futuredaze

Smoking before meditation seems really counter-intuitive and wasteful. I've done it before and it usually makes it harder to stay focused and go deep into meditative states. I am wondering more about its use during recreation. In meditation, I like to be light, unaltered, as clear as possible. When I am aspiring towards creativity, sometimes having a chemical agent tweak my consciousness is helpful, whether that is yerba mate or a beer or a few puffs of ganja. Now, perhaps b/c it's not good for meditation means it is not good generally. I was thinking about that. However, meditating on a full stomach is not a good idea and that doesn't mean eating is bad now, does it?

Thanks for the feedback. I I'd be curious to hear more. I've heard about studies that suggest cannabis can lower testosterone level, which ties into jing. Personally, it's hard to take a lot of studies seriously since there is often an agenda which funds the research. I am going to try that. I've done it before, go for 2-6 weeks without and cannabis and then have some. The thing is, it's hard to gague. Now that I'm older, I know what my limits are and don't do too much (I'm very sensitive to all substances from alcohol to caffeine). Sometimes, it just makes me tired and introspective, which is not good for cultivation and meditation practice. Sometimes, I find that being high is very meditative (with a twist), creative, social, or just really fun- a normal hike in the woods can feel like an epic adventure. That's why I made this thread to begin with- because it does not seem obviously good nor bad for my practice. Things like porn, fast food, and getting drunk, seem to be obvious hinderances. Smoking a bit of ganja, though, is hard to tell! I'm sure in time I will figure it out What you say about it "getting the spirit out of the body" is true sometimes, I think, but not always. IMO, there is a HUGE difference between smoking a puff or two and then smoking a whole joint of strong stuff. A little bit can be like stretching the spirt, whereas too much puts it into comatose.

This awesome salad recipe that my friend showed me. It is delicious and feels like it totally cleans out my system. Basically: get some kale, shred it up, add lemon juice (best from a fresh lemon) and coconut sap/coconut aminos (it's often sold as a soy sauce substitute but can be hard to find, it is sweet and balances the lemon juice flavor nicely) to it and massage it for a bit. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes, massaging it every now and then. Then add walnuts, chopped garlic, avocado, turmeric, black pepper, a bit of salt, (optional hot sauce for people who want it spicy) to the salad, mix it up a bit, and serve! Simple, delicious (I'm not even a big kale fan), and one of the most nutritious meals. Apparently kale can be hard to digest raw, but massaging it with the lemon juice helps make it easier to digest without messing with the enzymes/nutrients that cooking can do. Besides that, I'd probably bring some sassafras tea with honey and/or make a really awesome hot chocolate with roasted cacao beans, coconut/hazelnut milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon.

I've had something of a love/hate relationship with coffee the past year or two. I love the taste, the smell, the experience sipping a cup slowly, and using it as cognitive-enhancing tool. However, I can get negative effects, not always but sometimes, such as the crash a few hours after and stomach ache. As a result, I've stopped using it every day, but like to use it in certain circumstances such as days of intensive study, or if I had poor sleep. A few days ago, I was in a coffee shop that had really good coffee and free refills. I ended up having two cups rather than my usual one. At first, I felt amazing and was able to have some really interesting thoughts and write a lot of it down. However, a few hours later I felt drained in an unusual way, I really felt like crap. It's been long since I've had that much coffee at once, I think I'm more sensitive to it. Anyway, I've been cautious since then. I've read in the past that coffee pays a toll on the adrenal glands (Western medicine) and gives short term energy while at the expense of reducing long term energy (CTM). I'm wondering how true these things are, if anybody here has looked into it. I browsed some posts here and couldn't find anything, but I didn't look over all the posts, so I appologize if this has been discussed already. For now I'm just drinking yerba mate when I want the energy. I wish I could enjoy coffee without any side effects- I know I definitely can't do two cups right in a row like that again, and maybe in a few weeks I can do better with it in moderation.

