Shad282

The path chose me. (I'm not Spotless but my response was going to be the same...)

It means that your actual life situations and circumstances would dictate your path, either you like it or not.  A genuine spiritual path works with real life situations and circumstances.  It isn't about following some rituals and rules, or the scriptures.  The Tao and the Dharma are always present since the beginning of time, if there are beginning.  Neither can be explained and grasped.  Then, how can you claim to have made a choice to follow either since you neither can see them or to grasp them????   

neither can see them or grasp them? i mean, all religions, practices and beliefs are accessible and available all over the internet and it is not that hard to encounter any of these and find explanation. lots of practices from meditation and qigong are available on youtube and anyone can learn it. it doesn't have to be predestined. you had a choice at some point in your life and you did take that road by ur own choice.

A ton of reasons, but probably the foremost is that it opens me up to aspects of reality that I would otherwise remain disconnected from, it gives me a sense of connection with the universe and a purpose and meaning around which to direct my life.

 

Up until a few years ago I lived as a regular, 21st century atheist, refusing to even consider anything outside of the tight confines of the materialistic/reductionistic scientism imbued in me by my education, and it made me incredibly miserable. Believing that you're nothing but an emergent property of a pile of grey goop in the top of a machine made of muscle and bone, disconnected from everything around you, with a short existence bereft of meaning or true connection, is a truly awful way to go about life. It was like being stuck in a beige hell, and discovering meditation, qigong and the spiritual side of reality was like waking up to a vibrant world of color and life.

did you investigate what made you really miserable in the past and healed it? or you just changed your beliefs and adopted new practices ?

It feels good to live with these practices. 

and without them? it feels not good? 

"I" didn't choose them.

what do you mean? 

Oh no, a wicked dis-believer, there's always one heretical sceptic. Here, drink this snake oil.

hahahahahahaha.. really.. everytime i see something or someone doing something i ll be like.. ohhhh maybe it is 3rd eye power or energy altering frequency or or or .... and end up with a person using some kind of techs and tricks. nowadays.. i ll only believe if i can do it

Hey

why did you choose this path of spirituality, chi, meditation, qigong... (knowing that there are different paths inside of it).

- are you trying to have an identity, sort of religion belonging, escapism of reality,, trying to gain superpowers/telekinesis, reach that superstate of nirvana or enlightenment?

- what is your goal and what are you trying to achieve out of practicing and having such beliefs.

Thanks

Well i m not sure... but most of the time when someone shows an ability, filmed or not... at the end it ends up as a trick or scam or something like that to make money or be famous...

When reaching the state that you already are - when Presence has emerged - you will not be movinging in one direction and society moving in another. Drop the intellectual grasp of this - it is a grasp - it will not work. It is not "like being alone in such beliefs and practices and perspective of life". Beliefs drop away and the fears with them - the fears the fearless are simply obscured from.

 

Society is not moving in a direction - it is engulfed in the static electricity of futures and pasts - stories, scenarios, planning and lamenting.

 

We are not climbing to the mountain top - at the top of many mountains there is not much to sustain one. This is the intellectual approach you are using in your question.

 

It was said earlier that you should "put others before yourself" - this is incorrect thinking on many levels (though I do not mean to imply that Steve's post was among those levels)and has been a downfall in so many ways.

 

It is not possible to put others before yourself:

 

The you that is yourself IS "all others" it is all and everything. Put - Being Presence - before all illusion - when you reach this you have become what you are which is oneness with all that is - a oneness not in the sense of a group hug - a onesness that can have no direction because it is everywhere and no "where" at once.

 

When you have fallen out of the illusion and Presence has emerged - it becomes clear that society is not moving away from anything - it is mesmerized in the wheel - attached to frequency - entranced in karmic heat.

 

Where does the Ocean go when it has found itself?

Thanks loved ur answer, and maybe i m still far from that.

chop wood and carry water...

what if the woods are chopped and water is carried

There's no "next".

it is not a philosophical.. it is more like after reaching a state of consciousness... the way u see life and live it, it becomes different, u will be against of what the society is and then u will be moving in a direction and the society is moving in another in its values, thoughts, beliefs and such. 

so my question is more what to do with such state... it is like me being alone in such beliefs and practices and perspective of life. 

strong jing,chi,shen, DEEP meditation and REAL concentration practice PLUS practice because many fools on the internet with lots of chi throw their chi to do it. Thats a lot of orgasms wasted easily. That is not the way. 

what do you mean by throwing their chi on the internet? orgasms?

