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Hello, Someone asked me for the meaning of something they experienced during meditation today and I don't understand It's meaning myself. They said they saw a backround of pitch black and suddenly 3 large gray streaks appeared in the center. Does anyone know what this could mean?

NOTE: To anybody reading this, there used to be a post here regarding side effects that I was experiencing that I thought was caused by meditation... I deleted the post because I now know that it had NOTHING to do with the meditation... I was going through a lot of stressful things in my life and I stupidly though that the meditation was the cause. There were a lot of people that have read this post and I apolgize if I have scared anyone into not doing mediation. Mediation is a GOOD thing and I hope that I did not discourage too many people into not doing mediation. Please ignore the title... Thank You. . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . . .

I have recently joined a local meditation 'group' or session(s). It's held/taught by a E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher). (Yes, yes, I know. Not all meditation(s) are the same. It's just that outside of specific religious based local meditation practices, there's little else available here. And I figure practicing within some sort of group of peers with some sort of instructor is better than functioning totally on one's own. Which is what I've been doing for over the past year+ ). Here's my issue. I normally practice meditation in the early mornings for about 25-30 minute every sitting. I normally use a seiza bench. (Sitting cross-legged, tailor-style, Burmese, half-lotus, full-lotus, or regular sitting on a chair, I usually and eventually slouch or my legs fall asleep or I fall asleep). None of these happen with the seiza bench. It simply works best for me. Now, I'm not a big fan of group meditation, and I believe there's a difference between group meditation and teaching a group to meditation (on their own). The instructor has said I can bring my seiza bench (I have a portable one) if I prefer. This group practices sitting on chairs. Everyone within this group (it's about 14 people) are easily 50+ of age, with meditation experience ranging from having never done it before and up. I really don't want to attract (or distract) attention from this group. (Not to mention using the seiza bench would probably not be good of some of these people's knees. I don't want my personal practice to necessarily set an example). I'm not opposed to simply sitting in a chair, although it's not optimal for me. What should I do?

Hello all, I posted a few months ago in regard to Zazen practice and slightly open eyes that somewhat cross. I thank all that participated as now I feel that I have benefited greatly from the experience I have recently been practicing a chi/soul finding exercise that I found on Youtube from the Wudang guys. I was happy to see that the Zazen practice prepared me well for this...now I am to use visualisation...something that I find difficult if my eyes are slightly open and I can see that I am still in my front room! But this isn't my problem...I know I will overcome this with practice. The real issue arose last week. I am prone to anxiety and almost bi-polar type behaviour but I have had this fairly under control in the last year or so. But recently, panic attacks have been regular, and I often find myself waking in the night. I have had some family issues in the past and they have resurfaced recently so I'm certain this has rocked the boat along with some added financial stress as of late. But last week I found myself in a very bad way. I spent a week with one of my old school friends. He stayed with me for a couple of days then I stayed at his for a few days in preparation for a big barbeque party. All started fine but as the days went by, I noticed that each chi meditation I did in the morning became more and more disrupted to the point where on Monday, the day I was set to travel home, I sat there freaking out for the whole 30 minutes! I was agitated, my lower back felt stiff, and there were negative voices everywhere. I felt too week to watch and control my breath and I just couldn't focus at all...I was just submitting to all the horrible words and scenarios that were in my head. Ok, so the week leading up to this did include a lot of weed, tobacco, energy drinks and alcohol. Sleep deprivation and some junk food (I tried my best to be good here! For the best part my diet was ok) ... so I guess I really do know the culprits (along with my family situation for me to nicely dwell on) BUT at the same time, what can I do? My old friend knows me too well...and I feel I would be alienating myself if I didn't keep up with the partying. A different (and wise) friend of mine told me that tobacco, alcohol and energy drinks would mess with my chi (not weed though, he likes the odd smoke) but I never really thought about it until this happened. All I know is that after last week, it has made me pissed at myself. I have been really moody since and I've upset my girlfriend only because I couldn't find a way to smile or be happy. I've literally been wallowing in some state depression for a week now and gradually I'm getting out but shit - I feel like I've destroyed myself just by hanging out with old school mates for a week and being "me". Sorry for the long post, I just need some advice on where I should go from here. I have a gut instinct, but I would like to see what y'all say first... Many thanks in advance for those that have read this and want to reply.

