-designed music clip.

Btw I wanted to ask, what is your experince of using a journal for spiritual self-inquiry?

Yeah, just set boundaries and don't judge them, accept them as they are (very important). You don't need to neccessarly cut everyone, just limit the destructive aspects of your friendship (drinking, partying or whatever else you find destructive) and if they try to force you into all that or all your interactions are somewhat destructive - then cut.

Yeah it was something like that

You should accept itches as they are and not give importance to them. It's not really a torture when you realise they come and go. Everything is impermament. That actually is the main point of it. You learn to not react to every occuring phenomena and it helps you with concentration A LOT. In vipassana tradition they stress that you should keep your eyes closed but I think there are different ways on how to do SDS, up to you, really. The general rule is to have a strong determination to not change your setup whatever pain\discomfort you experience. Buddhists have a story that it was how Buddha became enlightened. He sat under the tree and decided to not move even if it means that he would die from this.

You're welcome! Yes, but there are tons of such vipassana centers worldwide. In this retreat I met a guy from Venesuela who was travelling all over europe from center to center on his bike working in them (helping to organize retreats) and meditating.