In order of discovery.............

 

The Old Testament (Bad impression, The Tree of Knowledge, Exiting Eden, Cane & Abel, Floods, War, Pestilence, Mad Moses and God who somehow seemed to be involved in all of it. Also no dinosaurs.) 

 

The New Testament (Good Impression, Jesus was a bit of a hippy, Who doesn't love being loved?) 

 

The Teachings of Don Juan - Carlos Castaneda (Bad Impression, also read and owned the entire canon...Carlos was an Charlatan, had me fooled for years.) 

 

Peaceful Warrior - Dan Millman (Good Impression, and I just discovered (like NOW) it was made into a film and its got Nick Nolte in it so I am DL'ing it now...and preparing to be disappointed.) 

 

The Importance of Living - Lin Yutang (Good impression, there is no underestimating the importance of this book in my life. I bought it for 1 pound in a second hand store. It was like a 100 years old. It connected me to my Grandfather, who was a diplomat in the Far East, and without knowing it, set me upon my path in life to discover Taoism, by opening up my mind to Chinese thought. Reintroduced me and taught me to respect the art of Shakespeare. I have never met anybody else who has read any of his works so please do take the time to discover this author by visiting the Amazon, website that is.) 

 

The Tao The Ching - Lao Tzu (Good Impression, was given to me on my 18th birthday by a Rastafarian, and became the backbone to my existence. The most important book ever written. And the oldest. By a few thousand years, making it older than God. Sorry Abraham.)  

 

Hua-Ching Ni - (Good impression, over 45 books from the venerable master, I spent a small fortune for a boy on collecting his works) 

 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig (Good Impression, opened my mind towards the idea of Arté, quality, and the importance of learning the classics for a Western mind.) 

 

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (Bad Impression, terrified me, what a visionary.) 

 

Animal Farm - George Orwell (Bad impression, communism, the few V the many, cruelty, dictatorship, inhumanity.) 

 

Paulo Coelho - in its entirety (Good Impression, Paulho helped me eradicate a lot of the bullshit put into my mind by Castenada.) 

 

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (Good Impression, lets not take life to seriously, it really doesn't need us you know. Also helped me discover audio books..and was read by the author. Delightful English humour which helped me to the realisation that I am also quite funny, even though I don't know one joke.) 

 

Tao of Letting Go - Bruce Kumar Frantzis (Good Impression, and on audio book. My go to cure for insomnia.)

 

and finally ..

 

The Story Of My Life - rossantony (Good impression, a lot of very ropey chapters which probably won't make the final edit. Hopefully I am still on page 1. Work in progress. In fact I still have just "The Title" and a lot of blank pages being supported by forever embellishing memory and a FB timeline. Hoping to finish the book after I have began writing it. Planning to do that when I am 70. 

I have been told about peaceful warrior book.. but i m going to download the movie for now, since the book is quite expensive... i checked the trailer seems nice i guess.. did u watch it?

I have read the Tao Te Ching but didn't find a good explanation.. a deep one yet.

I m going to check Hua-Ching Ni and The Importance of Living - Lin Yutang. 

Thanks

Try unlocking the true powers of your mind. Like maybe telekinesis.

how?

One perspective -

 

Generating the genuine intention to help others is next.

This is the way to continue to let go of the attachment to the self, put the welfare of others before your own.

 

One excellent measure of progress is the degree to which you manifest enlightened qualities in your life and enrich the lives others. Markers are things like openness, being non-judgemental and supportive of others, feeling spontaneous warmth and creativity. Knowing when there is no need to do anything but be present (or absent) and doing what needs to be done when necessary and doing it without effort.

 

It's easy to tell ourselves how advanced and accomplished we are. Easy to think we've reached the depths of ourselves or the peak of our potential. If we're not manifesting these enlightened qualities in our everyday lives, we're not as far along as we may believe...

 

And I agree with Old Chi - live life fully. It seems contradictory, giving up your sense of self and engaging fully with life but with the right perspective it makes complete sense and it works.