This was going to be a personal message to Drew, but I figured I'd get more feedback like this! Have you had any experience with internal cultivation methods that are classified as Yang to Yin rather than the conventional Yin to Yang process of transmutation? The standard nowadays seems to be a process of transformation beginning with the JING then transmuting to QI and then to SHEN, but what about methods that first start work with SHEN then build QI and then JING? The method we are most familiar with follows this pathway: JING to QI to SHEN, then you leap over TAIJI into WUJI. In this method we use the body to cultivate the energy (thrust) needed to propel the conscious SHEN out of the body and into the WUJI. However, long ago it seems there was a separation in the schools. One division came about the spiritual skills derived from meditation, well, through meditation, and when they reached the ultimate goal, they wrote down instruction manuals or transmitted their accumulated knowledge by word. But, there is another division, where Instead of passing on the information in word or written format, so that new disciples would have to start from JING to QI to SHEN on their own, the teachers rather used their established connection to the WUJI to directly connect their disciples' SHEN to the Wuji energy. In this second method, the disciples Bai Hui is opened immediately during the magical initiation carried out by the master and the energy begins to flow into the disciple from the WUJI, starting a SHEN > QI > JING process of transmutation, an inverse process to what we are normally used to! Disciples of such schools can directly connect to spirits and immortals existing in the WUJI for guidance and for energy. Further more. And this is quite interesting! It seems that practitioners of these schools, do not need to stop having sex. They can continue their sexual lives far into the practice of the school and manifestation of all manner of spiritual skill. The only other one I know that claims to do this is Mo Pai. When having a conversation with one practitioner of the system, a practitioner of over 20 years, he explained to me that JING is not semen. Ok, so I could agree with him on that, but it still didn't explain why us "normal" alchemy dudes had to meditate so much to cook the JING. And then it hit me! JING > QI > SHEN > QI > JING it is a closed loop system that works bidirectionally. All three of the treasures are actually the same one primordial energy but vibrating at different levels. So we make JING vibrate faster so that it begins to climb up the electromagnetic spectrum and produce QI, and then we vibrate QI higher up the EM spectrum to produce SHEN. (I know some people will say that's not possible! That you need to develop the ability of the body to process and digest and use energies of higher vibrations or you can cook your innards! But why? We have sunlight that we can't touch but can see and it interact with our body every day. We have radio waves of all sorts of frequencies travelling through our bodies from every which direction. Sure we haven't developed enough to seem them, but can you say they are not influencing our body's energetic function?) So you can manually increase the vibration of WOOD (JING) by rubbing two sticks together to create FIRE (QI) which emits heat and light (SHEN). There it is, JING QI SHEN. Conversely, you can use concentrated light to create fire to burn wood. SHEN, QI, JING! You can literally start the alchemical process from any of the treasures. You can start from JING or from QI or from SHEN. One will feed the other and they will nourish each other in the loop system. Which one we start to ACCUMULATE depends on whether we can find a resource for the respective energy. And what's the most common resource for us? - Of course JING! - So that's what we do, we accumulate that first, but with the reverse method, they get an infusion of SHEN by letting the master connect them directly to the WUJI through the Bai Hui so they can suck SHEN in. The process is completely reversed! Because of that, these guys don't have to stop having sex and rely on the JING to build the system but the SHEN instead, because that is where you start from! I suspect that this is how the Xiao Yao Pai system works, and once practitioners are initiated by the master, they immediately open their Bai Hui and connect to the Wuji to communicate with spirits and interact with SHEN level energetics. As you may know there will be an initiation event in London for Xiao Yao Pai next month. There will also be one in Virginia in the USA, you might be interested in checking it out if you live in the USA. I've heard some remarkable things from a number of different members practising the system. If you can make it to London by next month, check out the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/345257788909902/ Please share your thoughts.

Hello Taobums, I feel honoured to have joined such an interesting community of likeminded individuals. I''ve been reading different topics for some time now and I thought it was about time I joined and shared in the discussions with some of my Taoist experiences...