Some supplements for having Lyme disease: Japanese Knotweed Chinese Skullcap Astragalus Root Siberian Ginseng ------------- Other supplements: Hemp protein powder Milk Thistle (liver detox) Zinc (immune system booster) Iodine (since I'm low in it) Vitamin D when it's winter Cordyceps (mushroom with lots of benefits) L-Theanine (with coffee for increased focus) sometimes I will take a phenylpiracetam nootropic supplement, with choline, if I want an intentional day of study.

Books I like to keep nearby: I Ching Tao te Ching Collection of Books on Herbs Sayings of the Buddha The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius something by Nietzsche

I don't think video games are inherently bad, but they can easily be a problem in modern culture. When people get little to no significance from their job, lifestyle, and routines, turning to video games can be a great escape. If video games (and books, TV, etc.) are used to supplement someone's life, in moderation, I don't think they are harmful - in fact they can even be helpful. However, many people abuse them, play them all day, and don't have much else going on in their lives. That's not good, and it seems to be a problem getting worse (back in the 90s/early 2000s only the nerds were video game addicts, now it seems fairly common in middle/high school aged children). I like good video games because they have good stories, like Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid, or are fun to play with others, like Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart. I don't feel connected to people playing online games, but when they are my friends and right there, I do feel like it is bonding. And good stories are inspiring, thought-provoking, and can even be therapeutic.

I've been getting into Stephen Buhner's work recently. His books are great, and I also love listening to interviews/talks with him. He is an herbalist/botanist who has a good balance of traditional wisdom and modern science in his approach. He's written some books on natural antibiotics, Lyme disease, etc. and he has definitely done lots of research on biochemistry. At the same time, he writes a lot about listening to and communicating with plants, going from mind-centered cognition to a heart-centered perception. Really awesome stuff. Of his books, I really like Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm and Secret Teachings of Plants in particular. I've been into this stuff for a while before reading him, but reading him has really done wonders for my understanding and relating to the natural world.

I got a B.A. in psychology with a minor in philosophy. I enjoyed most of my classes, and especially benefitted from my philosophy classes and evolutionary psychology. I agree with the others here that university was an integral part in my development and journey, however I am not currently using my degree. It helped set me on the path. I was fortunate to have friends interested in meditation/spirituality, intellectual pursuits, and creative folks. This helped me immensely, probably just as much as what I learned in my calsses, if not more. I'm glad to be done with college, as I have gotten into travel, working on farms, got to stay at a zen temple, etc. since then and the lifestyle suits me for now. I grow a lot by helping to grow vegetables and observing patterns in nature. With travelling, I can tune into myself and learn so much through the constantly changing environment. There are times I miss university, since it was one of the happiest times of my life in ways, and the "bubble" of school can be nice sometimes compared to the open-ended post-grad world. I don't miss bullshit assignments, mediocre professors/classes that I was required to take, annoying people in class, etc., however

I've experimented with tree energy before. There is a qigong exercise I do that involves standing up with arms out, hands open - absorbing energy from two trees. These two trees can be two trees in nature, or if a person is doing qigong indoors they can visualize two trees of whatever species they wish. Breathing in, you absorb the energy through the center of your palms. I notice certain trees are very yang - pine trees, for instance, whereas others are very yin, like the willow tree. This can effect my qigong practice, yang trees might be more energizing whereas yin ones are more soothing, so finding a tree with equal yin to yang may be ideal, but of course it depends on the individual. I'd like to try more experimentation once my practice improves and I can notice more unique sensations when practicing under different trees.

This video my friend showed me of animals bein gangsta.

Responding to his behavior with resistance will not solve anything. By focusing on transmutating your own pain, focusing on your own journey, you will naturally end up helping him just by being yourself. The ideas you have about your brother and his situation are preventing you from seeing it objectively. Not that it doesn't sound like a difficult situation, but there isn't much you can do about it through force. In time, he might open up to you, or some crisis in his life may force him to re-evaluate his situation. Either way, you can gain a lot of wisdom and compassion from this situation. Just do the best you can. You are not responsible for him. That doesn't mean you can't help him, of course, but don't get too attached to any one idea of helping him.