I have tried to help others when they needed it and tried my best to give some of my advices or experiences.. but it wasn't that much beneficial, people only wanted to nag about their problems and issues all the time and never cared to listen. and if they do listen, they start arguing and try to put u down with ur own beliefs and practices and judge u as living in an illusion and that u need help .

So in the subject of helping people.. i made my decision that i would let people suffer their own problems and issues.. it is their path and that is the only way for them to learn. i ll just give my advice and leave them to suffer until they come for help.

can you give example of enlightened qualities? ... my practices of life are passive and acceptance and allowing things to be and less of demanding and wanting in order to attract stuff that i wish for or think that are enlightened... ido notice synchronicity with my life and other people's life...but i don't have that motivation or desire to something that will allow for me to test the time and quality of my attraction to something i want... if u know what i mean....

Keep up your daily practice.....and go out and live life. 

Meditation and observing myself and thoughts and live in mindfulness.. has been my practices in life... i do practice at home but also in my daily activities.. i do practice in life and activities, and did struggle a bit just practicing at home with sitting and such. spirituality (meditation) is a big part of my life not just a practice but values i live by. but maybe i need some kind of a goal, to have a motivation to use that state of mind ?

after meditating, healing, doing qigong and etc of other practices... what is next? 

after reaching that state of presence, stillness, mindfulness, awareness, observing the body, thoughts,.. what is next after all that?

how to measure the progress? and what are the levels or stages how to know where are you at? 

what is the goal you are working toward?

Your words remind me of something Chogyam Trungpa said: "The enlightened mentality is the inspiration for the samsaric mentality; the conflict between the enlightened mentality and the samsaric mentality is the inspiration for the bohdisattva mentality; and the samsaric mentality is the inspiration for the enlightened mentality."

 

It seems that you're a true bohdisattva. The conflict between truth and illusion is your inspiration.

 

Ultimately, you have to see truth as truth, and illusion as illusion. You will still be aware of the illusion, but you won't believe that it's real.

 

Btw I'm not implying that I've accomplished this yet, just saying what I feel the solution to your problem is.

oh i see... yeah i feel that there is a split between the identity that has the beliefs and illusions set by the society and my awakening state of realising that these are illusions and noticing mind patterns in me and others....

I m trying to find a way to move into that awareness perspective all the time and be there maybe by merging the other or by finding a way so i won't get triggered into the state of illusions and not beneficial beliefs to my journey. I can feel that conflict inside of me between these 2 views... each one of them accuse the other for being not realistic and illusory.. hehehe.

but i deeply know the truth. 

it is been a time since i awakened out of conditioned mind and noticed the reality and what the mind making me see and what the reality actually is.

but  whenever i increase my awareness, focus and mindfulness... a trigger reappears and drag me down to the conditioned mind and the misery airse back but in a deep sad way.

recently, i m noticing the moment before falling into the mind and become a follower and loosing my awareness of the now and the present moment and dwell in mind and stories...

i feel myself standing on the edge between 2 perspectives... perceptive of everything great and wow vibrant and such and another "social" perspective of sadness of seeing what really is and how the world is in a sad way.

lets call one the social perspective and the higher perspective.... the social perspective attract me into it.. by saying lets be real.. society is like that and they see you this way.. and u are this and that ... and what u believe in is bullshit ... etc .etc.

This social perspective was raised by society and people, values and such.. and they lead to beliefs in me about myself and about life that serve no purpose and actually hinder and make me struggle in my life.

 the higher perspective gets me into it ... when i  focus and allow the "social" perspective to be.. it is great and vibrant the life become, but  it never lasts ... i m always switching in and out of them.

There is like an inner conflict between me awakening and trying to manage my life and myself in beliefs that serves my improvement and the other thoughts and beliefs that are conditioned by society and people, culture...

the question is how to Merge them ? or how to break free of those social/cultural beliefs implemented in my subconscious ?

Thank you! 

Yes as a western person I am painfully short of accurate words. I admire the forum participants who are so good at naming what they mean.

