dwai

Develop a deep devotion for her and then in a meditative state feel her filling up your spiritual heart. You should feel a deep expansion. If you can stay concentrated on only her for the duration of your meditation, that’s great, otherwise keep bringing your mind back to her. Mother Kali is the destroyer of ego. If you surrender your ego to her, she will help you transcend your limitations (body-mind).

May the world always wake up to a Golden sunrise, no matter how dark the night might be. sarve bhavantu sukhinaha sarve santu niramaya sarve bhadrani pashyantu ma kaschit dukkha bhag bhavet Om shanti shanti shantihi May all be at peace may all be free from disease may all enjoy good health and may all be free from suffering. Om peace peace peace 🙏🏾

@Spotless is this the flu you wrote to me about? My wife and I got something nasty from our trip to LA in December. Laid me out twice in 4 weeks (Worst flu I’ve had in ages) and had a bad lung infection too. But not sure if it was CoVid-19 or something else. When I visited my doctor we didn’t yet know about covid-19 being around since November ‘19.

The best exercise I can suggest is to sit with spine straight and then bring your two palms facing each other (parallel). The palms should not be straight nor closed, but in between (see the video below for reference, don't over do the details too much...just get the general shape of the palms to be like that). Now hold the two palms with your elbows bent, such that you're holding a ball in front of your chest. Start with a small ball (maybe the size of a watermelon). Relax all your joints, and suspend your crown point (like it's dangling from the sky). Make sure all your alignments are in place -- since you say you're a qigong practitioner, you should know this well. Close the front and back channel circuit by touching your tongue to your upper palate (where your tongue touches when you say "love"). Line up the centers of your two palms like they are connected to each other (holding a water melon sized balloon). Now, inhale slowly into your lower abdomen and let your mind reside on the space between your palms. After inhaling, hold for a few seconds, and then slowly exhale, and as you exhale, coordinate your palms moving toward each other (like the balloon is shrinking and becoming more dense). Go from a watermelon size to a cantaloupe. At the end of your outbreath, hold your breath for a few seconds, while letting your mind rest in the space where the balloon is. Inhale again and expand back to the original size. Repeat this a few times. If you're doing this right, you will feel your palms are like two magnets, and you'll feel a repelling force as you're condensing the ball and an attracting force as you're expanding it back. Play with this for as long as you can, in a relaxed manner. I'd recommend sitting on a flat chair with a straight back for this exercise. Very soon you should start feeling a real tangible ball in between your palms. As your sensitivity to that increases, your qi sensitivity will also increase.

If you know what you know is right, where is the room for self-doubt? Direct experience trumps all other forms of knowing. Those who haven't experienced directly, can rely on other forms of knowing (or even delusional forms of knowing, such as imagining something). That is a different story. Abuse victims usually have no power and are unable to walk away/out of a bad situation. Why give some strangers so much power over oneself on the internet? Is there room for self-reflection for us in such a scenario? I'm not particularly pointing towards anyone. It's more a commentary on a trait I notice among most people, myself included. Even if we don't react, there might be a disturbance that is created when someone disagrees with us. We are in agreement

When there is an overwhelming need to be correct, there is an insecurity of being not correct. Most of us have to go through that gate and then we grow up

I'd venture to add that not just qigong, but any meditation techniques where the mind and body are harmonized and focused will aid in raising the IQ level. But furthermore, it will also raise the empathic aspects (not cold intelligence, but loving-kindness as well). I personally have experienced this. Back in 2002 when the economy was bad, I lost my job for a while, and so instead of stressing out, I took the time to focus on meditation, yoga, pranayama and taijiquan practice. I practiced and meditated 6-8 hrs a day, for several months. During this time, I not only was able to study and grasp technology subjects at a much faster pace than I could before, but also retained the knowledge far more efficiently. Furthermore, when I took an IQ test, I scored 150 (which is pretty good by my standards). I know that things that I was unable to see, in terms of pattern recognition, pattern matching etc prior to this period of time, became 'easy-peasey' for me. To do control study, I made a few other close ones (all super smart, and even those I'd consider smarter than me) take the test and they scored a good 20 points lower than me.

Thanks for the wonderful review Steve! I much appreciate your support and encouragement, as well as the feedback you provided via email (which I've taken to heart now).

No worries — beings are just names and forms.

For me this is the list for meaningful practice — good practice partners (at least one) a schedule that allows time for regular practice a good teacher (and system) a good practice space A drive for regular practice Precisely in that order of importance. If you have that, your skill and cultivation will grow. As it grows, a deepening stillness will ensue and permeate your life. The mind will gain clarity and tranquility.

The book "Tibetan book of Dream Yoga" is an excellent book and people will do well to read it. While the context therein is about different types of dreams, same is also true for visions and interactions with other non-corporeal beings in the waking state. Some are merely projections of the mind. While others are really beings. Best is to be 'introduced' to the practice by a teacher, then the discerning ability increases in the individuals.

pew pew pew!! I think we sometimes forget that this forum is there for exchange of ideas and churning that helps us better understand/realize concepts. All part of the game imho. S/he can -- but would they want to? Also even if they do so, it won't be with a snap of a finger. We've all seen spiritual leaders gaining huge followings and their missions acquire lot of wealth. It usually takes the course of time... An enlightened being has risen about the pettiness of the limited self-identification(s). So s/he will not "WANT" something like a million dollars. Typically they are quite happy in whatever condition the circumstances have resulted in. A ruler will be happy to remain a ruler -- will be a great ruler in fact, because s/he will have true compassion for everyone. But s/he will not meddle with the karma of others unless there's a compelling reason to do so. THIS! Yes again - I emphatically agree with you.

Here's my list of practice recommendations. To develop discernment between the Self and not-self -- Lectures and meditation on identifying the unchanging background to the changing universe

No dogma wrt reincarnation — it is as real as night and day No, this ‘gating’ is based on the state of mental clarity of the seeker. The quest for Self-realization is so subtle that it cannot be undertaken without a pure/still/tranquil mind. All meditative practices are preparatory steps to take the individual into stillness (samādhi). Without stillness the knowledge of the Self cannot be known directly.