May you all be open and filled with the blessed emotional energy of peace in your minds, love in your hearts, Joy in your abdomen, and vital aliveness in your root. May you all feel and breath and know within, the wonder of Divine presence and blessing - like the sun - shines for everyone, everyday. May Peace, and Love and Joy and vibrent Aliveness be with you all.

Hello. I am really interested in taoist thought, practice, and ways of living. I consider myself a student and seeker of truth, which means while I understand philosophies and their place I realize the most important part of anything is how it affects me...in short I like practicality and to prove and experience things for myself. I've read and researched many "spiritual" philosophies and practices and would like to be able to eventually experience them all for what they can offer. I am most interested in chi right now, and to understand if what I have been feeling is the same thing as some of you...please reply if you think you can help me. Lately I have been noticing vibrating tingling like sensations mostly in my fingertips and through my hands, sometimes in other parts of my body. Incidentally as a result of focusing on these vibrations inwardly in a way they increase...now I have noticed to that wrinkles and lines have begun to form and appear on my hands that were not there before. I am worried that I am doing something harmful to myself, which sucks, because I wanted to understand chi and its healing benefits. Am I actually feeling chi? Or just nerves? Is there a difference? It's almost as if I think I am accelerating the aging of my body, and I thought meditation and feeling chi would lead me to reduce the aging of it...? Have I stumbled on the "dark side" of the force? I have never had a meditation teacher, and I have only read books on these subjects, which is why I am posting this here now. I wish there was someone in Ohio, which is where I live, who is actually able to personally help me. Please respond if any of the things I have said interest you, or if you think you may be able to help me understand some of these things. Thank you.

When I was last posting here, many of you were asking me when my book would be available to purchase. I have been busy with that project and it is now available at Amazon and on Kindle. I made an effort to present many of the pith instructions that I have received from mainly Dzogchen masters, Mahamudra masters and Zen masters, so that anyone could experience the "shift" into Enlightened Mind easily and in a relatively short time. The material is presented in generic language without the need to know anything about Buddhism nor the Tibetan teachings. To learn more about the book please visit my website: www.wayoflight.net Please share your feedback or comments! Jackson

Just for the record, my literary Chinese is non existent. I can read the dao de jing and understand 60% of the characters in simplified Chinese, so I can not make direct textual citations of that book at present time. That having been said, One of the major issues in understanding Daoism, its philosophy, spirituality, and practice, lies in the difficulty of contextualizing its original meaning in Chinese correctly. Chinese is not only very difficult for foreigners to understand, it is also really quite hard for Chinese to understand deeply. I recently had a conversation with my tea teacher (who I assure you is an absolute genius) that went something like this: teacher He: yes of course we can read the dao de jing together, but you need to know that one's interpretation of it is based on the stages of one's life. When I was in my early twenties reading this book, it was very different than reading it now. Looking back, many of the things which made sense then, I view in a very different way now. Me: oh yeah... I know all about that.... Did that mountain just stand up and walk away? Nope, its still there... ok. But then my Daoism teacher for many years has told me: you need to know that the entire dao de jing is written in code and that if you don't study with a qualified teacher, you can only understand it at a philosophical level and not at the level of practice. It can only benefit your thinking and not directly benefit your person or spirit. The majority of Chinese people who are willing to look at the daodejing seriously (that being quite few, as most view it as spiritually having its head in the clouds and daoists being severely weird) tend to have the same opinion as my tea teacher. Having said that, there are books such as daodejing chanwei (if anyone has a copy, please tell me how you got it!) which explain meditation through the verses of the daodejing. A good example is "real men breathe through their heals," which according to this book means that people who really practice meditation seriously will emphasize the practice of the yinqiao meridian in the legs. I used these several points to illustrate that Daoism, its interpretation, and how people practice is a continuum with many different opinions and ideas centred around a relatively humble piece of work. So when we do things like reading the daodejing, even if we are quite fluent in Chinese, or have people to translate it for us, may miss a considerable amount of the information contained within. Actually may is an understatement, we almost certainly will miss the point. I think that is where practice comes in- because through practice we can realize for ourselves what laozi is getting at in his book- however, we also have to make sure that the people who are presenting our practice to us are verifiable and have credentials which can be trusted. This means that we really must be good at picking our teachers. unfortunately, there are not too many good teachers of daoism in any part of the world right now, so if you really want it, you may have to look for a very long time, at a very serious depth. On the other hand, there are many people in other traditions whose practice leads to the same goal as daoism. So we may be able to approach the daodejing indirectly through vipassana, or kundalini etc... But if you really want to learn the contents of daoism, you should start by learning Chinese, meeting Chinese people who know daoism deeply and correctly, and working hard. there are already many people who have started on this path, so we can also sometimes be lucky enough to meet them and get their advice. now I'm going to amble off to bed. good night.