 

I find it hard to draw the line between stages of consciousness. I like to not think and be blank. Mostly I like to laugh and be frivolous. But when I am lying down I have to be really tired and sleep nice and fast as I have a habit of going into hynagogia as I don't like thinking before sleeping. It must be something about the position. Even this morning I was restless in bed and the vibrations came by themselves. For me the mark of a full-on trance that leads to seeing things is the vibrating, my whole body going on like an airplane engine! Normally when I think of nothing.

 

I don't know how it started. I do remember having vibrations and soul wanderings when I was about two years old with my cousin who was three years old. He was very wise and taught me many things. We used to share dreams. Or was it "astral projection" I don't know. But we used to hold hands to sleep, we both lived at my grandmother's place. We had another language and it was as if we could share our minds. Then one day he wanted to show me something and it was a vision of his upcoming death. We held hands and he showed me the whole thing. Then he died. I spent my life missing him. I thought I fantasised it all and asked my one cousin about him (his sister). She was much older than him. She re-confirmed everything and told me he used to give signs of his death even to his parents. In the stars and in nature. I do believe it is thanks to him that I became an explorer of consciousness. But it made me very sad and to this day I feel like a loner. Thanks to him I didn't suppress what I experienced as a child and it just grew and grew.

 

I hated it as a teen as I had no filter whatsoever. I won't give the details on a public forum but it was stuff horror movies are made of. I went into meditation in my late teens and it died down a lot but it never did stop.

 

Books that helped me? Wow it depends with what. I mostly liked stories of other people who had to deal with these things. Always puzzled that they seem to have their lives in order while I still don't know why I am like this and don't know what I should do with it. My booklist is extremely long maybe we could discuss it elsewhere...

are these vibrations u feel.. come like shudders running inside your body and moving around ? like dancing energy inside ?

Hi there

 

Well for the most part of my life you could not say it was an escape as it happened spontaneously. I would sense something strange and automatically switch my state of consciousness. Mostly when sensing a presence in a house and trust me it was always accurate, up to a point where people were calling me to deal with presences they could no longer tolerate. For me, ordinary consciousness was an escape at that stage because my life became a living nightmare, literally. Whenever strong trauma had happened somewhere I would know all the details. I assure you I wished I could escape forever into "normal" life. It eventually toned down (those were my early years)

 

Knowing what is out there and that it is virtually everywhere makes ordinary life comforting.

 

When you speak about making something look real, think about what you view as reality. You know you had a dream and you say it is not real. Is that not a contradiction? You know for a fact that you experienced it. So where does it come from? Is there such a thing as the imagination when you are not conscious? Which thoughts are real and not real? If you did not invent it into being, is it not existing information? Even lucid dreaming has its limits. Some things are yours and others will not change no matter what you do in the dream.

 

I am one of those people who believe everything is real so I am very careful of what I create and that is the value of halting thought when one can. That is also why not thinking can make me see or hear things. I create space for information that I did not invent so that what is truly there can be seen/heard. The more I silence myself, the more I hear my surroundings. I don't know where you draw the limits of trance, but for me being very still and mindful is the start of a trance. Like the state you are in when you relax on a rock in the forest and hear the birds sing. Nothing psychedelic but already enough to drift and forget your life.

I guess you are using the wrong word... trance... that is why there is a misunderstanding... i guess what u mean is a mindful and still state of mind that you reach through thoughts and mind observation and lead to clarity in ur senses giving you such abilities.

If you can tell me more about your path... how you started observing the mind, techniques and books that helped you? and when and how the clarity of seeing and hearing started?

Hi there

 

 

 

It would surely be great to be able to switch off and not have any invasive manifestation. Indeed I have a habit of cultivating such gaps. But when my body is totally relaxed and I experience such a gap too efficiently (meaning I become aware of the gap and get attached to it), I automatically feel the vibrations and veer off into trance.

 

 

Now, does this trance get me off track from here and now? To answer this one needs to define "here" and "now" and I find that hard to do in an absolute way. One also needs to define who or what the self is. Don't get me wrong, I understand you are referring to our "physical" reality which seems to be a specific location and point in time. But my reality has been very curved.

