Search the Community

Are you not able to let go off Helplessness?Does Helplessness make you feel like a Victim?The feeling of Helplessness makes us feel negatively about us and everything around Then, listen to this Guided Meditation for Letting go off Helplessness and be a witness to miracles in Life Transformation

Hi, first off I'm pretty new to practicing 7 months or so. My question is about how do you tell when the Lower Dantian is full and then what to do about it? I'm also going to include the sensation I had, as well as part of a extremely vivid dream where I also had the same sensation. Sadly this was months ago so perhaps my progress has gone backwards since then. I don't know why I didn't just come straight here.. So the feeling was of a pulsing/shaking sensation in my lower dantian area, kinda like a muscle spasm feeling. The dream I had was really cool and memorable. I had also read the Magus of Java twice so there was a John Chang like figure. Basically I was at some temple on a very small island surrounded by water somewhere in South East Asia and was sitting in a circle with several other students and they were doing a test to see if we were ready to advance. After awhile the master looked directly at me and put his palm up to his mouth and blew in my direction and all of a sudden that intense pulsing feeling happened in my Lower Dantian region. Afterward he walked over to me and said some joke to the rest of the guys about surfer's bodies and patted me in the stomach . Then I woke up. The guy who I had learned my basic movements from told me he wasn''t sure and that it probably just meant i actually had a LDT. Recently I opened up this thing from Dr. Yang and it described the exact feeling I had in regards to it being full but this was months after the feelings happened. And i haven't felt it since. https://ymaa.com/articles/2014/1/nei-dan-sitting-meditation Here's the quote from the end of the arcticle, "After you have practiced the abdominal exercises for about three to five weeks, you may feel your abdomen get warmer every time you practice. After continued practice, the abdomen will start to tremble and shake each time you start the fire. This means qi has accumulated at the lower dan tian and is about to overflow. At this time you should start to coordinate your breathing and abdominal movement with the movement of your huiyin (Co-1) (literally "meet the yin") cavity and perineum to lead the qi to the tailbone (weilu cavity)." Thanks so much for any advice!

Seeking some feedback on the following. Please feel free to post your thoughts/comments (please be concise and to the point if possible. If you write a 1000+ word essay, it makes my eyes glaze over and avoid reading it. ) -- Xing is "Original nature or True Nature", and lies in the domain of consciousness. Its root is the spiritual heart/MDT. Ming is the" Life force or Qi", and lies in the domain of energy, and its root is the Lower Dan tien. Practices like Qigong work on Ming. Xing needs more intricate (and simpler) forms of meditation wherein emphasis is not on cultivation and "adding to" (jing, qi and Shen) and/or "transformation" (Jing to Qi, Qi to Shen), but rather of letting go and reduction/elimination (of artificial mental concepts, preconceptions and even subject-object interactions, aka Shen to Emptiness). Ming requires/implies "you wei" or doing, while Xing requires "wu wei" or not-doing. But the two are not mutually exclusive, but rather parts of a continuum. Without proper cultivation of Ming, Xing cannot be realized(?). We have to go from doing to not-doing, effort to effortlessness. All it takes is patience, sincerity and clarity of mind.

I hope you dont mind guys that I am frequently posting threads on inqueries. I hope it doesn't bother you. So awhile ago, I meditated after drinking tea. While I was doing the usual meditation, tension gathered on my lower spine. Then everytime I slowly invest air on my dantian, the tension transfers upward like its travelling through my spine. The tension leaves from one section and transfers to the other. Whenever I do reverse breathing though, the tension goes downwards. Sweat is induced from the tensed area too. BTW it does not hurt, its just tensed. Note: please notify me if I posted on the wrong topic.