Hello. I am a hermit that spends most of his time meditating. I have big dreams that include, living in a cave, having no money, and hopefully not having any big dreams. I have recently become interested in Taoist sexual practice, and the microcosmic orbit meditation. Having heard of the dangers of the microcosmic orbit, I seek a skilled practitioner of this meditation that would be readily available for contact in case I go insane. If there are no microcosmic orbit masters here, then surely me going insane is with the Tao, and I will prepare for my journey to the mental hospital. Haha. Jokes. But anyways. The end.

Hello! Does anybody have a reliable reference for hand signs used in Taoist meditation? I have learnt some Buddhist ones but have heard that the Taoist ones are quite different in meaning/purpose....

Hi, This is a pretty good movie. Get the popcorn! http://www.innerworldsmovie.com TI

Dear Ones, let me cross link the post I made regarding my own experience in Sun Gazing. http://thetaobums.com/topic/337-sungazing-quickstart-guide/?p=437343 This topic is highly important for humanity these days, since it boosts consciousness and personal development by lightyears! Feel free to comment on the original post (or here) - since I do not want to double post this here, just make the information more wider available to anyone who is interested. Namaste.

Well, time to start my 1st thread. It feels so exciting! Recently, I've been dedicating myself to experiment various types of meditation. I started with this one from , which focused on being able to direct attention to the present moment. After starting to practice Aikido, I got in touch with Hara meditation by doing the Misogi rites of purification before the training. By doing that, I started to realize how meditation can be used to conduct energy with awareness. Once learning this, I started to search about it, and stumbled a lot on Qi Gong, Tai Chi, as well as other forms of meditation that worked to unblock energy fluxes throughout the body, broading the energy-conduction topic. So, for not being too widespread, I've been using the Misogi Hara meditation before the Aikido training, and in every day, I've been applying this Wim Hof Meditation -- a cross-pratice between Tummo and Pranayama -- mainly to improve my health condition (the resistance to cold temperature, as stated in the article, is a small plus IMO). However, I browsed through some articles here and saw people talking about practices of Qi Gong or Tai Chi to attain the same results. I'd like to ask: should I keep applying this meditation AND start Qi Gong or Tai Chi? What are your thoughts on these kind of meditations? Thanks a lot!

Here is a cool documentary by Arnaud Desjardin about the Sufi of Afghanistan. Although it is not in english, it is still cool to see- [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cox8fMHJQtU[/media ] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r2YE5xudhc[/media ] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Hf1Wx-YMM[/media ]

So I've been meditating for a while now but for the last half a year I stepped it up and started meditating at least 3 hrs a day. I just do a simple meditation where I would just focus on my dantian. Around 4 months ago I developed heat there whenever I focus on it. In the beginning it was just warmth and then later on it got really hot. It only gets really hot when my mind is completely focused for like at least 10 minutes on my dantian. That only happened a handful of times because for me its really hard to stay focus on one thought for a long time. Anyways last month it stopped getting really hot whenever i focus on it for a long time and I started feeling pain near my testicles.It hurts a little bit but its not super painful or anything but I feel like energy is flowing to my testicles instead of staying in my dantian. Just wondering if anyone know or experience anything like this and any advice on how to get the heat back to my dantian would be great thanks.