 

 

Let me explain. I am convinced from what I have seen that we have a huge number of possible realities of which we could choose to be mindful. While I am sitting here writing this, the one who was dreaming a couple of hours back is continuing her dealings in the dream dimension. Yet it is me. The one who is sorting family feuds with the ancestors is sitting with them taking instructions. The one on a distant star is evaluating her progress. And so on and so forth. Now which one is the real me? Which one should stay focused on her "now"? Clearly none of them has this world as a home but they are all me. A part of me I will call my mind for lack of a better word, can travel between these selves and believes it is the here and now each time.

 

 

That is why I like the word astral because it is flimsy and can mean anything you want it to mean though at the root is is about stars. To me there is no such thing as out of body experience because though the vibrations have seemed to propel me far and wide, they have also been followed by in-the-body interdimensional manifestations. (Like seeing which spirits are in my house at a given time). There have also been many times where I was aware of being in many places at once or in two places at once. Same with time. I have travelled backwards many times and many have travelled forward (ref Hank Wesselman)

 

 

Coming to another part of your question. How to know if it is real. My first instinct is to ask "does it matter?" Or "why should it matter?" But more seriously, in this world we are a group, most closely my mom and my cousin, who share identical accounts related to the departed at about the same times and then there are others outside of the family that I hear from from time to time who fill in parts of information I don't have and re-confirm mine. When our ancestors want to communicate things to us they use tricks to let us remember the experience and to verify their presence. I have some that decide to only manifest the head so I just see floating heads so I see they are earnest. Others wear items of clothing that I can verify with others who see them. My uncle with his black and white pullover comes to mind, he appeared in it to my mom and my other cousin too.

 

 

So if it is not real at least it is the group reality of a few of us.

 

 

About the time thing. I know a zulu shaman lady that I have seen in places (about 10 years back) that time would certainly not allow for. We kept seeing each other in strange places that did not correspond to the time it takes to travel. It startled us greatly. She wanted to take me as an apprentice but I didn't want to commit to animal sacrifice. So she said we would one day transcend time again. Sure enough last year while in a trance induced by drumming I saw her beating my chest in a metaphor of my heartbeat. I recognised her immediately and realised I had long forgotten her name. I travelled back in a flash to our meeting point, came back and exclaimed her name. She broke into a beautiful surprised grin and the love we felt at that moment is something I cannot even describe. So yes, that whole experience was one big "now" to me.

 

 

You may think I am delusional but really it does not matter. What matters to me is being aware of as many facets of what we call consciousness as possible because it makes me understand life and love in a way I appreciate deeply. I even once had a trance in which I was a fish and the water felt like a thick jelly I was swimming through. Before that I was a rose. I am glad I was mindful of that at the time because it is a lovely memory, one of the best I have had.

hey

why to go in trance? isn't that some kind of escapism from the now? to go into another state of mind? 

The mind can induce a lot of things that could sound totally real... a simple example can be a dream and lucid dreams. 

And trance happens in consciousness while being awake and could feel totally real while it is just mind on another state of thoughts and experience.

Thank you for sharing your experiences !! <3

Shad282,

 

There's a very sad true story I read about once that has to do with the kind of thing you're talking about.

 

There was a Christian woman who was going to marry a man, but she called it off because he wasn't Christian.

 

She ended up spending the rest of her life lonely and angry, even at God, because she never found another man.

 

She thought she was doing the right thing, what God wanted her to do. But the choice led to great sadness and misery.

i m not looking for someone who is religious or such.. just a spiritual understanding, who are able to accept and understand me and have a deep connection which is kind of spiritual to me.

Plus, she probably didn't find a partner and spent her life lonely, because she kept thinking of that man, and feeling bad and never was able to get over it and so she was not able to see and connect with new men. and not because she refused a person, which is wrong anyways.

Thanks.

My experience in myself and others is that healing can happen, but the problem emerged from how we live our lives, mentally and physically. After the healing, if you do not make major changes  in the antecedents, you will likely recreate the problem.

 

A personal example. Many years ago, I had developed an unhealthy obsession, an emotional story that I was very attached to, suffering greatly from, but also enjoying in a weird way. In the midst of this, I ended up at a workshop with Dirk Oellibrandt, a truly amazing energy healer. The workshop was off in the boonies and oddly, only 7 people showed up for it (he'd usually get 60 or so). I almost never volunteer for demos, but with the few people there, Dirk just told me to get on the table a number of times. The last time I was on the table, he told us that he was going to take something from (off) me, but that if I really wanted to get it back, I could get it back. I had not talked about this issue, or any issue, and had no idea what he was talking about. On the table, my body jumped around a lot, but I didn't actually feel much, and was kind of puzzled. 