It's good to soak some raw nuts and seeds too. I used to buy into all the "raw" hype, but some nuts - like almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc. are best soaked then roasted - for enzyme content, digestive purposes. http://blog.radiantlifecatalog.com/bid/69542/That-s-Nuts-A-Complete-Guide-to-Soaking-Nuts-and-Seeds

I definitely had more awareness of my body than before. I felt quite light since I was eating less food, slowly and more mindfully, and meditating more (usually about 2 hours a day, but during retreats could be 5-6 hours a day). My posture seemed to improve by staying there. I felt that I could tap into energy more easier than before, whether or not that energy was people's hidden feelings or simply being really present with the weather and elements. I still feel this way after leaving (it's been about 2 months now since I left, although I was not there for a month straight -- I stayed about 3 weeks, then left to work on other things for a while, and then returned for a bit over a week). I'm a lot more consistent with my practice than before. Overall, I felt less analytical thinking when doing things around people while I was there. Normally, I enjoy conversation, humor, finding out about people, but at the monastery we were discouraged from talking unless it relates to the practice or working meditation. Hard to retrain that outside the temple, but I do feel much more calm and at peace within myself.

I think women might generally be equipped to be more compassionate and are also less likely to get involved with drug abuse, adrenaline-seeking behavior that men are. However, men, in my experience seem to be more likely to seek the individualism, autonomy, and inwardness that goes with intensive meditation practice. Of course these are huge generalizations. I know women who are extremely independent, tough chicas, and I know men who would make better mothers than a lot of women (minus the whole lactating thing). People are people. Yes, the set of genitals we were born with dictates our "plumbing system" and influences biochemical tendencies (testosterone and estrogen, etc.), but there are many, many more factors at play here. It is not a contest, we are all trying the best we can in the moment - no matter what our gender or background. That doesn't mean we shouldn't set goals, but comparing totally different people is like comapring and igloo with a saxaphone. It can be done, of course, but that doesn't mean it should be done.

Some interesting insights and opinions you might find helpful on this site: http://biologyofkundalini.com/ She makes a lot of interesting connections between modern science and kundalini phenomena. There is a lot of info here, I hope it helps.

I think the chemicals, artificial flavors, colors, etc. make most energy drinks worse than coffee or tea. Black tea and green tea have helped me when I stayed in a Soto Zen monastery for about a month this past year. I tried not to drink it much, but 5.30AM meditation was tough for me to stay focused. I can wake up when the sun rises naturally and have energy, but having to set an alarm and get up before the sun rose was challenging to adapt to. Drinking the tea would make it a lot easier to stay focused since I wasn't nodding off.

Seems like a commercial for Red Bull... Walker gets tired on the way up, drinks a Red Bull, gets wings, flies up to the Tibetan home. cue "Red Bull gives you wings"

Rice pasta is good. Egg noodles might work too but idk if they have wheat in them. There is gluten-free stuff with quinoa and whatnot too, but it's usually more expensive than rice pasta so I get that. btw, I heard from my qigong teacher that white rice is better than brown rice for digestion. Brown has more nutrients, but is harder to digest. People w/digestive issues might want white rice. Plus, the arsenic that has been found recently in rice is usually concentrated on the outer part of rice which is removed to make white rice.