After several years of daily meditation and breathing practices, I have reached what feels like a very uncomfortable mid-point, where I can feel partially opened channels in my body, but am suffering all kinds of discomfort because they feel seriously twisted and contain some major blockages. Before anything opened up, my body consisted of many different abnormalities such as warped and twisted bones which no Western doctor has been able to explain. I can now see that all of these physical anomalies are situated in the places along the channels where I can feel blockages, so it seems that my irregular physique was like a living fossil of energetic problems. Firstly, I was wondering how common this kind of thing is. After baffling a sufficient number of doctors, I’ve now been asked to allow them to map my genome as they consider me such a curiosity. Clearly this isn’t something they encounter very often, but surely I’m not that unique as there’s an endless number of people complaining about blockages, twists and deviations on forums such as this. Am I just an extreme case? The second question I’m hoping those with more experience and wisdom than me can answer is whether the daily practices I do (mainly meditation, alternate nostril breathing, nine bottle breath, MCO visualisation) are helping or hindering me. I’m particularly worried it may be the latter because, as I say, I’ve reached a point where I’ve partially opened the channels and dissolved blockages, but it means I feel the existing twists and obstructions more keenly than ever before. Every time I succeed in “getting out of my own way” during meditation, so that energy starts moving on its own, I run up against these extreme physical barriers. It seems I have only two options: to push ahead with what I am doing, or stop altogether. Obviously stopping is the most sensible option, but I can feel the half-dissolved obstructions and half-straightened channels constantly in my daily life whether I’m trying to or not, so it’s very hard not to try to do something to deal with it. I’m suffering a great deal of discomfort all over my body, as well as frequent headaches and fatigue, so is this a sign of things opening up or of things going horribly wrong? Thanks for your help.

Hello Friends, This is my first post. I wanted to join thedaobums in the hope of possibly making some new friends and contacts, as well as engage in some good discussions about the site's many interesting topics. I've been a "lurker" for a while, and I have found this forum to be the most dynamic, eclectic and diverse of the several that I have belonged to which deal with related topics (dharmawheel and some esoteric forums). Anyway, my background is itself eclectic, and I'm increasingly having a difficult time fitting myself into a label, without, at the same time, being able or desirous of "rejecting" anything that I may have identified with in the past. On the whole, I think this is a good thing, as I see a major goal of the spiritual path as being able to transcend labels and "identities." At the same time, I'm finding it quite uncomfortable. It's like a man having 3 or 4 families which don't know or acknowledge each other, each of whom he loves deeply as "part of himself"; he is unable to live with any of them all the time, but unable to part with any of them in an absolute sense; at the same time, he has a sense that what he is truly seeking lies outside the very category of "family" (if this metaphor makes sense). With this in mind, I'm reluctant to call myself a "Buddhist," or "not a Buddhist," a "Christian," or "not a Christian," a "Taoist," or "not a Taoist," etc. Over the past five years, I've been deeply immersed in the Western Esoteric Tradition, particularly centred around the ideas of Renaissance magi such as Agrippa, Dee, Bruno, the Rosicrucians, as well as Swedenborg, Boehme and the (non-Blavatskian) Western Theosophical tradition, while also finding many limitations in their points of view and needing to supplement this with study of the more metaphysical traditions of the East--Buddhism, Taoism and Trika Shaivism. But then increasingly I can't find what I'm seeking in any one of these traditions to the exclusion of others. I see them all, perhaps, as "upayas": skillful means to lead deluded beings to liberation. Despite all the arguments I have read and participated in over the philosophical subtleties of what precisely this "liberation" entails, I still naturally incline to this general universalistic view. I'm fond of Crowley (again while acknowledging his limitations), and I think that he was on to something (inspired) by his realization that one needed to break through externally imposed labels, restrictions, and identities and discover one's own "Holy Guardian Angel" in order to truly move forward. I think he was mistaken on many levels, but this idea that one needs to, as it were, make one's own tradition (in his case, Thelema) rings true for me, personally. If one doesn't, one is more or less the victim of centuries/millennia of historical and scholastic traditions which may have nothing to do with one's real quest. I know how much he suffered (and made others to suffer) in pursuing this ideal, however. Still, in a sense I consider myself a "independent Thelemite"--"independent" because I do not consider AC's personal revelations, mythos or ideas regarding the different Aeons (interesting as they may be) as binding on anyone other than himself. I think it could be argued that there is a "thelema," properly understood, hidden within each if the world's great religious/spiritual traditions, including Christianity and Islam (vide Corbin). I also disagree with Crowley regarding the importance of compassion and even pity; the Bodhisattva ideal is one of the most noble and glorious conceptions that I am aware of. Practically, I have more and more withdrawn from outward religious rites and turned towards silent, objectless meditation. The other, more active side of my spiritual practice involves Bardonian Hermetics, and a sort of streamlined angelic theurgy. Still, I feel like I've been stagnating for some time and I feel a strong need to break new ground. This is why I have increasingly turned towards the possibilities of astral projection (or "journeying") as a means of contacting higher Wisdom beings to help me move forward. My abilities are still weak at best. In this connection, the recent discovery of Qigong and energy work in general has been a great help. I never talk about this stuff to anyone. The anonymity of this site encourages me to share in the hope of finding like minded fellow-travelers. This is the reason I have written this long and regrettably egotistical post. I am what we might call "esoterically isolated," outwardly living a workaday life with a family, and without any associates beyond two or three distant contacts. I got "burned out" long ago on spiritual organazations and groups, and prefer the way of the hermit, at least until circumstances shift and other possibilities arise (I can't rule it out). Still, I am looking forward to hopefully learning and sharing whatever I can with friends here. Thanks :-)