 

Driving away from the workshop, I realized the push behind those obsessive thoughts was just gone. It had been months, and this felt so clear and light, just no push behind those thoughts at all. After a couple hours, though, I saw those thoughts, that story, starting to creep back in. They were weak, they didn't have much gas... but there they were. They were weak, and I suddenly understood what Dirk meant. Now I had a choice, feed it again, or let it go. With tremendous gratitude to Dirk, I was able to let it go. It was a semi permanent healing. I had to mobilize focus and healthy intent to make it permanent.

 

I see this in bodywork all the time. I can change someone's posture in a session, put the body more in line, even explain to folks how they got into the distortion, and how that distortion contributes to their pain. But if they don't change how they're using their body, which is, of course, largely if not totally unconscious, they will come back in next time with the same distortions... and the same pain.

 

Some healers, Rosalyn Bruyere for example, report amazing healings, healings that happen in workshops and are verified by the group. These may be permanent, we don't have any followup on what happens to the person next. Do they stay healed, does it recur, or do they develop some other problem? Rosalyn says the healer can lend the healee the healthy energetic matrix the healer has developed, a new template to initiate the remodeling of the energy system. Maybe this is what is needed for a healing to truly "take". I think this level of healing is fairly rare. But I do think it exists.

so i guess, u are saying that the healing is not permanent, it is always there, in the subconscious... but with healing u become aware of it and so it ceases to affect you... and it only affects u if you become unconscious and dwell into ur subconscious.

I guess it is similar to psychology, where they consider and alcoholic or other issues are always there and never get healed permanently because they consider that the patient is likely to go back to this behavior or issue if the environment was encouraging from stimulus, not being aware and subconscious take over or element of shock... etc.

Most healing methodologies don't go deep enough which is why you will find problems often resurface. Significant issues may exist on the level of thought and emotion, but the juice or hook may go deeper than that into the karmic history and genetic history and the glue which holds it all in place is the sense of identity contained within the entire network. So many methods temporarily release the pressure from within an issue but often it just starts building up again, which can just maintain the cycle of resistance.

 

The deeper healing methods I know of work with both energy and consciousness, by bringing a "higher" or free level of consciousness to the deepest part of an issue it liberates the sense of identity contained within it, which sounds like an active doing but ultimately involves holding a place in complete acceptance or stillness. Clearing out on all the different levels it exists then removes the charge so even though the momentum of an issue still exists on the level of habit it is no longer is empowered or contain any energy so it eventually dissolves away. 

 

When anything separate is held in stillness it collapses into emptiness as it has nothing else in awareness to reflect its existence to maintain its identity, so it is always the emptiness which is the healer or liberator no matter what healing method is employed. You could say love is the healer but all love really is is allowing something to exist as it is without resistance, without insisting it changes, and the irony is that when something is allowed to be as it is it then changes. Resistance is always at the root of preventing anything from naturally transforming and the root of resistance is always a sense of identity, so usually why issues return is because ultimately we don't want to give it up. We haven't associated our negative experiences and suffering with the identity and don't see clearly its relationship, so we resent the suffering and try to get rid of it and heal it but don't want to give up its cause. 

so I guess, It is more about maintaining consciousness and awareness as much as we can so we can be aware of the subconscious behavior, issue and problems. because when we dwell in subconscious and we are not aware they will take us in?

Also regarding the resistance it is true.. but the idea of not resisting comes from the space of wanting it to change that is why we are not resisting. same as allowing things to be.. because deep down there is a reason why u are allowing. for example, now reading it.. then i ll use allowing and non resistance path so allow the suffering because it will heal it (other way of saying it.. it is to get rid of it)... so i guess something is missing.. something must be done or so?

You should read Candace Pert's book about her life as a scientist (Molecules of Emotion). She basically illustrates scientifically that the body is the mind in physical manifestation. Once you absorb this you realise that if you don't change your mental outlook on your issue, you don't heal completely because the root of it is still defective.