Heart advice from Master Thinley Norbu. Thus it is said. In order to sustain the wisdom mind of the Great Perfection, if one wonders how body, speech and mind are directed to engage in this practice, it is as follows. For beginners, in order to purify the flow of karmic energies so that they enter the space of the central energy channel, the body must be straight. If the body is straight, the channels are straight. If the channels are straight, the vital energies can flow. If the vital energies can flow, awareness becomes clear. Whenever awareness becomes clear, the pure essential nature of mind becomes apparent, free from clearing away or keeping. In order for that to occur, in the seven-point vajra posture, the legs are crossed, the hands are in the gesture of evenness, the stomach is pulled back toward the spine, the chin is slightly lowered, the shoulders are open like a condor's wings, the tongue is touching the palate, and the eyes are looking out over the tip of the nose like a tiger, directly into space. Various methods increase and enhance samadhi, including the vajra recitation with the movement of breath by inhaling with the syllable OM, letting the breath remain with the syllable AH, and exhaling with the syllable HUNG. This practice is helpful to rely on in order to increase stability in samadhi. According to the wisdom mind of the extraordinary Great Perfection, however, should one be a great practitioner of sustaining self-nature as the sole essence of awareness, then all phenomena are synthesized as wisdom appearances, sound, and awareness. Only knowing that the self-nature of one's own mind is the Three Kayas and never waver from dharmadhatu, there is nothing other than the natural abiding of body, speech and mind, so it is absolutely unnecessary to apply effort to fixating on acceptance and rejection. The precious Vajra Master Guru Rinpoche said to his consort, Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, in the Essence of Butter Pith Instructions: Devoted consort, listen to me. Even though there are many profound pith instructions for the body, just leave the body comfortably at ease. Everything is contained in that. Even though there are many pith instructions for controlling the vital energies, such as mantra recitations and others, be like a mute, free from speaking. Everything is contained in that. Even though there are many pith instructions for the mind such as holding, loosening, creating, gathering, drawing in, and others, in the ease of one's own uncontrived nature that settles naturally, everything is contained in that. From Omniscient Longchenpa, "With relaxed body and mind, in the mind's bed of tranquility, Like a person with a mind free from engagement who has nothing to do, Without being rigid or careless, Leave the body and mind comfortable. However one stays, stay in one's pure nature. However one abides, abide in one's pure nature. However one goes, go in one's pure nature. In the space of enlightenment, there is naturally no going or coming. Not going and not coming is the wisdom Body of all the Victorious Ones. Whatever one says, say in one's pure nature. Whatever one speaks, speak in one's pure nature. In enlightened mind, there is naturally no saying and speaking. Free from saying and speaking is the wisdom Speech of all the Victorious Ones of the three times. Whatever one thinks, think in one's pure nature. Whatever one considers, consider in one's pure nature. From the beginning, there is no thinker and no considerer. Free from thinking and considering is the wisdom Heart of all the Victorious Ones of the three times. From nonsubstantiality, everything that manifests is Nirmanakaya. Pure appearance of self-sustaining inconceivability is Sambhogakaya. The state of no original substance is stainless Dharmakaya. The Three Kaya's result is simultaneously accomplished in the inconceivable state." Thus as he says, this must be realized. As Saraha said, "Since sole mind is the seed of everything, whoever aspires to transcend samsara and enlightenment is granted the fruit of their wishes. I prostrate to mind, like a wish-fulfilling jewel." Just recognize again and again one's own unconditioned stainless wisdom mind. Buddhas are buddhas due to their faultless, one-pointed, unending recognition of this. By realizing and applying this, there is no Dharma to accept or throw away. All phenomena pervade in the sole oneness of dharmata. There is nothing to discriminate, like on an island full of gold. Once again, the great saint Saraha beseeched, "If there is recognition, everything is included there; no one has known anything other than that." As it is said in The Great Perfection Tantra Containing the Absolute Meaning: Since the mind experiences the three times, The lives of the past, present and future will occur. Since the mind changes and transfers, That is why the body is born and dies. Since illness, happiness, suffering, and so on Are one's mind, this ripens as samsara. May all beings experience the unending causes of equanimity, peace and joy.