I gather from the work of H. Ross (Nei-yeh; 1999) that there was a type of early Daoist meditation practiced that was distinct from the kind we later find in Buddhism (e.g., Vipassana). But L. Kohn, in her book “Sitting in Oblivion” (2010) appears to think that Taoist meditation is essentially a version of Buddhism type of meditation, not unlike what is nowadays called “mindfulness.” So a question arises: If there was an early form of Taoist meditation, distinct from Vipassana-like types, what were the steps? A preliminary sketch of two early Taoist mediational systems that appear to have been in place, without apparent Buddhist influence, is as follows (but how they were reconciled is unknown): 1- Neiguan內觀 (inner observation; passive meditation) involves a general openness to all sorts of sensory stimuli and encourages a sense of free-flowing awareness with detached observation. It encourages the appreciation of life as a flow [=rhythm of the Dao]. In noticing this series of exhalation and inhalation patterns, one becomes directly aware of the "dynamisms of Heaven and Earth" through ascending and descending breath. 2- Jing靜 (tranquility) and qing 清 (clarity) produced by the practice of neiguan after dingxin 定心 (stabilizing the mind) has been achieved. Is associated with acute hearing and clear vision, and generating jing 精 "vital essence". 3- Ming 明(radiance/brightness): produced after neiguan has been established. 4- Xu 虛 (emptiness; fasting of the mind): making the mind empty like air (qi 氣) so that the Dao can gather in it and one can “apprehend things more accurately and respond more effectively than when it relies on rational thinking or ordinary sense perception.” II. 1- Zhiguan 止觀: is an active concentrative exercise that uses one-pointedness that applies insight to the subject of meditation after neiguan has been established (=access concentration; where hindrances are encountered) and Insights were applied, e.g.: Rhythm vs irregularity Balance vs imbalance Unity vs opposition Correspondence [eg, heaven and earth] Coherence vs incoherence 2- Zhi止 (full concentration) [=dhyana] where meditational hindrances have been overcome 3- Shouyi 守一 (Guarding the one): maintaining oneness" involving concentrative meditation on a single point (=ding). 3- Ding 定: samadhi [samapatti] the union of subject and object (non-dual awareness)

Hello Guys, I've only read about Tantric buddhism and find it quite intriguing. Has any of you practiced this archetypal form of medidation? If yes how do you start to get into it and what is the purpose? I'm really looking for any form of opinion you have formed throughout your practice. Thank you

I thought some Bums might like this article. I have seen an explosion in promoting mindfulness and meditation apps. It is ironic that the same companies that are always vying for our attention are now telling us to meditate to be more calm so we can be more productive workers. https://www.thenation.com/article/ron-parser-mcmindfulness-mindfulness-meditation-book-interview/

This is an article I wrote many years ago (11) during my early days of meditation. https://www.medhajournal.com/the-i-of-the-storm/ I strongly recommend for anyone who is struggling currently to persevere and do more studying of nondual texts, along with their regular meditation practice. It might help you resolve these sort of “issues” sooner.