Concentrate on a physical healing by a physical based therapist, or use exercise or iron shirt. Heal your body then you dont need to be as careful with your mind. This method suits me more.

Do you mean that watching the sensation, such is in vipassana and watching the itching pain, heat...etc with equanimity and allowing.. will heal the issues and mind stuff ? it is like the mind is using the body as a tool to register traumas and such ... like a phantom body of the physical body?

Thank you all for your answers !

months ago i attended a 10 days vipassana retreat by goenka... it is pure sensational experience physical.. no visualization or anything just body focus and concentration... try to follow the instruction carefully and don't add anything up to the technique and such... try to enjoy it.. i enjoyed it.

It is not good to know what to expect because the idea of the retreat is people to stay silent and not share experience.. because some may induce an expected told feeling about what they should feel ..etc.

Go there with no expectations or anything.. and follow instruction clearly.. the food may be tough and u might feel hungry.. just make sure not to OVER eat.. thinking you might reduce ur hunger but it will make it worse. 

and keep on meditating and never stop. 

Good luck!

Just note that there is not one Vipassana. Vipassana/Vipashyana is one of the two* main modes of meditation in the Buddhist traditions. Each tradition has its own aim with it (and accompanying theory), and in the tradition there are multiple traditions with their own twist on technique.

 

Thus, Goenka style vipassana is not The Buddhist vipassana; it is one of many flavours found within Buddhism.

 

*technically one can argue there are a couple more modes in esoteric Buddhism.

 

 

Mandrake

What are the other techniques of vipassana ?

hey,

I have been noticing a lot of people i know who have done healings through different meditations or practices always had the issues come back when they are down or something.

It is like the pain from the past is still there but when u do healing you become more optimistic and present and in the moment and so u are less likely to feel or worry about that issue.

After time, this pain gets triggered and u are back into the same situation of feeling the same pain of the same issue coming back.

I had this problem.. even tho i know the issue, what happened and reasons and everything. when i m not in total focus and present and mindful.. this issue can be triggered back. for example:  if it is a pain related to confidence.. if i focus on it and heal it (myself or an important healer), it makes me feel more confident. but later on few months later it get triggered back.

healing and inner work seems like a pill to not feel the emotional pain and be happy but when this is gone all the pain is back. it is something noticeable among different people that participate in different practices meditations or qigongs and even with known important healers in their domains.

My question would be, how the problem/pain/issue or could be a craving, can be radically removed.. i know the memory of the past is still there, but the trigger of emotional string to stop and see it as it is ?

Thank you!

Hey yeah i got your message thanks, just didn't see you reply on this topic for a while before so i messaged you. Thanks. I haven't been on here for a while too so sorry for the slow reply.

 

I get a bit of an uncomfortable sensation at my throat sometimes too. Especially if i increase my qigong practice quantity quickly.  My throat is like the controlling point for me, changing or controlling sensations, or chi energy sensations. If i keep my mind clear, it appears i start using my throat to somehow control it. Tension in my throat, in different parts / directions / ways gives me control while keeping a quiet mind, but that tension leads to uncomfortableness.

 

For me to get rid of it, I just do the anapana watching breath so there is no desire for anything to change, no controlling, no tension in the neck and it goes away. The other thing to speed it up is inner smile to neck and throat, plus stretching my neck. These help too, but unless i stop trying to control for a while it becomes a vicious cycle.

 

I remember when i first did lots of healing tao on my own tent retreat. I was actually working with negative energy for the first few days, but i didn't know it. Later i just changed it to good energy. There are 2 energetic ways i use to change things / sensations i dont' like. (physical ways become the best for me but energetic is easier until i work out a physical method for a particular change).

 

So I can 1. change something step by step using a method i have done before, or borrowing from methods i've used before (engineering) or 2. focus on the results i desire, ignoring the fact that those results aren't currently in effect, but not trying to change it. Later it changes to the desired end result for longer and longer periods of time.

 

So you can do that with your neck too. Hold the feeling of a comfortable neck in your mind and it will become more like that. Or release the tension like you've learnt to do using other meditation skills.

