dwai

you could also try this --

Certain types of "tinnitus" are also associated with specific chakras opening. http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=1721

This is true of Indian martial arts too. In systems like Kalaripayyat and silambam, they work with weapons first (similar to FMA). And then move on to empty hand training.

The way we close in Temple style is to meditate with the palms beaming into the LDT.

I'd say "existence, awareness and bliss" (where existence and awareness mutually validate each other) and bliss is a lack of pleasure or pain (attachemdnt to). The classical Vedic description of "that" is precisely that - satchidanda.

I agree with you

The need for "perfection" is only from the point of view of the relative self. That which is present is free from any position, the past or the future. It has no where to go, and nothing to accomplish as it always IS. ISness is all there is. But when ever the presence is apparently obscured by the relative self, it projects over-romanticized and over-idealized properties on something that does not have any properties. The "Self" is just pure awareness (objectlsss consciousness), pure being, it is perfect but not in any sense that a mind-body complex can fathom. Only way to know it is to be it. And irony is that we are never not it!

Give up knowledge and just be. Being is wisdom, knowledge is artificial. All our efforts at becoming "wise" results in us seeking knowledge of this and that. Give up this, give up that, give up knowledge and there you are...pure, unconditioned, pure wisdom.

I find this resonating wth me as well. My primary practice is to just "be" now. Now if only I can "just be" even when complicated things are happening...

You can try draining. The practice is to stand in preparation stance (feet shoulder width apart, toes pointing straight ahead or slightly toed in). Bent the knees, alignments, suspend the crown, tuck the tail etc (you seem to know these already). Let your hands be out, down and around 45 degrees away from your body, palms facing the body such that the fingers point to the ground. Relax and as your breath in, let the qi sink into the ground from your finger tips. As you exhale, just let your mind rest in the LDT. Stand like this for as long as you can. Don't pull any qi in. Be like a wet mop, and let the heavy stuff just drip into the ground. With each exhalation into your LDT, the clean stuff will fill you up, little by little.

Absolutely love Sri M's works

I recommend this book -- https://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Your-Life-Energy-Well-Being/dp/1590309960/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 This is presented as qigong but actually goes far beyond as these are some of the very engines we use to drive our Dao Gong/Shen Gong cultivations in Temple Style Tai Chi.

Hold your palms facing each other about one foot apart. Line up the centers of your palms and put your attention on an imaginary line connecting these two points. Now your LDT is warmed up right? Just relax, hold this posture and breath in and out slowly from your LDT. You will start feeling an elwctromagnetic sensation between your palms. After a little while, slowly continue breathing but bring your palms closer towards each other. Feel what happens. Then move your palms away form each other and see what happens. EDIT: Adding some more details. Once you get proficient with doing this, you will start feeling a spherical shape appears between your palms. With time this ball will grow in size and eventually radiate beyond the distance between the two palms. The ball can be split into two balls (one in each palm), the ball can be made to spin and become a elongated cylindrical shape and so on. There are many drills that can be done by just moving the ball. What you do externally with the ball will also happen internally in your channels. This is the indirect method.

The small universe is always happening, whether you focus on it or not. It's actually not a good idea to move energy through the channels using the mind at all. It's better to learn how to generate a taiji ball (or energy ball if you please) palpably and then use that to indirectly move your energy. This helps you access energies outside as well as within you. We call this the "indirect method" of cultivation. Contrary to how the name sounds, "indirect method" is more powerful than "direct method" (wherein , you'd use your mind to move energy through various channels). The effects of indirect method are far safer in the long term and supremely more powerful.

That Rupert Spira interview on batgap is very good and spot on, on this very topic. A key takeaway from the interview is the fact that he talks about over-romanticizing and over-idealizing "awakening" or "enlightenment". It is a very subtle thing and by setting "enlightenment" or "awakening" as a distant goal to work towards, or even to work towards "removing the ego-self", there is the subtlest of subtle ego-self working towards it. It is not so much the thorn removing the thorn in this case, but a delusion that the thorn (aka ego) is being removed. I would very strongly encourage folks to watch the interview.

I think he's a good guy too. Just a bit unstable at present. I'd recommend don't blindly follow him. It's better to get lessons from a bona fide teacher -- try the Stillness Movement that Ya Mu teaches here, or Spring Forest Qigong, etc. Depending on where you live, it helps to have a real teacher

FWIW, I found Drew had become incomprehensible and he comes across as "unstable". I do hope it is not the case, as he had a lot potential approx. as far as 4-5 years back. I also didn't know it was his blog at that time, but it seems he dedicated an entire post on me, first making up some straw man concepts he ascribed to me, and then proceeded to "demolish" https://voidisyinyang.blogspot.com/2017/03/why-dwai-on-thetaobums-misunderstands.html

Word! This is what my teachers have told me too. Lower level stuff is to consider the limited Self the source of power (healing or even martial arts). These people drain themselves. Higher level stuff is to let the Dao act through you. Become a conduit and then you will never need to worry about draining, cross contamination etc. EDIT: in order to make that happen, you have to get out of the way. Give up the sense of being the mind-body self completely. If the Buddhist non-self concept works, use that. If your ego is the one making decisions then you can't work with the pre-heaven stuff and let the Dao manifest through your mind-body.

This is a long video but it seems relevant to this conversation (and many such others we seem to be having off late).

Thanks Gerard. Now I'm meditating almost all the time. Not dedicated seated meditation but by remaining in the witness awareness (called sakshi bhava). I do about 2-3 hrs of Taichi and neigong everyday. But even in that I maintain witness state.

I needed some reminders about "not doing". We all do. That's why we have satsang

Ramana Maharshi had the quirk of not wasting even a morsel of food.

Ramana Maharshi was in what is called Kevala Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Far more people do reach Kevala Sahaja Savikalpa Samadhi. From there to where Ramana was, is not in anyone's control, it happens if it has to happen. That's what I've been told. It's not a matter of setting the bar high or low for that. Getting there becomes a matter of grace.

According to Indian Geomancy (vaastu shastra), one should never sleep with head pointed to the north, as there is some magnetic interference if we do so.