I have a question regarding candle-gazing meditation, specifically that of Tratak. I have practiced this meditation in the past, at times with diligence and at others inconsistently, overall the discipline yielded very tangible results. The times of inconsistency and general faltering in the required self-conduct are what caused me to distance myself from the practice, yet in all the time that I have left it alone I've felt a strange compulsion to begin again anew. While I do not recommend this form of meditation, it has been deemed to be easy, direct and powerful by many internet users and I personally agree with the sentiment. This meditation is seen by a number of people as a sort of straight-shot to self-actualization, a path with "less fluff" if you will. My question is, is the end of this particular path indeed self-realization, "enlightenment", or something maybe more nebulous and ineffable? There isn't much writing on the internet to be found in regards to this particular form of meditation, and the information available tends to be copy-and-pasted from site-to-site ad infinitum, with little in the ways of variance beyond the occasional vague, brief and largely positive testimonials of experience. However, this particular passage kept coming up and really caught my eye: "The human body is made of five elements: ether, earth, air, water and fire. The Fire Tratak removes from it two constituent elements. Viz. earth and water. By virtue of the Fire Tratak the practitioner brings about a blending of the remaining elements and enters the universe of the three elements. All gods are made of only three elements. One has to leave behind the to elements named above. It is only then can one reach supreme godhead. The principal use of the Fire Tratak is that one gets endowed with power to enter such realms which are generally obscure and forbidden. The human being who is made of five elements will not be able to reach the universe made of only three elements. He may be the greatest yogi belonging to the highest order. Dropping two elements is central to the job of acquiring power to enter all realms of the universe. Until the process of elimination is consummated, one has to remain confined to the mundane framework. One can achieve this only through the Fire Tratak." If someone has had any prior experience with tratak or is able to translate the above into more accessible terms it would be greatly appreciated, because as of now what I've interpreted from the above passage has instilled fear in me much more than curiosity. Anyways. I also recently happened into Zoroastrianism where fire is largely revered as a symbol of god and purity. While there are other things/ideals I find to be of interest in that particular religion, the whole fire worship thing is very synchronistic. For me personally, it just raises a question of what space is it that tratak will eventually grant me access to? Also, what exactly is the force or entity that I'm aligning myself with by continuing to entertain and engage with the practice of tratak? After all, if one truly does dedicate themselves to this discipline for the long run they would essentially spend a number of days, months, possibly even years, staring into the depths of a flame.

Just signed up again. (had to)! After about 20 years of practicing traditional forms of Tai Chi. I've started doing the 24-Form Yang Style. The idea is to start teaching again. I followed a link to the forum and read some interesting posts. So, Thanks Faz

Just a comment: Very few make a clear distinction between sitting practices and meditation. Doing vs Non-doing This is not to demean sitting practices or standing practices - simply to clarify that various energetic “Doing” is not meditation.

Do you think your own thoughts? Or those offered by others? Between any two thoughts there is a magical place. A pregnant pause. The next thought could be any thought. There is no limit here. Predispositions perhaps, but no limit. The next thought could be any thought... even none. Awareness returns to this lately, so I chew it and share it here in case it intrigues. These are open questions, requiring and perhaps having no firm answers. Do you think your own thoughts? How many of your thoughts arise from within? How many arrive from without? From where do thoughts come? Does it matter? How many of them are repeats? Do you choose what you eat? Do you know from where you eat comes? How much of your food do you grow? And how much is brought to you by others? Awareness returning repeatedly to the parallels between what I eat to maintain health and vitality and what I allow my mind to eat and its effect on my inner world and experience of reality. If what I experience is my effective reality. Then thoughts are a major portion of this reality. Buddha speaks to it. What will I allow my mind to ruminate on... what will I feed it? Where will I go for and what will I do with, the thoughts that arise today?

I enjoy Alan Watts, he's like an old uncle who starts drinking and can't stop talking. Anyway, this quick portion of one of his lectures reminded me of Sri Sankara: And with that, I'll share another quote from Ranjit Maharaj's 'The Way of the Bird', commentary by Andrew Vernon. I thought this was also appropriate...

I have heard before on occasions we can use the book of change for meditation and healing I'm curious how to do that is there a starting guide text (possibly of ancient times translated in English)?

Requesting feedback on some new development in my practice. I feel a little embarrassed about the timeline, but after seven years or so of consistent practice I'm noticing a very consistent and distinct/intense feeling of bliss all the way to my hands and feet. Especially in my hands and feel but throughout the entire body also. I assume this is good =) Looking for any guidance or insights by those who've traveled further along the path. Is there a name for this? What further signposts might indicate advancement? Etc. Thanks.