Lots of vegetables and fruit. For protein I eat lots of nuts, beans/legumes, nut butter, tempeh (only eat fermented soy products), etc. For carbs I like rice, millet, barley, buckwheat - want to experiment with more grains. Sweet potatoes with maple syrup and cinnamon is a delicious starchy treat (especially in winter). Avoid processed stuff. If you want to "feel lighter" (not necessarily lose weight, but that usually happens too), cut out grains. Tea is incredible, there are so many powerful herbs that are suitable for different conditions and people. Eating seasonal is important. It was really easy to do that when I worked on a farm. I hope I can start growing my own food one day (hard when you are a traveller). If you can, eat local too. Not only is it healthy to eat local food (e.g. raw local honey is helpful against allergies) but it is good for the local economy and environment. Foraging is very Taoist to do. Going on a walk, leaving the town, finding some delicious fruit or greens to munch on is amazing. I like to collect leaves for tea, too (look for ginkgo leaves, berry leaves, and any fruit tree leaf can be used for tea pretty much). Can't get more seasonal or local than that. I'm not vegetarian but most meat is tortured so I don't eat stuff from a supermarket (unless I have no choice). Death is a part of life and nature, torture is not. When I worked on the farm, we ate goat, pig, and chicken. They lived good lives (my friend would walk the goats for miles when they were kids, and loved them dearly), and were killed humanely. Animals serve a function on the farm, a farm is kind of like a body where it is all working as a single unit but as many different systems functioning. Animals are like an organ in a way - you can get by without them on the farm, but they serve many functions, from clearing out the fields (nature's lawn mowers) to generating compost. As others have said- find what works for you and your body type! I don't know if people here are into totem animals, but some of my totem animals give my guidance on how to eat. For instance- I love fish, berries, and bear happens to be one of my primary totems. I also identify with the condor, who is a bit of an opportunist/recycler, so I eat vegetables that are old and slimey rather than throwing them out, and eat processed stuff without hestitation if I am really hungry and nothing is around. Like all good enchanters, shaman, whatever you want to call them, I do not distinguish drugs from food. Coffee is amazing in moderation, but drinking it every day WILL tax your body and deplete long-term energy. I like taking psychedelics about once a season to once a year - I won't go into that now, but I recommend extreme caution with these substances. Alcohol is nice once in a blue moon, if I can drink homemade hard apple cider or mulberry wine I will be delighted. Cannabis also is helpful in moderation to me, and the older I get the less I use it. Then again, find what works for you. Don't listen to anybody else's BS (belief-system) unless it resonates with your own experinece. Finally, moderation is key! I love to eat some really delicious treats once in a while, even though I've been trying to avoid sugar lately (I do make exceptions for honey and maple syrup). I try to make or purchase stuff that is healthier though, e.g. making a pie from scratch with local fruit and maple syrup, sunflower seed flour crust, rather than buying one from the store with crappy dairy, chemicals, etc. I try not to be too picky though, I think if we eat mostly good our bodies can filter out toxic processed crap. There is much debate about raw vs. cooked food. I think it's good not to be extreme, balance is key remember . Some foods like broccoli, kale, mushrooms, benefit from cooking (apparently, you can't absorb nutrients from mushrooms unless they are cooked). However, raw is good for more nutrients/enzymes.

Good post chegg, thanks for taking the time to put that together.

I would agree with that. Not that self-control is not important or beneficial, but extremes are not beneficial to practice. Moderation is key. Especially, I find, with "basic" desires such eating, sleeping, warmth/shelter, sex and intimacy, socializing. For instance, too much shelter and one is a hermit. Too little shelter and one becomes a crazy homeless person. I think sex should not be the focus of practice, but a natural side-effect of cultivated goodness.

In the book Secrets of Dragon Gate, Steven Liu talks about moderation in ejaculation, which depends on age. If you want, I can give more information. There is a guideline, for instance 3-5 times per week for males age 20-30. But he says, more importantly, is making sure your energy isn't depleted afterwards. I know for a fact that moderate sex or masturbation can really help balance my energy levels. There was times where I had sex or masturbation twice or thrice a day and, as enjoyable as it was, I would be very drained for the next day or two. Women are told to masturbate "as needed" since this increases their energy whereas ejaculation depletes men. Sometimes I hold my penis and breath with it - which really helps balance my hormones and brain. Try it! We are so wired to associate genitals with "SEX" which in our sexually inhibited culture is correlated with "DIRTY" or "BAD." So touching your genitals and breathing with it can re-wire our brains and relationship to our sacred creation-organ.

Anybody try the brand Volcanic Red? I got some of their "Mocha Java" blend, it is very good! Apparently the volcanic soil results in better coffee quality. I'm not sure if this is true, but I really like it. Then again, is my first time buying good coffee. Now I just want to get a Mocha press, although the k-cup machine my parents have will have to do for now.

Something I wrote once.