This, being the forum that it is, is surely filled with those who question the very nature of reality. As we understand it, there is one accepted academic method for determining the reality around us, and multiple accepted spiritual methods for determining reality. I think, one of the most widely accepted, yet most fallible method for determining the nature of reality is the induction of the spiritual, or mystical, experience. The reason I find this to be difficult as a methodology for determining truth is that so many religions and sects (and the members of) use their own personal mystical experience as a determinant of truth. This, of course, is of the most fallacious nature. When Christians see Christ during and NDE, Buddhists see The Buddha, Atheists often have alien abduction experiences and/or a meeting with deceased loved ones while the Hindu believer will witness the eternal dance of Kali and Shiva. From my own personal experiences working with astral projection, I have found that the "astral" world is quite different, which raises many questions. The fact that my drapes are green in the astral world but white in the physical world is odd. The fact that my office wall at work is composed mainly of overlapping posters in the astral, but in the physical is just a wall - is compelling. There is more evidence than not that the astral world (especially during highly mystical states) consists mainly of one's personal core beliefs leads me to believe that the untrained person may easily mistake a mystical experience (or projection of one's core beliefs into the oh, so malleable astral ether) as a concrete testimony of the truth of their personal beliefs and faith. This is bothersome to say the least as I have many friends and family who are convinced beyond reason that their religion or belief is the only truth out there. Now, science has given us a form to follow for determining the most likely scenario. This is called "the scientific method". Granted, there may yet be a more logical system for determining the causes and relationships between phenomena that we, as a young and ambitious organism, have not yet adopted. However, as it is, we do have a fairly reliable method passed down from the great giants of science. How is it that so many see our physical world as troubled and riddled with half-truths, yet expect the astral / spiritual worlds to be nothing but truth and transparency? I would like to ,make a proposition. That those who are truly interested in understanding the nature of reality, take a scientific approach to the spiritual world. And I don't mean comparing spiritual phenomena with scientific theory - such as many mystics do with string theory. I think that's a false identity and gives us zero results. I, for one, take Franz Bardon's proposal seriously. Robert Bruce also mentions such an idea. The concept is to place a few cards from a well suffled deck of playing cards around the house, turned upward on the top of shelves and facing outward in windows you don't usually see from outside. Personally, I have already done this. However, I have yet to test it. The theory here is not to expect perfect results during an astral projection. The idea is to become more and more effective and maintaining a close relationship to the "real-time-zone" while out of body. Once one can effectively perform the correct retrieval of the values of each playing card while out of body - then, and only then, is one capable of testing the water. By that, I mean, once one can consciously adhere to the reality of they physical instead of flying off in some "la la astral land", then legitimate practices can begin. I don't know about you guys, but I find it extremely difficult to maintain a real-time presence once out of body. I will quickly find myself in a strange astral ream once I get too far from my body. And by too far, I mean, literally leaving the room my body is in. All too often my astral experiences turn whacky and cartoony and deliver zero evidences of a reality beyond the physical. So, the question: What is going on? The purpose: to know, to grow, to ascend. The way: practice practice practice, and take nothing for granted until you can verify and validate. ... am I missing something?

Hey, I have been interested in spiritual growth for a while but am just beginning to get serious. I have Franz Bardon and I think it is a good start but I am not sure how much I relate to the specifics of his dogma. So I have been going on my own with particular interest in spirit guides and such. I believe i contacted them (3 of them) once but it was brief and our communication was brief and uninformative. I am looking for guidance on meditation practise because I am severely undertaught on the subject. All in all i have been really impressed with what i have seen/experienced in my short personal attempts and want to dive deeper in. I need some guidance to point me in the right direction. My beliefs about spirits and God are not classified in any category that i know (and I'm in philosophy ) so it is my own belief and it is shaping well through my early attempts. Please message or reply if you can help me out! Thanks!