I know I've belabored this point several times in the past. However, I think it still needs to be called out (and perhaps a fruitful discussion will ensue). Techniques/postures/methods are secondary to meditation. They are means to an end. That then begs the question "What is meditation?" Meditation is complete absorption in which there is no separation between subject and object, or, there is only subject, no object. This is also called "samādhī). So, sitting in full lotus, or x,y or z posture, or n-repetitions of any mantra, or breathing technique etc etc, DO NOT constitute meditation. They are preparatory. This includes techniques like neigong, various yogic kriya, etc etc. They are doing. Meditation is undoing (had to use this cliché). Normally, our mind is always reaching out into the objective world, attracted to and attached to objects. My home, my car, my this, my that, and so on and so forth. This phenomenon is called "Chitta viskhépa" in sanskrit. What does "preparatory" imply? It implies that the mind is brought back from external focus/scattered attention to single-pointed attention/focus ( ekāgrachitta) and finally in cessation of the mind itself (manōlaya or better still, manōnāsha). The gate of meditation is entered when the mind becomes single-pointed. It becomes meditation with the cessation of the mind (identification with thoughts). This is the place of stillness. Once a practitioner has stabilized in meditation (stillness), they then can re-enter the world but fully stable in the knowledge of their true nature (empty, infinite, eternal, light). Forget about all the techniques, about being perfect in your forms and your posture, etc. Sit comfortably on a wooden or metal chair, and follow this meditation. It will super-charge your other practices if you do this every day.

I want to talk about my experience with Heartfulness. Now, I'm not talking about the form from Mindfulness in the book "Cultivating Heartfulness" that I've seen spoken about around Daobums, but something different that has completely changed the way I cultivate. Most of us are practitioners or at least know of the refining processes of cultivating and internal alchemy. We all know it to be an excruciatingly long and arduous process to refine our internal energies in order to produce measurable results. I have always been drawn to daoist practices from a young age and would meditate without even really knowing what it was, it just felt nice. But i didn't start officially Cultivating until just after college but i was underwhelmed by how little return you get for so much effort. I had processed far enough to have formed my Dantian and refined my senses enough to be able to detect spiritual energies and their movement. However, then i encountered a practice called Heartfulness that utilizes Yogic Transmission and this put my cultivation into hyperdrive! It would normally take me about two weeks to take in qi, extract the impurities, refine it into a higher form, and condense it into a pearl to draw up into the second dantian. But with Heartfulness, i was able to complete that entire process in One Day while i was At Work! I don't sit behind a desk, i work at UPS. I'm constantly moving and i was able to refine a pearl almost Passively while i was constantly busy. It felt like as long as i was doing Heartfulness, the energy would move Intelligently on its own to complete work within me, automatically. After a week of this, my body became stronger. I was able to walk around in 40 degree weather in shorts and a teashirt without getting cold and things that would normally hurt or bruise me would hardly hurt at all. I wanted to share this with my brothers here on Daobums so that you all could give it a try and share your results here! It's completely free, all the teachers are volunteers. https://heartfulness.org/us/masterclass/- This is the three-part video series that introduces the practice and helps you experience the transmission. https://heartfulness.org/us/experience-heartfulness/- You can follow this link and scroll down to “Try Heartfulness with Assistance” for a more personal experience with a real person rather than a video series, though I do recommend the video series first.