 

The doing of meditation is very powerful, but the not doing is just as powerful (anapana part). It's like the glide in breaststroke or survival back stroke, getting something for free, while at the same time giving you rest for another stroke. I'm a good do-er, not so good not-doer. Doing Anapana helps not-doing by being something you can 'do' to 'not do':)

 

It probably is chi stagnation. Maybe describe the sensation a bit more if you can?

Food? Well i don't think there is a food for neck tension but there would be foods that can bring you more into balance. Thats why i like healing tao, because it connects strongly with traditional chinese medicine. Then i can use herbs or foods to do the work of qigong, or vice versa. There is a heap of general TCM concepts and knowledge which can help explain what's happening during meditations etc too. I made a piece of web software that you can try if you want. http://tcm.asthmainchildren.com.au/TCMDiagnosis.php

It's nothing to do with asthma, i just needed somewhere to host it. If you do the survey it will help you with foods to eat or exercises or meditations needed to bring you back into balance. It is a work in progress and doesn't have every exercises or meditation for every type of person yet but if you get your results from the program i can help you with specific qigong you can use to balance yourself so everything gets better.

1) Well i just knew a few days ago about the 2 paths .. of doing and non-doing and actually was looking for more info about it.

In my journey in life i always was led to observe, watch, allow it to be, let go, and accept it as it is and forgiveness.. i guess those practices are kind of non doing. and now i was wondering what are the doing ? does it require visualization and imagination? i mean it is a bit for me hard to "accept" these tools as it is kinda the opposite of mindfulness no thoughts state and feeling. Do you have any idea of a practice compatible with mindfulness and related to to the doing ? 

2) also i was wondering about (in your earlier post), the patterns you saw when you were practicing it all day long. you said you observed out of your body.. how is that? were you having your eyes open? 

3) I do feel sometimes pains during vipassana.. like on chest and around the heart area.. they feel like physical and nerve thing and i observe allow them to be and they go. 

But the thing about my throat it is around the adams apple, all around and behind it and sometimes goes up... i noticed that when i try to focus at it in vipassana it increases or stay the same or may calm a bit ... and when asked someone to heal it (over distance) it kinda worsened, i did blood test and such, the doctor said it is just tension and stress of the nerves in the neck.

This pain usually come and go often.. and when an emotional something arises on tv or something it starts being painful.

4) I did the test you told me about and i got the following results as in the following picture:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwjYDGIA089TLVJKdldWcFFlelk/view?usp=sharing

The highest seems the earth element. when i had to choose the element i most identify with.. according to the personality, what they wrote about each element, i was closer to the water.. and it is more between earth and water.

but after checking the the water: foods and common complaints.. they are soo not related.... so i checked other elements. i found that i m more between earth and wood... and most of the complaints of wood elements are related to mine (physically) and the food of the wood element is close to earth element which to what i already eat and love. so I guess i m Earth with dominant wood. 

and i m not sure how accurate the personality characteristics of each elements.. but i matched the most with wood, food and common health complaints and food i already eat (food is similar to earth)

Thank you for your reply, help and suggested link Very helpful!

I read your original post earnestly and wanted to give you my personal feedback, sorry I kind of hijacked your post to respond to people who responded to you without really trying to go back.

 

On my side I have always been "weird" so I got used to not telling people. But I found that the "ordinary" persons I spoke to all had some kind of interest in the unseen. Mostly as long as I didn't put labels on it and kept to mainstream descriptions. Like dream instead of OOBE or laying of hands instead of reiki and so on.

 

Now when it comes to romantic partners, it depends what culture you circulate in. I was attracted physically to "white" men but had the same concerns as you. I befriended men of more "exotic" origins and found no problem at all communicating who and what I was, to them. I learnt this way to get attracted to guys I would not have considered before. Now my husband is Moroccan and he knows all about me and though Islam is not favorable of "shirk", culturally Moroccans are used to talk about different dimensions of reality and "djinn" and some even consider that extra-terrestrial life exists. His grandfather was a traditional healer and he is hurt that all his stuff got destroyed even though for the sake of his religion, Islam.

 

So he has tolerance and sympathy and even has his own premonitions and visits from ancestors in dreams. So he is never surprised at me.

 

Have you tried seeing guys from other cultures?

It is rare in my country to find someone from different culture... unless i travel.. so i guess no hehe.

I m not limiting myself but having my options open.