One popular method of meditation and divination, is what is known as Scrying. It is usually performed with a mirror, or a bowl of water. Here are some sites talking about the method of Scrying Let's Try It: Scrying Water Scrying- http://www.wyrdology.com/scrying/water.html Mirror Scrying- http://www.crystalinks.com/mirrorscrying.html But for practical purposes, this is my favorite method of mirror meditation- online meditation techniques Mirror-chanting

There was a time, some years ago, when I had a need to have a conversation with a certain person. As a private conversation, it had to be undertaken in a place that was not where he lived, where he worked, or where he went when he was not working; it had to occur on the way that he would travel between these places. The reason for the conversation, the details of it, and the consequences to the person beyond it are of no consequence to this story, it is a story of an experience. Along a path that the person was known to take, beside the trail with it's rocks and bushes, overlooking a small forested area, I found a place to wait. I did not know when the person would come this way, only that he would, in time. I settled in beside a bush, and focused my mind upon stillness. In order to remain undisturbed, I set my mind to be like that of a rock: unmoving, undisturbable, unremarkable. As time went on, people walked by. Some looked in my general direction, but I noticed that they did not see ME, or the "I" that is me ... they only saw a rock sitting beside a bush. All of myself, my clothing, my body, my kit, my tools .. only percieved as a rock beside a bush. No great wonder to myself, for after the first few hours of sitting, the desire to move had all but gone, the presence of musculature and mode of motion had all but fled from the conciousness. The illusion of time had been so contracted, that a moment and an hour were nearly imperceptible. The sun traveled( oh, illusion!) in it's arc, and as twilight began to set in, a spider dropped from the bush to the top of the rock that was I. To the spider, I was a permenant feature, or at least unlikely to move, and so she began to go about her business, spinning a web. The concerns of the spider, where her thoughts were, were so simple; squeeze here, relax there, follow the pattern so ancient and ancestral to her nature. In the pattern and the following of it laid the key to continued survival; the web spun, the insects caught, the meal consumed ... one day, she would mate and lay her eggs, but not now. Observing the spider, I could have easily reached out and flicked her away. Squashing her fragile body between my fingers would have been no heroic feat - but I was a rock, imobile of my own nature, and so she finished her work. For a time we were as one, the spider and I. Both waiting, both waiting. A life, a destiny, a meeting; chance, but not by chance. Life taken and life preserved, life continuing. When I arose to complete my purpose, the tearing of the web seemed the greatest violence.

I have been working in my meditation for the last few weeks on not contriving the breath at all. It has been very fruitful, and amazing to me how resting the attention on the breath causes, automatically, the diaphram or belly muscles to contrive in subtle ways. I received this insight from the B Alan Wallace retreat called introduction to dzogchen that i was listening to just recently. In it he says that monks would typically have to go on retreat to figure out how to rest their mind on the breath without contriving it. So i decided to try to be aware of my breath but from the point of view of non-action, and i can corroborate that it is very hard not to try subconsciously to regulate the breath! Especially if you have done a lot of bellows breathing, or reverse breathing, but i suspect, even if you have just done basic mediation on the breath. I have had a modicum of success, nothing to speak of yet, but i have noticed that when i really let my breath go, it gets shallow and more subtle, but that it brings on a state of stillness and relaxation that is very deep. I just don't want to move at all.. like even a tiny muscle twitch would stand out.. my shoulders relax and my arms feel like lead weights, and my eyelids just freeze where they are. Its very interesting.. i just sit there in a state of nondoing, aware. I have found it at times very easy to remain in a state of non-thought (which, from a dzogchen point of view, seems to be just another distraction, but anyway...) and at times i have found that letting go of the control of my breath has caused thoughts to flow very freely... i can't quite say what makes this difference, as such things are complicated in their cause and effect.. could be planets, could be what i ate for breakfast, could be anything... So i am wondering has anyone else tried this? if not you should lol.. it is said to take weeks in retreat to really deprogram the mind from contriving the breath, but wow is it an amazing feeling just to sit in even a *partially* unmanipulated state. I can't claim to be completely uncontrived, but i am going to keep working on this sincerely, as the early fruits have been very sweet, and i am inspired by the idea of uncontrived meditation. Anyway, if you have tried this, do you have anything to share about it? I am curious of others experiences with this sort of "technique"

Here Owen Cook gives a video blog talk about meditation, focusing on the practical aspects

An excellent documentary I found explaining the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is considered by many to be the most authentic form of Buddhism still in existence today. Included in this documentary is video footage of Yoga practices called Tummo and Trulkor- [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOk0tZHwCs4[/media ]