Hello ! Few things about me, I currently reside in LV, Nevada, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Background is Brazilian/Argentine.. nor sure what else to write here so I thought I would go ahead and share an experience with you all. Excited to hear what everyone else here has experienced! A few years ago and a few months then into my spiritual/meditational journey, I had an encounter that changed existence itself for me. Only a few people know, and recently I decided that I would share it with anyone out there so that they may see what the depths of your Self holds at all times, and anyone who has had a transformational experience themselves. If you read it, thank you for the time Here it is: At the time of my transformation a few years ago I was doing my regular meditation at around 2 A.M. The living room was virtually pitch black. 20 minutes into the meditation I decide to simply let go of my 'internal clock' that determines when I have meditated for the usual 30-40 minutes and I curiously go into seeing how long I can stay in that thoughtless meditative state. I would have to say about 45 minutes into it that I start hearing a very loud high pitched ringing/noise in both my ears.. as it got louder and louder so this bright light in my mind's eye would become brighter and brighter. This was a pure white light that looked as if someone had turned on their headlights to my face at point-blank range; my eyes are still closed this entire time and never open. This goes on for about 15-30 seconds and then the sounds and light are now accompanied by what seemed to be hundreds and thousands of voices giving me praise, so many voices that it was hard to figure them all out at once but I did not need or try to because I was receiving the core of the message intuitionally, I knew, I felt. It was like being in the middle of a fully filled coliseum, with everyone there cheering for you and loving you unconditionally with Love that reached deep into the past, present, and future all at once. These were immense feelings of achievement and how proud they are of me to come this far into myself, and that they have always been here and always will be here for us all. That they have loved me and all of us since the beginning of it all and continue to do so indefinitely. I was filled with incredible emotions of pure agape, pure love, and interconnectedness that took over my entire being. I smile with Love and Gratefulness and all I can struggle to say is " Thank you " as my eyes begin to form tears. As the loud ringing noise dies down and things begin to get darker, so do the voices dissipate. But it didn't feel as if I was going back down in consciousness, I went higher. Higher into a dark expanse that felt infinite, eternal, empty, vast and yet also containing the entirety of existence itself, all that has been, all that is, and all that will be. Which is plainly also, just all that is. There I could not identify with the part of myself that says 'I' or 'me' anymore. I could not understand it, it was so abnormal and really, non-existent to me. Not only was I in that Void, but I knew and felt my Self AS that Void itself. I was Everything and Nothing all at the same time. It was quieter than quiet.. no sound beyond the sound. Empty. Yet also filled with ALL of existence itself. Pure Oneness. What came, later on, was light, it looked like stars in the distance and stardust but also water, a different type of water/fluid. It filled my view with hues of purple, blue, indigo and a whole array of lights among this void. I stay in observe in a balanced awe. I open my eyes and break down in an utter joy that is beyond any comprehension. About 10 minutes later I comfy myself on the couch in which I usually would sleep on. As I close my eyes, I am in awe of that same sight of stars in this Void still there even after my meditation. It was pure bliss to shut my eyes and head off into sleep, gazing out into the star-filled space in front of me. I was whole, and one with All That Is. This feeling later went on to stay with me for months after, I was born again. Glad to be here with you all, and I'm looking forward to bouncing off of each other with anything that can help us grow -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Later on, I plan to host dark room meditations/retreats for periods of 12 - 21 days. Thanks for reading and Love to you all :)🙏✨❤️ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Words can never convey the beauty of a tree; to understand it, you must see it with your own eyes. Language cannot capture the melody of a song; to understand it, you must hear it with your own ears. So it is with the Tao: the only way to understand it is to directly experience it. The subtle truth of the universe is unsayable and unthinkable. Therefore the highest teachings are wordless. My own words are not the medicine, but a prescription; not the destination, but a map to help you reach it. When you get there, quiet your mind and close your mouth. Don’t analyze the Tao. Strive instead to live it: silently, undividedly, with your whole harmonious being." - Lao Tzu (Hua Hu Ching, chapter 31)

I want to talk about my experience with Heartfulness. Now, I'm not talking about the form from Mindfulness in the book "Cultivating Heartfulness" that I've seen spoken about around Daubums, but something different that has completely changed the way I cultivate. Most of us are practitioners or at least know of the refining processes of cultivating and internal alchemy. We all know it to be an excruciatingly long and arduous process to refine our internal energies in order to produce measurable results. I have always been drawn to daoist practices from a young age and would meditate without even really knowing what it was, it just felt nice. But i didn't start officially Cultivating until just after college but i was underwhelmed by how little return you get for so much effort. I had processed far enough to have formed my Dantian and refined my senses enough to be able to detect spiritual energies and their movement. However, then i encountered a practice called Heartfulness that utilizes Yogic Transmission and this put my cultivation into hyperdrive! It would normally take me about two weeks to take in qi, extract the impurities, refine it into a higher form, and condense it into a pearl to draw up into the second dantian. But with Heartfulness, i was able to complete that entire process in One Day while i was At Work! I don't sit behind a desk, i work at UPS. I'm constantly moving and i was able to refine a pearl almost Passively while i was constantly busy. It felt like as long as i was doing Heartfulness, the energy would move Intelligently on its own to complete work within me, automatically. After a week of this, my body became stronger. I was able to walk around in 40 degree weather in shorts and a teashirt without getting cold and things that would normally hurt or bruise me would hardly hurt at all. I wanted to share this with my brothers here on Daobums so that you all could give it a try and share your results here! It's completely free, all the teachers are volunteers. https://heartfulness.org/us/masterclass/- This is the three-part video series that introduces the practice and helps you experience the transmission. https://heartfulness.org/us/experience-heartfulness/- You can follow this link and scroll down to “Try Heartfulness with Assistance” for a more personal experience with a real person rather than a video series, though I do recommend the video series first.

Devotion and Worship may be something you secretly dispise or are attracted to. It can be for some a sign of giving up on autonomy and or willful self journeying and isolation from mass hysteria and lazy followership. But it has nothing to do with these things - though all elements of human frailty may be found as is true everywhere. In abiding wakefulness grace is ever present - gratitude pours forth to nothing - it is not in devotion - it is the light But Devotion simply dawns - it dawns as one sheds the ebbing rude coarseness that stood solid on so many willful grounds of insanity and ignorance. In the beautiful stillness - the boundless Presence - the magnificence and majesty - Devotion is camaraderie with the highest light. It is attending a dance with Angels. IN NOTHING great transcendence radiates within - one cannot but be in devotion. It is not a choice or a falling or failing - it is the twilight of all holding - the touch of one finger to the hand of Divine Essence in Living Light. Love unbounded - unbinding

I was recently introduced to Edward Selim Michael by a very spiritually-insightful Jewish woman who has hosted Quaker and Buddhist groups for as long as I have known her. I recently finished reading Michael's book, "The Law of Attention: Nada Yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance". He clearly states that the aim of the book is "direct inner experience" and that is what attracted me to him. My own spiritual mentor of over 30 years once said, "Question everything, even what I say... and, if a teacher can't point you to the direct experiences, then go elsewhere". Edward Selim Michael seems to be such a being who points one to the direct inner experiences. I just ordered another one of Michael's books, "Obstacles to Enlightenment and Liberation", because he warns against getting into comfortable, familiar ruts and I plan to use his book as a checklist to see what tendencies I may have that could be holding me back. Michael seems to be a man who has been there and not just some one pontificating grand theories and quoting the masters but one who speaks from direct inner experiences. I wasn't sure where to post this topic but decided to post it here because, despite his yoga/meditation inclinations, " It was to Buddhism that he felt closest, but as his teaching was based on his direct experience, he did not hesitate to quote Christian, Hindu, or Sufi mystics." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Salim_Michael To get the discussion going, I will include without comment a few quotes from his book, "The Law of Attention: Nada Yoga and the Way of Inner Vigilance". (Note that I have replaced the masculine word "he" in the quotes by "one".) 1. "The aim of this book is to help seekers arrive at recognizing, through direct inner experience, their higher nature and the after-death state, the state from which they originated and to which they will return on leaving this form of existence." 2. "Without perhaps realizing it, one will then start to sleep inwardly again, thinking that one is still working by being merely satisfied with the intellectual knowledge and memory of certain limited spiritual experiences one may have had in the past." 3. "If, during meditation, this luminous expanse of consciousness becomes adulterated and diluted in the slightest degree with one's habitual state, it will then inevitably cease to be Truth." 4. "It will be readily evident to one who has practiced meditation seriously and has had enlightenment that what was right and necessary at the beginning of one's quest will no longer be right or practical later".

As the process of abiding as awareness unfolds, one encounters following one of three conditions - actively abiding as awareness with no or negligible other contents of the mind. A apparent departure from condition 1, with a lot of contents of the mind. There seems to be an obfuscation of the “true nature” as one is caught up in the drama of samsara. Abiding as awareness but many thoughts and emotions flow naturally , with no attachment to them. Condition 2 is remedied as soon as one recollects the fact that one is awareness in which dramas of samsara rise and fade away. Even the thought “I am no longer abiding as awareness” is a recognition of the Self as awareness, and realizing this gives one the freedom to be, without suffering from guilt or fears of “losing” condition 1. This realization and associated relaxation results in condition 3 naturally arising. It is that simple. Feel free to discuss

hello, i tried to control masterbation for 40 days but on 41th day nightfall happened. i could'nt control myself. i masterbated once n now i feel regret about this. how to transfer this enrgy to the brain. i have lots of question but not able to find the answer. plz help me regards